Since I don't think I actually officially introduced Neb....

I had wanted to get a third dog, but was thinking of a Mal b/c I want to do FR. I watched some training sessions at a couple of places, and part of a trial (Geoff and Sasha), and visited a breeders, but in the end, realized I wasn't ready for a Mal now - especially since I don't have a car, and can't go to FR training every week, and I didn't think that would be the best circumstances for a Mal.

While gathering some donations for a new Husky rescue here, I ended up talking to one of the volunteers who told me about a mom and mixed breed litter she had. I watched some video, and really liked the way one of the pups interacted with his littermates. When I was dropping off donations, I met the litter, and the pup, who again acted like just what I was looking for - confident, happy, not shy, not too pushy - and I agreed to adopt him. I thought he'd be a great match with Luc and Teagan.

So that's how I got Neb. He was about 3 weeks old when I adopted him, and I arranged he would stay in foster (and w/his mom) until he was 8 weeks old.

The day he turned 6 weeks, I got a call from the foster home - he'd been taken in for shots, mom was adopted out, and the foster home had intaked 2 new litters (in addition to Neb's litter, her 2 adult dogs, and 2 adult fosters) and she was worried about cross-contamination and stated she was only going into him 2X/day. She said I needed to come get him then.

I wasn't impressed, for a myriad of I'm sure extremely obvious reasons. Anyways, I made arrangements, and picked him up the next day.

From the start, both Luc and Teagan have been great with him. Teagan is extremely tolerant of him, and has been since he was little, and Luc loves to play with Neb. They're all doing well together.

I decided I could practice with Neb raising a puppy and trying to maximize drive etc. We were having so much fun I decided to ask the trainer I planned to FR with eventually if we could come out, but due to the lack of car, on a bi-weekly basis. He said yes, so we're going out and having a great time. You're allowed on 'blue' (off-breed) dog, so that's what I'm doing with Neb.

Here's Neb at 7 weeks old:


And here's Neb at 18 weeks old (Sunday):


The vet thinks he's younger than what the rescue told me. I'm not sure, it could just be his size (his nicknames are Midget and Little Squirt (my FR trainer)....lovingly of course ).

Here's a link to some shots from FR on Sunday. Neb had a great time tugging/going after the rag, so Toby got a bunch of shots from that. Our obedience was a bit off, but that was entirely my fault. http://picasaweb.google.com/nuneons/FR1782008

After FR, we drove up to a friend's cottage, picked up some furniture, and drove back to Toronto....drove just under 1000k! We stopped at a conservation area and took Neb for a little walk: http://picasaweb.google.com/nuneons/TheGutConservationArea1782008

And here are some older photos of us hiking w/the dogs in Killarney and a canoe trip I did with Neb and a friend:
http://picasaweb.google.com/nuneons/KillarneyJune2008
http://picasaweb.google.com/nuneons/TemagamiJuly2008

So that's Neb! We'll see how far he goes, since he is an off-breed - I'm really working to try to bring out his drive - he was breed in a puppy mill, his mother was pulled out of it into a shelter in the States, and then the mother and litter were pulled from the shelter by the rescue and brought to Canada. His mom is a husky/lab/beagle mix (apparently), dad is unknown. Anyways, I'm having so much fun working with him, and I'm learning a lot, so it's great