# The Hazel Thread



## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Hazel has been home for a week and a half and she still doesn't have a thread! Time to fix that.

Meet Hazel! Full name Truepenny Bright Side of Life, because Monty Python is awesome. She is Watson's daughter from his first litter, and is one of 9 puppies (go Watson!). So far she is awesome. Totally spunky and fearless. She is tackling things that took Watson at least a month, like the scary basement stairs (which is terrifying because she looks like she's going to slide down them head first; she's only allowed if she has a spotter). She's super sassy and prances around with her tail waving over her back like a flag. Overall she reminds me a lot of Watson as a puppy but even more confident and obnoxious. Haha

Watson is still adjusting. He looks anxious when he wants to rest but she's running amok, because he never knows when she might tackle him and bite his ears. But he loves to play with her, and when she finally falls asleep he'll sneak over and lie down near her. He also looks to me about everything, like if he tells her off for something he'll look at me like "Is that ok mom? Did I do that right?" He's such a doormat and even his telling off is super gentle. He's very good with her.


Right after birth:









About two weeks old and just starting to walk:









Puppy stack (look at that tail!)









First day home and very tired!









Puppies love awkward sleeping positions

















Watson thinks she's probably alright, but he wishes that she would chew on her bully stick somwhere else


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Some fun on the patio last weekend. She spent some time tackling the landscaping (this was after I finally got her to stop pulling flowers off of the hydrangeas and scattering them around)









Then she struck a pose:

















And then she finally took a nap (only took half a glass of wine)


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## jade5280 (Feb 20, 2013)

Yaaaay! She is just the prettiest little girl! I can't wait to see her grow. What a beauty!


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## ForTheLoveOfDogs (Jun 3, 2007)

She is a ball of cuddly gorgeous. I can't wait to see her grow.


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## kcomstoc (Mar 9, 2013)

The freckles around her nose are just like her dad's  she looks lighter than Watson, is she going to stay that shade of red or does the color change as she gets older? anyway she is super adorable and looks like a lot of fun


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

kcomstoc said:


> The freckles around her nose are just like her dad's
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Her adult coat will come in pretty close in color to his. The puppy coat is always a bit lighter. Her mom is a nice dark red like Watson and Hazel was one of the darker pups in the litter (not that they were that different from each other)


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

Ridiculously cute and i am replying mostly to get the updates for this photo thread


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## Alla (Mar 25, 2015)

Yep, another reply for the updates.  She is adorable! I love seeing your videos and pictures


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## cookieface (Jul 6, 2011)

She's precious!



elrohwen said:


>


I see mischief in those eyes.


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

So so cute.


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## taquitos (Oct 18, 2012)

Look at those floppy ears and chubby puppy belly!! <3 <3 <3

A belated congrats on your new pup!


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## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

Ahh, she's so adorable. <3


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

cookieface said:


> She's precious!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I see "Screw you, Food Lady, and your rules about not eating the hydrangeas."


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## Spirit_of_Cotons (Jun 21, 2009)

What a very cute puppy you have! I like how you kept her tail, do you think people might ask you what her breed is (I mean more than often)? I only ask cause I went to a Dog Show once and had to do a double take when I saw a Rottie with a tail.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Spirit_of_Cotons said:


> What a very cute puppy you have! I like how you kept her tail, do you think people might ask you what her breed is (I mean more than often)? I only ask cause I went to a Dog Show once and had to do a double take when I saw a Rottie with a tail.


Thanks!

It wasn't really my decision to keep her tail since they are done at 2 days and I didn't pick her until 7.5 weeks, though the breeder did ask for my vote. She was considering keeping tails and the fact that I wanted them probably pushed her over the edge into keeping them. 

Nobody knows what breed they are anyway so I don't think the tail will make a difference. Haha. I already get "setter" for Watson sometimes so she will probably get that even more. I do predict that I will get a lot of questions about why one has a tail and one doesn't. Perfectly valid question from curious people, but I will probably get it from a lot of people who don't even realize Watson is docked and then are confused. The breeder said I should make up a story about how he lost his tail. Haha. 

As far as shows go, it's probably 1/3 tailed dogs in the ring now so she won't stand out that much. She does carry it awfully high which might hurt her. If she were docked you wouldn't notice the high tail carriage as much as you will when she has a big white plume of feathers on the end.


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## Sandakat (Mar 7, 2015)

She is beautiful. Thanks for the pictures!


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## MelTruffles (Jan 27, 2015)

She's so beautiful! I'm so glad you made a thread making us apart of her journey!


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## Shep (May 16, 2013)

She's beautiful! I have a friend who shows Welshies in breed, obedience, and agility, all very successfully. Her last couple of dogs have had full tails, too. She imported them from Finland, I think, or somewhere where they have to keep their tails. So far it hasn't hurt them, as both have done a lot of winning.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Shep said:


> She's beautiful! I have a friend who shows Welshies in breed, obedience, and agility, all very successfully. Her last couple of dogs have had full tails, too. She imported them from Finland, I think, or somewhere where they have to keep their tails. So far it hasn't hurt them, as both have done a lot of winning.


I think the tail revolution started when people were importing tailed dogs from the UK, Finland, and Sweden and started showing them. Then a lot of US breeders liked them and started keeping them too, and now it's pretty common. There were lots of tails on dogs at Nationals. I love that the standard is so forgiving of things like tails or coat patterns - as a rare breed I think it's important to keep good genes in the gene pool and not throw them out for silly things like tails or spotting patterns.

Does your breed breed at all? I probably know her or at least know of her dogs - it's a small Welshie world.


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## ireth0 (Feb 11, 2013)

Yay Hazel! Gosh she's just such a doll!


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## Shep (May 16, 2013)

elrohwen said:


> I think the tail revolution started when people were importing tailed dogs from the UK, Finland, and Sweden and started showing them. Then a lot of US breeders liked them and started keeping them too, and now it's pretty common. There were lots of tails on dogs at Nationals. I love that the standard is so forgiving of things like tails or coat patterns - as a rare breed I think it's important to keep good genes in the gene pool and not throw them out for silly things like tails or spotting patterns.
> 
> Does your breed breed at all? I probably know her or at least know of her dogs - it's a small Welshie world.


I know she's done some breeding in the past -- her name's Adrienne Bancker.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Shep said:


> elrohwen said:
> 
> 
> > I think the tail revolution started when people were importing tailed dogs from the UK, Finland, and Sweden and started showing them. Then a lot of US breeders liked them and started keeping them too, and now it's pretty common. There were lots of tails on dogs at Nationals. I love that the standard is so forgiving of things like tails or coat patterns - as a rare breed I think it's important to keep good genes in the gene pool and not throw them out for silly things like tails or spotting patterns.
> ...


Oh yeah! She is super well known in the breed community and a breed club officer. I met her at Nationals and stood next to her in the breed ring. I had to run in wearing jeans and a looking like a mess because I just finished Watson's RN in the other building. Haha


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## Wet Beards (Jan 25, 2015)

Hazel is one furry bundle of sweetness. Gorgeous.


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## Shep (May 16, 2013)

elrohwen said:


> Oh yeah! She is super well known in the breed community and a breed club officer. I met her at Nationals and stood next to her in the breed ring. I had to run in wearing jeans and a looking like a mess because I just finished Watson's RN in the other building. Haha


Adrienne is such a nice person! I see her all the time at obedience trials and matches, and she co-owns the training school where we have a lot of show & go's. I really like that she is so heavily involved in performance, with lots of advanced titles on her dogs. So many conformation people don't care about performance, but Adrienne's out there running people through ring routines, teaching heeling classes, stewarding agility, and on and on. She's a neat lady.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Shep said:


> Adrienne is such a nice person! I see her all the time at obedience trials and matches, and she co-owns the training school where we have a lot of show & go's. I really like that she is so heavily involved in performance, with lots of advanced titles on her dogs. So many conformation people don't care about performance, but Adrienne's out there running people through ring routines, teaching heeling classes, stewarding agility, and on and on. She's a neat lady.


Yeah, she was really nice. Not enough Welshie people do performance stuff so I really appreciate those who do! I know she showed one of her boys in obedience at Nationals.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

How did I miss this? She is *ADORABLE*


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## d_ray (Nov 5, 2013)

Frig, she kills me.

Does she acts similar to Watson when he was that age?


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

d_ray said:


> Frig, she kills me.
> 
> Does she acts similar to Watson when he was that age?


Yeah, pretty much. He didn't have another dog to interact with so much so I can't compare that part of how she acts, but otherwise she reminds me of him a lot. She runs hard and plays hard, and then crashes for a couple hours.

The nice thing is that she is FAR less bitey than he was. If you waved a toy at him he went for your hand, but she always goes for the toy. Hazel has rarely put her teeth on me, and it's usually only when she's excited and toys are too far away, but if I grab one she can be easily redirected. And even when she has bitten me it was really light. Watson was a shark from day 1 and still shows affection with teeth (though gently now, finally).


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Finally got some more Hazel pics! Most of these are not super new, they were taken by my dad a couple weeks ago.

She loves her kong tennis balls:


















She loves all of her toys, really.









She loves to play with Watson of course









Pretty puppy in the grass:









Super srs


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## Remaru (Mar 16, 2014)

How did I miss this thread? Hazel is such a cute little springy ball of puppy! I love her ears, and her freckles and well, she is just precious. I think she looks like her daddy but I may just see that because I know they are related.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Remaru said:


> How did I miss this thread? Hazel is such a cute little springy ball of puppy! I love her ears, and her freckles and well, she is just precious. I think she looks like her daddy but I may just see that because I know they are related.


I go back and forth. For a couple weeks I was sure she looked more like her mom, but now I'm seeing more Watson in her. In these pictures I still think she looks more like mom, actually. But Welshies all kind of look the same until you see a bunch in person


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## Sandakat (Mar 7, 2015)

That freckly face is just irresistible.


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## jade5280 (Feb 20, 2013)

I looooove that last pic. She's gorgeous!!!!


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Hazel went on vacation to New Hampshire last week! 


She is Hazel! Destroyer of plant life! (she was rarely outside without destroying some poor bush and carrying around the twigs)









Hanging out on the dock and watching kayakers is tons of fun

















Posing for the camera:

















The Welshies gang up on Grey. They never did figure out how to all play together and someone was always the third wheel (99% of the time it was Hazel, who just followed them around barking her head off)









Random Watson picture because <3









Vacation is exhausting when you're a puppy.


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## MelTruffles (Jan 27, 2015)

Dear Hazel, 

You are SOOOOOOOOOOO cute and sweet. I love you. 

That is all.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Hazel met the clippers for the first time! She is looking so much like Watson, especially without all of the ear floof.


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## jade5280 (Feb 20, 2013)

Lover her! It looks like you guys had a nice relaxing vacation!


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## Remaru (Mar 16, 2014)

You have beautiful dogs. Watching Kayakers does look like fun, the whole trip looks like a good time. I think I've figured out what we need to do for family vacation .


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

jade5280 said:


> Lover her! It looks like you guys had a nice relaxing vacation!


It was! We all would have preferred to have a little more to do though. Usually we rent a boat, but there was no where to rent from on this lake and free cabin won out over somewhere with a boat. Hopefully at some point we will have our own boat.

It was in NH and I thought of you and the hounds! Are you anywhere close to Fitzwilliam?



Remaru said:


> You have beautiful dogs. Watching Kayakers does look like fun, the whole trip looks like a good time. I think I've figured out what we need to do for family vacation .


Thank! Taking dogs to the lake is really nice. For the most part they just hang out and you don't have to worry about what you'll do with them when you go out to eat or do other activities (mostly because we don't go out to eat or do other activities!)


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## jade5280 (Feb 20, 2013)

elrohwen said:


> It was! We all would have preferred to have a little more to do though. Usually we rent a boat, but there was no where to rent from on this lake and free cabin won out over somewhere with a boat. Hopefully at some point we will have our own boat.
> 
> It was in NH and I thought of you and the hounds! Are you anywhere close to Fitzwilliam?


Cool! I'm only a 30 minute drive from Fitzwilliam. Do you know people who live there or did you just go for vaca? It's not really a touristy place, most people go up to lake winnipesaukee.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

jade5280 said:


> Cool! I'm only a 30 minute drive from Fitzwilliam. Do you know people who live there or did you just go for vaca? It's not really a touristy place, most people go up to lake winnipesaukee.


Oh wow! That's really close! 

My friend's grandma owns a cabin on Laurel Lake. They weren't sure if she would sell it after his grandpa died so they kind of held off on visiting, so this is the first year his parents have opened it back up and used it (his grandma lives in Delaware so she's not using it). Anyway, looks like we'll be going back in the future since it's nice and free! His parents live in Hillsboro, so fairly close which makes it convenient for them to stop by.


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## jade5280 (Feb 20, 2013)

Oh that's awesome! Maybe next time you're in the area we can meet up!


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

More pics from this past week, mostly pre-grooming.

Hazel went on her first hike! I was dumb and left my camera in the car so we didn't get any at the summit (and it's a really pretty view of the Hudson River). So here is a parking lot pic. Watson is way too excited to make eye contact with the camera:









Sleepy puppy in the car on the way home (I wish this lasted, but she was up and running the rest of the evening)

























They almost cuddle now. Usually Watson looks uncomfortable when she tries to be near him, but more often than not now he decides it's too much work to move.









So sleepy, but has to be where the action is - right in the middle of the kitchen and next to the gate to the bunny room.











jade5280 said:


> Oh that's awesome! Maybe next time you're in the area we can meet up!


Yeah! Definitely! I thought about you but figured you wouldn't be nearby, since nothing is really nearby. Haha. I'm sure we will be back.


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## jade5280 (Feb 20, 2013)

Awwww she is to die for! I love the family shot! It's not easy getting 2 dogs to stay still lol


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## JanJanBunny (Feb 23, 2013)

OmG She's gorgeous!!!! <3 <3 <3


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