June 11, 2021. Day 32. New digs, and everyone loves it!!! Below are a few photos of the puppies’ first day in their expanded play area. Water is provided in the corner. Two crates are available for exploration or rest. Potty pads are placed in areas where we want puppies to potty, and blankets are put down where we want puppies to eat, sleep, and play. In the next few days, we expect all puppies to sharpen their potty skills by targeting the potty pads. Little by little, we’ll expand the play areas and reduce the potty areas, until we achieve the goal of having every puppy seek out one single potty pad to do their business on.
June 10, 2021. Day 31. We spy a lot of activity happening in the puppy pen today! It’s a sign that we really need to give them some more real estate, so they have room to wrestle, play, chase, and engage with one another. Meal-time continues to go well; everyone loves their food! And Brandy is also still sneaking in a few times a day to nurse the kiddos.
June 9, 2021. Day 30. The puppies have officially discovered the comforts of hanging out and sleeping in a crate!!! This is the first step of crate training (acclimation). In the next week or so, we’ll start shutting them into their crates while they nap so we can better control when we lead them out to potty (this is also an element of the potty training process). We’ll also give them some more real estate so they can wander and explore. Please please please keep up with crate training once you bring your puppy home. Further reading here:
- The Value of Crate Training
- Seven Reasons to Crate Train Your Weimaraner
- A Beginner’s Guide to Crate Training Part I
- A Pet Owner’s Guide to the Dog Crate
June 6, 2021. Day 27. Introduction to raw goats milk and their first meal (a warm mixture of milk and pulverized puppy kibble) was a smashing success! Everyone filled their bellies until they waddled like piggies. Mamma Brandy is also still happy to nurse the kiddos so they’re very well taken care of. As the puppies get older, the gruel will include more kibble and less milk, and by the time they’re about 6 weeks old, the kibble will be left in chunks for them to chew on (their teeth are already in, by the way). And the puppies LOVE their stuffy crinkly toys.
June 4, 2021. Day 25. Puppies can see! Puppies can hear! And they’ve officially entered the stage where they play with one another, bite one another, and wrestle altogether. In the next few days we’ll introduce the puppies to a few toys with different smells and textures, and we’ll also introduce new flooring to get them used to walking all over different surfaces.
June 1, 2021. Day 22. New digs!!! The puppies have moved from the guest bedroom upstairs to the dining room downstairs. Their current home is a 4′ x 6′ area with an elevated platform in the back, and potty pads on the ground in the front. There’s also an Intermediate Ruffland crate in the back without the doors on to help acclimate puppies to a crate. The set-up includes little stair steps to help the puppies get up and down, but as you can see in one of the below photos, they don’t really need it. At night, everyone fell asleep just outside their crate. That’s okay, they’ll figure out how to sleep inside in the next few days.
May 31, 2021. Day 21. While Barry stayed home to take care of the puppies, I hit the road for a long weekend to attend a field trial in Flagstaff, Arizona. (For the uninitiated, field trials are sporting events for hunting dogs, and many Barrett dogs compete in them across the country throughout the year.) It was a quick trip, but we were able to unplug from cell phone range for a few days and catch up with some friends. At home, Brandy’s puppies were observed to be climbing out of their whelping box (which started on Day 20), so our next move will be moving them downstairs into a bigger area.
May 26, 2021. Day 16. Baby puppies normally get satin ribbons when they’re born, and those ribbons are usually pretty good for them until about week four, when we switch them into their first set of biothane collars. Imagine our surprise, then, that at just two weeks of age, Brandy’s puppies have hulked out of their ribbons and are now sporting their solid “big kid” collars. What this means: Brandy’s doing a great job keeping everyone fed and happy, and puppies are getting bigger by the minute!
May 24, 2021. Day 14. The puppies are growing like weeds, and their eyes are now open. Puppies have begun to walk and toddle across the whelping box. Mamma Brandy is doing a great job feeding everyone but also likes to enjoy her “rest time” by napping on top of the guest bed. We have three more days of bio-sensing puppies and then we’ll move onto the next development phase. The biggest boy continues to be Blue Collar, and the smallest girl continues to be Purple Collar. Everyone’s doing great!!
May 17, 2021. Day 7. The puppies are one week old today and very well taken care of. Brandy is a dedicated mom who spends 100% of her day in the whelping box feeding and cleaning all eight of them. Special thanks to Barry for holding down the fort while I was away most of the week. Also, a “thanks in advance” to Barry for taking care of the puppies this week as well, since I’m flying to Phoenix tomorrow to deliver Josie’s puppies on Wednesday.
May 10, 2021. Day 0. Barrett Weimaraners is pleased to announce the safe and uneventful arrival of four boys and four girls affectionately dubbed as “The Constellation Eight.” Mama Brandy took to motherhood like a duck to water and everyone is gaining weight. Families on the wait-list for a Brandy puppy will be notified in the next few days. Those who aren’t able to get a puppy out of this litter will be moved to another litter later in the year.
November 20, 2020. Barrett Weimaraners is pleased to confirm a planned breeding this Spring between Baja and Brandy. The purpose of this breeding is to produce a tough, powerful, athletic hunting dog with excellent stamina and good range.
The best puppies out of this litter are expected to do very well in AKC field trials, hunt tests and ratings. As companion dogs, we expect them to be active, loyal, affectionate, protective, and family-oriented.
The best homes for puppies out of this litter are those who are experienced with Weimaraners, and who don’t have cats in the house. The anticipated prey drive for puppies out of this litter is too high for the average family to successfully acclimate the puppy to household cats.
More about Baja. 
Baja (2016 Rossi x Mika) was bred to be a big running, hard hunting dog. With loads of natural talent, Baja won the 2018 Western Field Futurity, and was later steadied up by his owner to compete in local adult field trial stakes. In their down-time, Charles and Baja have been known to try other things: Baja has his Junior Hunter title, is NAVHDA NA prized, and has show points to boot. !!! At home Baja loves to go swimming, and is easy going, loyal, and sweet.
Baja and his dad in the show ring
Baja is his dad’s best boy
Earning his Junior Hunter title
Baja in the snow
More about Brandy. Brandy was bred to be a field trial powerhouse. As a youngster, she lived with Mike in Michigan and was given a proper start with basic training and socialization. As a juvenile dog, Brandy went on to train with Diane Vater of AlphaDog, and traveled the Field Trial circuit in the Open Puppy and Open Derby stakes. Her greatest placement was getting into the ribbons in the National Open Derby stake in Ardmore, Oklahoma. (Her littermate sister Trixey won the stake.) In Summer 2020, Brandy came out west to try her hand at field trialing in the wide open desert. Brandy will be steadied up in Summer 2021 and be ready to compete in Open Gun Dog stakes in Autumn 2021. At home Brandy is quiet, sweet, affectionate, and naturally very well behaved.
Brandy 4th Place National Open Derby – December 2019 – Ardmore, OK
Brandy loves to snuggle
Brandy at home
Brandy – The look on her face when I told her she was five weeks pregnant
Key Dates:
- March 2021 – Breeding
- April 2021 – Pregnancy confirmation
- May 2021 – Puppies due
- July 2021 – Puppies placed with new families
12/15 UPDATE: The interest list for this litter is full. For those interested in a future Barrett puppy (pet/companion, or otherwise), please feel free to check out our other planned breedings and submit a prospective owner questionnaire if there’s a litter you might be interested in getting a puppy from. Thank you!
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Sire Information:
Barrett’s Stars N’ Stripes JH NSD NAVHDA NA III, “Baja”
AKC SR93981412, DOB 7/2/2016, Sire: FCH PM Trax Trigger Happy NAVHDA NAI, “Rossi,” Dam: Southpaw’s In the Red, “Mika,” Bred by Kim Burnell, Owned by Charles and Kristi Salse, OFA Hips: Good, OFA Thyroid: Normal, OFA Elbows: Normal, HUU N/N, HYM N/N, SD N/N, Coat Length S/S
Dam Information:
Heartbeats Back Door Baby Brandy, “Brandy”
AKC SS09122201, DOB 6/13/2018, Sire: Heartbeats Stroked and Blowin, “Camaro,” Dam: Heartbeats Bravo Beanie, “Beanie“ Bred by Mike Wiacek, Owned by Mike Wiacek and Kim Burnell, OFA Hips: Good, OFA Thyroid: Pending, HUU N/N, HYM N/N, SD N/N, Coat Length S/S
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