Ruby was the pick female puppy in a litter bred by Rita Grenyer (Auckland), whose kennel name is Von Sahne. The litter was sired by her NZ Champion dog living in America with Nighthawk Kennels (see Baxter here), via AI, and a NZ Champion bitch she leased from Christchurch, Tart N Tights of Marqee. Baxter has also been breed to a hot stuff Rottweiler bitch recently, click here to see them. We all have great hopes for Ruby. Rita had intended to keep this puppy, but has a 5 month old pup at home as well. We met Rita in July 2007, and she has been in Rottweilers for many years. She has produced numerous NZ Champions, and is known for producing dogs with lovely temperament.
Ruby is, as you can see, very pretty. She's also very smoochy and cuddly. I don't think any of our prior 3 Rotties were this cuddly as pups. She's also very confident, playful, and curious. The cats have been chased a few times. Jazz is quite tolerant of her, and Ruby will lie down and bark at Jazz if he hisses at her. Latte, our other cat, tries to stay out of her way completely, for now. He's not afraid, just likes to watch from a distance.
Fargo is doing really well with her. He's very tolerant and calm. He stepped on her once yesterday, so she's careful to watch out for him.
I had forgotten how hard it is to photograph puppies. They move around so much and so fast. Many of the photos we've taken are blurry, so these are the best I could get. She is not very happy to be alone in the crate in the bedroom, so we're a bit sleep deprived. This weekend was rainy, so we had a mostly relaxing weekend at home, getting the pup adjusted to her new environment. We had originally intended to go up to our new property, which we closed on this week. I made fresh Bratwurst sausages (5.5 lbs) on Saturday. Darin bought me a bunch of "medium hog casings" at the butchery supply shop, packed in salt, that will make 40 kg of sausage. They keep in the fridge indefinitely, I understand. The local butchers aren't allowed to sell them anymore for some reason, so now I have my own stash to last a decade. The sausages cooked up really nice when poached in beer. I make them lean, with pork and veal, using Penzey's Bratwurst seasoning. I love Penzey's spices. We're big fans of the Bold Taco seasoning, so if you come from the US to visit, I require that you bring some. (16 oz please).
The video below, forwarded by my friend Holly, made me laugh out loud, repeatedly. Enjoy!
The following photo is my brother-in-law at the Kumeu Wine and Food Festival. The stall was selling "American-style" hot dogs. We had a really nice time visiting the different wineries and breweries and food stalls. 
Check out the beautiful food decoration at the Thai restaurant's booth.
We were supposed to bring home a Rottweiler puppy this weekend, but we decided against taking the one the breeder selected for us. My sister and I did a puppy aptitude test (Volhard) on the 3 pups, and the little girl showed some less desirable responses. Her temperament appeared to be more of a challenge than the others, and the breeder thought this would be fine for us, because we're experienced owners (this will be our 4th Rottie). If I ever breed a litter of pups, I'm not going to sell a pup to a family with a 16 month old child and it's their first Rottweiler (I'm slightly bitter). I was really sad about it but now realize it's the right decision. I've done well by following my gut instinct before. The right puppy will be there for me, when the time is right.