We're Back!

Lucy & Jess at DCA

A new modem and millions of cookies deleted, my computer seems to be running normally again.  I can even upload pictures to my blog.

So much catching up to do here, so many changes have taken place in the past week.

Reebok has been bred to Argus with pups due in July.  I'll have to sit down and figure out the exact date.  She'll go back to Rosie for a few weeks while my new fence goes up, then come back to have her puppies here.  We are SO ready for puppies.  The guess is that she is not liver-factored, but both Rosie and I are hoping that she is.  Her father is pure for black, her mother is a liver factored black.  We could do the cheek swab test to find out if she carries liver, but we'll find out in 9 weeks.  Actually, one litter is not really a sufficient sample, so if she has liver pups we'll know she IS factored, but if she doesn't have any liver pups we won't be quite sure that she's not.  (My liver Gremlin once had 10 black puppies by liver factored Ringer.)

New fence project starts the week after next.  It turned out to be a lot bigger project than anticipated, as I have to move the fence on one side of my yard (it's between 2 & 8 inches over onto the neighbor's property).  It's a perfect time to replace some of the chainlink with additional privacy fencing.

Mariah's wound

Mariah's leg is healing nicely and we are still hoping to get her to Arizona.  The problem of course is the temperature, as dogs can't be shipped when it's over 85 on either end of the trip, and Arizona is already HOT.  She's been wearing an e-collar at night, but has left the stitches alone and has not bothered with the wound.  The stitches will come out in a few days.

Someone posted the following question to my blog.    "Why is mariah considered small? doesn't the standard say between 19 and 23 inches? if she is already almost 20 inches as a puppy, isn't that normal? just wondering! "

That's a very good question indeed!  Mariah is "too small" for my taste.  She is not growing and does not have enough bone to be taller than she is.  She would not be disqualified in the show ring, but she is smaller than I prefer to show.  I want my bitches to be about 22 inches tall and weigh about 45 pounds.  Mariah is less than 20 and weighs about 35 pounds.  She's actually going to a home (assuming we can get her there) where she might eventually be shown, but I am selling her as a pet.   Our "Peaches" was about Mariah's size, and although she did win some points she was "too small" to finish easily.  She was an excellent producer, had 7 champion offspring, earned a CD in obedience, and lived a long and healthy life.  Dogs don't care whether or not they get to be show dogs.

The standard is a guideline, and for all practical purposes we can show almost any dog that does not have a disqualifying fault. That doesn't mean that all those dogs SHOULD be shown, only that they CAN be shown.    Many people show dogs who I consider to have totally unacceptable spotting, dogs with terrible toplines, or nasty tails.  That's their right.  Tiny bitches can also be shown and fit the standard for size.  I just choose not to show them.   A breeder needs a mental picture of what the breed should look like (not can look like), needs to compare her dogs to that picture.