Puppy Inquiries

Several more good puppy inquiries this past week.  It's nice to hear from people who have put a lot of thought into the idea of acquiring a Dalmatian puppy, and also understand why a breeder would want to know about their home and family.  Responsible breeders put a lot of time, money, effort, and emotion into health testing, planning a breeding, getting the deed accomplished, raising the puppies properly, and placing them in the appropriate homes.  We CARE where our puppies end up.

Now that things are actually happening here - Lucy's pups due in two weeks, and Pauli successfully bred, it's time to post and share the puppy pages (pictures, pedigrees, information about sire and dam), and find out what the potential buyers are actually looking for - companion, show, performance, color, sex, energy level, personality type. (HOPE to get that done next week.)  Of course most potential buyers will start off saying that they would prefer a black-spotted female, but most will be actually be perfectly happy with liver pups or males.  It's funny how the "traditional" preference for a companion dog is a female, yet in this breed the males are often the sweetest, most willing, and most affectionate.  If I could only have one Dal it would most certainly be a male.

When I had my first litter of Dals over 40 years ago, livers were very uncommon in the breed, and most people didn't even know they existed.  Now many of my inquiries are specifically for livers, Brownies we call them, while others say they would prefer black but liver would be OK.  Then they see the liver pups and suddenly it's liver they prefer.  Nothing cuter than little Brownie boys!

I just love this picture of Argus as a pup (at the top), laying with his friends Josie, and Morris, all Brownies.  Morris was an elderly dog at the time I got Argus, but like all my boys was very tolerant of puppy antics.   Like Morris, Argus went on to become a multiple Best In Show winner.  Morris was the grandsire of our Coral, who just turned 14 yesterday.  Such terrific memories I have of all the wonderful Dals who have shared by life!

I'll be leaving shortly, heading down to Kansas City to pick up Pauli who has been honeymooning with Louie.  I'll spend the night with Maryla who owns two of our Brownie dogs, RedHots (Watson son) and Phoenix (Coral daughter).  I've sure met a lot of interesting people through my dogs!  On Saturday I will connect with Louie's owner Becky to retrieve Pauli, drive home to connect with Jess who will be taking Pauli home until she is out of season, and leaving Amery with me for the week.  Amery is a beautiful Penny daughter who I will be showing at the National next month.  She lives with our friend Laurie, but is co-owned by Laurie, Jessica and me.  She's a beauty and I'm expecting that she will do well at the National.  Yep, she's a Brownie too.

Time to load up Letty and hit the road. Letty is riding along to keep me company - it's lonely traveling without a dog.   Stay tuned.