Puppies

UPDATE:  I've had occasional trouble getting email from this site.  If you have any trouble, please send email directly to

rneumeie@socket.net

And that should work!

ANOTHER UPDATE:  Want to see how puppies turn out as they grow up?  'Cause it's interesting to see how they grow and change.  The puppies from my first litter are two years old now!  How time flies!  Two of them even have puppies of their own!

ANOTHER UPDATE:  Curious about what it's like to breed a litter?  Here's my take on the experience.

2010

Update:  Bree had three puppies May 5th!  One tri boy, one tri girl, and one blenheim girl.  Scroll down to see the babies and read about their wonderful father..

Now, here are Bree's puppies!

	Seven weeks old and very active!  This is Tri Boy, now renamed Myrddin Emrys, called Merlin, though who knows what his eventual call name will be.  He, like his sisters, is learning to come when called and sit and down, right along with housetraining and crate training.  Puppies are so much fun to work with at this age!  So smart and willing!  The hardest part is getting them AWAY from you so that you can call them. Merlin is still for sale!  It's amazing how many people just insist on a girl.  He is lovely and sweet and not nearly as above it all as he looks here.  He is just tired, because . . .
	. . . he spent the last forty minutes beating up his aunt Adora.  Fierce little puppy! Adora is wonderful about playing with the puppies -- indulgent and gentle.
	Here is Eilionoir -- Elyn or Elli for short.  She is the sweetest and smallest of the puppies. I really wanted a beautifully marked tri girl from this litter, and look!  Here she is!  But although it is a touch early to really make the final decision, I am leaning toward keeping the blenheim girl and placing this puppy out as a pet. I think the decision will come down to tiny cosmetic features.  Both girls from this litter are so, so nice at this point, it will be hard to sell either one.  But I am thinking of buying a really nice teenage puppy from Linda Dupuy in Michigan and that means keeping only one girl from this litter. This puppy would make a promising show dog.  I mean, I was certainly planning to show her!
	Doesn't she look sweeeet?  No, she is fooling you:  this puppy has ATTITUDE. This is Eibhlin -- Eve for short.  She is incredibly active and outgoing and clearly the dominant puppy in this litter, which I would never have guessed when they were four weeks old.  Her attitude screams that SHE is the WINNER -- a personality which is great in the show ring but a touch less easy to live with in a pet. I love this puppy!  This is the one I will most likely keep, even though I suspect the tricolor puppies may turn out to have prettier heads.  But I can't be totally sure just yet.  I evaluate structure and movement at eight weeks. If only I had a crystal ball that would show me how they would look in a year!

About the parents --

Bree's head isn't that pretty, but structurally she's very nice.  She has a great front!  A wonderful neck and shoulder, good angulation all through, good shape and outline, carries herself well -- but she is a bit big.  I am hoping for a puppy with a little less size and a lovely head, but similar great structure.

I am so excited about the father of this litter!  Take a look at Guy and then scroll down to read all about him.

Bree	Guy

Bree turned two Christmas Eve 2009.  She has her first two rally titles and I'm sure I'll easily finish off her 'Excellent' title this year -- she's very easy to show.  She did her health clearances in January 2010.  Her mom just cleared her heart again, too, which is good to see.  Bree has a pedigree filled with plenty of excellent, sound, healthy, long-lived dogs, including a great dog named Sanickro Made By Magic. 

Now, Guy is a pretty special dog, which is the only reason I'd consider driving all the way to Minneapolis to breed Bree to him, believe me!  He's from Scotland.  His show name is Kinvaar Obsession.  Guy also goes back to Sanickro Made By Magic, so when I take Bree to Guy, it will be a linebreeding on this really great, healthy, long-lived dog.  Guy himself is seven years old and heart clear, but the thing about Guy (besides his beauty!) is the back of his skull.  He's one of the go-to dogs if you're really *serious* about trying to avoid syringomyelia.  He's racking up an impressive record as a producer -- that is, his offspring tend to look really good as far as avoiding SM goes, way better than average.  And he's siring really beautiful offspring, definitely a plus.

***

2009's single puppy:

Eff's Puppy!  This puppy's sire was Sanicro Enchanter at Heartsong, a fabulous dog -- you can scroll down to read about him -- but unfortuantely, Eff only had the one puppy.  I named her Daireann, which means 'fertile' -- a hope and suggestion for the future!  Maybe she'll manage to actually have an average-sized litter.

	Born 9-22-09, Dara was 11 oz at birth, which I thought was huge until Bree's 12 oz tri girl beat her.  Here she is three and a half weeks -- with her 'siblings'!  Because she was a single puppy, she needed substitutes to take the place of her littermates.  She still loves her bear!
	Dara at three months old.

Dara's daddy --

Timmy.  'Timmy' is CKCSC and AKC Ch Sanickro Enchanter at Heartsong.  He is twelve!!! and still heart clear!  He's just as good as it gets as far as heart quality goes.  He's clear for everything, and not only that, he was the top CKCSC dog in 1999!  Timmy won all kinds of Best in Shows at Cavalier specialties under any number of top breeder-judges.  He is a totally fantastic dog.  It is just luck that I saw Linda Dupuy's ad in the 2009 CKCSC yearbook, because I assumed he was long retired as a stud dog.  But far from being retired, he his still siring puppies just as well as any two-year-old.  Plus because he has offspring that are eight and nine years old, we can also see that his puppies tend to get his outstanding heart quality, too!  As far as Linda knows, he's never sired a puppy with SM -- and since she never sells puppies out of state, she would probably know.

Tips for Puppy Buyers

If you are interested in one of my puppies, then --

Please write a real letter.  Tell me your name, plus a little bit about yourself and your family and your current pets and why your family would be a good fit for a Cavalier -- just tell me something more than you are looking for a puppy.  Most people do not provide enough information about themselves when inquiring about a puppy.  Cavalier puppies are suitable for many, many homes, but they are not suitable for every home!  And besides that, every specific puppy is suitable only for some good homes, not every possible good home.  I need to know enough about you to make sure that your home is actually a good fit for a puppy and make a reasonable guess about which individual puppy would be a good fit for your home.

What I offer:

Copies of all relevant health certificates for the parents.

A statement from my vet that the puppy's own patellas are sound at the time of sale.

Photos of the puppy as a tiny baby -- I mean, I'm taking pictures anyway! 

A guarantee covering heart and hips.

A detailed handout on housetraining, plus a handout for general tips about Cavalier puppies.

A money-back return clause in case you quickly discover that the puppy isn't working out for you.

And an offer to reimburse you for heart and eye checks on your puppy as it grows up, as long as I have related dogs in my breeding program -- I always want to know about health issues if any occur!

BTW, if you are looking for a quality, healthy, pretty Cavalier for a pet, I really urge you to think hard about whether you HAVE to have a female.  I know that eighty or ninety percent of pet buyers are looking for a girl puppy, but if you are flexible about color and sex, it is a LOT easier to get a really nice puppy.  (This is because breeders keep the nicest girls themselves.)  Male Cavaliers famously have the sweetest personalities.  (True fact!)  If I were looking for a pet, I sure wouldn't want to pass on a really good puppy just because there aren't any of the "right" sex or color available.  I promise you, no matter what color you think is your favorite, when a puppy of some other color crawls into your lap, you will be charmed by that puppy in nothing flat.

See Previous Litters here