Previous Litters

2008

I wasn't going to breed a litter this summer, but Pippa came in season at such a convenient time and then I had a conversation with her breeder about potential stud dogs to use and so, well . . .

The father of this litter is AKC Champion Sevenwoods Highfield Dune.

Dune is a young blenheim boy, just three years old.  In breeding, he's very, very Homerbrent; this will be a classic linebreeding, because Pippa's dad is Homerbrent Esquire.  Dune's got wonderful structure, great pigment, and a sweet temperament -- he's an all-around lovely guy.

Pippa has current clearances for patellas, hips, eyes, and heart.  Dune has all of the above, plus an MRI -- plus both of Dune's parents have been MRI'd and some of his grandparents.  I'm very excited about plugging into a family tree that lets me have real confidence about avoiding syringomyelia.

Pippa also has her rally novice and rally advanced titles and one leg each for rally excellent and regular novice obedience.  She moves FAST in the ring and the biggest challenge is keeping up with her!  She's very glamorous, but has just the slightest underbite; here's hoping for some splendid, glamorous puppies with great bites!

The litter should arrive about August 7th 2008.

UPDATE:

August 8th!  Pippa had an easy time in the whelping box (easy according to me, she might have a different opinion!), delivering her puppies in a bit less than two hours.  And during the middle of the day instead of the wee hours of the morning -- what a girl!

She had three puppies, one boy and two girls.  All blenheim, naturally, from a blen x blen cross.

Here we are on September 26th -- the puppies are seven weeks old today!  All three of them look like they're going to have pretty heads and fabulous bodies.

	Here's Boy -- I was working hard to get him to stand still for half a second!  Boy is so attracted to people, it's hard to get him far enough away to take a picture!  He's a fearless charmer with personality plus!  He has the best pigment and cleanest markings of the bunch.
	Here's Boy again, resting up from trying to dig a hole in the bottom of the pet bed.  Doesn't he have lovely face markings?  It looks like Boy is going to have an underbite, though, so even though he is my favorite puppy, he is destined to make somebody else a fabulous pet.
	This is Girl One.  She is so adorable in this picture, I can hardly stand it!  Girl One is a chunky little thing who is probably going to have the prettiest head and best body of the litter, and her bite is the best right now -- but her markings are not as perfect as those of her littermates.
	Here is Girl Two.  She has the prettiest face markings, doesn't she?  She is a lovely little creature, and so sweet!
	And here's Girl Two again, investigating the petunias.  Pretty topline, nice rear, good body all round!  Girl Two is a charmer in every way.

***

  Kerah gave me a great Christmas gift for 2007!  Two blenheim girls and one ruby girl were born by c-section on Christmas Eve.

The father of this litter is a beautiful tricolor male, CKCSC and AKC Ch. Flying Colors It's All About Me

Speedy is a double champion -- not only an AKC Champion, but also (and this is considerably harder to get) a CKCSC Champion.  Speedy has Sanickro dogs in his ancestry, as does Kerah, so this breeding is a fairly loose linebreeding on Ch. Sanickro Made By Magic and, back a little farther, the splendid English Champion Alberto of Kindrum.

Speedy is a more glamorous dog than Kerah, with a lovely head and good size, bone, proportion, and coat.  I was sort of hoping he'd give me a tricolor puppy -- I could have gotten puppies of any color in this litter.  But hey, I like all the colors and I did get well-marked blenheims and an adequately-marked ruby.  What I'm REALLY hoping for is a truly glamorous puppy with good structure.

Because this was Kerah's second c-section, I spayed her.  Fortunately she gave me all girls again, so I'll keep another daughter to go one with.  That makes me feel much better that these will be her last puppies!

	Here they are!  Three lovely little girls, one day old!
	Ruby Girl, four weeks -- this is a vigorous little girl who is bold and determined and isn't shy about letting the world know what she thinks!  She's the first puppy to really seem to have a personality.
	Here's Blenheim Girl #1 at four weeks (Blen #2 is in the background, of course).  Kerah's just deciding that the puppies are actually cute and sort of fun to play with!  This was the first puppy to grab a sister's ear and tug -- the very first play gesture!  Then she fell asleep again, thump!  Puppies this age still spend most of their time sleeping.
	And here at last is Blenheim Girl #2, front and center!  She's still pretty wobbly on her feet, but . . . what IS that strange fluffy thing?  She climbed up on the toy when she got to it and fell asleep.
Stacked photos of the babies at eight weeks:  The one on the right is the one I'm keeping (Blen Girl # 2).  I'm going to call her Anara Brilliant -- I think she may well live up to her name!  She certainly thinks she does: she is vibrant, exuberant puppy who is definitely going to be a handful!  She is a bit more petite than her sisters, but they also have fluffier puppy coats, which makes them look a bit heavier than they are.

***

I expect to have a litter from Kerah in the summer of 2007, by Closeburn Dougal Sinclair.

Update:  Confirmed pregnant 5-8-07!  Yay, Kerah!

Update:  Puppies delivered by c-section 6-10-07 -- two healthy girls!

There was a third puppy, a blenheim girl, but unfortunately she died a few days before Kerah went into labor.  That's why there were complications and why the c-section was necessary.  Luckily, the complications weren't too hard on Kerah and the remaining puppies are very strong and vigorous!  I was hoping for girls to keep, and I've decided to keep both of these babies.  They looked very promising structurally at eight weeks -- now it's just a matter of waiting to see how they turn out in the end.  Good job, Kerah!  And, oh, I guess Dougal deserves a pat, too.

Here are the proud parents -- puppy pics below!

Kerah was bred to Dougal in April '07, at 2 years old.

Dougal is five years old and has an ancestry of vigorous long-lived dogs behind him.  His ancestors include Kindrum, Salador, and Sanickro dogs, among others.  His father was Geronsart Remembrance and his mother Sanickro Nikita of Closeburn.  Dougal is linebred on the famous English dog, Alberto of Kindrum, and also goes back to English Champion Sukev Spitting Image, and one of the all-time greats in the breed, English Champion Salador Crismark. 

Because Kerah's grandfather is AKC Ch Sanickro Magic Star, a dog who also goes back to Alberto of Kindrum, this litter will, like their dad, be linebred on Alberto.

Dougal is a lovely blenheim dog with a fine show career.  He won Best Puppy twice at CKCSC shows and he's won one CKCSC major -- big accomplishments as it's very difficult to win majors in the CKCSC.  He's got a fine body, with the excellent layback of shoulder that's so difficult to get and keep in a breeding program.  I'm hoping he'll complement Kerah's structure while also passing his glamour and "cushy" head on to her puppies.  He's similar to Kerah in temperament, being a sweet laid-back kind of guy.

Since Dougal is a blenheim and Kerah is a ruby with a blenheim mother, both ruby and blenheim puppies were expected in this litter.  And that's what I got!  One of each.

	Here's Kerah on the first day after the section -- she thought the puppies were weird alien creatures from Mars, but at least she was willing to nurse if I put the puppies on her.  Note her twelve pink stitches!  The incision itself didn't seem to bother her a bit, but yes, she said walking or moving much hurt.
	One week old, and Kerah is now a good mom.  It took 72 hours for her maternal instincts to really kick in -- that's what a c-section, especially for a first litter, will do.  I was very glad when she started cleaning the puppies herself!  Can you spot the ruby girl?
	Here she is!  Out by herself where you can get a good look.  She is two weeks old here.  Do you see that her eyes are just opening?  She first started to open her eyes at thirteen days.  Her sister was one day later to start opening hers.
	Three weeks old, and just barely starting to get up on their feet.  They are both VERY wobbly!  The blenheim girl can make it about three steps before she falls over -- the ruby girl can go backwards, but not really forwards.  They've started playing with toys!  It's very cute.
	Four weeks old!  The puppies can now walk sort of steadily, even on tile.  If you pick one up and put her on newspaper, she'll do her business -- here's hoping that in another week or so, the puppies will toddle over to the newspapers all by themselves!  They pounce on toys, on each other, and on their mother.  Kerah plays very gently with them -- she stretches out and wags her tail gently and looks like she's having the best time.
	Five weeks, and aren't they just too cute?  It's impossible to stop taking pictures.
	Six weeks, and enjoying the outdoor world.  They bounce over obstacles with enthusiasm -- although sometimes they still take an unexpected tumble.
	Seven weeks old -- this was my first attempt to get "stacked" pictures.   As you can see, the blenheim girl was hard to set up -- I could NOT get her head turned forward at the right moment.
	Eight weeks -- this is the age where puppy structure is believed to be a preview of adult structure, so I worked really hard to get the best possible stacked pictures.

The blenheim puppy is now named Anara Affection -- Effie for short.  She's crouching a little because she doesn't yet feel all that comfortable on the table, but you can plainly see that her angulation is very good both front and rear and her topline looks good (fuzzy coat notwithstanding).  The ruby puppy is now Anara Adornment -- Adora.  She's not set up as well in this picture, as in some others, but this picture catches her leaning forward and looking good.  She's structurally very similar to her sister -- perhaps not quite as good, but still very nice.  Right now she has the better head.

These puppies are not for sale.  They look too promising as show prospects to sell, and if one fails a health check, then I'm going to be awfully glad I kept them both!.  If you might be interested in a puppy from a future litter, however, please contact me.