O Solé Mio

We had a pretty, sunny day the other day and took advantage of it to show some of the new blooms around here.
These are the kids I'm growing on.

Jenga (Toreth's Game Changer) 10 weeks old. (1/15/12) Sire is Lincoln, Dam Celie. This will be Celie's last litter. She's done her part. I'm really grateful for this one, Celie.

Kohl (Toreth's Jingle Bell Rock) 14 weeks. (12/22/11) Sire TM, Dam Rogue. I can hardly wait to show off the reach this fellow has!
Born on Winter Solstice the litter theme was Christmas/Winter. I wanted a black boy from this breeding so badly I would have made a deal with the devil. So I got a Kohl in my stocking for being a bad girl.

Zuzu (Toreth's It's A Wonderful Life). 14 weeks (12/22/11). This girl is quite simply beautiful!  Her name is a reference to the little girl in the movie. I can't believe how many people I have talked to that have never seen this great film! In the story the main character, George, has a daughter named Zuzu. He comforts her and in the process ends up with some flowers in his pocket. Then he ends up having this hallucinatory experience that teaches him to be grateful. When it's over he knows he's back to reality because Zuzu's petals are in his pocket.
Like George I keep checking to see if this is real. She is truly wonderful and I am grateful.

So I haven't been blogging much lately. As wonderful as life may be it can get busy.

I was hoping for another litter next week. But that appears not to be in the cards. It's just as well since we are sure to have more sun and more chores. Do you hear that Spring? We're expecting more sun... sigh... Life in the Pacific Northwest...

Puppies and more puppies!!

So yes. I have a few dogs around here.

We had one litter born a few days before Christmas. Those guys are 8 weeks old plus a couple of days.

One of the boys (black or brindle) and a girl  brindle with an all white head) are still available. Sound health history and temperaments are wonderful.

And another litter was born a few weeks after that. They are almost 5 weeks old now. A black boy and two black girls are still available from that litter. Again sound health history and beautiful, sweet temperaments as these are my first priorities.

Please email me at imleo9@gmail.com if you are interested. It's really important they go to homes that are ready for them so we will talk a lot and get to know each other before I let them go. I encourage my puppy families to ask me lots of questions too and come to visit us on our little hill if you possibly can.

Thanks for looking.

Pictures please!!!!

 I've been hearing you. I know I haven't posted on this blog for way too long! Sorry. I will try and do better.
Above are the blue boys from Celie and Lincoln's litter. It's a game theme for their names. Scrabble is on the one yawning and Bingo is smelling puppy breath. And I just realized I never made this litter's announcement here. Will correct that ASAP!!

We have had sun for several days now and today I took some pictures of the Winter Solstice babies (TM and Rogue are the parents) out in it. Winter babies don't get outside much so this has been very welcome for all of us. The house is getting a good airing out. eh-hem...

 breakfast was Turkey and Pumpkin al Fresco

 followed by a nap in the cabana...

I hope to post more soon! Thanks for your patience!

Nativity At Toreth

Peace to all.

For the curious: What went wrong...

If you look closely you can find the puppy we lost. He or she was virtually folded in half and blocking the cervix.
This puppy wouldn't have survived anyway as it suffered some deformities. Perhaps it had already died in utero and that is why it got stuck. No way to know for sure.
Had this been a bitch in the wild or left to do her business under the porch she and all her babies would have died. I am grateful we live in a time where we have the technology and knowledgeable people who can save lives.
While I was in the moment it was difficult to know whether to wait or intervene. Looking back on it I think we acted appropriately and in a timely manner.

Rogue and babies are doing great. Only one baby lost a little weight, Yule. It's normal for them to do that the first couple of days and my reassurance comes from the fact that he is strong and vocal and keeps his belly full on his own. And this morning he regained a little of what he had lost.

The Longest Night...and Morning.

So if you haven't heard the news already Rogue had her babies last night and this morning. So technically they are Solstice babies and not Christmas but we'll see what I can come up with for names over the next couple of days.
Rogue freewhelped two. A black boy and a brindle boy. Then one puppy got stuck and sadly didn't make it. The rest tumbled out via c-section at around 10 am.


And here they are...

Jolly

Black Boy 1, 11 oz., born naturally.

Elf

Black Boy 2, 8.5 oz., C-section. Maybe what is referred to as a Black Brindle... hmmm.

Yule

Brindle Boy 1, 11.5 oz., born naturally. He seems to be asking, "Ever have one of those days where you wonder why you were born?"

Nog

Brindle Boy 2, 10.5 oz., C-section.

Nick

Brindle Boy 3, 12 oz., C-section (and so are all the rest that come after).

And now for the Brindle Girls...

Ummmm, can you say Double Trouble? I can hardly tell them apart!

 Angel

White-headed Girl 1, she has a spot on her belly, 10 oz.

 Spirit

White-headed Girl 2, no belly spot, 9 oz.

Holly
This one's markings are similar to her black brother, 8.5 oz.

Ginger

And tipping the scale at 12.5 oz. is this beautiful girl.

Rogue is a fantastic mother and all the babies are doing great!
Big thanks are due to many people. First to my husband and my three girls. Thomas and Chloe the oldest in particular helped keep watch over Rogue while I had to work. Because they do so much to keep my little hobby going in a healthy way they helped with names.
Also much thanks to Orchards Veterinary Clinic. The staff are so great and I am so grateful they weren't too busy for Rogue and her babies. They all stopped whatever else that could wait to get the many babies started on their first breaths and latchings.

Rogue's Advent Calendar

4 weeks to grow... I mean go.

Belly getting rounder, belly hair thinner, and milk faucets getting bigger... yep! TM x Rogue babies in there!!!
Since we did progesterone testing we are pretty certain the due date is Christmas Eve/Christmas Day... give or take a day or two. But I've got a pile of potential names based on Christmas movies and songs. And I've put up a countdown widget for the litter's expected arrival.
If you would like to be considered for one of these puppies please contact me. Babies will be black or brindle.
***Correction (11/28/11): babies may be black with tan or brindle points, brindle, red/sable. See chart here. Both Rogue and TM are brindle and carry tri.
##### Further understanding (11/29/11): TM is homozygous for brindle. (Rogue probably is too.) He carries red and tri. (As does Rogue as all brindles carry red and Rogue's sire was tri which means he had to give her a tri gene.) Brindle is dominant and only one gene is needed for it to be expressed. So if the babies have a red base they will be brindles, some will carry tri. If they express the tri (they have to receive a tri chromosome from both TM and Rogue so only 25% chance) they will be black with brindle points. If you're confused by all of this I understand. It's taken me 2 days of reading whenever I had a little spare time to make sure I have it right. I might at some point draw up a Pundett square but the bottom line is there will be mostly brindle babies and a few black/brindle-pointed babies in The Christmas Litter.

New Kids On The Block

Well, they've been here for a while now. Just busy with them and life.

First there's Bessie (Samhain's Flyin' High).

Here she is at I believe 19 weeks. She was my oldest daughter Chloë's 16th birthday present. Out of Kim and Mark's Dash x Ana, she's a really lovely bitch in many ways and has been such a wonderful addition to the family.

Then a few weeks later I got a boy from Paul Chen. 

This remarkable guy is named Sirius (no registered name as yet). His dam is Paul's fabulous Jolene and the sire is Rocky. This boy wows me every time we're out for a walk. Impeccable movement. Gorgeous front. The sweetest temperament to boot. I can hardly wait to get to take him out in the ring.

Hopes and Dreams

First time I'm flying solo in a breeding. Well, sort of solo. I have listened to lots of advice from some great mentors and friends. Not everyone agrees which dog would make a good husband for Rogue. But the vast majority advocated for this 10-year-old old boy:

I had the opportunity to go over GCH Shadowalk Trademark (TM for short) a couple of weeks ago at the Richland dog show weekend. Him and some of his kids. TM has a marvelous shoulder well laidback and the longest upper arm I've ever felt on a dog, nearly as long as his shoulder blade.
The standard asks for: "Shoulders -slope downward and outward from the withers sufficiently to accommodate desired rib-spring. Shoulder blade (scapula) long and well laid back, meeting upper arm (humerus) at close to a right angle. Humerus nearly as long as scapula. Elbows -should fit close, being neither loose nor tied. The forearms- (ulna and radius) should be curved to fit spring of ribs." The shoulder and upper arm thing is really hard to find in our breed.
TM was also entered in the show and moved great for an old man.
No dog is perfect and you don't always get what you intend for in a breeding. But I'm hopeful.

TM is DM normal, OFA good on hips and elbows, PRA clear. Wonderful temperament. When I picked him up to put him on the table he snuggled his head into my shoulder. I had never laid a hand on him before so I fell in love with his sweetness.

Rogue too is DM normal, OFA good on her hips, PRA clear. I love her happy clown spirit.
She's in the beginning of her heat cycle now. I'm progesterone testing waiting for that magic moment to call Susan, TM's mom, and have her ship the other half of the puppies.

Fingers crossed for happy, healthy pregnancy, whelp and several silly puppies to snuggle for a couple of months afterward. Click on the link below to view their pedigree.
TM x Rogue babies

Moxie for sure!

I love my puppy families. I'm glad they are loved and happy to hear from them. I know life is what it is so I understand when there are problems or people fall out of touch.
Sometimes there are people who make the puppy I was able to bring into their world the luckiest in the world. If I ever come back as a dog I want to live with people like Ruth and Sean.
Moxie used to be Raven. She's a Panda and Carbon kid. Much like her mother she has oodles of energy and is super smart. Here's what they're doing to embrace everything Moxie is.

The Dancing Moxie

The Herding Moxie

Thank you so very much for loving this special baby!!! You've made my day!!

Update

I have been trying to get to this for a while. Or maybe it's more accurate to say that I have been avoiding it for a while. But I promised someone I would let her know and post an update about a certain puppy and so here it goes.

Shade. I love this puppy. But yet again I had to have a hard conversation with myself on the limitations of being a small scale breeder with a lot of other things on her plate.

A couple of weeks ago someone found me via the Breeder's Directory and asked if I had any available puppies. The more I talked with this person and learned about her family the more I realized I could provide a great home for my girl. Long story short, Michelle and Guy and their 3 young children have brought Shade home.

Her new name is Hero after the Shakespearean character in Much Ado About Nothing.


I am sooooo happy with this family. Shade... er, I mean Hero... is their first dog as a young family. And they're all getting along great from the sound of things. With the exception of one of their cats (not the one in the above photo) but hopefully he'll come around.
Hero will be an easy baby for them to learn on. The whole time I was at their home talking to them about how to teach her things she sat at my feet fully attentive to me, waiting for me to direct her. Very gentle with the children (ages 2, 4 and 6) but happy to be interacting with them too. Love, love, love!!! that gentle, confident demeanor!

Other puppy news:
Wilson (fka Boo) is well and happy with his momma Donna and buddy Rudy.

I will be saving this photo to show how you can tell a Pem from a Cardi without looking at their butts.

Moxie (fka Raven) is doing equally well.




All three of these kids really took after Panda, being athletic and snuggley clowns. They are making their families smile everyday.

Also wanted to pass on some history of the breed. Moxie's mom, Ruth, has been doing a lot of research and happened to fall upon the Norwegian Lundehund. She writes:
"One source suggested that though they have a lot of connections to the Spitzes, they are most closely descended from the "Norwegian Lundehund". (When I look at the different breeds, I could see more Spitz in the Pembroke and more of a Lundehund look to the Cardigan.)

When I looked up the Lundehund, I was quite fascinated by it's similarities to the Cardigans in particular.

They were bred for hunting Puffins in the mountains and are exceptionally agile.

They have 6 toes including an opposible thumb which makes them capable of grasping in a manner similar to humans, making them excellent climbers. They can leap in the air and grab things with their paws. They are the only dog that is capable of spreading it's forelegs straight out to the sides in the same manner as humans. (I checked and Moxie can do this very comfortably also - but not quite straight out.) They are extremely flexible and can fold themselves completely backwards - something I see Moxie doing frequently when sleeping and have wondered how she can possibly be comfortable. They can shut their ears completely to keep out water, etc - Moxie also puts her ears back and down in a similar fashion (though I don't know if the corgi ears are quite as efficient at keeping out water?). I have also noticed that Moxie takes like a mountain goat to climbing."
"Most sites I found feel that there's a connection with the Cardigan to the Lundehund and probably the Dachshunds and the Basset Hound early on and then, later, more Spitz, possibly Vallhund was added to the breed later, producing the Pembroke. Early Cardigans worked as herders in mountainous regions on rough terrain, so a Lundehund connection certainly makes a lot of sense. . .

Moxie closes her ears when she rushes to greet me or when she goes through high grass, and, when she does, she looks just like this Lundehund."

Note: I have started some classes this summer. Human Biology plus Lab for that course. And Human Genetics! It's only been a week but I'm having a blast. On top of gardening, kids and dogs I might be over the top busy for blogwriting!

Postcard from Milo (fka Leila)

Aren't her and her momma pretty?!

Look who's 2 years old!

Happy Birthday to the X-Men litter!! Bred by Toreth and C-Myste. They're all champions to the humans that love them! Thanks for being such awesome families for these deserving babes.

vision testing

Sometime last spring I went in to get my eyes checked. I knew I needed glasses. Just for reading. But when the lenses were placed in front of my eyes and everything near and, even more so, distant, came into focus I felt like crying. I had been missing so much detail. And not just for reading. Maybe not blind exactly but I had lost my focus.

I thought about that experience the other day after taking Kismet into Portland to spend some time with a couple who wanted to open their home and share their lives with a special dog.

It was only 10 months ago when Celie surprised me by whelping the first of her “Luck” litter out in the dog run. Barking like crazy she got me out to find her firstborn black boy squeaking and wet. It was very lucky I found him, rushed him and mom inside and waited for the rest to come. That little boy I named Kismet and later Toreth’s Synchronicity.

As he grew I saw good things. Big, round bone. Perfect turnout. Wonderful expression. Huge ears. And the sweetest temperament. I also saw the challenges but knew I could work with them. I know I could finish him, get Celie some ROM points maybe. And then as he grew I had thoughts of breeding him.

No one said anything against his quality. At least not directly to me. In fact, judges told me how beautiful his front was and gave me unsolicited grooming advice regarding the coat. Friends were supportive.

Then one day recently it was like someone put some corrective lenses over my eyes. I saw my little group of dogs. I have three lovely girls who will only have a few opportunities to be bred. I realized I wouldn’t use Kismet myself and I doubt anyone else would.
I saw the resources of my time, energy and finances split between all the dog stuff and the non-dog stuff. It was time to get real.

A breeder, a responsible one, has to be hard sometimes. With a twinge of guilt and a tiny edge of jealousy I hear puppy buyers tell me that when they bring a dog home it’s for life. A breeder has to let go of that particular ideal while holding onto the bigger picture. And I remind myself that dogs don’t feel exactly the way we do about relationships.

So I let it be known to a few dog friends that I was letting Kismet go. And before long I received an email about him from this great couple who had lost a Cardigan and a Pembroke this year. They were missing the company only a dog can give and Carolyn sent them my way. (Thanks my friend!) Everyone seemed to know it was simply meant to be. Like kismet. Like synchronicity.

Here’s what I saw: I saw a happy, proud little dog go in and make himself at home. With the couch, the toys, and their hearts. I saw him work that canine magic on the nicest people I could ask for any of my dogs.
And I learned all over again that when I get a little perspective and let go a little I get to see beautiful things like that.

Pupdates

Can you believe it? 9 weeks plus weeks have gone by. Puppies in winter and during holidays. Whew!!!

For those of you who haven't heard I'm growing the black boy on. Not for me so much but to finish him here in this country while he brushes up on his Polish. Yep, the Boo is eventually headed for Poland.

Grandma Kim fell in love with sweet, blue-eyed Fae and her new name is Sapphire or Sappho.

Momma Panda is on her way to live with Kim's dad in North Carolina. I miss that rascal imp of a dog.

The rest of the gang will be be announced as their new families pick them up.

And speaking of families two of them had homes that fell through a couple of weeks ago. What's nice is I'm not at all stressed about their fates. They can stay here until the right home or homes come along. I say home because I keep imagining someone will want the twins, Raven and Shade both (pictured above). They just look like they should stay together don't you think? And maybe they should be renamed Sugar and Spice. That should tell you what their personalities are like. Shade is the sugar and Raven is the spice. Email me if you have a serious interest in these beauties.

Not what I had planned for the day

I had planned on getting some photos and updates on little puppies up today.

Turned out we spent Christmas morning at the emergency vet to learn Karma has a torn cranial cruciate ligament in her left stifle (rear knee). This is very similar to an ACL injury in humans. She probably planted that foot in the ground and then twisted (or was twisted by a playmate) in a different direction.

Consult with orthopedic surgeon on Monday....

sigh....

She hurts and will have to be less active than her 9-month-old puppy self would like for a while but is going to be fine. It'll just be a while before she's in the ring again.

Just so you know the little puppies are still happy, fat and healthy.
The one bigger puppy named Karma is less healthy and happy but currently so stoned she doesn't care what she did in a former life to deserve this.

Pictures will have to wait a little longer. Time now for some Christmas cheer. There's got to be a bottle of it around here somewhere.

Getting to know you....

The little guys meet the gang that live upstairs...

Raven asks Sparky the Papillon: "Are you a fluffy? We don't have that gene. Snoot."

Shade and Leila meet Gus the Bulldog.

"Jeez, that's must be what happens when you don't have good brakes! Poor guy."

"Thanks for the new squeak toys, Mom!! When can we have the ones on the other side of the fence? "