Yasashiikuma

Lately I am perplexed by some of the pictures that I see posted on forums.   I know that I now look at picture I took 20 years ago of dogs that I was very proud of and wonder how I could have shared those pictures.  It took many years before I found myself mentors who spent time to teach my eye to understand what I was seeing, and how all the pieces fit together to make a functioning machine.  I am sure that somewhere down the line, if some of the posters are still in the breed they will do the same.

For many years I loved to sit beside some of the pioneers in the breed at specialties, and not comment, just listen to the information that was freely shared, if anyone would take the time to listen to them.   Some of my most treasured moments were spent sitting and soaking in information from Helen Jones at the Western Reserve and National Specialties.   When I doubted myself, and where I was going with my own breeding program, I am thankful for Helen and Bob, who convinced me to stay true to my vision. Without their guidance I was so discouraged that I considered placing Dolly.

I bred my first litter 21 years ago.   While I have finished dogs from each and every litter (except the “oops” where Megan raped her nephew) there are some that I wouldn’t show today, and some that I would love to be able to show again.   I would like to think that I have improved the quality of my lines overall, and that what I am placing as pets today, far surpasses what I showed a decade ago.

Last night I had a long discussion with someone who has a young show puppy from me.   We ended up having a long and involved discussion on fronts, as she was hearing different comments from breeders, and wanted my opinion.

Most of you know, I like to evaluate my puppies at 7 weeks.  In my experience, what I see then, is what I see at 6 months, and what I see at maturity.   Not every one agrees with that, and every breeder has their own opinion, and their own experience of what has worked for them.    I have a vision of what I want to see at 7 weeks, and that has not failed me.  So I thought, that I would share some photos of what I am looking for, and what I won’t continue to run on at that age, for what its worth.  Others, may agree or disagree, your mileage may vary,  – but maybe we can spark some interesting discussion.

The Front of the Bus

Here are some examples of puppy fronts taken at 7 weeks

Puppy #1		Puppy #2
Puppy #3		Puppy #4
Puppy #5		Puppy #6

These are puppies from different litters – some good, some bad, some in pet homes, some in show homes.    You will noticed that NONE are pigeon-toed, that is that on none of the puppies do the front feet point at each other!!  I have seen several pictures lately of puppies where that is the case.   In fact at this age, I want the front feet point as straight forward as possble.

I have said many times that what I want to see in the front of a Cardigan is a “Y” not an “H”.   Here are two of the pictures from above marked up to show what I mean.

The puppy on the left is wide in the front.   He resembles the letter H.   It makes me think of football goalposts, or a garage that you could park a Mack truck in.  This is enhanced by the flat bottomed brisket.   As well because there is no wrap, there is daylight showing between the brisket and the upper arm.

The puppy on the right, has the Y front that I love.  His shoulders are smooth, and the upper arms wrap tightly around the brisket.  The brisket itself has the correct egg shape, and drops nearly to the wrist..

Using this as a guide, now lets evaluate the six puppies.

Puppy #1 is obviously Puppy Y.   I would have liked to see the brisket maybe come a little bit lower, but it is more than adequate.  Adequate enough that this is the 2013 Crufts and World Dog show winner at 7 weeks

Puppy #2 again has more than adequate wrap, but the point of the brisket was, at 7 weeks, still a bit higher than I like.  However, I ran him on, and he has again developed into a beautiful top winning dog, and successful stud dog himself.

Puppy #3, I would say has almost an ideal front.   Lovely bone, a nice deep brisket, proper wrap with no daylight showing.   Unfortunately he was unshowable due to other factors.

Puppy #4, I would have kept as showable even a decade ago.  However, as my eye has developed, I think he needs more wrap (see the daylight showing again).   He also needed a bit more bone.

Puppy #5 is our H puppy.  Definitely not a show puppy.  Yet I have seen many pictures of puppies with exactly this front being posted!!

And puppy #6 – is an interesting mix.  He has wonderful bone and wrap.  I would have liked to see more “egg” to the brisket, but its adequate.

So for what its worth, that is my opinion on puppy fronts.   Your experience as a breeder may be different and any and all tasteful comments are welcome – even dissenting opinions as long as they are worded maturely and in a discussion and not accusatory tone.  My blog is fully monitored and I will not allow this post, or any future ones, should I decide to do others, to become personal battlegrounds.

Well, it is now over a month that I have been making the trip between residences, toting the entire crew with me.  These photos show a little bit of the insanity that has become my life.

Every week is like packing to go to the Nationals.   Right now I am travelling with SIXTEEN dogs, and I don’t even have Brogan along as he is visiting with Debbie until life settles a bit. (I know it will never settle totally).

So it is easy to fall into the trap of self-pity at this stage.   I made the decision to breed both Libby and Jade, based on the fact that I had 32 names on my waiting list.   I have learned a lesson, and will not make that mistake again!  Next time, it will be deposits to show commitment, if I am going to breed more than one litter at a time.

Really the puppies are very good.  They all take the travelling like seasoned professionals with no car sickness, or accidents in the crate.  It’s just that the loading of dogs is a one to one and a half hour process at each end, and then the kennels at the departing end have to be cleaned and blankets put on to be washed so that they are ready for our next arrival.

To add insult to injury, not only is there basically an entire “extra” litter of puppies, I am also dealing with three dogs that hate each other, a dog that has come back and not found a new home, and an old dog that has become incontinent    But I’ve been dealing with it.

Then this week turned out to be the week from hell.   I had put an ad in the paper to hire someone to come in and look after the dogs mid-day.  Only two responses, and the woman I hired (and gave my spare keys to) only showed up one day before heading to Toronto to take care of “personal stuff” with no notice (and no returning of the keys).   So when I get home its a mad flurry of getting dogs out, cleaning kennels, washing floors, and blankets, and feeding.  Unfortunately the young girls are bored and becoming destructive to boot    I can’t even get them out for a walk in the woods because by the time I am done it is dark.

Thursday night I arrived home to torrential rain on top of the darkness.   And to top it all off – I locked myself out of the house.   Because said “care provider” had my only spare set – there has been NO time to get more cut!! – I was unable to use them to get in, and could not contact her by phone.   Finally my boss drove out and was able to get in through a basement window to get me in.

So driving home last night, I was really beginning to question the wisdom of what I am doing.   Why am I breeding dogs for people who really don’t care about the quality of the dogs they are buying, and end up buying the first dog to become available?  Why am I bothering to health test, and spend money on using quality stud dogs, when people don’t really care about the pedigrees or whether their dog is “programmed” to live a long and healthy life, they just want a cute cheap puppy?

Then last night, on the way home, I had a reminder of why I do what I do.  I have always maintained to my people that I am a 24/7 resource for them for advice and help   So when one of my families contacted me saying their puppy had swallowed a magnet and what should they do, I immediately called and talked them through getting the offending item out of said puppy.

So thank you for reminding me why I do what I do.  It is so that people who do care where their puppy comes from, and do wait and adopt a puppy from me, have someone to rely on for advice.     Out of every negative experience comes a positive lesson, and thank you for providing the one I was needing last night!

Leana (formerly Amber of the Gemstones) went through a terrifying experience three weeks ago, and I’m posting her story, so that once again it may remind us never to be complacent when it comes to our pets’ safety.

Emily writes:

Hello Shelley,

Well we have had quite the experience these past three weeks….

On a finally sunny afternoon three weeks ago the boys and Leana took a walk up to our local school for some outdoor fun, we were throwing the ball for a while when a couple came with their two bigger dogs and where playing in a fenced area separate from where we were. Everything was fine until Leana went up the fence and the gate that we thought was closed wasn’t….the large black (pit bull X) came through the gate and immediately attacked Leana, had her up off the ground by the neck and was shaking her….it was the worst thing I’ve ever seen. The man came around the fence and was prying the dogs mouth open, the lady was trying to pull the dog off and I was kicking and pulling the dogs ears…..it seemed like forever but finally the dog decided to let Leana go….Thank god! Leana ran off back to where my boys were playing….the man took his dog around the corner….I thought he was leaving so I was yelling at him that he couldn’t leave, it turns out he was just getting his Mum. To make a long story shorter the Mum gave the boys, Leana and I a ride home and said she would pay all the vet bills. We took her to the vet right away, they shaved her neck and didn’t see any puncture marks but deep blue black bruising ,so they put her on pain killers and sent her home. Four days later the skin broke open and a big gapping hole was on her neck. They took her into surgery and had to do extensive reconstruction of the underlying tissue and reconnect a muscle. My poor baby looked like Frankenstein with all the stitches and drain tubes! Of course the wound didn’t heal easily, we got an infection and the stitches spread apart twice (re-stitching twice!). After three weeks of antibiotics, dressing changes, warm compresses and the constant scratching prevention, I am very happy to report that Leana gets her stitches out on Saturday and she is once again bounding around the yard chasing the kids and any ball in sight! Yahoooo! Arroooooo! Oh yeah and the Mum paid for all the vet bill in cash….one less thing to worry about.

Leana looks pretty funny with all the fur shaved off her neck, but all and all I say she has come out all right. It does make me leery of unknown dogs.

Just thought you might want to know what a resilient dog our sweet Leana is.
I can’t even begin to imagine the terror that Emily’s family went through watching that dog shake their baby and thankfully, once everything heals, she will be okay physically, and I hope that the experience won’t cause too much psychological damage.

Once again, a freak accident which was not the owners’ fault…but just an aha moment for those who use leash free zones to really keep an eye out for unknown larger dogs.

Hugs to Leana, Emily, Tim and the boys from all of us at home. I hope Leana will soon be back to her usual self.

…I’ve got a boyfriend!!

Dennis-the-Viszla sent me a Valentine.  It says “I Big Red Puffy Heart Your Blog”.   I’m not sure what my “blog” is though.  Maybe its my beautiful brown eyes, or maybe its my cute little button nose.

Anyhow he loves me!  And he’s Hungarian.  Does that mean he’s hungry all the time like Pete?

We’re gonna get married, and have puppies, and……

Huh?

Noodles? Vetnameez place?

Mommy says we aren’t gonna have babies cuz I’ll have to go and buy a garden shovel.  I’m not sure what one has to do with the other….

But he loves me!

And Mommy and my brothers want to send big puffy hearts to five of their friends….

To my 1/2 brother Chase
And my 1/2 sister Molly
And another 1/2 brother Carson
And our cousin Fergus 
and Emily who has funny looking Corgis all over her blog!

Love
Echo