Awake Again

Another restless night, fatigue is such a crazy thing. I feel I could sleep on a washing line and can hardly function during the day,  but when the option is there for a full nights sleep, well it's just not possible for me to switch this frustrating brain off!

I started thinking about Kaiah and the future plans. You know logically I can't see me getting to Suffolk in November. I think Plan A will have to go on the back burner, but I think Plan B will definitely go ahead. The thought of more Sisco kids appeals anyway, I am a huge fan of his! The puppy enquiries I'm getting are still crazy, it seems people are really struggling to get a well bred puppy at a sensible price.
I know for a fact that Kaiah carries the LSH gene, I considered that at length before mating her to Zalu . At 1am trying to remember the percentages of LSH born from S.C parents took some doing, but I got there. (Long Stock Hair is now the correct term for Long Coat... apparently!) If one parent is a LSH and one a SC who carries the gene then 50% will be LSH and 50% will be S.C but will carry the gene. If both parents are S.C and carry the LSH gene then 50% of the litter will be S.C and carry the gene, 25% will be S.C but not carry the gene and 25% will be LSH. The S.C  who do not carry the gene tend to have a little less coat. (like Ross) To produce LSH both parents must carry the gene. If you mate two LSH dogs then you will only get LSH puppies. Sammi was not tested and despite me thinking maybe she didn't carry the gene she obviously did! Apparently it is unusual in a litter of 9 to only have one LSH, but we only had one in the "B" litter too. (Saying that we did loose 3 of the 12 at birth so who knows?)
Biscuit/Bruce did cause some kerfuffle on Facebook. Some insisting he was a LSH, some insisting he was not. I must admit I had far more respect for the knowledgeable people who said well I think ...... but I may be proved wrong. I do have a witness that I always said he was different, even before the collars you could pick him out. Bruce may not have had the early classic LSH characteristics but by 3 weeks I guess the only doubts Steve and I had were planted by other people really. Now people continue to ask and bicker about it ... my reply, "Have you ever seen a S.C with fluffy ears? I have not!" The picture above is of Bruce with his rosette from the Long Coated Puppy Dog Class at the online welfare show. The second photo of Bruce at 3 weeks old really should have given everyone no doubts that he was a LSH, but at the time he really kept us guessing.

I really tried to sleep then my mind turned to Jazz and I smiled at the thought of Yvette warming up the towel to dry her ... Not something I've told many people till now ... in the Winter Kaiah loves being dried with a warm towel. Steve pops it on the fire guard whilst we are walking so it's warm for her .. pathetic aren't we really, but she does stand still if it's warm and fidgets if it's not! Orin is pretty good really, a bit wiggly and giggly about it all, but I don't care that it's a bit of fun as long as the job gets done!
As you can see Jazz looks wonderful, her new coat coming through and the tan a wonderful deep red. As you know the colour is my preference, and having paler bitches I also know the deep colour is much favoured in the showring. Orin is the same colour and a video of Isla on Facebook showed her to be of a similar colour too. To be honest I think they will all end up richly coloured! I think I may go on some Facebook pages and steal more photos later!
At 3 am I must have been asleep but I was woken up by Asha needing to go out. She has only been off the tablets for 36 hours and the diarrhea has returned ... A real worry and I will write more about her later.