I'm Reminiscing

6 weeks

3 Months

Almost 4 months

 5 months

 6 months

7 months

 8 months

9 Months

My Baby Is 9 Months

Beautiful Blanik Ivana

Or Sammi Belle to her mates! 

Not the best photos as it's a dark, wet and miserable day. But still it gives us all an idea of what she looks like on yet another milestone in her young life. No longer a Minor Puppy, it just gets harder as they get older! Beautiful isn't she! :)
I'm repeating myself but, I love this naught angel so much, she lights up my life, she makes me smile, she makes me laugh ... so proud of you baby girl. 

A Couple Of The Kids

Celt the long coated black and tan boy and Margo the sable standard coat bitch out of Kia and Nico. Super babies!

This Mask Thing

Various degree's of mask. 

The first top photo is Sheba, a bitch who we rescued and re-homed about 10 years ago. Sheba had no mask at all. 

The second top photo is Asha, more mask and a sweet gentle expression

The first bottom photo is Ziva and the second is Sammi,both have more mask with Sammi having a very pronounced mask. These two are my preference, though I think Asha has a beautiful head and expression I would have loved it had she kept a little more mask.
Both Mikey and Nico have very black masks and some people find them facially hard to tell apart. But Mikey has a shorter muzzle as Louis did, and Nico is longer is muzzle like Kai was. Neither Louis nor Kai had such black masks, but both had beautiful heads with wonderful expression.

Sponsored Dog Walk With "Me" Mates!!!

A Confession Of Confusion

Where do I start? To quote Mrs Brown, "I've no fecking idea." This post will no doubt be a mixture of thoughts, emotions and confusion!

Mr Orange with his black face really appeals to me

The puppies! Well I was so adamant wasn't I? No puppy, but yesterday's activities have left me in a state of total confusion. The 3 week old pups are adorable, 10 stunning babies of lovely substance with super coats and colour. At this stage it's hard to criticises any of them really, yeah one boy was a little smaller, but he wasn't lacking anything else really. If I were going to be critical,
and as I said a few days ago this is personal preference, some, like their mum, will not have a very dark mask, but she has enough!
Steve and I were smitten with the pups and the setting they are being brought up in is just ideal. Again 10 out of 10 to the owner/breeder for creating such a super space within the home for mother and puppies. As we talked Ian announced that he would love us to have a puppy. I explained that I was hoping to breed from Jezi next year so this was not the right time for us. As we traveled home Steve and I discussed the possibilities and how promising this litter looks at this age.

Stunning Mr Red will have less mask

Later in the afternoon Ian rang, he said "Listen, I don't think we made ourselves clear earlier, we really want you to have a puppy, any puppy you like, take the one you think is the best and get him/her in the show ring. You've done so much to help us it's only fair you should have a pup." Initially I was speechless and quite choked. Of course I want a bloody puppy, they are Nico's kids, and they are beautiful, why would I not want one of these puppies? But then my head stepping in and telling me, I currently have 8 dogs, a number we cope with easily. We have 2 packs that mostly get on well together, if I brought in another puppy which pack would he fit into? What if we had another Kiri scenario? We both know we have not been successful at introducing bitches into the home, but we have done well with males, is that a consideration?
I honestly don't know what to do? If I did bring a pup in I could put off mating Jezi for a year I guess, but that would make her over 4 years old and that's something I'd have to really look into again. I guess the most sensible thing to do is wait, if it doesn't mess up the breeders plans I could go and see the pups again in 3 weeks and then decide. If a male pup "really stands out" then that's the time for serious discussions and consideration
. Honestly my head is Cabbaged!!!!

Spot The Long Coats!!!!

 2 Girls

 1 Boy, 1 Girl

*****

The Rest Are All Boys! 

Fun and Games

Trying to upload this as a video doesn't work, but uploading as a picture seems to half work! I can't stop it and start it .... but it's there!!!!

Oops-Wasn't I Told.

I often refer to Jezi as the "plain Jane" of the family, and haven't I just had a right telling off for doing so. Therefore I must explain myself, the reference is simply to her colour! I, like most breed enthusiasts prefer a richer coloured animal with a reasonably dark mask. To me animals of pale tan's, gold or fawn are plain looking, as are animals without a mask!
I totally appreciate that their are many who prefer Jezi's conformation to Ziva's, and I can understand why. Jezi has a beautiful head and expression with just enough mask for me. A lovely clean overline with a smooth tail set and a super coat, yes she lacks front angulation, but her hind quarters are well angled and she moves beautifully.
So please don't think that I don't admire her beauty, I do, and I love who she has become. So to repeat myself, in my eye the only thing plain about Jezi is her colour!

If Only Mikey Would ....

Baby Nico is sleepy

Tomorrow we are going to visit Nico's 3 week old babies. I'm so excited, Tasha is a lovely bitch and I'm sure these puppies will be stunning. But, no I'm not having one!
 I'm over the moon with my "Nico" baby, I think probably the best bitch born here in a long time, no she's not perfect and my issues with her are well documented, but on conformation and character she is an improvement on many a previous generation. Funny, how I see in my mind now one face of disgust as I announced I was going to mate Nico to Ziva. An expression I'll never forget, looked like someone had cat shit stuffed under their noses, and honestly that person had no valid reason to doubt my decision.

Sammi with her parents

Moving on .... I'm so glad I was right, I have a stunning Nico daughter, and hopefully a mating to Jezi with the same bloodlines will produce the same excellence as I had through the "I" litter. So no, for the time being I'm not having another Nico baby!

Handsome Mikey

But how I would love a Mikey baby. He has so much to offer, so much to give, but we never get anywhere. We've had two bitches here to him, and he's been very very interested, trying his best whilst the bitch is loose in the yard, but as the bitch fidgets and moves he doesn't get anywhere. If we hold the lead to keep the bitch still he looses interest and just stands there, and you just can't force these things can you! Sadly his father ended up mating the first bitch, and three weeks ago Nico mated the other!

I doubt I will ever get my Mikey baby, unless we are lucky enough to get a bitch here that's as easy to mate as Ziva was (... proper little slapper she was!) I fear that like Louis and Dexi this boys line will end here. At least we had Kiri out of Dexi, and Louis was his great grandson (Through Jay) so we did keep the line for a short while. Oh Mikey ... if only you would!!!