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What is addressed to us for contemplation does not threaten us, but makes us intellectual beings.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson


After quite a lot of debate and discussion, we decided to breed Gloria to Hunter, and we have confirmed pregnancy with puppies due October 5, 2013. X-rays show at least seven pups, with perhaps an eighth hiding behind the ribs.

 

We decided, in lieu of simply writing about why we decided on this breeding, we’d put ourselves to the test and answer our breeder questions regarding this litter.

Puppies available now?

We are expecting a litter the first weekend in October. Puppies will be available after Christmas (and potentially New Years).

Males or females?

Don’t know yet!!

Color and Markings?

Again, don’t know yet. We could get brindles  and fawns from this breeding, with 0-100% white markings.

Temperament?

Of course we don’t have a crystal ball, but we expect the puppies will have friendly, outgoing temperaments.

Where are they being raised, and what kind of socialization have they had?

Our puppies are raised in our home. The first three or four weeks they are in the guest bedroom with their dam; after a week or two, depending on how things are progressing and how the dam feels about it, they might get the occasional visit from our other adult dogs. Once they’re older (and escaping from the whelping box!) they’re moved into the main part of the house. We have a room that we transform into a Puppy Playroom that they’re in when we’re away from home, sleeping, or can’t be vigilant about keeping them out of mischief. The rest of the time they’re either in an ex-pen in the family room, where we spend most of our awake time, or they’re running loose around (most of) the house. (We keep some areas closed off for their safety.)

Will they be vet-checked for heart murmurs and parasites before you place them?

Absolutely. Our puppies see a board-certified veterinary cardiologist to check for heart murmurs, and we have fecal screens done to check for intestinal parasites.

At what age will you be placing them, and how many shots will they have had?

Our puppies stay with us until they’re 12 weeks old. Depending on the litter and on the buyer(s), they may have had one parvo-distemper only shot prior to leaving us, or they may not have had any. Our veterinarian recommends vaccination at 12 and 16 weeks, so typically the new owners have the first vaccination done by their veterinarian. We cover this in more detail in our “Caring For Your Boxer” booklet that we provide with each puppy.

Cost?

Pet puppies are priced a little higher than the average for this area, but we keep our puppies longer and do more socialization with them than the average breeder in this area. See our Pricing page for more details on how we determine our prices; we aren’t giving exact prices now simply because we don’t know if we may have unusual expenses with this litter (knock wood that we don’t!).

Who are the sire and dam, and what are their lines?

The sire is CH. CR-Newcastle’s Bird In The Hand (Hunter) and the dam is Newcastle’s Phoenix Song At Shaeward (Gloria). Hunter is from full North American lines, building on the Cameliard foundation with his sire, CH. Weston’s Cry For Freedom, SOM, and pulling in some California lines through his grandsire, Am/Can CH. BJay’s Traveling Man, SOM, who goes back to the famous CH. Bridgewood’s BK Kahuna, SOM, LOM through CH. Bayview Strides Ahead, SOM, LOM.

Gloria is a full-UK breeding, out of our first UK bitch, Emma. Emma’s grandsire is the top-winning red (fawn) dog in the UK, CH. Tartarian Gold Dust, and goes back to CH. Faerdorn Finneas Fogg; her sire is a grandson of my all-time favorite Boxer bitch, CH. Roamaro Scotch Mist of Winuwuk, through her son CH. Winuwuk Lust In The Dust. A half-sibling to Gloria’s sire Harley is CH. Winuwuk Lust At First Sight, the top-winning Boxer of all time in the UK and the first (and thus far, only) Boxer to win the Group at Crufts.

Do you own both of them?

We do. It’s not typical that the dog you need is right in your own home, but we brought Emma and Hunter home (at different times) with the intention of combining the UK and NA lines. Emma’s second breeding was to an NA dog from the same lines as Hunter, and we’re pleased with how that turned out, so we’re hoping for the same success with this combination.

What kind of temperament do the parents have?

Hunter is a typical goofy, loving Boxer boy. He loves people, loves to snuggle, loves to go anywhere with you. He’s never met a stranger but he is protective of the house and on guard if people are outside. We often say we should have named Hunter “Pogo”, because when he’s excited about something he’ll launch himself, all four feet, straight up into the air again and again and again. (He constantly entertains bystanders at dog shows and vet’s offices, if there are other dogs, especially small fluffy ones, nearby!)

Gloria is a little more laid back and self-controlled, and as is typical of the UK lines, is more correct as far as the ‘deliberate and wary with strangers’ part of the standard goes. She’s not shy or afraid, just a bit stand-offish. She’s a very sweet, gentle girl, but when she gets playing she’s not afraid to get a little crazy. When she’s on guard duty, she’ll surprise you with her deep, resonant bark – she sounds like a dog twice her size!

Do the parents or grandparents have any heart murmurs or VPCs? Have you seen hip dysplasia, DM, or hypothyroidism in the lines? What are their coats and skin like? What are their bites and teeth like?

We’re fortunate (knock wood!) to be working with largely healthy lines, cancer being the most common cause of death (but no common form of cancer among those). There have been some murmurs and VPCs in the line, of course, but low numbers; we have not seen significant issues or early death from heart problems. We have not seen hip dysplasia or hypothyroidism in the lines; not all of the dogs have been tested, of course, but we know of no symptomatic cases. There has been DM in the line on Hunter’s side – the closest affected relative in the direct pedigree is four generations back; there are a couple of other affected relatives not in the direct pedigree, a few more generations removed.  We do not know of any cases of DM on the UK side.

We feed a raw diet so coats and skin are quite good; if anything, coats are perhaps a little too soft (and the UK line is a little longer-coated – not significantly, just a bit). Bites are the main reason we went with this pairing; Gloria’s bite is wide and straight but a little too undershot, while Hunter’s bite is moderately wide, straight, and properly undershot. Hunter also has a history of correctly undershot bites behind him, which we’re hoping will carry through. Teeth are decent but could be bigger all the way around.

Why did you decide to breed those two? What were you hoping for from this breeding?

Again, we obtained Hunter with the idea of breeding him into the UK lines at some point, and he and Gloria have matured to complement each other nicely, in addition to their temperaments and  bites (discussed above). Gloria has everything we wanted from breeding Harley to Emma – typey, square, with ample bone and a nice wide bottom jaw, excellent pigment, lovely expression, good upsweep of chin and width and depth of muzzle, proper turn of stifle and front and rear angulation and nice big, tight feet. Hunter is also typey and square with bone, and has elegance and size, both of which Gloria could use a touch more. Hunter has a pleasing head and expression, good pigmentation, and tight cat feet. His could use a little more angle, a little more chin, a little more width and depth of muzzle. We are hoping, of course, to combine the best of both dogs, and get typey, square puppies with balanced bone and elegance, correct heads with muzzle properly developed in three directions, ample chin, wide straight bites that are slightly undershot, correct angulation front and rear, deep pigment, tight feet, and stable friendly temperaments.

 

Have they been bred before? What kind of puppies did they produce?

This is Gloria’s first breeding. Hunter has been bred a few times in the past, and we’re very pleased with what he’s been producing. Of four litters, two had two puppies each that went to show homes. The two puppies from his first litter finished their Championships at less than 18 months, breeder-owner-handled (no small feat for a Boxer!) and one just finished her Grand Championship (her brother will be going after his Grand shortly). The two puppies from the second litter are both pointed, one just needs his majors and the other has a major Reserve under her belt, at not yet 2 years old. Both show litters were linebreedings; we are excited to see what Hunter produces from this breeding, which will be an outcross.

Do you show your dogs?

Yes, we show in conformation, both as the occasional owner-handler and using a professional handler. Our focus over the last few years has been on bringing in qualities that aren’t as common in North America, through our UK lines, and that has had an effect on our success in the ring. (Primarily because we haven’t cropped our full-UK dogs, and they have been owner-handled for the most part. Hard enough either way, but exponentially so with both. Throw in the fact that our first full-UK keeper pups are plain and there’s a whole heck of a lot going against the dogs before they even get to the ring! We knew and expected this going into it, but correctness is more important to us than show wins.) We have one homebred AKC Champion, one homebred UKC/IABCA Champion, one co-owned Champion, and several pointed dogs we’ve owned or co-owned.

Do you belong to any Boxer clubs?

Yes, I am a member, past officer and current Board member of the Michigan Boxer Club, and a member and current Public Education chair of the American Boxer Club.

Do you breed any other breed besides Boxers?

Not at this time, and no concrete plans for any other breeds in the future.

Are you involved in Boxer rescue?

We are unable to foster dogs at this point in time, but we support rescue through the Michigan Boxer Club’s various fundraising programs.

What written guarantees do you offer?

We guarantee we’ve done what we feel is best to produce happy, healthy, typey, stable, long-lived Boxers. Even so, we cannot guarantee that the puppies we produce will never develop an illness, genetic or otherwise. We do offer various options in the case of certain conditions that will affect the length or quality of the dog’s life; these are discussed in our contract, which all buyers are sent before they commit to a puppy.

 Since this will not be a show-quality puppy, are you selling them with Full Registrations or Limited Registrations?

Generally speaking, non-show puppies are sold with Limited Registration. There may be some exceptions, such as a dog sold to Canada to an owner that wants to register with the Canadian Kennel Club for performance events. (The CanKC will not register a dog with AKC Limited Registration.) We do have a non-breeding contract with significant penalties for breeding the dog outside the terms of the contract.

Do you take back your dogs if something did happen where I couldn’t keep her?

Always, no questions asked. In fact, we require that the buyer contact us before they place or sell the dog anywhere, even with family.

Do you use a sales contract? If so, what’s in it?

We do use a contract, crafted to protect the best interests of the puppy. We try to clearly explain the obligations of both the buyer and the seller, both to the puppy and to each other, and discuss what remedies are available if one or the other does not live up to the terms of the agreement.

Could you give me the names of other breeders who I could call for references — breeders who belong to Boxer Clubs or other kennel clubs?

Certainly. Our “Family & Friends” page has many links to other breeders we have known and/or worked with over the year. If you’d like additional referrals, shoot us an email.

 

Where has the time gone? It’s hard to believe the puppies are 9 weeks old already — and harder to imagine that with most breeders they would already have gone to their new homes. Clearly puppies have been going to homes at 7-8 weeks for decades, with no apparent ill-effects in most cases, but I look at these pups and I just can’t imagine sending them off on their own right now! They do so much learning over the next few weeks — new people, new places, new experiences, and lots of learning how to be a dog and communicate with other dogs. We’ve had puppies that have come to us at 8 weeks and that have come to us at 12 weeks, and we have noticed that the older puppies are a little more self-controlled, a little more stable. It doesn’t mean owners are off the hook as far as socializing, training, teaching bite inhibition, etc. — at 12 weeks socialization is still very important and Boxer puppies are still little devils!

We’ve had a few mild days this week (and several more in sight) so the pups have had some good outside time — they love exploring the yard and they get some good sound sleep afterward! Potty training has been going a little slowly because of the temperatures, but we should be able to make good strides now that it will be comfortably above freezing. (They’re pretty good about going on the papers, but we try to get them going outside most of the time before they go to their new homes. They won’t be perfect, of course — they’re too young! — but it helps to give them a head start.) We’ll start crate-training in earnest, too, this week. They’ve had crates open to them since they were 4 weeks old and one or more sleep in a crate more often than not. Once we start closing the door, however, it’s a different story. They’ve had some 10-15 minute crating sessions when we’ve been cleaning their pen, so we’ll start from there and increase the time, then start on alone-crating.

The little girl is still little, but has grown by leaps and bounds since starting on solid foods. She is about 2/3 the size of her brothers, but she was 1/2 their size just a couple of weeks ago. She is a normal puppy in all other respects (knock wood, of course!), so we’ll just wait to see if she’s going to catch up to the boys or if she’ll always be on the small side. The boys are now about the same size as the pups in the last litter, so they’re apparently thriving on their raw diet. They’ve had chicken wings on occasion to get them used to raw meat and bones, and they’re getting some ground raw mixes — and still snacking on Emma a few times a day, as she lets them!

The puppies are now 4 weeks old and are doing well (knock on wood, always knock on wood!). The little girl is still very, very little, but she is gaining steadily (if slowly) and her activity and development are on par with her brothers, so we’re hoping she’s just little. A number of different things could be wrong, but unless we start seeing signs of a problem we’ve decided not to borrow trouble — so long as I can say that if it weren’t for her size I wouldn’t be worried at all, I’m trying not to worry. (It’s not easy — my natural inclination is to worry exponentially more than is necessary! — but I’m working on it.) We started introducing solid foods today, so hopefully that will give her a boost — often smaller puppies do start gaining more once they’re on solid foods, and have caught up to their littermates by 12 weeks of age.

We moved the puppies into their new room today — they started crawling out of the pool a week ago, but rather than move them at that time (3 weeks is considered a fear period, although we did move the last litter at that age) we set up a puppy area where the pool had been — it was kind of a nice transition from the pool to the large space they have now, which is understandably intimidating. They’ve settled in well, so far — of course they have some familiar things with them, which helps. We added a small dog bed a few days ago, which they love to pile up and sleep in. (Soon we’ll add another one, as they’ll be getting too big to all fit in the one bed!) They’ve got one of the fleece ‘blankets’ they had in the pool/whelping room and all of the toys they had. We’ve added a few rugs (their new area has vinyl flooring, so the rugs provide traction as well as another texture) and a brick that had been outside (new object/feel and smells). We’ll bring in a radio in a day or two and start leaving it on during the day, set to a different type of station each time. Some new toys will make their way into the room as well, probably baby toys which are good for noise and motion.

As I noted, we started feeding sold foods today. Last time we started at 3 weeks; I held off this time because many of the raw ‘gurus’ say puppies can’t digest non-milk foods until 4 weeks old. Of course the last litter didn’t have problems that we noticed, but I didn’t see as much shivering the first time we fed this litter as we saw with the last one, and I wonder if that’s an indication. (Or it could be that I took pains to be sure the food was room temperature this time.) There are as many different raw weaning methods as there are people who feed raw diets, so deciding which process to use can be frustrating! We decided to combine a couple, so we’re giving 1/2 oz. balls of raw hamburger to start; they each had one at about 6:30 p.m. and will have another at about 11 p.m. Tomorrow we’ll feed those three times, and depending on how it goes I may start a goat’s milk gruel for the evening meal (goat’s milk, egg, kefir, NR Tree Bark Gruel, and baby barley cereal to thicken it). If they do well with that, we’ll give two meals of each for this week, then next week will mix the burger with the gruel and start feeding ground raw chicken (with bone). At some point this week we’ll throw a few wings in for them to suck on/play with, so they start to get the idea. Emma will have free access to them most of the time, as well — while we’re gone during the day, and at night — so they’ll still be nursing off of her, too. I think she’ll be glad that they’re getting some food elsewhere, though; she’s been a little reluctant to feed them and I know from experience that their sharp little teeth are coming in!

 

We bred Emma to the gorgeous Jag, Ch. Randolph’s Beau Jangles — whom I always call “Clifford” in my head, because he’s a big, red dog. 😉 We’ve known Jag since he was whelped, and believe he has a lot to offer Emma. We’re sure to get some gorgeous pigment in these puppies, as an added bonus!

Emma had seven puppies; unfortunately the last two were stillborn. We think it’s due to her prolonged labor — 14 hours from start to finish this time. Even though many bitches take long breaks between puppies and have no issues, that doesn’t seem to be the case for Emma. We suspect the puppies detached early on in the labor process, so weren’t getting blood and oxygen for several hours. They had no color when they were born, and no heartbeats. We tried resuscitation, of course, but couldn’t get them going. (The last two puppies in her previous litter had the same issues — the fifth was born without a heartbeat and we couldn’t get him going; the sixth had a very faint heartbeat and we worked on her for 45 minutes before she really got going. That was Gloria, who at 3 years old is as healthy and vital as you could want!)

To add to our sadness, the littlest puppy boy was not interested in nursing. We were bottle feeding him, and he wasn’t even particularly interested in that, although once we were able to get the bottle in his mouth he would nurse from it, sometimes with vigor but usually lackadaisically. At 2 days old he started fading, that evening he started gasping for air, and shortly after arriving at the emergency vet he went into cardiac arrest. They could not bring him back, and upon intubation milk came pouring out of his lungs. We suspect some kind of developmental problem, due to his lack of interest in nursing from the start, and based on how relaxed Emma became after he was gone. It is as if she knew something was wrong with him, which of course is entirely possible.

Conventional wisdom says that 30% of puppies will die at birth or in the litter. It’s hard to accept, in this day and age, that this statistic applies to home-whelped, purpose-bred litters (as opposed to puppies whelped in the wild, where neonatal loss seems more inevitable). We should be grateful, I suppose, that our overall record in limited breeding is far lower, but this one litter has been full of losses. I have hesitated even to post information about the puppies, because I am so worried and superstitious now; however they were all checked by the vet yesterday when their tails and dewclaws were done, and given the “A-OK”, as was Emma. I’ll still worry, of course, for several more weeks — but logically they’re all eating well, moving around, and are warm, pink, and twitchy, all signs of happy, healthy puppies. (Knock wood, of course!)

At 5 days old, there’s not much else to report. We started Early Neurological Stimulation exercises yesterday (a day late, actually, but the pups have been handled multiple times per day every days so I think we’ll be OK); those continue through 16 days old. We’ll start adding different textures and scents to the whelping box over the next couple of weeks; eyes and ears don’t open until about 10-14 days, and those senses aren’t well-developed for another week or two, but the senses of touch and smell are highly functioning from birth. Small stresses help build strong immune systems, increase cardiac performance, and contribute to stable temperaments (but you don’t want to over-do it, either!).  New photos will be posted to the litter pages weekly, and I will try to keep this blog updated (if for no other reason than to have it to look over with the next litter!).

In yet another attempt by the Universe to derail our breeding plans, both Evie and Emma came into season two months earlier than expected. These are girls who have been within a week or two of their expected date for five years. *sigh* (more…)

I’ve been thinking about updating my stud service contract lately. It’s been four years since we lost Hugo, and now that Hunter and soon Potter are “of age” for stud service, it’s time to revise and reflect. To help me figure out how I want to change my contract, I’ve been surfing through other contracts that breeders make available online. I should know better by now, but I find my self constantly surprised at the outrageous demands some stud owners make of bitches that come to them for stud service. (more…)

After months of agonizing about whether to breed both Emma and Evie when they next came into season, since they’re always only a couple of weeks apart, and debating whether we could manage two litters at once, we are extremely disappointed to say that we took the leap to breed both of them and neither Emma’s nor Evie’s breeding took this time around.
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We put a lot of time and reflection into choosing a stud dog for Emma’s second litter. We considered another full-UK litter, including a repeat to Harley, but in the end decided that we didn’t want to breed UK Boxers in the US (though there’s actually a demand for those dogs); we got into the UK lines to add traits to the NA lines we had, rather than abandoning them entirely or keeping two separate lines going. We certainly are open to doing full-UK breedings in the future, but since we had already done that with Emma, we decided in instead to see how the UK would blend with other lines for her second trip to the whelping box.
(more…)

Well, I failed at keeping this blog updated, but Emma did have her puppies by Harley – we ended up with five lovely brindle pups, four girls and one boy that we kept here, Potter. More information, weekly pictures, and links to the puppies’ individual pages can be found at the litter page.

After some contemplation (and with Ginger’s full support), we decided not to repeat our breeding of Evie to Abe. Although we only got one puppy from the litter, and would love to see what else the combination could produce, we decided that the missed breeding in 2008 and the singleton in 2009 were signs that, for whatever reason, this breeding was just not meant to be.

We have instead decided to breed Evie to our own Abe son, Hunter. Though Hunter is still a young dog, we already see many of the qualities we liked in his sire, and are especially thrilled with his development over the past couple of months. He and Evie are very similar in type, so we expect puppies that possess the same typey-ness.

We expect Evie to come into season in late May or early June, with puppies due in August. Stay tuned for updates and news as we get closer to the breeding, and as the 2010 health testing results come in for both Evie and Hunter.

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Males - Hunter :: Potter :: William   ||   Females - Patsy :: Xena :: Emma :: Evie :: U-Ch. Sage :: Gloria

Bred By - Dart :: Brandy :: Peanut :: Izzie   ||   Past - Ch. Hugo :: Linus :: Nettie :: Valentine

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