Puppies

UPDATE:  I've had occasional trouble getting email from this site.  If you have any trouble, please send email directly to

rneumeie@socket.net

And that should work!

ANOTHER UPDATE:  Want to see how puppies turn out as they grow up?  'Cause it's interesting to see how they grow and change.  The puppies from my first litter are two years old now!  How time flies!  One of them has even had a puppy of her own -- my very first "grandpuppy"!

ANOTHER UPDATE:  Curious about what it's like to breed a litter?  Here's my take on the experience.

2010

I am hoping to breed two litters this year, one from Bree and one from Adora.

Bree is one of Kerah's daughters from Kerah's second litter.  She just came into season Feb 22, 2010, and is expected to have her puppies in the first half of May, if all goes well.  Any puppies I sell would be ready to go to new homes sometime in July, depending on the puppy and the home.

UPDATE:  It's March 7th and Bree just got home from her date with Guy in Minneapolis!  The snow is piled high up there, but luckily the weather was fine for the four days it took to drive there and back again.  Progesterone indicated the right days to breed and the breeding itself went just fine, so there's every reason to expect puppies to arrive about May 6th.

Bree's head isn't that pretty, but structurally she's very nice.  She has a great front!  A wonderful neck and shoulder, good angulation all through, good shape and outline, carries herself well -- but she is a bit big.  I am hoping for a puppy with a little less size and a lovely head, but similar great structure.

I am so excited about the stud dog Bree is going to!  Take a look at Guy and then scroll down to read all about him.

Bree	Guy

Bree turned two Christmas Eve 2009.  She has her first two rally titles and I'm sure I'll easily finish off her 'Excellent' title this year -- she's very easy to show.  She did her health clearances in January 2010.  Her mom just cleared her heart again, too, which is good to see.  Bree has a pedigree filled with plenty of excellent, sound, healthy, long-lived dogs, including a great dog named Sanickro Made By Magic. 

Now, Guy is a pretty special dog, which is the only reason I'd consider driving all the way to Minneapolis to breed Bree to him, believe me!  He's from Scotland.  His show name is Kinvaar Obsession.  Guy also goes back to Sanickro Made By Magic, so when I take Bree to Guy, it will be a linebreeding on this really great, healthy, long-lived dog.  Guy himself is seven years old and heart clear, but the thing about Guy (besides his beauty!) is the back of his skull.  He's one of the go-to dogs if you're really *serious* about trying to avoid syringomyelia.  He's racking up an impressive record as a producer -- that is, his offspring tend to look really good as far as avoiding SM goes, way better than average.  And he's siring really beautiful offspring, definitely a plus.

In a month or so, I hope I will also be breeding my lovely ruby girl, Adora, to another great stud dog -- Timmy.  Adora and her mother made me fall in love with rubies, they are both so beautiful and sweet.  Dora has all her health clearances and she is such a charmer besides!  She is also the only one of my girls to get a perfect score in the Rally ring.  She is super fast and just a tremendous amount of fun to show in any venue.  She has plenty of AKC points, although she still needs majors to finish her championship.  If ONLY the point schedule hadn't changed two weeks too early in 2009, she'd have won at least one major at the show shown below.

Here she is.  (But don't look at me!  I look terrible in this picture!  It was raining and windy and cold and Adora would NOT stand beautifully on the table, which is why I am holding her while the photographer takes the only shot we were ever going to get!)

Adora	Timmy

Timmy.  'Timmy' is CKCSC and AKC Ch Sanickro Enchanter at Heartsong.  He is twelve!!! and still heart clear!  He's just as good as it gets as far as heart quality goes.  He's clear for everything, and not only that, he was the top CKCSC dog in 1999!  Timmy won all kinds of Best in Shows at Cavalier specialties under any number of top breeder-judges.  He is a totally fantastic dog.  It is just luck that I saw Linda Dupuy's ad in the 2009 CKCSC yearbook, because I assumed he was long retired as a stud dog.  But far from being retired, he his still siring puppies just as well as any two-year-old.  Plus because he has offspring that are eight and nine years old, we can also see that his puppies tend to get his outstanding heart quality, too!  As far as Linda knows, he's never sired a puppy with SM -- and since she never sells puppies out of state, she would probably know.

I bred Adora's sister Effie to Timmy  last year, but we only got one puppy -- Dara, now five months old.  I am going to try again, this time hoping for a male puppy, preferably a blenheim, though both rubies and blenheims are equally likely from this breeding.  If I kept a girl, I would sort of like a ruby!  I'm almost tempted to keep one puppy of each sex -- maybe I will!  The idea, eventually, will be to breed together lines as perfect as possible for both heart and syringomyelia.  So a son from Timmy is what I most want, and a daughter from Bree.

***

2009's single puppy:

Eff's Puppy!  Adora's niece, a half-niece for Bree.

	Here's the entire "D" litter!  Just one puppy!  Can you believe that??? Born 9-22-09, this little girl was a whopping 11 oz at birth.  I sure hope she is spectacular, to make up for her single-puppy status. Socializing a single puppy is a pain in the neck.  Luckily a couple of my other girls are excellent babysitters.
	Here is the little creature at three and a half weeks -- with her 'siblings'!  Because she is a single puppy, she needs substitutes to take the place of her littermates.  She likes the bear best, probably because it is fuzzier than the duck.  Maybe I'll get a couple of Cavalier stuffed toys in case I ever need substitute siblings again . . .
	And here the baby is at four weeks, out on the couch with her mom.  I'm sitting right there to make sure she doesn't topple off, obviously. She can now stand up pretty easily, and take several steps at a time, but she still often loses her balance and sits down -- plop! -- on her plump rear.  She is truly a fat little puppy since she is getting all her mother's milk; she weighs 3 1/2 lbs now.  I'm sure she'll slim down once she is weaned. But what shall I call her?  I'm thinking "Anara Decoration" and call her Cora, or else maybe "Anara Delightful" and call her Della.
	Okay!  It's Dara! Her show name is Anara Daireann, which is Gaelic for "Fruitful" or "Fertile."  Nothing like the power of suggestion, right?  I just hope she can live up to her name when the time comes!  This single-puppy thing, no thanks! Here she is three months old.

See Previous Litters here

Tips for Puppy Buyers

If you have approached several breeders and they're all brushing you off and you feel like they're not taking you seriously and nobody will sell you a puppy -- it may not be that they are all snobs.  It may be that you simply do not know what breeders are looking for in initial contacts with puppy buyers.  Worse, you may not know that your approach, which to you seems straightforward and ordinary, is actually a huge turn-off for any responsible breeder.

Here is how NOT to email a breeder:

"Hi my name is lola and i'm looking for a female blenheim puppy with a blenheim spot do you have any puppies like that and how much are they?"

Here is what is wrong with this email, and my apologies to anybody named "Lola", I have no idea why that's the name that popped out of my keyboard.

It is not in standard English.  Is this because Lola is careless?  Because she does not get that she is writing a business letter, not a note to a friend?  Or because she is illiterate?  Whether she is careless, ignorant, or illiterate, it looks right away like there is a huge chance she will not be a fit owner for a pet.  Carelessness, ignorance, and illiteracy are not the qualities that make for knowledgeable, responsible pet ownership.

Write a real letter.  Tell me your name, plus a little bit about yourself and your family and your current pets and why your family is ideal for a Cavalier.  Most people do not provide enough information about themselves when inquiring about a puppy.  A good breeder will ask you some questions, not because she is snobbish or a snoop, but because it matters.  Cavalier puppies are not suitable for every possible home!  Every specific puppy is suitable only for some good homes, not every possible good home.  It is up to the breeder to find out enough to make sure that your home is actually a good fit for a puppy, and a good breeder will also try hard to sort out which individual puppy would be a good fit for your home.

How old are your kids?  Does your elderly mother live with you?  Do you have a fenced yard?  What is your work schedule like?  Don't try to tailor your comments or your answers to questions to make yourself "look perfect".  Something that's a huge turn-off for one breeder won't matter at all to another and will look great to a third.  I know of some breeders who won't sell a puppy to anybody who wants to show it in Agility.  I understand their argument, but I think they're totally wrong.  I would love to have a puppy buyer who wanted to show in performance -- as long as I thought he or she would be a good trainer (I really did know a sheltie once who was under so much pressure from his owner he developed ulcers).

Why have you decided to get a Cavalier?  Comment about what you're looking for in a Cavalier.  Do you love hiking?  Do you want to do Rally?  This is where to mention what sex and color you'd prefer.  If you don't care, definitely say so.  Have you done some research about the breed?  Make it clear you have by asking good questions.  Ask about temperament.  Ask about health clearances for the parents.  Ask whether you can have copies of those clearances.  If a breeder says no, that's good information for you -- that breeder is most likely either ignorant herself or deliberately trying to take you for a ride.  Protect yourself by going to a different breeder. 

BTW, if you are looking for a quality, healthy, pretty Cavalier for a pet, I really urge you to think hard about whether you HAVE to have a female.  I know that nine out of ten pet buyers are looking for a girl puppy, but if you are flexible about color and sex, it is a LOT easier to get a really nice puppy.  Male Cavaliers famously have the sweetest personalities..  If I were looking for a pet, I sure wouldn't want to pass on a really good puppy just because there aren't any of the "right" sex or color available.  I promise you, no matter what color you think is your favorite, when a puppy of some other color crawls into your lap, you will be charmed by that puppy in nothing flat.

There.  If all that seemed obvious, great!  If you didn't know it, now you do!  NOW ask me about puppies, and if I don't have what you're looking for, I'll try to direct you to someone who might.