Reflections

PATIENT REFLECTIONS
Having a quiet morning provides me with an opportunity to be still, collect my thoughts, and really focus on this year so far. I will soon discover the best way to balance my time this spring especially in regards to Molly and Pippin. I always listened to other reputable, experienced, and responsible breeders talk about their puppy rooms and thought how wonderful it might be to have a separate area, used exclusively for that purpose. What John created and built last fall truly exceeded my expectations and I know he intends to continue in the garage. I am trusting John for the logistics of the layout in the puppy room. Each time I have asked he implies he has everything under control and I believe him and know it will be perfect. We are experienced with having litters born within close range of each other. It is often intentional, depending upon the time of year. For a long time we did not want to have 'winter' puppies but now I have found it's a delightful time for many reasons. Yet I love having spring and summer pups because they get to experience all the joys of discovering the great outdoors. I have a portacrib which is used just for pups. When the weather is warm enough I will take the pups outside for an airing at a very early age which they love. Speaking of experience, we do have the benefit of Molly's in regards to knowing she is a wonderful mother and somewhat predictable in her special needs, needs which in the beginning she prefers John to take care of. I totally get that. When Molly had her first litter of pups it had been 13 years since we'd had a litter of Brittany pups. I think my nervousness showed. John was working through an outage at Seabrook and away about 70 hours a week. Molly's pups were born in the house. Molly being a first time mother and me trying to make sure everything was right simply added up to stress in both of us. She soon made it known her pups were off base to me for a few days as far as she was concerned. It's not uncommon for a mother dog to react that way. Interestingly enough it was not that way with John and Molly; she's always been daddy's girl anyway. So the benefit of Molly's experience and knowing what to expect is of great value to me. Molly permits me to be present when she's in labor but keeps a guarded eye on me. I learned by reading the book Julie bought for me, "Calming Signals for Dogs," exactly how to respond to her glances. I will not look her in the eye but off to the side, a behavior Molly will mirror. I will also go through the motion of yawning, which very often she will repeat. These behaviors are actually signals a dog will use to first calm themself, and then either other dogs or perhaps humans around them. Of course the human has to be aware of the communication. If you ever observe a dog licking it's lips this too is a calming signal. So, it's something I will do in this situation with Molly. I do routinely practice calming signals with all of our Brittanys. The signals are especially helpful with Molly as I know she wants me to be with her, but on her terms. I respect the terms of a mother dog in labor and I also respect the manner in which they respond after pups are born. One reason I prefer having a separate area for whelping and nursing pups is a mother dog can become easily torn between wanting to stay with her pups and wanting to spend time with her owner. This in itself can be stressful for momma dog. There's plenty of time for momma and pups to enjoy being part of the daily household activities of our home but in the beginning it's important for the emphasis to be on establishing the mother/puppy bond and affording them the privacy to do this under our watchful eye and care.

As our desire to continue on as hobby breeders has grown for all the right reasons, we have continued to build upon and improve the way we manage ATB. Some of this is further shared in this pdf from the Maine Brittany Site . The shed which John built shortly after moving here was first transformed into a small dog house using Mason kennel fencing. With washable surfaces, magnetic dog doors, heat, electricity and access to water it soon became a pleasant place for our dogs as well as for us to hangout. The dogs all have easy indoor/outdoor access and their rooms inside are ample. Some of our ideas for outdoor runs came from other breeders including the use of patio pavers for the outside. In our decisions to add to our Brittany family additions to our dog house continued. A pellet stove was added, a couch, and a t.v. There is no end to John's creativity in this regard. Eventually we used one part of our small shed/dog house just for pups. And this worked out well. Eventually concrete was poured to replace the patio pavers and a tin roof installed over the outdoor runs to provide shelter. Whenever there were pups we provided a half grass/half gravel based, covered puppy pen. ANY type of outdoor pen used for young pups MUST have a covering over it - otherwise hawks can easily swoop down and capture a young pup. Anyway our modifications have been simple but practical and always with the care and well being of our multiple dog family uppermost in our mind. There's a multitude of kennel designs and materials and plenty of books on the subject. For me though, being married to a man who loves to use his hands to create and build based on ideas and thoughts flowing in his head, I enjoy being wonderfully surprised from time to time! You can have the Tajmahal of kennel buildings or you can have the simplicity of 'the dog house'. At one time we connected 2 small chain link kennel kits together with a dog house inside of each. It worked allright but just not for me, and John knew that!

BASIC ANIMAL HUSBANDRY
Although I am home most of the time, when away - I want to have a safe place for the dogs to be able to move about, go to the bathroom when they need to, and to be happy. I will crate dogs inside of the house in our absence for short periods of time. I will also crate dogs inside of the house when I am at home. Up until the time Molly came into our home I had no concept of the benefit and humane application of crate training for dogs. Multiple dog owners have an added responsibility to their dogs. They MUST understand the importance of one on one time with each dog that is part of their canine family pack. For me that translates to balance those times of having a houseful of dogs happily running to and fro at the same time between those times of quiet, one on one times of belly rubs, grooming and cuddling up together. Dogs do settle into an heirarchy within a pack but Brittanys are not pack animals. They are dogs who love being involved with their family. But I have experienced the reality of offering our multiple dog family opportunities to develop individually and uniquely. I have learned so much about dog behavior, temperament, personality, adaptability through the interactions here at ATB. I find no benefit in allowing a home to be taken over by dogs entirely and I think that perhaps is where individuals are in danger emotionally in regards to dog ownership. There needs to be balance. And John and I have found this balance can continually be improved upon. Our home is not our kennel. Even so, there is dog hair on the furniture and nose/paw prints on most of the windows and doors. There are bones and toys scattered about and there is a full line of dog dishes in the kitchen. Our Brittany dogs are accepted, loved, and very welcomed in our home all the time.  But having all of them in the house all of the time is not realisitic. Likewise, our kennel/dog house is not our home but we spend time there with our dogs who are kenneled. And indeed there are times when all of the dogs are kenneled at the same time in their individual inside/outside pen and/or sometimes paired up together. When I say 'all for the love of the dog both given and received', I mean ALL for the love of the dog both given and received! 
Take care and God bless and as always, we appreciate your interest in ATB!  John, Ann and our canine crew