Monday Morning Reflections / Ode to Breeders

" ...Give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others... C.D. Larson"   
 ‎"...I've learned that people will forget what you said,

people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel...Maya Angelou”

I don't do mornings.  But I will make exceptions. This Monday morning is one of them.  The sky is blue with only a few scattered clouds. Although I think it's too early for them the crickets are chirping right outside of my window. An occasional rooster crows from somewhere beyond, he is certainly not a resident here.  A car or a truck passes by occasionally as traffic has begun to pick up since Memorial Day.  I am not sure but I think it is True who has determined that this is a morning to sing praises.  Every once in awhile I'll hear his attempt at a solo resound through the backyard.  Yes, he hunkered down and spent the evening in the comfort of the dog house along with Piper, Rose, and Scooby while Treasure and Jack enjoyed the comfort of the people house.  Pippin and Molly settled down nearby their pups in their subsequent areas.  John left early this morning to enjoy coffee with his brother and to help him and vice versa.  I have had my own coffee, checked email (only 2906 unread - yikes!), gleaned over Facebook and offered a comment or two, liking several friend's pictures and posts, while listening to music by Jim Brickman, Phillip Yon, and other instrumentalists in the background.  It is the calm before a busy day - actually before a busy week!  And I am doing this Monday morning just fine.

Looking ahead on the calendar I note that we have a puppy visit planned for tomorrow with a Maine couple I'm looking forward to meeting.  Our remaining pup from Molly and Scooby's litter will most likely join their family in just a couple of weeks.  It is a long story but a friend of a friend recommended them to us.  Actually, it was a friend of ours who passed of throat cancer a few years ago - something which still saddens me deeply to think of.  The All Things Brittany family circle experiences it's share of grief as well as times of great joy.  I should like to see less of the former and more of the latter (gee I hope I have aligned those terms correctly.)

The Central Maine Brittany Club Designated Specialty show is coming up later this month too, during a 4 day cluster.  I enjoy serving as Show VP for this event and feel confident everything is coming together well.  The entries look to be plentiful and I always look forward to seeing the Brittany exhibitors bring their beautiful animals to Maine.  A couple of years ago here it was Chevy (sire of Pippin's pups) who actually won Best in Show!  I admired him from afar when Pippin was a little over a year old and it was Shania's great grandmother Charlotte who called me aside and told me' now THAT dog is who you should breed Pippin too when the time comes!'  Actually that moment in time for Chevy and his handler Jenny Kreiger was captured and uploaded it to YouTube. Speaking of Chevy, one of his co-owners Nancy Morabito indicated I had left off some of the important titles of the Brittanys behind Chevy on the hypothetical pedigree posted on Pippins page of the Maine Brittany Site. I am going to give her a call so we can review it together and I can fill in any missing pieces. 

Our 2011 breeding program is winding down.  It has been a remarkable year and a very busy one. Our first litter arrived a full year after our most recent litter and it was a much anticipated repeat breeding between Treasure and Gibson.  9 of 11 pups in the first litter were hunted and/or participated in field events through AKC and NAVHDA.  And my True puppy, has earned his Junior Hunter title, has 1 leg of Senior Hunter, just earned his first 4 show points towards his bench title, and also placed 3rd in our clubs Open Derby field trial stake.  Not too shabby.  His full sister Brandi won a NAVHDA Prize 1 with 108 for a score (out of 112).  All of those pups have more than met our expectations, including that of being a great pet!  So a repeat breeding was obvious and the potential for all of the new litter is equal to that of the first, including another pup who will be entering the show ring.  As we thought of the rest of the year we received the OFA results back of Scooby, who is OFA good.  With a desire to prove him as a stud dog, to continue with the consistency from his mother Wish, and to meet our ever growing list of gun dog puppy requests we decided to breed Scooby to Molly.   Knowing exactly what to expect with Molly we knew it would be easy to identify Scooby's strengths as a producer of family hunting companions.  These efforts were rewarded when their 6 beautiful puppies were born the day before Easter although not without risk to Molly as an emergency c-section was performed due to dystocia. (See When Things Go Wrong) .  We thank God that she is well recovered and healthy, and spayed.  All of these pups have been spoken for and as usual quite a lot of screening has gone one.  It is hard sometimes to know when timing is right for a certain pup to be offered to someone who has been waiting.  But again our ATB family continues to grow and reach out, often even to each other.  (Someone likened it to a cult in the most positive light hearted sense of the word. I like to think of it as a ministry, after all - before ATB I was studying for ministry credentials!!!) To continue on with the reflection and look back we had planned to breed Pippin to Chevy @ her 3rd birthday.  She timed things perfectly so that trips to visit Chevy in New Jersey could be coordinated with visits here from a family living close to another breeder who also was using Chevy and a mutual transportation plan was arrived at!  We picked Pippin up at the March Sporting Group shows and  the rest is history.  Things are being handled quite different in regards to puppy selection and placement of Pippin and Chevy pups.  Not all will be sold, and several will be placed.  As they continue to grow and develop I do have a very serious decision to make and this is one John will leave up to me (ha - so he says!).  Although the 2011 breeding program here is coming to an end, it never really concludes especially in the case of making a decision to keep a pup for our program.  For our goals.  For our purposes. For our hopes. For our dreams. For the betterment first of our own program here, and then for the betterment of the breed itself.  And for the love of the dog, both given and received, naturally.  We have already enjoyed getting to know several new inquiries who are looking for a new Brittany puppy in 2012, and even a couple of our current puppy owners are ready to add a 2nd Brittany to their family.  We will breed Treasure one last time for puppies to be born in 2012.  And pending evaluations and health clearances will probably breed True and Piper together, son of Treasure and daughter of Jack. There are other litters planned using Brittanys from our program, just not owned by John and I.

In a little less than a month, there will no longer be 2 litters of beautiful Brittany pups to consume my waking moments and take up some of my sleeping ones.  There will be no yipping yapping woofing happy little greetings just to see me come near.  No little pups to tag along as I clean up and do chores here at ATB.  No more "oh my gosh, I JUST cleaned your pen!!" or "look at you, you are covered in poop", or running after a pup headed for the woods.  No more sitting on the floor in the middle of a pile of happy and joyful little Brittany pups clamoring over me, kissing and biting, and eventually settling down to a nap on my lap.  These actions and behaviors plus several others have been the pure expectations of every day of my life since January in one way or another.  It will be awhile before they come again.  I shall enjoy times of solitude and rest, but I usually find a way to do just that anyway - even if briefly.  When I have complained about being exhausted, Dr. Chapin who is one of our vets at Broadview Animal Hospital chides and humors me by saying "Ann, you brought this all on yourself!"  Yes. Dr. Chapin is right. Because it's what's breeders do. Which leads me to share what seems to be the perfect way to draw this blog post to a close.  From the Maine Brittany Site posted with permission from the author called Ode To Breeders.

Take care and God bless you always, John, Ann, and All things Brittany