Congratulations to our Höckgårdens Eddy (Emil) on his first CKC championship points at Brockville Ontario today. Best of breed yesterday, best of breed AND A GROUP 4 today! He is halfway to his title!
He apparently showed wonderfully with a happy wagging tail and an enthusiastic attitude, yay Emil!
We had a mini family reunion at the Ebb Tide CPE trial yesterday, Nina and Tish got to play with Demi and Austin. There was a LOT of wrestling! Also, Demi is now the first of the A litter to earn her CGC (at just 6 months of age)! She is now Alkemi Adrenaline Murtaya ST CGC! Congratulations to Ron and Demi, what a great job! As I have said many times, I feel very lucky to have such wonderful homes for the puppies!
Here are some pictures of Loki (Alkemi Avanti LS) enjoying the summer with her family:
Loki July 2010
Chew!
Pretty Girl
Cottage
Here are some new pictures of Mikko (Alkemi Alfa Romeo LS), thanks to his mom!
Mikko Doesn't Want His Picture Taken In This One!
Mikko in June 2010
Mikko in June 2010
Mikko and Schatzie
What a handsome boy!
Happy Mikko!
Kate’s blog post here is eerily similar to the non-stop round-and-round discussions I had in my head, with Jim, with Ulla, and with anyone else who would listen (or who didn’t escape or cut me off before I got going) during the long and painful weeks when I was trying to choose between Tish and Loki (Diziet). In the end, I kept the dog my heart wanted, and because agility is my first love, even if she turns out to be unfinishable, she will hopefully still be an awesome agility dog. But she is certainly not the conformation prospect that Diziet was (at least at the ages they were when I was deciding). To be fair, Tish was actually nicer than Diziet in some ways at 8 weeks, but Diziet was definitely much nicer conformationally when I made my final decision (which I agonized about up to and including the day she left). Ultimately, Tish was just the one who demanded to stay here, she was the one whose personality wedged into our hearts. And even though I will breed another litter, and Tish is certainly a breeding prospect, temperament and personality have to be at least as important as conformation no matter what. I could not imagine placing a dog I loved unless I was sure that the new home would allow it a better life than I could offer. Keeping the dog you love, even if it’s not perfect, has to be the right thing to do…at least for me.
Jim and Tish
I’d say she’s settled in well, wouldn’t you?
Nina, Tish and I were at Ebb Tide this weekend for CPE agility. Nina finished her Level 3 Strategy Games title. I got us a No Time today when I forgot to take her collar off (dogs must run naked in CPE)…my only excuse is that I normally run her in a slip lead, but I’ve been using a collar and leash lately since the slip lead had become a signal to her to go ballistic with enthusiasm (or “more ballistic with enthusiasm than normal”). But she did wonderfully and coped with the heat with her usual good grace. Boy do I love my Nina girl.
Demi’s dad Ron brought her by for a visit, I was so looking forward to seeing them and seeing how she’d grown that I was sad to see that he hadn’t entered the trial. But he showed up with Demi to visit me anyway! What a sweetheart, I was so, so happy to see them both. Demi looks wonderful, she is going through a gangly phase (surprising just how gangly these short-legged dogs can be when they’re growing up!), but she is beautiful and so sweet and friendly. If she’d had a tail I’d have kept her, her head is almost exactly between Nina and Emil. She and Tish had a good wrestle and zoom around.
Lisa and Austin were there of course, Austin looks wonderful, he has a Basset brother Hobbes who is his BFF. He has a great life and he is obviously very loved. He is gorgeous. He and Tish also had a good play date. I realize now that I forgot to ask Wendi to take some pictures of them playing!
It is kind of a weird experience to see these little dogs that I brought into the world (literally, in Austin’s case) out there living their lives. They were born here, in our guest bedroom. They played on our deck and we cuddled them every day. And now they live with other people who cuddle and love them. They have their own lives now. And so far anyway, this litter seems to be doing wonderfully. We are so fortunate to have had such wonderful homes that wanted our puppies.
And Tish. Little Tish. Now that the decision is made and Loki has gone to her (also wonderful) new home, I can finally allow myself to fall in love with Tish. And I have fallen hard. What a baby dog she is! She loves everyone and everything, wants cuddles from everyone, wags her tail and does her funny “please pay attention to me” growly-bark at people. She is adorable. She has almost all her adult incisors now, so when she looks up she looks like she’s wearing too-big dentures since her jaws haven’t caught up yet. She is just so exactly what I was hoping for, so cuddly and loving and sweet and smart and a little monster at the same time, Jeannine says I’m in trouble: she has all Nina’s attitude. I am happy. She swam, too! Just waded right into the pond like she’d done it a hundred times, what a girl!
So…Loki-formerly-Diziet is sleeping her last night in her crate here. I’ve had a good cry. I will miss her terribly. I hope, hope, hope that I’ve made the right decision. She was my first pick after all, until I fell in love with Tish, with her funny little ways and her insistence on becoming part of our family. I guess I know in my heart that this is the right way around, but my goodness…she is a beautiful dog, and so sweet and loving, and it is breaking my heart to see her go. I know her new family will love her and give her the life she deserves, and I know there is no way I could raise two of them and do both justice. I hope she will be happy and bring happiness to her new family. But…this one really hurts. I am placing what may well be the best dog of the litter, conformation-wise, because she doesn’t have the temperament I want. My dogs are pets first, agility dogs second, and show/breeding dogs last, and Tish seems to fit that bill better…so I know my choice might not be someone else’s…but Diziet is so sweet, and so gorgeous, and I love her so much, I can’t believe I’m letting her go, even though I know it’s the right thing to do. I don’t know if you get used to this or not.
Jack’s family kindly sent some wonderful pictures of him. Doesn’t he look great?
Jack A Month Ago
Happy Jack
The decision has been made. Tish is staying. Diziet will be going in a week and a half to a lovely family in Ottawa. I get weepy just thinking about her leaving, but keeping both wouldn’t be fair to them. She is a beautiful girl with a sweet, loving temperament, and I hope she will be very happy with her new family, and that they will be happy with her. What it came down to in the end was temperament – Tish has this bold-as-brass sparkle to her that I really think screams “agility dog!”. I have no doubt that Diziet would be a great agility dog too, but she is a bit more laid back and retiring, and will probably be a wonderful family pet. Diziet is definitely the nicer dog conformationally, which gives me that “what if she’s the best dog I ever breed and I’m placing her!” panic. But Tish is the one my heart wants.
