Sunday, February 19, 2012

Present Litter 18/2/12

Well I have a confession to make, it was a bit of a surprise for me and a real disappointment, you see I hadn’t been as vigilant with sweetie pie as normal and because she is so clean with her personal hygiene, bleeding etc. there were no tell tale signs on the floor or bed and I missed her cycle and young bobby is a conscientious worker so he never misses a trick and he got to her before I could separate them and surprise, surprise she fell pregnant but this time there is only 3 pups and all are males, they are 1 week old Monday and doing well putting on weight beautifully.

They are bred with the same attention to detail as our Cavoodles and in some ways whilst you would have heard the RSPCA chap on the BBC Documentary say that a cross breed is 20 times less likely to get a genetic disease compared to a pure bred dog.  While that is normally true it isn’t so in this case and the reason why is that the cross breed gets what we call a genetic explosion in cattle and the same happens in dogs.

Simply a Genetic explosion is just a term to explain that instead of a genetic retraction when the father of the pup is put back over the daughters and the genetic diversity those dogs have is retracting and now is 75% Dad and only 25% mum making puppy much more likely to be carrying a genetic disease as a result of inbreeding.

These puppies Grand parents are both worth in the region of $7-10,000 because they were imported into the country and that’s what the costs associated would have cost their original Australian owners.

It seems that the original Australian importer owners has similar breeding concepts as I do and the only reasons they sold them to me was that the wife got cancer in the Colon, had had half her gut removed and could no longer look after them and I was prepared to keep them both together.

Now why am I telling you this?  Because Gabby missed out on falling to give us the litter in late Feb early March and Sweetie pie was to be mated with a Cavalier King Charles next cycle, but Bobby the Toy poodle and dad of the Cavoodles last litter is the dad for her litter that she just had and I am giving you the opportunity to take one of these most delightful puppies now if you want to cut the wait shorter.

She only had 3 boys but as I told you before that very early desexing retains that lovely softness of a female.  This virtually gives you the equivalent of a female softness in a stronger male body.  I assure you I have sorted out the personality and health issues before buying them so much so that if they were females I would have kept them all for breeding Cavoodles as their mum is a fantastic mum and really does a great job and the combination of them produces a great puppy.  

Whilst they are worth and would bring $1500 + if anyone on the wait list want one instead of waiting for a Cavoodle I will keep the same price already agreed upon and you can have it to take home in 7 weeks  (about the 16th April) instead of waiting for the Cavoodles around mid year or later.

I realize that I am selling them but am sincere when I say that the difference between these and the cavoodles isn’t very much and you would be just as happy with either so it really makes no difference to me as I will simply go down the waiting list in order and offer them to the next after you until they are sold so that is it straight from the shoulder as it is.

Now to give a better idea I bred a litter from these parents to keep for breeding and to give me some options with size and colours and have been experimenting with different hair clips for low maintenance and have cut some short videos to show you the differences and how much like the cavoodles they look when treated like a cavoodle clip instead of traditional poodle clip that I don’t like.

Now here are some photos of 4 of the pups I kept and they have a lovely temperament and are as strong and healthy as can be.

HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS OF 4 FROM THE LAST LITTER

Meet Rusty,
Rusty has had a minimal hair cut by me with just scissors and a comb to help get it even just as I watch the hairdresser do when she is cutting my hair and shaping it.  This is my favourite because it is a minimum maintenance and still looks good weeks & months after and when washing it holds much less water so wets out so much quicker.  Then when it comes to drying it really shines as it is quicker to dry as well.  All in all this is the look and easy to maintain look I like most but would you believe he's a poodle?  

Here ia another view of Rusty


This is our larrikin girl Ginger who has been left natural and never been cut except for around the eyes and face as the hair around the eyes can irritate the eyes as you will see below and by removing it is no drama but must be so much better for the dogs and takes only a minute to do.  This looks good but is much more work bathing and when she goes in the dam it takes so much longer for her to dry.`

Now meet Lisa.  She is a lighter colour and I have clipped her similar to Rusty and she is a full sister to Rusty but more like her fathers colours.  She is a softer animal and specially chosen to breed for people just wanting a gentle lap dog that will suit grand parents down to the ground as she will be the fun of the party when the grand kids come round but happy to see them go and not look for the strenuous exercise each day reverting back to grandma's feet warmer whilst she watches TV or does her knitting, checking her emails or whatever.

Lisa has a minimalist haircut and has a much lighter coat meaning it isn't as heavy or close as the two above and she is a dream to wash and she just has so much love to give and loves licking (their way of showing affection I suppose like we would kiss someone to say we think she's OK.

There is another little male Casey I kept back to test as a sire again to put over Cavalier females so they won't be inbreeding with their own siblings but completely different breed even to concentrate on producing Cavoodles.  People seem to have the concept that females have the nicest nature but Casey is the sweetest nature of any dog I have (Mind you Lisa isn't far behind and I am delighted with the temperament of these dogs, it all goes well for their offsprings) and he is a light colour just like Lisa, in fact they are hard to tell apart.  All in all the results I am getting now I can't buy pups as good as I have so will be breeding our own and then crossing the first cross with poodles to Cavalier King Charles and Cavaliers to poodles.  It doesn't matter which mum or dad you choose but is a matter of finding which combinations produce the best magic in the pups and culling any that don't.  To me so long as temperament is up to scratch I look for which is the best mum and both make good mums but Cavaliers are reputed to have more pups so are usually used for economic reasons.


The last two are of Rosie and she hasn't been cut at all but is a minimal cut and compared to Lisa she takes a lot more time washing her.  Again Rosie and Lisa are highly suited to an older couple or a young family with less energy than either Ginger or Rusty.  I have found a fantastic brush for brushing these dogs it is called Les Pouch a German made product so it's not cheep as brushes go but it is good.  A friend had one and it worked wonderfully well I got one and it is just as good for Cavoodles as poodles, in fact these are so close much is interchangeable particularly if you don't want a traditional hair cut and whilst I'm all for minimum maintenance daily brushings are a real positive benefit as the dogs love the attention and become used to being handled so are easier when we just have to like clipping, toe nail clips especially or anything that needs doing to them also builds trust.  Back to the brush I chose the brush with the red centre and one set of long stainless wire bristles facing backward so as to gently tease the knots out whilst the other side has bristles with a bend forward so as to catch early knots and fluff up the fur.  5-10 minutes brushing and their coat becomes so soft and furry and if you want that look it is beneficial to give it 5 minutes a day.  On this side I have given Rosie just a few moments brushing but on the other side below is the natural rag doll look with no brushing






Finally meet Oliver a friends dog who is also a very intelligent dog but he is here to give you another alternative haircut.  This one is called the sheep cut ie looks like a sheep.  Oliver's coat is cut every month to 6 weeks and he gets 10 minutes grooming every morning to keep that lovely even sheen on his coat and he is soon due for another cut. 2 things I'd like to point out to help you think what you want, notice his feet are clipped very close, that helps him keep clean and if it isn't cut (you really need a close set of clippers to get this close) it means if he treads in some mud the fur around the feet doesn't hold the mud and bring it inside.  The other is his face, when he's just clipped will be so close the nose looks just like show poodles (sort of greyhound look but not as exaggerated however around the eyes is nice and close even 6 weeks later.  the main thing for you to compare is the appearance that only comes with daily brushings and TLC.
Whilst Oliver looks smaller in actual fact he's about half way between Lisa and Ginger or Rusty in size only the photo was taken further away from him so he looks smaller.  (at a guess I'd say about 6kg+-)

Now here is a photo of the mum and bubs and please note that the bright white face of Sweetie is really the similar colour as the rest of the body just totally washed out by the flash.  The two outside pups are the darker and the middle one is the lighter but again the colour isn't as good because of the flash.
  The puppies were born at weights of between 147 grams and 202g and are now doubled their weight in just under a week since her milk came down.

Some people self included have preferred to have Cavalier mum's and Poodle dads but having seen litters from both realise that it really depends on the mum and her mothering qualities much more than breed and if Sweeties mothering skills are passed on to her girls I'll have them any day and the girls above Ginger, Lisa and Rosie will be possible starters for their first litter around August this year to a lovely little Cavalier called Jock who is a Blenhime colour (brown and white) and a really pretty dog with the potential to throw unusual colours in the offsprings.  It has reached the stage that today I have difficulty finding dogs I can buy to replace my retiring girls that are as good or better than the ones I can breed up and know that there is no inbreeding in their line or other unexpected health or temperament problems so the future increase will mostly come from here plus buying in some when I can find pups who's parents tick all the boxes as well as these to continue expanding their genetics.

These little puppies should be ready to take home about the 16th April 2012.