Tri Bubba has a proper name, just call him Charlie, to be formally known as Solstice Flying Ace.  Charlie will live here in El Paso with Cody.   Cody has agreed to let us see him grow up and if he grows into his promise we might make a show dog out of him.

Do you think they like each other?

So Charlie joins his sisters Bailey and Bonnie with names, now Ringo just needs a name.

Sounds like our nationals isn’t going very well.  Kathy’s mom has been hospitalized in Memphis and she flew there this morning instead of flying to Kansas.  She may still make part of the nationals if her mom improves.   We are keeping good thoughts.

PJ is with our NM gang, Julie, Barbara and Wendi and I know he is in good hands but I”m going to be sad for Kathy if she doesn’t get to go since that is the only reason he really went to the Nationals so that he and Kathy could play.   So now PJ is there without his “handler handler”.  Wendi has graciously offered to take  him in for the Megan Competition. 

PJ made a stop at the herding site where he went to the Instinct Test apparently PJ is a “townie” and not a Farm Boy.  Julie said, he didn’t even look at the sheep.  I wasn’t really surprised because he is kind of a Man about Town sort of guy, he really likes flirting with the ladies, hanging with his people and he doesn’t really like to get dirty.  I guess he is just leaving the sheep work to his brother John Adams.

I hope we have good news from Kathy soon.

After our road trip to Arylan yesterday (the puppies were great on the ride up yesterday) we spent most of the rainy windy Saturday doing nothing.  Doing nothing isn’t one of my usual activities so even with bad weather it was nice to just spend the day hanging out. 

Yes, we did look at the babies and unless something changes a whole lot in the next couple of weeks this is how it stands:

Little Blaze will be staying at Solstice she will be registered as Solstice Flying Circus aka Bailey

Angel girl will be moving up north to Arylan and a tenative registered name for her will be Arylan Flight from Justice aka Bonnie (Harry is the co-breeder on this litter)

It  looks like Miss Cody will be getting Tri Bubba 

And that leaves brindle boy Ringo.

This was a very consistent litter and Harry remarked that he could just pick one since they all looked very much a like.  

Hopefully we will have a more productive day tomorrow and there will be photos.

Miss Frost is having great time playing with Harry’s 2 youngsters Omar and Lara they were born on 12/31 so just a little younger than she is so lots on fun.

Tomorrow PJ is doing the Sheep thing so I hope to hear he had a good time.

PJ left for the CWCCA nationals, he is being chauffeured by our good friend Julie Munn.   The are doing the Herding Trials this weekend and PJ will be meeting some sheep and on Sunday he will be doing the Instinct test to see if he thinks sheep are cool!

Not to be left out Lindy, Frost and the babies are heading north to Arylan in Albuquerque for a visit and to see if we can evaluate the babies to see who is going where.  The last time the babies were in the car was when they were 3 days old the hollared the whole ride, I hope we do better this time 🙂

Recently there has been an email going around on email groups about making money breeding dogs and how they claim they can keep the cost of raising a puppy at $20.00. To this I say WHAT?!!!

First of all, I breed dogs, not often but when I do I’d like to make some money on the sale of the puppies. It helps underwrite the cost of dog shows, health testing and just the basic care of the dogs. That being said I haven’t made lots of money selling puppies, actually I’ve never made a profit selling puppies, not because I haven’t tried but because raising puppies correctly can be expensive.

Let’s look at my current litter of Cardigan puppies. I have 4 of them and my sale price (which is about average for well bred Cardigan Puppies) is $800.00, that would be $3600.00 gross on the litter.  I’m keeping one and my kennel partner and co-breeder is keeping one so that brings me down to $1600.00 gross.  One of the puppies is staying here in El Paso with a friend so now we are down to one puppy for sale at $800.  Still not bad for a puppy right?

Let’s see, I didn’t have any stud fee for this litter since both Mom and Dad live at my house. But since Mom and Dad live at my house all their expenses have been mine. Both dogs have had multiple health checks the cheapest being the yearly $25.00 CERF eye test, of course I have the expense of showing the dogs to their championships, some people would say why go to the trouble? It is a hobby and fun but it is also a way to get objective opinions of your breeding stock. 

 So let’s talk about the cost of the litter,I had Mom X-rayed to see how many babies to expect $$, I bought puppy food and special supplement in case I had to tube/bottle feed puppies $$.  I won’t include the extra equipment I bought for this litter since some of my stuff was old.  We had some technical difficulties during the birth which took us to the emergency vet in the middle of the night $$$.  Puppies were home and thriving but needed to get their dewclaws removed,  lots of breeders do this themselves but I like to go to the vet for a check and have them done there $$.  Once Momma quits feeding them it is my job for feeding and clean up.  More puppy food and I use straw to help keep the puppies clean $$.  Then we have vaccines, these 1st ones will be bought and done at home $$, then the next ones will be done at the vets for a check up $$ also the puppies will all get their microchips $$ at 9 weeks.  Soon it will be time for the one $800 puppy to go to it’s new home.  Also included in the price is the microchip enrollment, AKC registration (I’ve already paid to register the litter as a breeder $$) and I register each puppy individually before they go to their new homes $$. Also going home with the puppy is a puppy packet, collar, toy and whatever else might need to go in there for the new owners. 

So if you look at the costs in the above paragraph the $$ = at least $10.00 and $$$ = at least $100  and it is mostly more , you can see that I’m already way over $800.00 so once again I’m going to lose money on this litter.  Maybe next time there were be a couple more puppies for sale and we won’t have to run to the Emergency vet clinic but even with a problem free litter I don’t see how anyone can claim to raise a litter on $20.00 or even raise one puppy on $20.00.  I know there are some places I could save some money, not as many vet checks or cheaper food but since I also give my puppy buyer’s a health guarantee I need to do the best job I can to produce a happy, healthy puppy so that a buyer feels like $800 is a bargain price for what they are getting.

So I guess I’m saying is if you want to buy a puppy from some one out of the back of a pick up at the local wally world or from a pet shop who buys their puppies from someone who spends $20.00 to raise them then go ahead and get a cheap puppy or pay a lot more for a cute convient puppy from a pet store where the only reason they have puppies is to make a profit.   If you want puppy raised with care, concern and love and knowledge then you want to talk to me or someone like me.    Be a snob, talk to a Gold Standard type of breeder.  Do your home work and remember all puppies are cute but not all puppies are created equal.

Hey I’m a big girl now!

Momma had started letting me stay out of the pen long and longer and and yesterday she let me stay out all day.    I guess she had a plan cause the baby dogs moved into my room today.

Sisters!

I went in to introduce them to their new room.   

I’m not sure they like their new room.  Momma said too bad because the were stinking up her bed room.  The rest of us are happy they moved too because now we can go back in the bed room.  Wicca was really happy because she like to be the bed dog. 

Life is good!

Stay cool,

Frost out.