Short Blog
Wednesday, February 19, 2020 at 2:00PM 
Sorry very short blog and gallery.
Too much going on. Nathan is on his way to Ottawa to breed Stormy to Rufus - a red sable small boy. Our goal is to downsize and get an excellent health and pedigree. We got results today that she needed to breed today and tomorrow. The next progesterone to do is Willow. It is not time yet. She will head up to Sudbury. We are sitting on the fence about Ella or Leti. Ella would be to Truffie, Leti to Stone. We have time to decide which. So it all begins. We are paying a stud fee so there is no puppy back to stud owner. When you do a progesterone you only have to breed for 2 days as you know when the fertile period is. We do progesterone when you have to drive far away as there are hotel costs, progesterone costs and gas, food out etc. As we had no notice - vet DID NOT call us back yesterday despite 2 calls into them, I was busy for hours trying to find a pet friendly hotel. Nathan can't stay at family as they all have male dogs. Hotels were hard to come by for same day 1 night and I kept seeing 200 to 400 fees - oh boy. So fun has been washing Stormy as Nathan packed, pack bag, food, crate. Brush rest of the dogs. Blogging... Then I am told I forgot a blanket for the bed or panties for her. Guess he has to go buy panties at a dog store. He's having fun. I am having fun - not. The things we do to have pups. LOL
Pablo arrived - hooray a ball of fun. Reggie departed just as excited to go as come. He even slathered me with goodbye kisses. How wonderful is that! As I am typing, Tenshi is curled on my neck. Makes for interesting typing. Good thing she is a peanut.
Dennis gets to sleep with the boys - me with the girls. Nathan gets back home tomorrow afternoon.
We are all having fun despite the stress of last minute things.
Our son Jon had a serious concussion from trick skiing yesterday. He is now out of hospital but has memory gaps. They are hoping that goes soon. Life - so unpredictable. You never know... His girlfriend is at his bedside.
I feel like I am so unproductive today. I am not but it feels like I am.
I said to Dennis, let's order pizza. He said mom, I am lactose intolerent. I said oh yeah. Last night he ate a bunch of cheese and crackers. hmmm
Reader Comments (19)
Oh my - that’s terrible news about Jon. Concussions can be so unpredictable. I hope he recovers well and quickly.
I can’t believe how much driving Nathan can do in one day. I find it hard to drive even 2 hrs at a time. Spring puppies 🥰
Christine: If he didn't go, no puppies. LOL
Jon needs to stop trick skiing.
I am so sorry to hear about Jon. I hope he recovers fully and soon.
Sounds lots of work and very eventful these days! All the best to Jon, and your breeding program! Can't wait to see pups to come!
I’m curious. How many generations does it take to go smaller, or is it just the odds that smaller breeds smaller? Ripley is a Kat pup, but he is bigger than his dam and sire ( and his siblings for that matter) I guess statistically you are always going to get a few that grow into larger or smaller dogs, no matter what?
Have you tried at home Progesterone testing kits? Not sure if absolutely trustworthy, need to do more research.
Jon better be careful from now on with that concussion, I'm not kidding. Not just now but in the future.
I could go on, but check out TBI and TWH for their research on hockey and football players injuries.
Wishing your son a speedy recovery! And with all you have going on how on earth are you supposed to remember Denis is lactose intolerant :) I miss my Charlie very much and I love his solo pic in this gallery!
Wouldn't a lactaid tablet help Dennis enjoy a pizza ?
I hope that Jon recovers quickly and completely from his concussion. Is there a helmet while trick skiing in his future ?
Sounds like the Spring may be very busy for the Talemaker crew.
Just checked Rufus, oh is he gorgeous! Might get some nice colouring (lots of red I see) to go along with his impressive pedigree, health tests and size.
So puppies about week April 20 onward, my guess. Hope everything goes as planned.
Safe drive home Nathan.
Sue:
You can downsize immediately but there are large dogs throughout the lines so they will pull from there. It is how genetics works. 2 humans can be short and then have a 6 foot child. It happens all the time. So can you eliminate - no but you can reduce the frequency. You can tell what will be a large pup by 4 weeks due to bone structure. It took me a long time to figure that out with the exception of Jeannie's line who has bone density but are short. That line has all short dogs. They are from Europe. Raven and Willow are an improvement in structure in that line. They all have longer legs but remain smaller. That is the goal to attempt to improve. Sometimes you are successful - sometimes not but all of this is moot if it is not a show dog. Personally I enjoy the bigger dogs but realize the market is into smaller. You can't go too small or you will ruin the structure of the dog. This doesn't happen when you have a tiny one in a bunch but if your goal is all tiny, you change the look and the structure and it can be dramatic. Stormy's pups are already smaller than her even with being bred to a midrange sized dog so the chances are you won't see any large but midstream pups. Stormy was the anomaly. Now Stormy has pups with outstanding personalities. There are structural issues, health issues and personality issues in all lines. It is just a reality of genetics. Think about your own families and all of us are carriers of something. So, what you do is breed wisely unlike humans do. You look at your dog and what you need to improve and that is what you look to breed to. Now by doing so you may introduce issues that the other breeder doesn't tell you, doesn't know - just a bad combo. But you must test, carefully look at the lines and do you best and then life throws you a curve. It is a crazy process with a heavy weight on your soul wondering is this the right combo? Will this improve what you have or at least give you the same or create chaos? It is easier when you are breeding your own boy as you know completely what he offers. Size is not your deciding factor nor should it be but it is for some, I imagine. I look at what I got and what I need to breed out. Each dog is unique and at the end of the day - you do your very best as you genuinely care. Some people spend so much time on structure that they can lose the personality. Puppy mills do not pay attention to personality for the most part and that can create some dogs with personality disorders. Part is what we as breeders do with the pups before they go to you and that is a lot of work but if you had a gal that was timid, food guarding - she will pass those traits on partly due to her own genetic makeup and partly due to environmental - meaning the mom showing the pups how to react. All of this matters but there is no such thing as a perfect human or dog despite us thinking ours is perfect and that is the way it should be. Some of this stuff we strive for is not important to you but it is to show a dog in standard - maintain a standard etc. Size.... well at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. There are more important things. Fiona had chocolates consistently and you must have chocolate in the male and female to produce a chocolate. We had to go back 9 generations to find it in Fiona's line. Finding your big dogs - I couldn't find it in Stormy's line and I went back and studied 10 generations. She has MANY small 7-9lb dogs in her line. We love her just the way she is - full of personality
More than you ever want to know.
In home progesterone is not reliable like doing a blood test. You must see the ferning. There is no range to see if they are in their surge. It becomes a guess more than not doing but not like a blood test. It may cost a great deal especially if you have to do one several times but it is accurate. It also allows you to know when they are due. I have not figured it out on Stormy.
At the end of the day knowing this line really well, I feel really comfortable with this breeding. I do believe it will give me what I want. Breeding to say a big show dog just because they win (winning is subjective - ask any ice skater) is crazy, imho. People chase crazy things. So, yes lots of wins for the stud but that is not why I bred to him. We will go to Sudbury to breed to Ace (Tracy's dog). I guess you can look him up too. LOL He has now had multiple generations with excellent results. Jeannie's line has the same. This too will be a good breeding. I hate breeding out and when I do I will only use a line I really know and I have followed. This is the stage of anxiety for me. Hard to explain. I worry about the breeding, the whelping, and then the rest of their life. Do you know each litter we whelp, I am the calm. Nathan gets stressed. If we have an issue he gives the puppy to me. We are a team but I too feel the stress but someone has to pretend they are calm. LOL
Get me to 3 weeks old and then I relax.
Kathy: Doesn't seem to which is frustrating. If he overindulges it seems to trigger a migraine too.
I will tell Dennis to take more photos of Charlie. :-) Lately he is the clicker.
Ace is lovely too, but then, aren't all havanese?😉
Yes, personality is very important, I fully agree. And the winning, how many times have we all seen the best not win.
You do the best you can in regards to breeding and training. And then eventually home placement.
Such huge responsibility, I salute both you and Nathan.👏
My notation to winning in the ring is not about our dogs. When we go out, we win too. Until Nathan was well known, not so much even with the same dog he won with when he was well known. There is a book about breeding to the popular dog and why that may be the wrong choice. Until you show, you do not realize it is just like ice skating and popularity matters. To win big, you must be out every weekend and if you skimp you can spend 60,000 a year and to win and be in comfortable hotels or pay a big name handler it is over 100 grand. That is yearly. You never make your money back. It is all about saying you have the dog with the most wins. Kat never ever lost in the ring when he was shown but Nathan was well known then. Risa we chased her last point to championship and we finally gave in after showing her to a judge we expected to win on and put her on a well known handler with that same judge that bloody Nathan shown to months previously and she won big. Same judge - nathan vs a well known handler... rather frustrates me. Many people will breed to the big winning dog. They will charge astronomical fees. anything that dog is a carrier for will then be passed on to many. That is the point.
Darlah, thanks for the answer. When I have a question about something you blog about, I always get a thoughtful, informative response. It’s really interesting to hear about what goes into what you do with the dogs, so thanks for taking time out of what I know can be a busy day.
Super interesting for me to read these comments, Darlah. I'm learning so much! Thanks for taking the time to explain the process and what goes into it. I think if more people had a better appreciation we would have much fewer issues with puppy mills and bad breeders being a "thing". A friend of mine just got a "micro berne-doodle" from a "breeder"....she thinks that's actually a breeder and actually a breed. Sad. I wish the public was better informed and did their research. It's how I found you actually through the CKC when I first started thinking about getting a pup ....and I'm so glad I did. And why I'm coming back for a second Talemaker pup playmate for Meadow soon!
Michelle: Thank you!!