My beautiful girlie...

I'd been promising Hope's breeder an update a stacked photo of her for ages, instead of just ones of her hooning around the place and been farting around not actually shooting it because I didn't have anyone to hold the camera and I'd actually been hoping to get some better grooming tips off a lady I know who shows and breeds standard poodles. However she's been away at shows, then we missed each other a bunch of times and now she's overseas. I know the basics of grooming but wanted to ask some questions about layering in more naturally with thinning sheers around the ears etc. After putting off Hope's breeder for *mumble mumble* months, today I just said "screw it" and decided to take the pics. So here is my Hope at 9 months and 1 week old... FINALLY showing the promise we'd seen in her at 8 weeks! She looks so PUUUURDY! *gush gush gush*

"Look ma, I'm a showdog!"

Geeze... I used to think she looked a lot like her sire but in this shot she looks SO much like her dam!

And lastly, our hard-won standing from the front shot. Very hard to get as my neighbors mare (that's her brown bum in the right corner) was being a pest begging for treats which kept distracting Hope. When she wasn't, the dratted calves were mooing!

We're entered in a couple shows in July and picking up more in August, Sept etc. She's been getting in good shape, nice and trim with good muscle tone after turning into a bit of a butterball when in the kennel while we were moving. A month of all the food she could snarf, no exercise and no brushing... she was fat and her coat was just clogged! Ick.

So. Now for the news. Nic has actually secured a really good job a few days back - exactly what I wanted... much higher pay, full time (vs just full time hours) as an employee vs a contractor so we get sick leave/paid vacation, more secure etc. and all over nicer environment. Really tickled with that! He starts sometime next week they think.

For some other news... the lady who bred Hope is looking at selling a few dogs which had been her pick puppy from her breedings but is considering letting go if she finds the right home for them where they'll get more exposure.

She listed the five dogs and as I read down the list I went, "Oh! I want that one! And that one! And that one! And that one! And oh, her too!" The one dog, despite being gorgeous I know Cade would quarl with him. The others are:
* Smoke, a half-brother to Hope, same sire out of RUBISS CH Silvanwood Dark Force. He is GORGEOUS and looks just like his daddy.
* Verity, older half-sister to Hope, via their mother, by ASCA/AKC Ch. Carolina Rave Reviews CD STDc ATDsd HOF, blue merle female
* Hope's litter sister Ditto
* Dawn, a blue merle female unrelated to Hope and actually very different bloodlines
Pics for anyone curious are here:
http://www.cuebiyar.com/ourdogs.html

Okay, so her full sister wouldn't be smart from a breeding standpoint, despite the sentiment and the niceness of watching two dogs of the same exact line develop. Her half brother Smoke is probably out because her mentor is interested in him and it's only fair she gets first option. So the two serious contenders would be her older half-sister Verity and the younger blue merle female Dawn.

Those who've been reading since I was waiting for Hope's birth to find out if I'd get a puppy from her litter or not will remember I'd seriously considered Verity at that point but as it happened, there was a black tri show quality female puppy, namely Hope, so it never went further than that. She's out of Tilley's (Hope's dam) first litter, which I'd spotted after she was imported in whelp but couldn't get a puppy from as Laurent had just been born. I'd show her but most likely we wouldn't breed her... so she'd show, champion and then be spayed and do sports and be a pet. Not breeding wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing and there's nothing from stopping me from still getting the bloodlines I like that are in the other female later on either when I breed Hope or her grand-daughter, g-grand-daughter etc. She is a very pretty girl but until recently hasn't been out much.

Then there is Dawn. Her breeder thinks she may not be as flashy because she's got a more moderate coat and has a tail. Mind you, CORRECT for the breed oughtn't be dripping in coat... but oft times "heaps of coat" wins, so oft times heaps of coat gets bred and perpetuated and considered the "in" thing. The tail, well, docking is now illegal and my personal stance is that people need to get over the prejudice. Only showing and breeding naturally bob-tailed dogs means we're cutting a large chunk of our genepool out, which especially here where the population of Aussies is relatively small, is cutting off our noses to spite our face. So a tail wouldn't bother me and I do prefer the moderate coat - to me, a very heavy coat is fault by the standard and imo I'd consider a coat that's on the shorter end of allowable to be far more mild than incorrect texture, lack of weatherproofness, poor pigment, non-pigmented areas of the nose leather, small white splashes that sometimes get overlooked as "just a little bit of excess white" etc. as the coat length doesn't affect function whereas the other things I mentioned DO for a working dog. Bad texture dirtier and matts, doesn't allow the dog protection from the elements and weather, dark pigment acts as sunscreen, likewise with the nose leather pigment etc. It mightn't make me popular but I do like the bloodlines behind her and would consider a shorter coat a "fault of popularity" rather than a "fault of the breed standard".

As well, the bloodlines behind her are ones I like a *lot*... American working lines - Mistretta, Marquis, Rocking K and on the Australian side of things is a grand-daughter to BIS RUBISS Ch. Sasin Bravo Battle Flag (iid USA) on her dams side who is a lovely, lovely dog and produces lovely, lovely dogs. She is red factored as well and could throw natural bob tailed dogs, though I wouldn't breed specifically for that. The ironic thing - and Sif, you may point out the whole Law of Attraction thing here, is that last week when a new member was introducing herself who had a related dog she'd mentioned she'd looked at Hope's litter but wanted the Mistretta lines more so planned on getting the Courage kid later and I said I'd gotten the Courage kid and wanted a Mistretta line dog someday! This was not even 2 weeks ago!

Both dogs would need a bit of training before they were ready to show but nothing that is too horrid.

So at this point, a lot of thinking and considering who might be appropriate going on.

ETA: Amanda, here's the list of shows... lmk if we'll see you in them!
JULY
14 July Melbourne Dog Club Inc at Showgrounds
28 Heidelberg & District KC Inch at Park
AUGUST
4 Aug Metropolitan Canine Assoc at Showgrounds
11 Ladies Kennel Assc. at Showgrounds
12 Sun Werribee Barwon KC at Showgrounds
18 Lilydale KC at Park
19 KCC Park Show Committee

Haven't sent in entries yet to the McAlister/Sale shows on the 25-26 or the Horsham/Wimmera ones on the same day because I'm trying to decide which ones to do. I really want to go to some country shows so I can make a "mini vacation" of it and see the country!

The pics on the web are a bit out of date! ~_~ I think Dawn is about 8 weeks in her pics there when she's 8 months old now. Verity's are older too so I'm sure she's filled out considering how much Hope has filled out even in a single month! I think the deciding factor will be to see them and see how they like us really!