What do you see in this picture?
A young girl hugging her puppy?
A quiet time at a show?
What I see, is my breeding program moving in the direction I want it to.
Nineteen years ago in March, I picked up Kyra, at 5 months old. She'd never been off her breeder's property, probably not even for a checkup, but jumped in my car and went off with me like she'd been doing it for a million years.
Nothing I did phased her. The funmatch a weekend later, Petsmart, going to my vet, NOT A THING phased her. She was mentally sound and is the epitome of temperament for me. For all the bad things you could say about her breeder (And there is lots, unfortunately), the one thing right she ever did, was push that this breed was too big and too fast to be anything but bomb proof.
First time she met my twin cousins, no more than 15 months, she was in heaven, kisses and loving, Mikaela curled up on the couch with her to sleep. Kyra loved it.
I lost that when I bred to a male that looking back, was probably a socialized spook. I didn't see the significance of the owner telling me he'd jumped the fence when left with a male pet sitter until years after the fact.
Some of the pups were perfect, others were not so, and it wasn't until I bred my pick bitch of that litter, to another dog who was slightly spooky (amazing what a decade of experience can make you see). Due to my life turning upside down and literally going south, they did not get out and about, and it was then I realised what I had done. I had lost that wonderful temperament within that line.
The above photo shows I got it back. This boy is a great grandson of that first male. His mom is soft, but not spooky, thank heavens, her mom was also soft, but ADORED CHILDREN. She sat her butt down in the middle of a petstore and screamed one day after a group of children that had been fawning over her, left.
His father is my politician dog, Duckie, who loves everyone.
Drake has never been to a dog show til this month. He's 5 months old. He has proven himself pretty bomb proof, handling everything with aplomb, just as his ancestress Kyra did. Wanted to play with everything from a chihuahua to a Leonberger. I couldn't be more happier!
I prefer a more outgoing dog, a dog who loves and searches out people to pet them, but I also don't want a dog that the owner HAS to get it out and take it everywhere to make it bombproof. I think you can breed for this and that the uber socialization that has become the craze for all breeds has helped hide some temperament issues in our breed, until something happens and you get bit by it. Whether it's breeders not telling you the truth or they themselves not realising it.
Yes, some dogs need that socialization. I don't want those dogs. I don't want dogs that need to meet X number of people before they're Y weeks old. I don't want dogs that have to be taken Z number of places before they're U weeks old. I want pups that can go from breeders house to their new owners, without extra precautions, just like my Kyra did.
So, the above pic? It shows me "I breed for that." That nine year old was all over the show grounds with Drake, and he was bouncy, playful, happy, enjoying himself while we waited for Best Puppy in show to happen, without a care to the world. I could easily send him off to a new home today, if I wanted to, and he wouldn't blink an eye. Why? Because, I bred for it!
