So this is Shelby's last litter. I'm a little sad over it, as much for her as for me, as she adores being a mum and I love her pups almost as much as I love having her here with me. Shelby is a co-own and is regularily spoiled rotten at her second home. They are a great family (Tina and I go way back) and I couldn't ask better for any dog. Shelby fits in there like peas and carrots and, to be frank, if it wasn't such a great placement I'd never have parted with her.
Shelby lived here with me for quite a while before being placed and she's just my kind of girl. The kind that's sweet as the day is long but will tell our Doberman to go where the sun don't shine if he so much as hints that he's bigger than her. And both are quite content with the realization that she is without a doubt the bigger dog. :)She gets along quite happily with anyone, anytime and speaks her mindjust the right amount for my taste. More loving than headstrong; but headstrong is like salt - can't do without just the right amount.
I like a girl with hutsba - but who knows that I'm in charge here, without doubt (-unless my husband is reading this in which case, she knows it's you, dear). ;) I love her mischievious side that compells her to steal all the toys in the house and hide them in her bed, and charge the dobie once per day with a big grin while he pretends she's scared him away... usually just before they both fall asleep snuggling. The point being: she's unique, just like every frenchie I've known, and I love her to bits for all her lovely quirks.
This litter by Viking is one of my most exciting. It's very rare to see reds as bright as Shelby, and certainly nearly impossible to find them as strikingly bright as Shasta, her mom (incidentally both are Driscol Blue Gene's dogs, who is also a Sheila - yes it is confusing when we chat :), and aho makes some of the most amazing reds I've ever seen!), so with Viking's red jumping through his blue I knew It was going to be an awesome pairing. I am not at all disappointed. 4 pups were born via c-section in the wee hours of the morning on Monday September 26th (incidently her schedule c-section was for first thing in the morning):S. Her surgery went well and true to form she woke up and was breastfeeding less than 10 minutes earlier. She has to be my only girl who in the stuper of waking up from surgery perks up to pups' cries and manages to communicate that she wants them with her immediately. She then flatly refuses to leave them for 24 hrs. Even I was not that hard-core. So day one with Shelby includes me picking Shelby up and carrying her outside to pee and then standing her in front of the ice water and broth bowls respectively that have been sitting beside her untouched for the last four hours since I repeated the cycle. One thing is certain: Shelby will be back to visit other's litters. I really feel that with her it's like retiring a herding dog from the field.... take it away completely and they'll never be the same dog. Working Border Collies need cows, Shelby-Lou needs puppies. I will make sure she has them, though, unfortuately, they won't be hers.
The other toughie on this litter is that they are some of her best yet... or from what I can tell at 4 days old. lol. She's really a perfect match for Viking - mr. macho muscle. These little pups are very short bodied. I'm very tough on evaluating my breeding dogs. I find faults. No dog is perfect, as close as they may come. In my mind Shelby's is that she's just a little bit long bodied. Viking is nice and short, and thankfully so are the pups!
They are also 'Shasta red' so far. I say, "so far" as all pups change colour bit by bit as they age, but I personally think the reds do especially. From what I can tell, though, three of the four are 'Shasta' red brindle. Basically it's the brindle we see now and again with the bright red striping, but reversed. I can't tell you how much I love that colour. Each to their own, I know, but that's got to be one of the most striking colours in the frenchie world to me: reverse red brindle. Yum. So what I'm saying is that I'm in heaven.... 'cause that fourth pup is coloured just like Momma. As much as I adore that reverse red brindle, I have to say that I would have been very disappointed to not get a little Shelby out of the deal. Even if he is a boy. :)
True to form, of course, is the min-viking of the litter: Cruiser. Those who follow AMIaBULL know that from his start last year Viking made sure to include a mini-me in just about every litter he's sired. We joke that it's because he's such an amazing dog that (and that he's told so often!) that he feels he needs to carry it forward. And I'm thankful every time. I spent 3.5 years hunting for a dog like Viking, searching pedigrees and bloodlines, looking at parents for conformation and coat colour and pattern combinations... and he fits every single tiny expectation. He's just darn near perfect. I wanted to be sure without a doubt that if I was going Blue I was going to blow the 'they aren't healthy' and 'they don't fit conformation' myths out of the water. Let me be clear. I'm not political and do not care one whip about the controversy over blue in the ring.... or rather not in the ring (and why). All I know is that I've adored the colour in every animal and breed I've ever seen and was so taken with frenchies that the combination seemed... well... downright perfect. I will not show my blue dog that could kick butt in the ring if I painted him black with stripes. But my uber healthy, totally handsome, one in a million (health, temperment and conformational, *though not by colour*)dog has and will continue to sire dogs that will. Final words right there on the subject.
The point is I wanted perfect and I darn near got it - thanks to Agnes at Bastille Ore (and, yes, that is a shout out!) and the breeders before her in the pedigree tree.
Long and the short (and apparently the long again as I see the above) :), is that I'm absolutely head over heels in love with these pups...again...and I'm enjoying every minute of it shared with Momma Shelby.
I'll close by adding a photo of Driscol's Shasta - to put those who've never seen it out of the misery of curiousity. :)
