GCH Ebonwald's Be Home By Midnight "Brewer"

I got to see my 'old' guy this weekend, when my parents visited. He was born March 4, 2010, so 5 and 1/3 years old. 

He is out of BISS GCH C-Myste Baledwr Free to Disagree (Pilot) x CH Merrymoon Ebonwald I'm a Q.T. CGC STDs 1/2STDc (Ell). He has sired three litters to date (Ava, Amy and Summer). major pointed kids, champion kids, and lots of loved pet homes!

He is OFA good, PennHIP 90%, PRA line clear, DM normal/clear, EE (does not carry pink), Cardiac Normal, CERF, fluff carrier. 

I absolutely adore his temperament, his sweep/silhoutte and his bred type. His head and expression are exactly what I think of, when I think of a Cardigan male. While not perfect, he does have his virtues, as well as a complete out cross to the black lines with Carbon or Fudge in them. 

He is available to approved bitches.

Link to pedgiree: http://www.cardiped.net/details.php?id=68751

Echo is available

I've decided that Echo is available to a pet/performance home. She has many redeeming qualities but I am moving forward with two litter sisters and both her parents.

She is an absolute love! She really shines with children, adores snuggles, walks, and being with her people. She is 14 months old, UTD on shots, house/crate/leash trained, microchipped and ready to spoil her new family with face licks and morning woofs. PM me for more info.

Popular sire syndrome

I swear I have no idea where all these thoughts have been festering ;)

In beef and more specifically dairy breeds of cattle where there is a hugely large portion of the national herd bred via artificial insemination with frozen semen...... popular sire syndrome is a huge topic. With as many cows in the registered herd (not to mention 2x as many that are unregistered, but 'grade' (purebred but no papers), the population should have 2% or less inbreeding coefficient. Holsteins in particular last time I checked had a 9% inbreeding coefficient. WHY? Many farmers tend to buy the most popular bull at the time in hopes of capitalizing on its milk, protein or API numbers, and beef farmers breed to popular bulls in hopes of getting offspring worthy of showing or selling as seed stock to other farmers who do not do AI.

This leads to several things. First thing is the quality of the breed (if that bull is a good producer) is increased. This also goes to prove the bull as a long term producer, the quality of his replacement females, and long term 'family' line in the breed. The second thing it does is brings up ugly recessive things to the surface. In a way its good to get it out in the open, but because of the use of Angus in the Simmental breed to get the polled (lack of horns) and solid black color, they were used. This brought in several diseases that should only have been genetically expressed in the Angus breed.

Down the road so many people have used these bulls that they are screaming for out crosses to go to. Something to open their lines back up. Some of us, who don't typically use the popular sires for many of the above reasons keep plugging away doing our own thing. We are the seed stock producers that the AI companies look for....hoping to find something unrelated to the bulls they have been advertising and promoting. And then that bull becomes popular and the circle continues.

One of the first things I saw in the Cardigans is the overall lack of breed uniformity. Sure they all looked long and low from a distance but head pieces, fronts, rears, coat texture its all over the board. Coming from a livestock perspective the quickest way to fix that lack of uniformity is to breed to the same sire. And I see this alot and yet it seems as though overall the highly used dogs still do not stamp themselves on their get in every instance. I understand that one calf is easier to get to uniformity than 8 puppies but farmers usually have 50-500 cows and all their calves look identical when using the same bull. That is what buyers at the auctions love....the uniformity in look, size, color and pattern (or lack of i guess).

I've watched many people's breeding practices in the past. Some breed to every top 10 or 20 dog available. Some to every old 'great' dog that still has frozen semen available. Others only breed to what is local or in the own home. And others yet find dogs that no one is using to keep the diversity open in the breed (amongst other reasons of course). I like to take gambles. I have used dogs that haven't had many litters. I use young dogs. Does that mean I don't like the top dog or heavily used stud dog? No. But I also don't want my dogs to be exactly what everyone else is breeding for either. Sure that might say 'breed uniformity' but I truly believe that with a small gene pool already we need to not all be using the same dogs.

So how does one go about breed uniformity when everyone prefers a different look, and popular sires may or may not stamp themselves on to their get?

I find it so odd that a breed that is so small in numbers has so little uniformity. Surely regional areas or kennels themselves have uniformity but how do we get to overall breed uniformity without sacrificing our genetic diversity that we have by not using the same 5 dogs?

Having vs Wanting

It is indeed human nature to always want what we can't have. A nicer house, a better paying job, happy love life, a newer car........our society has done well with feeding us the notions that we can never be satisfied.

I have learned in the past few years that that is not always BETTER. I am quite content with my life and my direction, although there are days (or weeks) where I longed for a job that didn't depend on the weather, or a life that didn't have to care for the livestock and dogs and just be a 'city folk' who could go home after work, make supper (or order in) and watch TV all night. Those days are far and few between, as I do like to stay active, and productive, but I still wish for that sometimes.

Breeding dogs to a standard is also a having vs wanting. Dog and livestock really are quite similar and I take my knowledge from livestock and use it on the dogs as well.

A few questions I always find myself asking about my dogs:

1. What are this dogs virtues and what do all my dogs collectively have that are nice?
2. What of those things MUST i never lose and always try to keep?
3. What things would I like to improve on my dogs
4. How do I go about selecting a stud dog to improve what my bitch needs but hopefully not lose what my bitch has?

Awhile back there was a great thread on one of my Facebook statuses regarding stud dogs and how difficult it was for me to find a dog that A) was health tested, B) was of the bloodlines I was willing/wanting to work with, C) structurally had (and was producing) what I wanted to improve in my bitch(es).

Certainly there are many more health tested stud dogs now in Cardigans than ever before. Color was not a sticky point (except I couldn't use blue). Pedigree ....there just some lines I would rather not work with, or have no idea about anything about them and was happy to continue working with lines I was familiar with (mostly old English lines is my preference). I also wanted a dog with a happy and biddable temperament, and had the construction that I was hoping to improve upon.

Many of my kennel club friends who have other breeds cannot believe I would try to breed Cardigans. They say they are nearly impossible to get right and there is much to think of and hope for when breeding. Many litters of Viszlas, Briards, GSPs, or others can tell show pups at young ages and they do not normally go through stages or phases and they are what they are. Sometimes close to entire litters are shown and finished quickly (and that is different than kennel blindness where CWC breeders will show entire litters (IMHO).

When I bred Ell to Pilot I was looking for numerous things. Health tests were a must. A similar pedigree (Merrymoon Hunter is Pie's sire) and I had fallen in love with Pie's dam Alice and was interested in her pedigree. On top of that Pie has a very sweet temperament, and there were things I was looking for out of that litter. In no particular order: rounder feet, more fill of muzzle more substance (overall, not just in bone), longer ribbing and depth of chest, stronger rear. My mentor Barb, said (and i will never forget this) "No matter how much you try and pick the right mate for your bitch, and hope all the starts align, in the end you are just hoping that you get lucky and get something worth keeping". I think of that often. In the end it really is a crap shoot and hopefully a pup or two will catch my eye and be nice enough to keep.

Ell produced surprisingly consistent in the litter. All had nice bone for their size, pretty heads, nice round ears, lovely top lines and necks, length of upper arms etc. Of course each puppy isn't perfect and each has a few faults I would like to see corrected but their virtues, in my opinion outweigh their faults. Are the pups better than their mother? In most instances yes. And that is really what its all about is improvement in each generation.

So even though the dogs HAVE things I want to keep and got things I wanted to HAVE, I still WANT them to be better. Closer to perfection. YES they are my dogs and pets first, but there is not a day that goes by that I do not stare at their faults and wish they were better.  And it will come. I believe I have an eye for finding the faults, and improving on them. I just hope that I continue to be of that mindset in the future.

The WANTING will never go away. And I need to REMIND MYSELF that many of my dogs HAVE many virtues and things that other people want. The grass is always greener on the other side right?

Decisions any breeder must make

The goal of any breeding program, whether with livestock, dogs, flowers or anything else is to improve upon the generation before. If you don't improve you try again, perhaps from a different angle. If something works, you have moved ahead. Then comes the task of deciding :Should I move forward with the offspring and that offspring in turn is replaced by its offspring? This would be the quickest way, in a perfect world, to move ahead with any goal or breeding program.

What if the dam is a real producer and you like the offspring, they are better than the dam, but want to take her a different route? Is it ok to do so? What if you don't get better offspring then? I think about this quite often now. All three litters I've had...the pups are better than their dams. Do I need to breed them again if I already have improvements on them? What if I want to go to a different line to bring in something different?

In my cattle I have one cow that I kept and bred for 9 calves. Each year I bred her to a different bull line, hoping to bring in VERY specific things from each line to blend with my cow genetics of this particular line. I had no problem repeating a breeding in the cow one year as you only get one calf per year, and I always want heifers as I can use frozen semen on bulls that are from all over the world.

In dogs I feel its a bit different. If I retain two puppies from a litter, I can go different directions with the pups, or I can go the same direction as each pup has different things I like about them. Do I move forward with the pups and hope I get something useful out the pups 'in a perfect world'? Or do I breed the dam again and breed her to a different line, bringing in something very specific that I didn't get in this breeding (or I want more of)?

Its just food for thought. I know everyone in the same situation would do it differently and that's ok. Just trying to think out loud. 4 is easier to manage than 6, but I'd hate to lose the opportunity to use the dams again if I was really pleased with the outcome.

This being on the mend stinks! Too much free time to think about other stuff! >:)

Inspiration

A little history lesson on me :)

Its always a good idea to reassess what made you fall in love with the breed. About 6 years ago I started researching herding breeds of dogs. I wanted something ultimately for herding our cattle and we had had German Shepherds, mutts, Rough Collies, Australian Cattle Dogs, Border Collies and English Shepherds in the 100 years before I had dogs of my own on this farm. I remember only the last three, but there are many stories of the ones before hand that did such great work. Heck there was even an Airedale in the mix that did decently at herding cattle.

I had been looking at all of the herding breeds on the AKC website and did not want a breed with long hair. Our farm dogs had to be shaved every summer from the mats they got. Before purebred dogs (show dogs) I believed what every farmer believed. Dogs had a purpose, a job. They slept outside in a dog house, or in the dairy barn. They protected us at night from intruders (four legged or two) and were always at our side wherever on the farm we went. They didn't go in to town for shots, the large animal vet came and gave the shots on site.

Getting my own unique breed of dog was a huge undertaking. I had decided early on it would sleep in the kitchen of the house, but be outside like a real farm dog most of the time. I would of course take it in to town to get shots and it would like to ride in the cars unlike most of our farm dogs. I studied on breeds I liked. I really liked the Beauceron but was having a hard time finding any that were reasonably priced (under 1,000 dollars).

I went to our local rodeo and while I was watching bull riding, a couple of kids walked through the area with some Pembroke pups. I was immediately at their side asking questions. I went home and spent the next few days researching the breed and trying to find local breeders that I could go and visit. I was on the phone with several of them for many hours and thought this was the breed for me.

A short legged dog that couldn't destroy a house (at least not the top 3/4 of it) that had a short coat requiring little grooming (ahem) and was still ultimately a cattle dog and didn't act like a little yippee squirt.

Upon reading about them on the AKC website I found a cousin called the Cardigan Welsh Corgi. Immediately I was drawn to their look. And their uniqueness. Having vehicles, pigeons and other hobbies that were uncommon and unique I was really fascinated in this breed. I went to the CWCCA website and read everything I could. Google was my new best friend. I searched for breeders on the CWCCA website that I could visit or contact. At the time there were none in WI, ND, SD listed and only one in MN. I contacted her. She had told me she had just had a litter.

I really had wanted something originally to herd the cattle and as my interest keeping getting higher I thought 'heck I show pigeons, how hard can dog showing be?' and asked if she had any show potential pups available. Sadie came home with me a couple months later!

I learned quickly at the Fargo-Moorhead Kennel Club training classes all the errs of my ways in teaching dogs things. It was a complete 180 degrees on what I thought should happen with dogs. And my training excelled with the new direction with the help of Mary Morris, a great friend and mentor. Sadie also wormed her way into my heart and eventually the entire house was hers to claim. yes even the bed. Its amazing how different 'real' dog people think versus your average farmer or average person in the world. I digress...

I then was so excited about the herding prospect that I went and purchased ducks for her. Sadie was a natural. I started looking at small breeds of sheep as the one time Sadie DID herd the cattle, I was terrified as Sadie looked so tiny out there but she knew exactly what she was doing. That is how I got my Shetland Sheep. We all know that story, and if you don't, well I have about 85 of those sheep now :)

My very first B match show was in Mason City, Iowa. Dawn Fisher and Sadie's littermate Magic came down to play too. I was entering a world I had never really thought about, or seen. Especially not first hand. It was overwhelming. It was exciting.

Fast forward a few years. I've now done agility, rally , obedience, herding, CGC. I've gone to two nationals, and one Western Reserve, which we all know is the world's largest regional specialty. I've gleaned websites for information on the breed, always learning, always asking. I've scoured and researched pedigrees, asked for photos, asked for answers, begged to see dogs move.

While doing all of this research and question and answer time, I was always drawn to a certain 'look'. Its no secret that Cardigans, although an uncommon breed in the US, has MANY styles and looks. I collected as many old handbooks and bulletins that I could find. I read them over and over and over and over. There are not a ton of dogs that really float my boat. Before anything else I always have looked at what I feel is breed type and style. Outline. Silhouette. I was always getting drawn to the older Joseter, Kennebec, Pluperfect, Chandler lines. However this photo sealed the deal for me:

This is Pluperfect Pennyroyal aka "Clover". She is a linebreeding (mother/son) and her outline and construction here was just enough to take my breath away. This is my inspiration. I never was able to see her move, and I always feel that i got into the breed 'too late' as I wasn't able to see any of the 'greats' alive and in the fur.

Upon further research (I do a lot of it on the breed) I found this photo of Clover in the 1996 CWCCA handbook. Still breathtaking and still exactly what I think a Cardigan should look like.

Then this cardiped.net comes along and I find this STUNNING photo of Pluperfect Pennywise aka Labsheeda. Its one I hadn't seen before and wow another photo that took my breath away.
I could gush about him, but I'll let the photo speak for itself. He has so many merits I would run out of room or you would bore yourself reading it. Truly a remarkable dog.

Just over three years ago (or is it 4?) I contacted Barb Hoffman about a show potential female from one of their upcoming litters. I was really wanting a sable, but in the end, realized that construction is more important than color. I was offered Ell, and I took the opportunity. One to say I'm so glad I did! I am so thankful for that opportunity to own such a typey, lovely bitch that goes back to these two a fore mentioned red dogs.

Barb is always the one I go to for answers first, and she is a great mentor and role model and also a great friend. She's always making me look at things in a new light. When Ell's grandmother "Hannah" was awarded Best Veteran two days at the Western Reserve and one day awarded BOS under breeder judge Nancy Cunliffe, I could not be happier or more proud for such a great and wonderful breeder and friend. Her and Jon have done some wonderful breedings together and I think I'm more excited for their litters than they are, just so I can see what they have and watch them grow.

I really think watching pups grow and mature is key to understanding the breed and how they develop. Looking at old bulletins and handbooks when the now veterans were pups is really an eye opening experience.

I've got so much to learn yet, and many more questions to ask (just beware!) and I'm really excited about the breed. I hope that I can have a lasting affect on the improvement of the breed overall, even though I'm just getting started now.

Along the way I've met many other great wealth of knowledge people besides Barb and Jon. JoAnne Beashau is another mentor and one who tells me like it is. Sometimes it was an eye opener, other times it was exactly what I needed to hear and I knew it, but didn't want to accept it. Carolyn Cannon has been a great person to go to, to ask questions and pester :) Kim Shira, Denise Waiting, Paul Chen, Sarah Keth are also some of the folk not so lucky to get away from the question asking. But I think they enjoy it, or they wouldn't answer my emails and phone calls :)

Its all about learning and asking questions. I think when you stop asking, you stop learning. So in that case my questions will never cease! >:)

Thank you to ALL of you who have helped make this such a fun, exciting, friendly journey of growth for me. It really is appreciated!

A watched pot.....

I feel much better that Zoe is finished now going forward with the breeding. That being said I don't think that a CH title is everything and isn't necessary to do a breeding but it is an extra 'bonus' I guess.

Since Zoe 'should' have come in at exactly at 6 months from her last season (shame on you Zoe for not coming in when scheduled!) that would have put her in season (or at least the beginning of it) this past week. So now its a waiting game. Everyone keeps telling me a watched pot never boils....well I want to make sure I don't MISS it! :)

I've got my choice for a stud dog and a back up 'just in case' because I always think the worst (because if I didn't have bad luck I wouldn't have any) so its better to have several rows of ducks lined up in case!

Fingers crossed for Zoe and me :)