Its not a big deal.....but......

Mitcham was only shown 3 days as a move up at the FMKC shows. He was BOB all three days and got a pull in the group on Sunday. While Briards are not shown ever in large numbers, and are small in number (population-wise) it IS kind of fun....its my first dog that is 'ranked' :)

Grand Championship Points Ranking

Events are processed through October 12, 2010.

Rank	Dog Name	Sex	GCH Points
No. 1	GCH CH Ne Orageux's Al Capone	Dog	108
No. 2	GCH CH Celebratia Vintageeightyfour	Dog	86
	GCH CH La Vie Rose Dior-August-Moon CD RN	Dog	86
No. 4	GCH CH Deja Vu All Over Again	Dog	78
No. 5	GCH CH Bella Del Conte Rissoso	Bitch	72
No. 6	GCH CH Dior's Copper Mine	Dog	55
No. 7	GCH CH Deja Vu Mia Chain Of Fools	Dog	53
No. 8	GCH CH Honeycreek's Chantilly Lace	Bitch	46
No. 9	GCH CH Lighting Strike El Xargall	Dog	35
No. 10	CH Sendero's Vodka Cocktail	Bitch	24
No. 11	CH Avant Garde Of The Coastline	Bitch	20
No. 12	CH Victoria's Vicomte Nicolas	Dog	18
No. 13	CH Mon Amies Devil In Disguise	Dog	17
No. 14	CH Suite Car Named Desire	Dog	15
No. 15	CH 'Cause I'M Miss Dior	Bitch	14
	CH Nase Czechmate Moravia Campanella	Bitch	14
No. 17	CH Butler De Bejaune	Dog	13
	CH Reine Dior Diving For Gold	Dog	13
	CH Majestique Brave Heart	Dog	13
No. 20	CH Mon Amies Eloise At The Plaza	Bitch	12
No. 21	CH Deja Vu Mia Cake Walk	Dog	11
No. 22	CH Neorageux's Dark Side Of The Moon By Brairdale	Bitch	9
	CH Aladax All About W.S. Cain	Dog	9
	CH New Sensation Dalido	Bitch	9
No. 25	CH Touche In Cahoots With Deja Vu	Dog	8
	CH Briardale's Camille Lebec	Bitch	8
	CH Be Happy Moravia Campanella	Bitch	8

Someone is trying to get my attention......

HEY GUYS! ITS ME MITCHAM! remember me?? Dad has been awfully busy with Zoe and her pups and now with Ell and her soon to be babies, not to mention the lambs that have started coming! Its ok. We still go for our daily mile walk, and I get plenty of time with Dad and the other dogs but I thought I should get some blog time for all the hard work I do around here!


First of all DAD hasn't been the only one busy with Zoe's pups. It seems Zoe feels her motherly duties are over and now its up to ME to have to baby sit them. Thank goodness there is only one left! I was going crazy with four mouths full of puppy teeth! Every where I walked, there was a puppy in my way and DAD kept telling me to be careful. Ugh.I guess when they are sleeping they aren't so bad....kinda cute actually.

But then I give Dad some sad eyes...Hoping to distract him from whatever he is doing....Sometimes it works.....

Sometimes it doesn't and then I have to pout and feel sorry for myself and the rough life I have here. I wonder what I could do to get his attention?

MItcham !

Yes the big hairy beast is still here!!

I've been a little gun shy about showing photos....I've been lacking in the grooming department. Between a broken foot, work 'til I drop, and puppies its been a little...well....ok no excuses.

This past week I've spent about 3 hours (a nice long 2hr movie and a full 1 hr CD listening) each day with Mitcham and we are in the home stretch now! He may just be ready for St Paul! :)

Isn't he just turning out to be GORGEOUS! I love my big goofy boy!

Emily and Sarah Special :)

I can't usually get a photo of Mitcham, unless you get them like this one:

So I put him behind the fence and let the rest of the dogs out. Below is the Sadie Princess surveying her domain.
Or Mitcham smiling for the camera and Daisy frolicking around!
This one isn't so close?
Finally...laying down, although through the chain link!
Finally standing still...but he is on a potty break! (Notice ears UP!) and Oliver with his happy face. don't you just love the random cardigan in the background of each photo??!!

I was able to get him MOVING fairly nicely. He is so happy!I had to throw a few non Mitcham photos in! (Sorry I know I know!) Below is Justice taking a tinkle....he did get a bath last night and of course wasn't completely dry when he went to bed...so needless to say that hair normally does NOT look like that....new bath again tomorrow :)
Zoe is turned funny but is waiting and watching Justice and Ell running like maniacs...she was waiting to pounce :)

The END is near....

Ok so I have been kind of keeping you abreast of my experience with the Briard as a breed.

Urban legends that have been broken:

1. Briards are not psychopaths nor are they aggressive (at least in my experience)

Mitcham is the perfect breed ambassador, having never met a stranger (except that one judge!) and loves children, babies, dogs both large and small, loyal and bonded to his master (me) and loves to go for car rides, kennel club visits, training sessions etc.

2. Briards do not shed. No they mat. A lot. Especially as pups I've been told! I was mentally prepared for all the grooming but not physically. My brushes just weren't cutting it. I was having to brush him daily and even then if I brushed him in the AM, by PM he would be matting already. I learned what 'line brushing' was. I spent near 100 dollars on a brush (BUT BOY DOES IT WORK WONDERS!!)

Mitcham needed no real heavy brushing until about 5 months of age. At that point he started to mat on an hourly basis (I'm really not kidding) and I was frantically trying to get my dad or mom or sister to help hold him down while I tried my best to brush through those mats. I was nearly in tears several days as it was so terrible and Mitcham, the awesome dog he was would sit there and take it from me.....I felt so terrible for him! I was not being a good Briard owner! Shame on me

I learned that some Briards will shed like that for their entire life. Others will only shed like that between puppy and adult coats.

I truly believe the end is near! *KNOCKS ON WOOD* Mitcham honestly has not been groomed for a week, about the limit most Briard people say should go between grooming.

I purchased a new taller grooming arm for Mitcham for my grooming table. That has helped immensely keep his head and neck where it should be and i do not have to enlist the help of a family member who has better things to do with their time than to help hold a dog! This arm is a Godsend and has helped so much.

I spent the last hour or so grooming him first with a pin brush, then a rake with revolving pins, and then the awesome expensive Les Pooches purple double slicker brush. In no time I was through the very few tiny mats that had started to accumulate and he was done! Presto! I have enough time now to blog about it and bathe a few more dogs :)

Praise be to God that the end is near! (fingers crossed)

This almost made me think of never owning another Briard as long as I live! Now that the terrible part is looking to be behind us, I may reconsider....but of course WAY down the road :)

The best part about all of this were all of the compliments on his coat at the FMKC show! Other herding breeders of Tervs, Bouvies, Aussies and Shelties were complimenting me on how lovely his coat was at the show! Coming from those guys...heck ya I'll take it!! :) :) :D

It was also nice to know he was appreciated by professional handlers and owners of other breeds that knew nothing about the breed but could see his lovely movement and gorgeous coat. Both judges he was entered under said he was such a gorgeous boy.....he just needs to be less puppy....but why rush it? We are having fun!!

And as a side note there are majors in bitches in Cambridge, so maybe a cross over major ? Odder things have happened here!! :)

4 Generations of healthy, happy dogs and testing

I read somewhere recently that there is someone claiming to have generations of tested dogs in their pedigree of an animal they own. Upon looking at the pedigree there is ONE dog in each of the generations that was tested for hips. The vertical pedigree (including siblings, half siblings, aunts, uncles etc) has very few animals that have been tested for anything, let alone hips.

Its been said before by several people that although you may test your own stock, the proof is in the pedigree. Meaning that its fine and dandy you test your own stock for things, but what about the litter mates, parents etc of the dogs? Its true I have dogs that are tested for all known Cardigan issues. I do however realize that most of their relatives in the pedigree are not tested for much of anything. I also do not rant and rave about having a perfectly healthy dog, nor do I know what the relatives are for any of these tests. I'd hate to be false advertising my dogs that might kick me in the butt later! And as a general rule, CWC breeders and owners typically take the course of "no testing" for various reasons....1. because they don't believe in it. 2. they don't believe in the current tests that are available, 3. they cannot afford it, 4. they test and then get bad results so therefore don't publicly show the results and then decide they don't believe in the test anymore.

On a side note:

I will also say that I am one of, if not the only known Upper Midwest CWC *person* (soon to be breeder) that is testing their breeding stock for ALL known health tests in the breed. And not cosmetic things like fluff or little 'e' gene. I may even start to do spine xrays to track the beginnings of IVDD that is in our breed. I can't find anyone else's dogs on the OFA website that have as many health clearances as my girls do. Justice and Mitcham and Daisy will have their tests added as their ages allow. I'd be happy to show any certificates too of them that you may desire to see. So yes, even though they may not have it to back them up in their pedigree, my dogs will be tested and will continue to be tested from here on out. Not just the show pups, but all the pups. You can call me on it down the road if I don't >:)


**

I do however own a dog that is tested clear or passing for four generations for sure, nearly completely 5 (if you aren't counting him as a generation) :) And he's not a Corgi :)

His name is Mitcham :)

The Briard people have it together.

With only a fraction of the animals that that CWC have and only 40 registered litters a year in the US, they are a tiny breed population wise. They have 209 dogs registered with CHIC numbers. Cardigans have 13. Isn't that just crazy?

With Mitcham's 4 generation pedigree, all of his ancestors were tested for at least hips, if not a host of other things, except for his Great Grandmother on his dam's side's parents. Otherwise even most of the 5th generation that I looked at was also tested for hips.

And there is nothing to hide. Look at all the half siblings, full siblings, parents etc. They have TONS of animals listed.....which is even more awesome because the breed is so small itself...MUCH smaller than the CWC here in the US at least. OFA is awesome for being a pedigree and health research tool. OFA is a great source for a vertical health pedigree. I encourage you look at Mitcham's pedigree:

All links should be active and sent to the right OFA web page.

Sire CH Dior Elan Veni Vedi Viici OFA Good, Elbows Normal	Sire AM/CAN CH Dior Aigner Made to Order HIC CHIC OFA Excellent Elbows Normal Thyroid Normal Cardiac Normal CERF Normal CSNB clear	Sire CH Deja Vu Aigner For Pete's Sake OFA Good	Sire CH Deja Vu Woodbine Cryn Out Loud ROM OFA Excellent
			Dam CH Deja Vu Ease On Down The Road HT ROM OFA Excellent
		Dam Mon Jovis Eillie de I'Etat d'Or OFA Good CERF Normal	Sire CH Aigner Added Attraction OFA Good
			Dam CH Mon Jovis Amber OFA Good
	Dam CH Elan Dior Rain in Spain OFA Good Elbows Normal CERF Normal	Sire CH Dior Rainbeard On the Ball CHIC OFA Excellent Elbows Normal Cardiac Normal CERF Normal CSNB Clear	Sire CH Blackwater's Hard to be Humble CDX HIC OFA Fair
			Dam CH Dior Aigner My Oh My CD NA HIC CHIC OFA Excellent Elbows Normal Thyroid Normal CERF Normal CSNB Clear
		Dam CH Charmant La Belle Amie HIC OFA Good CERF Normal	Sire CH Aigner Eye of the Tiger HIC OFA Fair CERF Normal
			Dam CH Phydeaux Fairest of Them All HIC
Dam CH Monami Dior Uma Neta Do Pele CHIC OFA Good Elbows Normal Thyroid Normal Cardiac Normal CERF Normal CSNB Clear	Sire CH Dior Monami Simply Irresistable OFA Good	Sire CH Dior Rainbeard On the Ball CHIC OFA Excellent Elbows Normal Cardiac Normal CERF Normal CSNB Clear	Sire CH Blackwater's Hard to be Humble CDX HIC OFA Fair
			Dam CH Dior Aigner My Oh My CD NA HIC CHIC OFA Excellent Elbows Normal Thyroid Normal CERF Normal CSNB Clear
		Dam CH Mon Jovis Dior O You Beautiful Doll CD CHIC OFA Good Elbows Normal Thyroid Normal CERF NOrmal CSNB Clear	Sire CH Mon Jovis Forever Mine OFA Good
			Dam CH Sentinelle DejaVu Leapinlizard PT OFA Good
	Dam CH Mon Jovis Nine to Five OFA Excellent	Sire CH Mon Jovis Deja Vu Johnny B Good OFA Good	Sire CH Deja Vu Woodbine Cryn Out Loud ROM OFA Excellent
			Dam CH Picador Temptress OFA Good
		Dam CH Picador Temptress OFA Good	Sire NUCH Fin.W-86 NORV87 NV8889 SV90 Virage Vendetta of Picador
			Dam Rafiki's Cassiopeia

So what's my point? I guess if I were going to brag about a dog with some health clearances...it wouldn't be my Cardigans...it would be my Briard!

There is no false advertising, no saying I have 4 generations of tested animals.....when in fact the proof is in the pedigree! Would you buy a puppy if you were concerned about testing from a dog whose pedigree looks like the one above here or from someone saying they have 1 dog in each generation with hips tested? Given that they were equal in structure and temperament? I think I know your answer :) Because if you were already looking for a healthy dog (and they were in the breed you were looking for) you would naturally choose the line which is more tested so less 'surprises' are likely to happen, than in a pedigree where nothing or nearly nothing is tested for.

So whose 4 generations of testing do you think should be bragging?