As part of my mad dash to get everything done before I leave Texas,  I made the drive down to Austin to grab some photos of Cadence.  She is one of the three pups we fostered from our Jazz and River litter born November 2013.  Generally I keep only one puppy back from a litter to move forward with in the next generation, but our bloodlines are shrinking rapidly as more and more people spay and neuter all but one puppy in each litter.  I am blessed to have found so many people willing to keep these dogs intact for possible future use, but also keep them as beloved family members.  These homes want to get them out and put a performance title or two on them to show their mental stability and prove them worthy to be bred.  They want to do therapy work.  They want to show the world what amazing pets these guys are without mixing them with some other breed.  My foster families are the backbone of what I do.  If it were not for them I would either have to stop breeding, or become the crazy dog lady with 10-20 dogs milling around my home half groomed and poorly trained.  My husband would never go for that, so thank you guys for stepping up and taking a chance on saving this breed from possible extension.  ::stepping down from the soap box::

Kerry, Cadence’s mom, had her groomed yesterday, but I asked her not to let them shave her body.  I would do that when I came down.  The groomer did a great job on her face, feet, and tail area, so there wasn’t a lot for me to do other than touch her up after I took her body down with a 5 blade all over.  You just never know how good the groomer will be, so I opted to do most of the work myself.  In any case, Kerry wanted her short (summer in Texas is brutal) so that is what we did!  It is easier to see their body structure without all the fluff, so that was perfectly fine by me.

Cadence is maturing into a lovely lady, even if she does have her Mom’s silly nature (see photo’s above).  Her body style, size, and coat is much more like River.  It looks like a true combination, the best of both worlds.  I’m extremely pleased with the conformation and temperaments of the litter.   They are not real “Flashy” but they are sound, solid, easy keepers without the sickly tummy and stressy nature of so many Standard Poodles.  I’d say that is a HUGE win.  As always, time will tell, but I think I am making good progress.

On a photography note the weather was perfect!  It was overcast, but still maintained good light and no rain.  Taking photos of a black dog is difficult, even worse with bright sunshine causing glares and tricking the camera into over exposing the shot.  The above photos come close to showing her true inky black color.  Her face only looks lighter because it was shaved short with a 30 blade.   Nothing makes a photographer smile more than a nice cloudy day!

~Becky