What?? A New Poodle?
So, I did a thing you guys! It’s been so hard to keep this under wraps, but I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to have this little doll in my life. Her name is Locket and we are in love!
Puppy fever is real and I had it bad. For the last 2 years the plan was to keep a puppy from Emma, but as most of you guys know her future as a mom is over. Our year has been turned upside down with so many twist and turns. For 3 years Keith and I have been planning a summer cruise vacation with family to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. By April I was sure it would be canceled. Then Jingle and Mabel both came into season at the start of Covid-19 social distancing which made travel during that time rather risky. I had to make a judgement call on what life would look like in 6 weeks -4 months. We had no idea exactly how bad our state and the states where both dogs lived would be hit and then of course there is Keith’s job at the hospital. I couldn’t bring myself to risk people’s lives for a litter of pups. Had the girls lived with me things would be different. Traveling to both Arkansas and Texas, risking exposure to the dog’s human family, then getting the girls or the pups here when states very well could have been totally locked down, well that choice was an easy one.
Earlier in the year I had placed a deposit on a litter, one that wouldn’t be ready to leave until after my summer trip. That girl didn’t get pregnant, so again I was sitting here with time on my hands and no puppy to raise. A friend announced a litter which caught my attention. When the babies were born 9 out of the 10 pups were brown. One parent was silver beige (silver brown) and the other blue, so to get that many browns from the breeding was very lucky indeed! Half of those pups were girls and the breeder had room on her list if I wanted to give it a shot. It was a long 7 weeks waiting to see if any would work for my breeding program, so again I didn’t get my hopes up. I had some pretty specific needs.
Dream puppy list:
- Must be female. I wanted a puppy to live here. Cody and River are both boys, and I simply couldn’t take yet another male.
- Must be brown, but could be faded brown. I probably have about 10 more years before I need to cut back on breeding. We want to travel once the kids are in college and Keith is retired. My last 10 years will be full of brown clowns.
- Must come from less mainstream lines. While this litter wasn’t diversity tested, I’m hoping she will be less related to my current dogs than most. I will be diversity testing her once her AKC registration is completed. My goal was not to find the most diverse dog on the planet. I wanted a few other things and if I could get a little diversity to boot, great.
- Must come from health tested and titled parents. Both Locket’s parents are hunters with hunting titles. I’m loving owning a driven retriever, so I won’t compromise on this aspect. While raising a mouthy retriever can be hard, there is so much shaping / training that simply come natural if they have toy drive.
- Must be a sweetie pie, lover bug, totally not dominant. When not playing games I had to have a dog with a total off switch. I do not want to live with a dog who needs a job, is bossy, or destructive. Those days are past. She had a litter mate who’s body was beautiful, but her temperament was far more dog than I wanted. This little love bug was the snuggle champion of the pack!
Simply Southern’s Lock N Load
I really didn’t know if Amy could find me a unicorn in those high drive, hunting line babies. Locket’s sire is crazy driven and several of the pups matched his temperament. My favorite Poodle is a well balanced, moderate body dog. I’m not into flashy / trendy body type. This might have made it harder, but coming from hunting lines I knew the body would probably be there. The parents live in the water and hunt or train year round. With Amy’s information on puppy temperament and structure, I selected the calmest pup with the body I wanted. If the genetic match looks good, my plan will be for her and Cody to have a litter in a few years. Her weak points are his strong ones and vice versa. I’m already excited to see those pups. I’m hoping to keep a male from them to train in Search and Rescue!
Locket hasn’t been here long, but I think she is a worthy addition to our program. She can turn on the cute and the entire family is in love! She already asked to go outside to potty and she is only 9 weeks old! Her body language and dog communication skills are fabulous. She is also very smart and is super ok with being alone or hanging with the family. We want to thank Amy at Simply Southern Retrievers for trusting us with this girl. She has a bright future in our crazy family.
