Well, I was going to stop this blog section because sometimes there's just nothing to blog about!  LOL!  But some of you really seem to like it, and I can see a big use for it once puppies are born!  OR, I might do a separate "Current Litter" page when I've got puppies baking in one of my girls' oven, and carry it through when they leave for new homes.

BTW, I love to get pictures of your puppies as they grow, and as adults, so keep that in mind!!!   I might put them on the internet and make them stars!!!  Ha!

If you care to leave a comment, please do.  But, this is NOT the place to ask for information that requires a response from me.  Your best bet to do that is to email me direction at poshpoos@gmail.com.  It's easy to miss those comments here for a while, so if you need answers - email!  Thanks!

Don't know if this is good news or bad! 

Hershey's/Mars just announced it has purchased the entire Vet Corporation of America (VCA clinics) and their chain of clinics for over 9 BILLION dollars.  Hershey has had a line of prescription diets for a while and has been looking for an bigger entrance to that market in veterinary practices.  Historically, as VCA purchased clinics for their chain, veterinary costs more than doubled at those clinics.    I am decidedly NOT a VCA fan - veterinary costs were already escalating, and VCA made it a whole new, astronomical ball game.  In my opinion, that means they are more about profits than they are about the health of our animals.   I know there are exceptions, and there are good vets there, but they have zero control over costs, and you and I pay the price for it.

Hershey has a good public reputation, and maybe they will take the time to compare costs at other veterinary facilities and "get real".   At the price they paid for VCA though, I'm not holding my breath!  

Saying goodbye to Lilli ........ 

I am very sad to say that I lost my Lilli in late January to cancer.  She had surgery two years ago to remove an ugly mass from her chest wall, and there was a good chance it would return, which it did with a vengeance.  When we found that out, I knew her time would be short, as it had already spread to her lungs, and I only had her for another three weeks.  I always said that unless there was something that could be done that would guarantee a good chance for a cure, I would never do extraordinary care to keep a dog alive for me.  It had to be for the dog.  There was nothing to be done for Lilli, and I did not want her to suffer.    The very same day I let her go, Raine gave me two precious babies to bring home.  Made losing Lilli a tiny bit easier. 

Lilli was one of my foundation girls, along with Casey and Sunny.  You know they won't live forever, but losing one is never easy.  Lilli would have been 12 in May of this year, so she graced me with her love and life for a good long time.  I will miss my "little" poodle girl terribly!

Whisper is knocking it out of the park! 

My white puppy girl, Whisper - Calisun Best Kept Secret - born last July, just started her show career about 4 weeks ago.  At her very first show (4 days, six shows, two poodle specialties), she went Reserve Winner four shows out of six!  All shows were 5 pt majors!   I was shocked and thrilled.  That's VERY good for a show debut!  I expected nothing.  Then two weeks off, and at her next show, just last weekend (four days, four shows), she went Best of Winners three days, Winners Bitch one day, and earned a total of 7 pts in one weekend, including one of her Majors!    Here's your first lesson in showing, in case you are not familiar with how it works.  How many points you get depends on how many dogs are entered.  To finish a championship, a dog has to have a total of 15 points.  Of those points, the dog must earn two Major Wins - those are wins that are 3, 4 or 5 points.  And those two majors must be under different judges.     So Whisper did me proud, and is now almost halfway to being finished after just two show weekends!!!  I am so proud I could just pop!!!

Here's my girl the day she won her major!  She is still such a baby!  And the other picture is of my beautiful hairball before her first show trim!  Her mama is Summer,  and she already has a page on my site.  Take a look! 

Xylitol - Toxic and often fatal to your dogs, and in soooooo many things! 

Xylitol is a sweeter and is in so many food products!  It IS toxic to most animals, but especially to dogs, and can be fatal very quickly.  It's important to know what products you might have in your home that contain it so that you can be careful to keep it from your dogs.  It's in chewing gum, candies, peanut butter, jams, etc.  So read labels!!!   If it's listed in the ingredients do NOT offer it to your dogs!!!!!   Here is a link to a pretty thorough list of products containing xylitol - great site, great resource!

http://www.preventivevet.com/xylitol-products-toxic-for-dogs

A great site for information, tips, and fun stuff! Enjoy! 

I haven't posted to my blog in a long time - had a very busy summer.  Lizzie and Jordan parented nine beautiful babies, born June 6, and then Summer had two beautiful white girls the hard way - via c-section on July 2.  Those two cuties has a very rough start, but are now beautiful healthy girls.  One will stay here, and the other leaves in another week or so!   I've become attached to both, so giving one up is going to be hard!!! 

Anyway, now that I've had a little bit of time, I found a site I wanted to share.  It's actually a blog called Puppy Leaks (www.puppyleaks.com), and it's just full of very useful information, tips, and just plain fun stuff.  Here's a sample of the most popular articles (and I think if you click on just one of them, it will take you right to the blog site!).  One of my favorites is the one on simple treats you can make yourself for your dogs!    It's worth a bookmark!  Enjoy!
 

Hope everyone had a grand, safe Christmas!!! 

I found out on Wednesday before Christmas that Summer is not baking puppies in her oven!   I decided I'd wait until after Christmas to let everyone know so I didn't put a dent in the holiday festivities of those on the waiting list for a summer puppy!   We will try a repeat breeding at Summer's next season cycle which should be late April or early May, hopefully resulting in a beautiful litter of white summer puppies in 2015!        I haven't yet decided what this will do to my plans to breed one of my other girls in the spring, but I may do both - just have to decide how much of a glutton for punishment I am!  Ha!  Having puppies is an incredible amount of work, and I'm just not sure if I want to have two litters so close together!   Whew!  I'm exhausted just thinking about it!  Ha!

Stay tuned and stay in touch!   Bev

And this is a good example of why I am a breeder! 

Meet Pasha, a gorgeous hunk of a boy from my 2013 litter from my girl Sunny, and Carter (Gr CH Kaylens Moments of Glory, owned by Kay Palade-Peiser), brother to my own girl, Raine.   Pasha is owned by Leslie Moyer, and was not sold as a show dog (but could have!).  His groomer saw early on what a handsome boy he was and asked if she could exchange grooming for being able to use Pasha as her "model" in competitive grooming events.  Pasha grew into a big, totally drop dead gorgeous boy, and I am so proud of him, I just can't stand it!  Just look at this kid!  WOW!  Bev

Several bits of good news..... 

Chloe was operated on in June to remove four mammary cysts, small but came up fast.  They were malignant, which was horrifying news, but the vet felt like she got them all, just wasn't able to leave that margin of healthy tissue they like to see.  Anyway, I took her in to be spayed yesterday, since the hormones from being in heat likely contributed to the rapid growth of these tumors.  New chest xray showed NO masses or other suspicious spots, and she came through the spay REALLY fast and is doing fine!   Sure am hoping that she will live to be a sweet old lady!

Second, Summer had her hip xrays done and also her SA skin punches.  Both have been sent in to OFFA for evaluation and posting.  Keeping our fingers crossed that the SA is clear/normal, no reason it shouldn't be.  And the hip xrays look great!!!   Depending on what kind of day the radiologist is having, sure would be nice to get an excellent, but I'll be happy with a good.  I have rarely seen xrays as good as this!!!   Bev

Water dogs! 

I put a kiddie pool on the back deck today, with about 2 inches of water, and plopped the puppies in to get their feet wet and see if any of them got the hang of it.  They all stood there for a few seconds, some took a sip of water, and then they all hopped out.  I went up on the porch to see what would happen and a couple of them got back in over the next hour or so.  So we might have a few pups who will be water babies!!!   Wahoo!    A side bonus to the way my house is set up - you go down about six or seven steps to a deck in the back, which I can completely close off for the dogs to have a safe, clean place when it's been raining buckets and the back yard is a mud pie.  Anyway, so I discovered that they ALL can climb UP the stairs!   Not so good at going down, you have to nudge them with a toe, and they start the trip down, sometimes not quite in control!  LOL!   But nobody bats an eye about trying again.  This is NOT a bashful, skittish litter!  They seem to love each new adventure!!!