Not to be totally corny, but what a wonderful thing it is to see the light that these pups bring to the world. Our home was so busy and joyful for 9 weeks and its already so quiet with just 3 left that I get a little choked up. Being a preservation breeder is about a goal first – better the breed – get another prodigy from your good dog that could win and be the next light of your life. That goal leads to getting that girl ready, proving her in the ring and otherwise, getting through the myriad of health tests, selecting a sire, working with the sire’s owners and a vet, and then transporting semen, setting up appointments, monitoring heat cycles, progesterone levels, and then getting the procedure done, and waiting 63 days. Once that birth day comes, the work really begins! I’ve enjoyed it all, maybe not the exhausting cleaning, but all the rest!

I’ll update this litter’s photos and accomplishments as they stack up. What a ride. Thank you for coming along with me, those of you who have read along. I’ll do a thank you to all my helpers in the next few days, but I can’t spare the Kleenex right now as I’m still a little tender from saying goodbye for now to all my lovebugs who have left. All so different, and all the best of their dam and sire, and all carrying a part of me and their good Uncle Marty with them. XOXO Northern Lights Babies, Gramm loves you!

Here is a summary of each of them and where they are going:

We dubbed Orange Girl “Suki” after 4 times when someone interested in her, they bowed out for personal or transportation issues, it seemed that she was going to be here with us for a while, and we were fine with that so she got a name – Suki – which means, “Beloved” in Japanese. I’m not Japanese, but I like the name and it seems easy to say and call out and she answered to it right away. Probably just a reaction to my tone and “the eye” energy but that’s okay, too :). Within a couple of days, I received a notice from Good Dog from an interested family in Tennessee. We walked through the first steps together and had several hours of visiting back and forth, I did my background checks, they reviewed the contracts and together, we found a good fit! I’ll be flying out on Friday night with Suki to meet her new family who will be flying into Seattle and they will take her home to a gorgeous 28 acre home with 3 acres fenced for dogs and lively kiddos and a stay at home mom who loves dogs. Suki can go in any direction: conformation and or performance, but one thing is for certain, she is already loved and will be joining an active family. I’ve connected her new owners with another JLS Dalmatian parent who lives nearby and it seems like training and dog sports are going to be a sure thing. Its such a small world, that one Dalmatian family – (who has Suki’s aunt!) would be an easy reach for the new Dal owners, but I’m super grateful and excited to see Suki – (not sure if they will keep her name or rename her yet) grow up in such a dog friendly family with support from our JLS Dal family and others in the area. That’s one thing I really like about our Dalmatian community, they may have some differences, but for the love of the breed, people make it happen for the good of the dog.

Purple also got a new name this week. It just came to me one afternoon, after someone said, you are not calling him Purp, are you? We laughed and I thought, yeah, he needs a real name. I tried a few out and we were playing outside and he brought a branch to me about his size and let go without a fight, so I said, “You good boy, you are the Real McCoy!” then repeated it a few times, liked the way it rolled off my tongue and the way he looked at me when I said it so I came back in and googled the name and nope -didn’t see any – and I sent my suggestion to Julia. After mulling it over, she agrees, Purple is now, “McCoy!” Lucky little guy will be staying on at Queen of Hearts Dalmatians for the time being before going to the JLS homeland at some point. I’ll start his puppy training and doing some conformation work with him to get him ready to start his show career in the Northwest this fall. I sure like this pup, he is handsome, calm, thoughtful, kind, and fun. He will be a looker when he matures, too, I think.

Mystique – FKA Pink – is settling into her role in the household nicely. She takes everything in, isn’t a little shark, and self stacks all the time! She follows me around and picks a toy or chewy to work on and watches me with one eye while I work at the home office desk. I stack her with ease, and she seems to be growing uniformly, although is starting to get leggy so things will go all wild for conformation for a while as she grows up and out. She does not like to be squirted with the water bottle, so she avoids things that she is told, “No!” about and I’m so impressed with her intelligence and biddability. Tanya Tresino- her handler – is going to have fun in the ring with this girl, and I think Mystique will turn up the energy and volume when she is the focus of a human and trotting around the ring.

Patch – Patch left to his forever home in Seward, Alaska this week. He is going to be on patrol there with his policeman dad and working on his therapy title. He is already loved and treasured by his new family which includes plenty of kiddos who adore him. It is always a little hard to see pups go, but it makes it easier when they go where you know that they have a purpose and lighten the load for others. The amount of joy that they bring to our new friends and Dalmatian family is obvious with the texts and pictures sent back to me and that makes me really happy with our chosen path and it is all (extensive breeding expenses, hassle setting up appointments, time off to care for Ruby and pups, sleeplessness, and 19 hours a day care after weaning) – and I mean all, worth it when that happens.

Yellow Girl – AKA Hope was our #6 born, whom Jonathan and I had to work so hard to help her survive. She was a thriver after just a few hours and I’m so glad we didn’t give up on her. She is bringing so much joy and living up to her name. Her new owner is an experienced Dal person who has another Dal girl at home – going to be 3 this year, I believe. I saw a video of that older Dal sister playing with Hope so nicely today, showing her the ropes and sharing toys. I’ve seen several pictures that show Hope is loved by extended family and she’s got such a good life. Our friend and mentor, Crystal Beam, is going to show her for us this fall, and Hope’s human mom is going to get her ready. She’s a spirited little dynamo and it will be fun to see those two in the ring together. If anyone can bring the best out in her, Crystal can! No pressure, Crystal! 😉

Blue Boy – AKA Remi left the nest at 8 weeks on the dot! He joined a military family and will stay at home with his mom most days, but can go to the dog friendly office with his dad from time to time. He will be shown in Conformation and may stretch out and do some performance after a conformation introduction. His new parents are awesome and came to the recent Cook Inlet Kennel Club Dog Show the day after he went home and met all the right people. Remi has a cool name and is a dashing fellow with his dark liver coloring and a bright blue eye and his new human parents love him and his good temperament and willingness to please. I’m excited to see him strut his stuff in the ring and to see him and his parents out on the many trails we have in Anchorage.

Green Boy – now known as Phillip Dilly or just Dilly to his friends, left the morning he turned 8 weeks old and he was ready to roll! He had an under ear patch at birth which means that though he was put together so nicely and is so handsome, he cannot be shown in Conformation events. He can do performance all his human wants, but no pretty dog contests for him and he was fine with that, he says he has a job already! He joins two other Dals from another preservation breeder (retired) at home and can go to work with his human mom on the regular! He brightens the lives of hundreds of people through his mother’s office’s excitement and he will be that constant velcro companion that all Dal people know and love. It sure was quiet that day after Dilly and Blue left, and quiet for a couple days as we all missed those two characters who were already potty-training on potty pads and partially crate trained because they started it themselves. I’ve seen several pictures of Dilly and he came to his litter blood draw appointment with a bow-tie on looking dapper and behaving himself so well. What a cool little dude.

Well, that’s it for now. Pass the Kleenex.