Merry Christmas!

It’s been a busy few months here. Dad continues to improve and is now walking about 6 km a day. He takes Becca (Am Can Ch Shomberg N Partridge Run Tribecca) along with him. I’m beginning to think that this quadruple bypass is the best thing that ever happened to him. He’s quit smoking and he’s exercising. What more can you ask for?

Lucy (Can Am GCh Nuthatch’s Awakenings - Delceg x Kaylee) qualified for the big Eukanuba show in Florida in Dec as both a new American Grand Champion and also as one of the Top 25 GSPs in the US for 2011 at the cutoff date. She is the only solid liver GSP on the latter list (making her the #1 solid liver GSP in the USA J ). We are extremely proud of everything she and her handler, Sarah Crepeau, have accomplished. Unfortunately, a trip to Florida just wasn’t in the cards for us this year.

Dundee (Am Can Ch Nuthatch’s Snowy River Rider - Cruise x Sally) also qualified for Eukanuba due to his being the #5 GSP in Canada last year in all breed points (he was #2 in breed points - and all in only 3 weekends of showing). We’re hoping that perhaps we can go next year and that he will qualify again - this time as a new Am GCh. He is heading down to Sarah to finish off his grand championship in the new year. His cousin Pepper (Nuthatch’s For Yr Entrtainment - Delceg x Bug) is already down there getting ready for her show debut.

Dundee’s been busy. He became a father again early in December. He was bred to Can Ch Topthat’s Raw Sienna FDJ (Sienna) and she gave birth to nine beautiful babies at the start of the month. Sienna went Best of Opposite Sex to her littermate Sparky (Can Ch Topthat’s Electric Lime) at this year’s Canadian National Specialty. We have decided to breed Dundee’s aunt Bug (Can Ch Nuthatch’s Truly Madly Deeply - Charlie x Spirit) to Sparky early in the new year as well. This will be Bug’s last litter and I am very much looking forward to it.

We are also expecting a new litter in January (yeah, January is shaping up to be a busy busy month). Beans (Nuthatch’s Black Coffee In Bed - Dundee x Becca) has been bred to Mac (Am Can Ch Nuthatch’s Chase The Sun - Morgan x Emily) and is due mid-month. We bred Limerick (Nuthatch’s Funny Girl - Frost x Jeannie) to Charlie (Mex Latin Am Can FCI Int Ch Nuthatch’s Presumed Innocent - Andy x Cassie) but I’m not sure she is pregnant. It was a last ditch chance at Charlie puppies but the vet tells me those sperm looked mighty tired so this one is flying on a wing and a prayer. I’m kicking myself for not having frozen his sperm earlier. It’s one of those things that you mean to do and never quite get around to. Lesson learned. Mac and Dundee will both be having sperm collected and frozen at some point this year.

In the meantime we have visitors for Christmas. True (Can Ch Nuthatch’s The Princess Bride - Charlie x Becca) is vacationing with us while her family visits other family abroad. Buddy (Kenny x Jeannie) is also coming for a visit this Thursday and will be spending the holidays with us. Although we don’t board commercially, I love having dogs we’ve bred come back for a visit and it means that when their owners go away they can go with peace of mind, knowing that the dog is staying in the house with GSP experienced family and friends. We offer it year round but summer and Christmas are when it gets the busiest.

I likely won’t get another update in before the big day so here’s wishing you a great Christmas and we’ll talk in the new year. May it bring great things for you and yours. Love the Nuthatch Gang.

Pictured Sarah & Lucy having some downtime :)

Happy Hallowe'en

From Jo's pug Gizmo:

I Found This On Facebook and I Loved It...

It's been such a hard year with losing Ziggy, Chanel, Spirit and Delceg. I fear that Charlie and Mr. Big are not too far behind either. Surely the pieces I've lost this year though are not half as big as they pieces they gave me over the years.

Speaking of new dogs coming into your life. We had tried to breed both Dalwhinnie (Nuthatch's Q.E.D. - Morgan x Emily) and Willow (Darnelle's Makin' U A Believer - our GWP) in June but niether got pregnant. It was very very disappointing and admittedly very very expensive. So, there were very few puppies born here this year. Puppies whether they stay or go on to new homes make you feel better. There's something about sitting on a floor and being swarmed by hot little bodies that are doing their best to drown you in kisses that makes it impossible to be sad for long. Buffy is in season (Am Can Ch Nuthatch's Unforgettable - Kenny x Jeannie) but I have told her that if she escapes her crate even once there will be no forgiveness. Buffy is a liberated girl and firmly believes you should grab your fun when you can, regardless of Mom's hard planning. She's not being bred this time as she just had a litter earlier this year. Limerick (Nuthatch's Funny Girl - Frost x Jeannie) though is looking like she is coming in to heat. I am really hoping to breed her. I dearly want more Charlie children so we're going to try a fresh semen AI (artificial insemination) as Charlie's back end is too weak for me to be willing to let him try to do it au naturel. As Limerick is a solid liver (Charlie is ticked), there is a possibility of having both solid and ticked puppies in the litter. Solid is a dominant gene and so one parent must be solid liver in order to get solid liver puppies.

It would be really nice to have some puppies around to play with as I'm worried this winter will only get harder when it comes to losing my beloved seniors.

In the meantime, I'm house hunting - now what kind of crazy person wants to move with all these dogs ... and who wants her to move next to them???

Facebook

Ok, I'm determined to rejoin the technological race and start updating regularly. I'm even going to check in on Facebook periodically. I remain on dial-up so don't count your puppies before they bark :) In the spirit of trying though, I have been updating our Facebook photo section. For those of you interested in seeing the pics the links to the albums are as follows:

General Album:

Lucy's Album:

Dundee's Album:

Hopefully, there will be more to come.

In the meantime, we are experiencing wet and muddy weather here :( Pepper (Nuthatch's For Yr Entertainment - Big x Delceg) decided that I should not remain dry in the house. She came in - soaked to the skins - and lay down beneath my legs (I was at the kitchen table) and then stood up and dragged her back across the underside of my thighs. Uggh!

Delceg - Am Can Hung Lux World Jr Ch Malomkozi Delceg

Peacefully, in his 11th year, while sleeping by my bed. Although Delceg didn't come us until he was almost 7, he quickly became an integral part of the family. His goofy smile, the incredible hugs, snoring in your ear when he shared the pillow, his whole body wag when he brought you a toy. I think I'm still in shock.

He excelled as a show dog, completing championships everywhere he went and Best In Shows in his native Europe as a youngster. In the litter box, he proved just as powerful. His gorgeous, multiple group-winning daughter in France, Dutch - Belgian - Luxembourg - German VDH - Swedish - International Beauty + Champion International Show Champion France Champion working "Championne d'Automne of field-trials" Malomkozi Sjelsa, was only one example of several. I'm comforted by the fact that I have some of his daughters, sons and grandget here with me.

Many will count the above as his legacy but for me he will always be the goofy guy I fell in love with at the airport. He could never have produced another puppy or won at another show and he would still have become my bed hog. He will be very dearly missed.

New Email Addy

Due to ongoing issues with Aztec, our new email is nuthatchkennels@gmail.com

Catching Up After a Long Absence

OK, so it’s been ages since I’ve updated the blog. I kind of have a good excuse although it’s not a totally great one. Grandpa ended up having a quadruple bypass and then picked up that C.difficile bug while he was in the hospital. This all started at the beginning of June and he’s only been home for a few weeks as I write this. It’s been a long haul and he’s lost thirty pounds (and unlike me he didn’t have thirty pounds to lose) but he is finally doing better and slowly but surely getting well.

Much has been happening with the canines. I’m just going to cover the highlights for now.

Dundee – Am Can Ch Nuthatch’s Snowy River Rider (Austr Ch Zigeuner Nimrod R (Cruise) x Nuthatch`s Charlie`s Angel (Sally)) was the #5 GSP in Canada in 2010 – and he was only shown in Canada for three weekends!

True (Can Ch Nuthatch’s The Princess Bride – Charlie x Becca) had a beautiful solid liver girl, named Jessie, who has gone to a great new home in Ottawa. Hopefully we’ll get some new pictures of her to post soon.

Lucy (Am GCh Can Ch Nuthatch’s Awakenings – Delceg x Kaylee) has finished her Am Grand Championship. Along the way she has picked up a Best of Breed at the New England Sporting Group Specialty under breeder judge Ruthann Godfrey-Freer, a best of breed followed by a group 2 under breeder judge Steve Keating, a Select Bitch award at the Canfield, Ohio specialties under Michael Dachel and a best of breed in Canfield again under Steve Keating. It’s been pretty thrilling. She then went on to three more Best of Breeds, a group 3rd and a group 4th in August.




Fox (Nuthatch’s Fantastic Mr Fox – Delceg x Bug) made his US debut and has 5 pts so far including a 3 pt major. He’s starting to get lanky though (just like a teenage boy lol) so it’s time for him to come home for a bit.





Finally, on July 1st, Buffy (Am Can Ch Nuthatch’s Unforgettable – Kenny x Jeannie) and Dublin (aka the Monkey Man, Gamebourne’s King’s Ransom) became proud parents to two little girls – North & Free. They’re now 8 weeks old and hilarious bundles of mischief. I found a cat tunnel that they love to run through.




Free






North