Who's A Good Dog?

Jaiaen's English Shepherds

Author: Breeze (Page 2 of 10)

Time to Come and Visit!

Sunday gave us a wonderful visit from our next door neighbors! These visits are one of my favorite parts of having puppies! People come out of the woodwork who love animals!

We’ve watched these little ones (2 years old and 5) grow up over the last several years, 6 to be precise, and originally met because they heard our Zimbabwe marimba classes playing over the field grasses and through the trees. They were kind enough to let me video their visit today in two parts, so all of you who can’t come can still have some fun!

Thanks for checking in!

Eyes Open!

Breeze’s pups are growing well and are so content … what an easy-going litter. It could be that there are so few of them to share in the milk…or maybe the mating produced a calm bunch. Although, you wouldn’t know it from their nursing style, which is not particularly chill.

Enjoy watching this Friday afternoon’s meal here in this video.

They do have their eyes open now. They might have been open yesterday but it wasn’t obvious. I suppose I could have used a flashlight to look in there then, but who would want that in their eyes? Today, it was clear.

Getting a good picture of a wiggly 2-week old pup was not too easy so I thought I’d include some video too…check it out right above the photo:

Our smallest pup (at this point) is Leia who is 1 pound 13 ounces. She was first born, and Breeze’s first has always been the littlest. Leia was almost 7 ounces at birth.

Leia

Rey is 2 pounds even. She was 3rd born at 8 and 3/8 ounce so has increased 1.5 pounds since her birth.

Rey

Chewbacca, who we thought was the hungry one, is not the largest at 2 pounds, 12 ounces. He was 5th born, was just over 8 ounces at birth, and is our only male. He actually waved his paw at the camera during the video…how funny!

Chewbacca

Padme Amidala is 2 pounds, 15 ounces. She was 4th born. She really surprised me by her bark, but then she completely kept her composure.

Padme

Check out the vigor two hours later in this video… the litter was still nursing. Then they were finally done….they look complete ;*))

Thanks for tuning in. I was telling someone how much sharing their story with you helps me…it won’t be long and they will all be going home with their families, and Breeze, Katie and I will be staring at each other, saying “what happened?”. It helps me grow up ;*)) Thank you!

A Few Unexpected Changes…

Dear Friends,

Sadly, our little Jedi didn’t make it.  In many ways he was improving, but then suddenly quit making progress yesterday. 

Thank you for all of your encouraging words and support during this last week…you have been amazing!  Particularly when I was walking through my world in a dream state, blinking blurry eyes, and working hard to connect my synapses and fulfill other life functions.

His passing means that I’ll be returning a deposit to someone. And, as Divine Providence would have it, there was a shift in one of the family’s lives and they were planning to call me later in the week to see if they could relinquish their spot on the list!  What a relief that all things work together for the common good…it’s just that it’s not always obvious, nor easy.

I have cherished my time with the little being of Light that we named Jedi…I have learned mountains of deep things during these last 10 days, and wouldn’t trade it for anything…it’s a treasure in my secret heart.

We are on our way forward with the four pups and am happy to share the latest HERE!

I wouldn’t have noticed the one on the left who is lined up in reverse, except she keeps getting my attention…just a bit of an individual.

And then the reunion…always a good moment! The rest of them had their dinner and were snoozing when I heard her, still at arms length. Plopped her into place, and then of course, the delight of finding mom!

Stay tuned …hoping to take weights soon.

First Week with the Litter!

DAY 1 – Tuckered Out

Its taken a bit for me to post here…simply messaging friends and family has become too easy! We have a Whatsapp Breeze group… if you are inclined, let me know. But I really wanted to share with all of you who are subscribed to the Breeze Blog so that you are in our loop! The litter began arriving on 10-1-21 at 7 a.m. At first it was every half hour.

The page for Pilgrim’s Litter is up and not quite complete. There are many half-sisters and half-brothers out there. Remember I’m always interested in your lives and how your pup, that was born just like one of these tiny ones, is doing.

We realized early-on that the second-born was not catching on to nursing, but in this video on day 2 all looks fine.

Here, only because we are watching him like a hawk, we see he wasn’t latching.I really wasn’t expecting this and didn’t have a bottle on hand, so began the feeding using a tube used for filling an essential oil bottle. It worked off and on for quite a day or so. A generous friend went to Petco and brought me a bottle kit…thank God for good Samaritans! You can see here its gotten so much easier!

Day 3 I was amazed with the realization of how Breeze does all this maneuvering with her mouth!

And, later that same day….

We have been enjoying the puppies and are so grateful for them. The little guy we thought was a female at first, mainly due to the whirlwind effort of feeding every 2 hours around the clock…and he was so little. It wasn’t until Day 6 that he was big enough I noticed a tiny penis and sure enough there was urine coming out! Oh my…how interesting (and embarrassing) of a mistake to make! I can only tack it up to lack of sleep and everything being a bit blurry ;*))

The timing of the sex realization dovetailed with all of the naming for this special little soul. It started with the diamond spot (continuing to morph into a droplet) bringing on the name Lady Di and then someone else said Gigi due to the little body. One of the marimba players suggested merging that into one name, like Gidi and suddenly the naming theme for the litter was clear…this smaller tri-color male was Jedi and everyone else was also from Star Wars.

The only other one that seems clear right now is the larger sable male who was fondly named Chewbacca since he is somewhat the dominant one on the nursing scene. We will have Princess Leia, Padme Amidala (Luke and Leia’s mother), and Rey, a powerful female having The Force within her. Just haven’t figured out who is who quite yet.

Of course, I know that you name your own puppy when you get it home…but this is part of the fun of keeping track of the notes about characteristics, worming dates and immunizations. This is a relatively small litter, and happily going home to their new families on Thanksgiving!

On that note, here is a wrap from the end of Day 4. I wonder if I could sleep on my head, and not wake up with a kink.

And, for those of you who are wondering how Katie is doing, she is doing an amazing job. She has very quickly assimilated the information that she is no longer the baby, and has astutely been behaving in wonderful ways. Here she is last night watching the den. The door is open and I can see the wheels moving around behind those eyes.

Katie Intently Focuses

Its not like she doesn’t want to peek in there, but I’m waiting until week 3 to give Breeze and the bunch plenty of time. Then Katie will have a week training in watching and paying attention, but not getting too excited by all the squeals.

Week 4 we go outside into the puppy park so hopefully I’m planning enough time for all the learning phases. I just know that right now, we don’t want any more stimulus than we already have.

For those of you who know Katie, you know her as super affectionate, kind of smiling in her demeanor, and on the active side….but here she is so serious and almost contemplative, studying …what IS going on in that room?

Breeze and Pilgrim Mating…

It was the end of July and beginning of August, Breeze and I drove south about an hour to Junction City, where we visited with Joan Oakes, and her handsome English Shepherd Pilgrim. Joan runs an agility training school, with a variety of dog breeds, jumping through hoops and tunnels, running ladders and the like.

Pilgrim at Home

Breeze and Pilgrim mated three times over that week. I didn’t want to make the same mistake I did in 2020, leaving too soon. We now have a very pregnant Breeze who is looking to be due any day. Her first litter was 7 pups, her second was 12 and her third 10. Often older females have smaller litters, so who knows. We are on pins and needles.

Pilgrim in Front of the Cabin

Pilgrim and Breeze both have the recessive sable gene, and he being tri-color and she the Irish black and white, we may have 3 colors in the litter…but this is all speculative at this point…just like the litter size. It all happened so quickly that we forgot to have a puppy pool.

Are you looking for a new family member? Applications are being considered and deposits are being taken for up to the litter size. Check out our questionnaire here (and on the menu under litters), and feel free to write or call – hopefully I can answer whatever you ask! Thank you for your interest in Breeze and her pups! Stay tuned….

Beautiful Breeze but no Pups…

Bless her heart…she did not conceive from the tie with Rio. I think we were just lucky those first three litters!

Often breeder’s will have the dogs spend more time together. That hadn’t been my experience, so I just overlooked that data. Wrong answer….

At first I thought that maybe Breeze was ready to retire. But I’ve been encouraged to not read it that way. We went to a reproductive specialist, as well as talked to her breeder, Renee, who has many years of experience.

We’ll see what happens with her next cycle and likely try the new test that tells you that they are pregnant. When I had asked about that test idea before, I was told it didn’t exist. But now I hear that it does. Either the information was incorrect, or it really is fairly new.

Its also worthy of consideration that my own energy level needs to be high to take care of a litter opportunity for 8 weeks. Its really quite demanding. Several things are playing into my situation, one of which was losing a family member recently. I’ve really needed huge amounts of sleep to find balance, which I couldn’t have gotten if we had pups now.

I do live in the flow that all things are working together for the best outcome for everyone. Although my disappointment, on behalf of all of the puppy buyers who were on track to have a Breeze puppy, has been great. We have given them contacts for puppies on the ground soon, and are looking forward to hearing about the puppy they find elsewhere!

Dog Lover’s everywhere make our planet a better place!

Two More Pregnant Weeks!

Just a quick touching base with you all, about Breeze’s pregnancy. She has this look in her eye that is uniquely her, very full and sparkling. Her energy is up and her appetite just right.

Her milk is coming in and she is filling out a little bit. But, she carries her litter in her length, so she really doesn’t get full looking until maybe the last couple of days. This photo above she looks so stout.

Since her first litter was 7, her largest was 12, and her last was 10, that averages about 10, but I’m going to guess 8. I will take one more deposit for sure.

She still has her girlish figure but just a little thicker around the middle. ;*))

The high temps have the dogs inside a little more. Katie and Breeze entertain each other a great deal, outside and in, and its really giving Breeze plenty of exercise. They continue to play like wonderful siblings.

By the way, Breeze has a long white tip at the end of her tail, although you can’t see much here. When I took her to the groomer to get her trimmed up for whelping and nursing, the groomer trimmed almost all of the white off! Other than that small snafu she did a wonderful job.

She said that she has never had such a well-behaved dog in her 40 years of grooming. Of course, I was happy to hear that, but really? My kid? You know, they always behave better in public ;*))

Always feel free to write or call! Particularly as a puppy buyer, past, present or future, lets talk!

You know, I want to know more about you and your family. And particularly now…I really appreciate hearing your heart-warming stories about how your dogs have really become an important part of your family fabric, getting through this Covid-19 ordeal!

Thank you for keeping us in your loop!

Breeze and Rio Pairing!

We had an unexpected surprise last week…Breeze came into heat a month early!  Everything has been a bit of a whirlwind since then. 

The first steps are watching your female dog like a hawk.  Then being on pins and needles to see when she is actually ready.  Knowing that I wanted to drive all the way to northern Washington, a friend came for a visit to help us make the trek, needing to do so in June instead of following the July plan.

Mt Rainier Heading to near-Canada!

We have a tradition of taking Breeze to her breeder’s home, Renee at Trailblazer English Shepherds,who has an intact male Connor (out of Breeze’s 1st litter with Rio), to see if they are interested in each other.  Monday night there was nothing going on.  Tuesday the male we were considering unexpectedly “went off his food”, so among other things, that led us to see if Rio was available, as they are neighbors.

We had been thinking about Rio since 2016 (check it out here or use the sidebar blog month of August 2016 as well as their litter page ), as those puppies were wonderful.  Because Rio, a tri-color, and Breeze, with her Irish black and white, both have a recessive gene for clear (not shadowed with darker markings) sable and white, we had three colors in that litter, adding a little spice to the den.

By Wednesday morning we ran by Renee’s again, and this time it was perfectly obvious that Breeze was ready. Getting the teardrop and gear packed and truck hooked up, we set off to the Ferndale destination at the near-Canadian border. 

The breeding between the dogs was clearly a union.  If we would have stayed another day they may have mated again, as is sometimes done, but she looked complete.  She has been a happy dog ever since, with a new found contentment.  Her love of travel was such a blessing, making that long haul without batting an eye.

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In April, I had purchased a puppy from Montana, Katie, to be Breeze’s runner-up when she is ready to retire in a couple of years.  Breeze’s great mothering instincts made their relationship go along wonderfully, becoming a mother and big sister all in one.  Suffice it to say, that when Breeze came home from the long trip, she began developing another level of relating with Katie, quite mildly asking for just a little more space, and preparing our household for a litter. It was a relief to me since she had been letting Katie have her way at every turn, so I wondered how and when things would shift a little…so naturally everything flowed easily into the next part of the river.

Breeze’s New Sister Katie

Katie began puppy preschool Monday June 29th, followed by good manner training, even though she is already 4 months old.  There just wasn’t any earlier opportunities open during the quarantine.  I hope to learn a great deal that will not only help me with Katie’s development, but also as a breeder, to offer even more great learning exposure to our litter of pups.

I’ve learned a tremendous amount from Renee that one would never find in a book or online, e.g. playing a movie with unexpected loud noises as they begin to discover something other-than-mother (week 4-8) to desensitize them to sounds a bit.  And, also learned much from just the school of hard knocks, like why did I ever think that loading a wagon with a litter of puppies, multiple times a day, to get out to the puppy park was a good solution? 

Its now an obvious no-brainer and I have the puppy den-pen right next to the back door!  If my body didn’t complain I’d probably have continued doing it.  I think it was the litter of 12 while really working to teach them all good outside potty habits, that brought me into full awareness of simpler solutions…but it was cute to see them riding in the wagon;*))

Rebecca Wingler from the English Shepherd Club, wrote an article about pregnancy and breeding on their websitehttp://www.englishshepherd.org/I loved her comment that “one must always be prepared for the unexpected, because our dogs don’t read the same books we do”.  That about sums it up!  We are looking at day 63 (text book pregnancy) being August 27th for whelping, and then the puppies going to their new homes near the 22nd of October.  Really a wonderful climate-window for having pups exploring the world.

Breeze and Rio showed a great deal of relaxation and a feeling of being very complete with only one tie. At the end of this video Rio then Breeze each take a turn doing the full-on happy tail wag (side to side and circle)…I think it took!

Please write me at contactme@jaiaenbeck.com with any questions!  As of this writing, there are 5 deposits on this upcoming litter, so if you, or someone you know, are interested in a puppy from a pairing of these great English Shepherd lines, both with really nice 5 generation pedigrees, and sweet temperaments, now is a good time to begin to discuss that option with Breeze and I.  We start the process with a puppy application (sorry – it’s a bit like applying for a house loan ;*)) but after all, you are asking for a family member), and than an interview using Zoom or the phone. Of course, we can always talk by phone before that…just ring me up!

HEADING HOME TO OREGON…SHE HAS A NEW GLINT IN HER EYES!

Breeze Update

Thanks to those of you who have shared kind words with me. Its all a sensitive process, much like when someone dies, and people just don’t know what to say. Its all part of the wheel of life and navigating that isn’t a casual job for any of us.

Our veterinarian suggested Breeze had a “false” pregnancy. To have her milk glands swell and other symptoms are some of the indicators. Another big one for us, is this silly little toy-pup that she brings out only annually – its actually a black, gray and white racoon. She first brought out from her basket just before whelping her first litter, and again she did the same on her second litter. Then, again when we talked of moving the puppies in her third litter to the outside yard, and she promptly moved this toy-pup outside. So its her communication tool to us humans.

She is just such a good mom and so tuned in. Its quite touching to see her in her dilemma.

So, the last few days she has non-stop been bringing this toy-pup out to get my attention, plus doing some small whines like she has done after each litter would leave and go home to their families, as she was searching around for what happened to her little ones.

We began doing some treatments for myself to move through the feelings, and now today, we did a treatment for her as well. She is doing much better, reduced number of those little whines and lots less toy-pup, and back to showing a little more interest in food, about which I’m super pleased.

On another ironic note, we were planning on purchasing a puppy to be able to encourage Breeze to retire in a couple years, and give her someone with which to play. We had the right parents picked out with some great lineage, and the litter was going to be born in another 2 weeks. Just got the call that their dog also just had a false pregnancy! How strange is that?! As a musician I know that timing is everything. Mercury in retrograde gets the blame most of the time. And, it also makes me ponder about how beautifully entangled we each are with each other and the world around us. What an odd set of circumstances to be synchronized…

This has prompted me to do some discovery work. I may be doing treatments for Breeze to check for the round-up residue etc. that is in our food, for example. Its like when the frogs begin disappearing from the ponds, we know they are an indicator species of what is happening on the planet. Maybe I’m jumping into a different rabbit hole, but maybe many pieces are connected.

I wonder about hormone’s being disrupted by the chemicals, and the increase in radio frequencies. In humans there is an incredible change in fertility that no one really talks about, with much being attributed to these kinds of ‘unnatural patterns in our lives . Anyway, I’m going to be exploring this topic!

Wow…what a process! Thanks for listening…we’ll be back online with more info as another breeding comes forward in a few months…in the meantime, off to the Zimbabwe music festival in Monmouth this weekend at WOU (stop by the booth if you are there), and then on to Zimbabwe maybe in November. They are having a famine there, so I’m not sure how that affects a trip, but I’ll be back in touch at another point, hopefully in 2019.

Always feel free to write and stay in touch!

Who’s a good dog? Breeze!

The news of the day is that the breeding didn’t “take”, she is not pregnant, and we are not having puppies this time around.

Wow…this is so very disappointing and we are all sad…we had a vision, and preparations, and hopes for wonderful families to whom we can extend the puppy love.

Those of you who planned on one of these pups for your new family member, are obviously very disappointed too! I’m so sorry. We just don’t tend to do the ultrasounds, x-rays, etc. unless there is a medical reason. The “symptoms” that I was reading were actually telling me something else. For instance, they say to increase their food at 1 month…and I did that…and guess what…she is now a few pounds overweight.

Well, live and learn. What an assimilation of info and an educational process!

Those of you that are wanting a puppy, I will be able to give you contact info for some current litters that are part of this particular lineage, in case that would be helpful! Maybe you can find your puppy there…and if not, we will be breeding again next cycle for pups in early March and the puppies would be with families by early May. Those that may decide to wait because of the connection we are developing, I thank you. I’m honored that this is not just a transaction to you either. Its touching! And, as a musician I totally get that timing is everything. So, its paramount that everything is lined up for everyone!

The ultimate question is what might have “gone wrong”? I mean really, wolves and dogs and the like have been populating the planet for a long time. There are a couple of things:

Of course, we are doing controlled breeding rather than natural, so that we can assure having the appropriate genetics. This means that we, as the owner, have to have our finger on the pulse of the cycle. One possibility is that we may have bred too early in the cycle. Even though a female will only stand for breeding when “its time”, they can actually engage before the eggs drop, so then if its too early, by a day or two, the semen may not stay alive. This is undoubtedly why people will let the dogs breed more than once, or have them hang out for a couple of days.

Another possibility is that the tie was interrupted by some cats in the barn, so it was shortened from previous breeding encounters. That seems like a no-brainer that I could have realized, but there were some extenuating circumstances that complicated the opportunity. So, oh well…

I’ve learned tons. Not just about dogs and breeding, but all of the emotional, mental, and spiritual reasons that I’m a breeder of English Shepherds.

The Large Love that I get to share with the world through these dogs is immense…first of course, you have the Absolute Light that traverses from Creator through the galaxies into these little beings. And then, we get to be the steward of that…what a blessing! The frosting is a tasty morsel … the incredible relationships with the people that come from having a dog, and subsequent puppies. Not only the families who embrace their new life-long friend, but also all of the other people who Breeze and I encounter along the way.

Thank you for staying tuned and being part of our lives!


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