I finally decided to neuter Gideon. It wasn't that hard of a decision, he has pups and grand pups who are doing very well in the show ring and on the field, and are making their impact.  I had no plans to breed him any more, and he can run quite well without his gonads. He remains the grand champion Reserve Winners Dog in Specialty Show winner in the breed, with I think 5 of those awards. I retired him from showing quite some time ago. He has lovely movement, and is quite attractive overall, but has a slightly overshot bite, which was the cause of the many , many RWD awards . His real accomplishments have been on the field, being the first racing champion, SRC, as well as the first SRCX in the breed.

 I have my Architecture and Mythos litter pups to focus on, from Tyler and Cinder, and Connor and Sheba , Dresden, Ilsa, and Helios,  and they have the speed , structure,  movement and temperament I love  to see in this breed.

 I've got Sazi, Ronan, and Sony down from Gideon to Sheba as well. They have his good traits, his "prettiness", movement, running ability, and focus as well.

 Gideon may, in his "veteran" years, be a good dog to run with youngsters in training, since he is very focused, and will correct nonsense on the go. We recently ran him with he and Cinders grandson , Scirocco's Dakar, who was being a bit unfocused in practice, and it seemed to have helped focus him .

 His bloodline is not rare, it's one of the most common in the breed, and still being bred more / inbred on , so it wasn't like his line is anything special in terms of diversity, almost the reverse, so it seemed un neccessary in terms of doing good for the gene pool of a rare breed to continue with breeding him more. Diversity is better served with few litters by more individuals than many litters by few individuals , and genetic bottlenecks in dog breeds are a great way to amplify health and temperament problems.

 So it was an easy decision to move on to dogs I have down from him who have many of his good traits, and fewer of his bad traits like his hotter-than-breed ideal temperament . I am concerned with preserving an ideal breed temperament because I did so much work with dogs with poor temperaments when I was at the shelter, and I really think genetic temperament is something we all have to make sure we keep an eye on and make an effort to direct. I think it's up to us as breeders to make sure this breed stays easygoing. So working to keep the good traits , and moving away from bad traits is paramount .

  As easy, and easy to handle as Gideon is with all people, and as funny and personable as he can be, the shortness of his temperament with dogs is something of a trial to live with, as my other dogs are such peace-niks by comparison. We'll see if the neutering has any impact.

  I don't expect it to make any dent on his noise production. Or his insatiable love of toys.
 His grandson Dakar, has much of Gideons speed, his love of toys, but none of the short temperament, however he did manage to inherit all the yak yak yakking. <G>

 
 
 

 I thought I would add an image of Ilsa and Dresden playing on the deck.
They spend most of their awake time, when they aren't cuddling or eating , with body parts of the other puppy in their mouths.

 
 It's been a long time since I had two pups growing out together, and I forgot how fun and goofy it was to watch two like-minded puppy-souls tumble and tussle and explore the world together.  They've recently discovered my front yard, and run around all over the hillside with big loopy dog grins on their faces. Ilsa took a dip in our fountain while Crystal Buckey, who has Willow and Apple, two lovely lady Silkens, in Mo, was out here visiting while she and her pal Megan were on vacation. We didn't catch the swim she took on film, but the image of her leaping out of the water, panicked happy grin on her face, and the spray of water droplets shining in the sunlight is etched in my memory.
 We've been calling the girl Ilsa, after that insanely schlocky 70's series of movies " Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS", since roughly 2 weeks after she was born, since she was twice the size of her brothers, blond, and prone to squashing her sibs. Keeping with the Germanic theme, we've been calling the boy Dresden, I've always loved the name.
  We're going to be working on socializing this week. They've met a big mess of people, since we've had visitors almost constantly, and three parties since they were born,  but they've only been over to someones house once, and they need some car ride experience too.
 

 Christie ,  writer, blogger, and  general cool chick , wrote this great editorial on the ridiculous AB1634 debate, which does a wonderful job of uniting thoughts and ideals, and encouraging the shared ultimate goal of both sides of lowering the number of abandoned animals in the shelter system.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/a/2007/07/24/petscol.DTL

The Mythos litter has a brand new Rarities Champion! Talisman's Ursa Major, Teddy, co owned by Terri Campbell and I, got his Rarities Int Ch at under a year! He's gone multiple Best of Winners in some pretty nice competition. His brother Helios is saving a cookie for him , for when he gets to see him. Teddy's partner in crime, sister Phoenix, also has two five point majors towards her Championship. This litter was Sheba's last one, so I am thrilled this litter of pups are doing as well as her last litter in the show ring and in their homes.

You know, this litter really surprised me in alot of ways, they really weren't what we were expecting in terms of type, with the parent combo, we were expecting much more heavily built pups, but with just a couple of exceptions, it's actually quite a fine-boned litter. They managed to largely get their Mom Sheba's bat ears, save for the one Alison and I co own, Garibaldi, Talisman's Star of Taranis, who has these pretty rose ears. Helios, here at home tells me his ears are better for locating and hunting bugs.

They are all a year old next month! Boy that year went fast!

Also, AB1634 got thrown out on it's ear by the senate, not only citing it's inability to actually address the sources and causes of pet relinquishment to shelters, but also pointing out that the bill itself seemed rushed and poorly written. For example, it was pointed out that one passage called for " spaying and neutering low-income people". The senate chair pointed this out and asked Levine if this was in fact the intent of the bill, to which Levine answered no.

The hounds at home are all busy blowing their coats on the furniture. This has been encouraged by the higher ambient temperatures of the new digs. In San Francisco, it was usually 65 ish all summer, here it's around 90 ish. While this makes hanging out outside at night, when it cools off, MUCH nicer, mid day is toasty. The hounds agree , so we are existing in an intermittant wafting wave of hound hair. There are Pomeranian sized fur drifts in the corners of the house I plan on evicting today with the use of our happy go lucky Dyson vac, that has somehow managed to hold up under a seasonal workload that would make most vacume cleaners clatter and groan to a halt and beg to be shot.

I haven't been blogging for a bit. While the hoarde of hounds were at home with my pal Jeanie and her dog Sophie , who is BFF with Helios, We were at Comic Con International , to participating in the geek madness that is the largest convention in America. This started out as a Comic Book Convention, but rapidly evolved into a HUGE multimedia convention. Where anyone who has anything to do with any sort of geek anything shows up.

http://www.comic-con.org/cci/

We had fun, hung out with a ton of pals, and had a very exhausting weekend. I also got to meet Lucy Lawless! ( Xena ) Thanks to our pal, writer/producer/director Dave Mandel, who knows I worked on the comic book, and knew I was a fan, so , since he was walking around with her that day, took the opp to stick her right in front of me, so when I looked up from sketching, there be Xena! She was FUN!

We have a resident perpetual motion machine, Helios. He's a happy go lucky, blonde and white stickbug of a Silken, who we've been trying to get decent pics of him for ages. This is the best we've managed. And we'll still be trying. Motion pics are fine, it's just hard to get him without another dog wrestling him , or him chewing on them. :)) Ah, the joys of puppyhood.
 http://www.talismanhounds.com/helios.html

Ok , so I am starting to think that:

 A. Gideon hates Chicken
 B. Gideon is allergic to Chicken
 C. Gideon would just prefer that I give him something other than Chicken, so he's trying to register his complaints with the cook by sharing his chicken meal with the new rugs in the house.

 So, there is this really insane bill that is working it's
way up the Ca legislature, that, if passed, will mean
that all dogs and cats over 4 months will have to be
spayed and neuterd if they do not meet a very narrow criteria
of acceptability set out by the law. The idea behind this law is to
reduce shelter population. However, because of the way
the bill is worded, effectively this will destroy rare breeds, service
narcotics, and police K9 programs, and working dog and herding dog
breeding programs.

 So I am working towards saying " no" to this bill,
along with the reps for police,
search and rescue, narcotics, working herding dog,
and service dog agencies. Currently the bill is not
worded in a way that *ensures* that there will be any
way to have a new generation of dogs for these
agencies from local sources. Police and Service dog
reps were at the last meeting to strongly protest
this bill *as written* . Not all dogs that serve in
these capacities are sourced from internal breeding
programs.

   I don't oppose more stringent breeding laws, but we
need to make sure what we pass is actually what we
want instead of responding to whatever comes down the
pipeline at us.

  Also, while there are ways for responsible breeders
to work with this law by paying much higher fees, and
complying with, in some cases , as the bill is
written, some fairly clunky guidlines , ( How do you
prove you are show training a cat? )  in no way does
it prevent truckloads of poorly-bred, non health or
temperament tested puppy mill dogs from coming in to
California from other states to meet demand.

  There is a bigger scope to this law than shelter
intake and euthanasia. I would hope that all of us
would make sure that the laws we help to pass ,  are
, in fact, what we want passed.

 I think it presumes that most dogs are commercially bred,
and for a profit to sell to the pet market.
Most dogs are not bred in facilities, most are bred
in homes. The problem with the bill is it doesn't
cover the scope of who and why dogs are bred, it
presumes all dogs are bred for the same reason and
towards the same ends , and legislates thusly.

  Not every litter that is born fits into the same
box. Many police dogs are Malinois / GSD crosses,
some are Shiloh Shepherds,  occasionally there are
American Bulldogs.Those dogs are not AKC or UKC ,and
are not protected. Not all the K9 or search dogs are
registered with a registry that this bill recognizes.
There is no generic police dog, often these non
standard dogs are used for specific reasons.

  Rare breed dogs of US and other origin are also not
protected, working bred dogs, who are often not
"pure" by AKC standards, are not protected. Many dogs
that we are familiar with in California, like the
McNabb, are not AKC or FCI breeds. The state dog of
Texas, the  working breed, the Texas Blue Lacey, will
not be allowed to be bred in California. Many flock
guardian breeds and the crosses that work farms all
over California are not protected .

The worst that could happen is no more dogs from
responsible breeding programs get produced , not only
for the working dog and showing dog people, but for
the average family dog situation. A responsible hobby
breeder will health and performance and temperament
test their dogs to try to ensure quality in the next
generation . The puppies coming in from Mexico and US
puppymills out of state will not. The demand for
those dogs will not diminish. And this law does nothing to prevent
puppymill dogs from coming in.

 The breeders that will profit from the passing of
this bill this are not the hobby breeders who show or
do performance events , health and temperament test
their dogs, participate in rescue, and actually care
about where their pups go . The people who will
profit are USDA regulated puppy mills, and their
Mexican and Eastern European counterparts.

  Also, ridding Ca of the responsible hobby breeder is
not going to change the feral cat situation, or the
"just one time" unlicensed backyard breeder, or the
kids on the street who want to breed their Pit
because it has a big head.

 I've done shelter work, participated in mass
rescues, held dogs while they were euthanised, made
euthanasia decisions in shelters.

  I also have spent time with working dog breeders,
show and performance breeders, herding, protection,
flock guardian, rescue , and dogs bred for behavioral
studies. It's not one box fits all, and no one on any
side is evil. We all love dogs.

 I was at the AB 1634 meeting, the Ca Police rep was
one of only two speakers for orgs allowed to speak
against AB1634 . He represented : California
Organization of Police and Sheriffs, California
Association of Highway Patrolmen, North American
Police Work Dog Association, United States Police
Canine Association, Western States Police Canine
Association, Canine Specialized Search Team.

  The service dog speaker represented :
  Guide Dogs for the Blind, Guide Dogs of America,
Canine Companions for Independence, Assistance Dogs
International, International Assn. of Assistance Dog
Partners and Pets for Disabled Americans.


 And what about the crossbred dogs ?
I really think Labradoodles are a
 hoot, but Cockapoo's and Labradoodles and such will
 have to come only from out of state with the passing
 of this law, since they belong to no purebred
 registry, so will never be able to be bred in Ca.
 It's a shame, since Labradoodles and Goldendoodles
 are used as non shedding guide dogs and service dogs
 as well as grand family pets. The people who breed
 these dogs will have to leave Ca or sterilize their
 dogs.

 Rare breed dogs , who are not AKC, will also have to
 leave Ca, they won't be able to be bred here, so no
 McNabbs, no Mini Aussies, no Shiloh Shepherds, no
 American Bulldogs, no Hovawart, none of the
 Coonhounds but the single variety accepted by the
 AKC, no Belgian Laekenois, no White Shepherds , no
 Jack Russell Terriers , since the AKC split to
 Parsons Russells, the foundation stock will be
 disallowed, no Paterdale Terriers, no Feists, no
 Alaskan Klee Kai, no Dingo's, no Carolina Dogs, no
 Eurasiers, no Chinooks, no Jindo, no Peruvian Inca
 Orchid Dogs, no Thai Ridgbacks, no Xolozcuitle, no
 Silken Windhounds, Chart Polski, Azawahk, Norwegien
 Lundehunds, no Texas Blue Laceys, none of the other
 two sizes of Basset Griffon Vendeen, no long haired
 Weimeraners,no Sloughi , non of the American Cur
 dogs, no American Staghounds, no Boerboels, none of
 the many French gun dogs, and on and on.
 
 No more wolf hybrids or coyote hybrids or wild cat and
domestic cat hybrids either. Maybe they will outlaw mules to
boot.

 At least it will be easy to learn all the AKC breeds.

 Obtaining a dog from a reputable breeder is not as
 easy as buying one from a pet store. I have a waiting
 list with people on it sometimes for years, I make
 sure I know the people getting my pups over a long
 time before they get a pup from me , I do home
 checks, I make sure the pup suits the household. The
 parents are health tested and performance tested.
 Everything can come back to me at any time for any
 reason. I board pups from me and sometimes their
 other housemates at no fee for their lifetimes. I
 help with food, and vet, and training referrals. Some people
 would find the amount of involvment with a reputable
 breeder irritating, and would rather get the mystery
 puppy in the pet shop window or in the little cage at
 the flea market.

 Most reputable breeders are hard to get dogs from,
 even though the cost of a breeder dog is often lower
 than the pet store price on the puppies . People
 currently mostly choose to get their Mexican puppy
 mill dogs at the flea market, back yard bred dogs out
 of the newspaper or at the supermarket parking lot,
 or their Mo or Penn puppy mill dogs from the mall
 instead of go through all the screening and the hell
 of having to be related by dog to a breeder.
 
 This is a poorly worded law that won't
 address the problem, and will have wide reaching
 negative effects . We are not seeing overflow at the
 shelters of dogs from police, schutzhund, service dog
 , working/herding , dogs bred for study, the show
 dog fancy, or narcotics dogs. You don't see Sch
 breeders dumping their little gator dogs into the
 shelter if they haven't sold them by 16 weeks. You
 don't see Guide Dogs for the Blind filling up
 shelters with fail out or old Goldens and Labs and
 Shepherds. You don't see show winners past their
 prime being dumped at shelters. There are internal
 systems for taking care of most of this, and
 reputable breeders participate in rescue.

 The overflow you see in the shelters is from
 backyard breeders, feral cats, feral dogs, fighting
 dogs, hoarders, homeless peoples animals, puppymills,
 and "just one time" between fluffykins and missy, or
 the "101 Dalmations" in for a quick buck type
 breeders. This law does nothing at all to address
 that.

Ok so I have never ever kept a  hand written journal , a scrapbook or even maintained a photo book with any consistancy , so I think it's pretty funny now that I get the urge to blog online about the four leggers.

 We just moved to a much larger place than our little house in San Francisco, and the dogs are all very pleased with their new environment. Before, they had to be walked on leash in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco to get anything similar to what they have every day now. They even get to chase their very own squirrels. They've spent so much time running up and down the hill here I am curious to see if it'll make a difference in the races later this year.
 
 Ronan keeps getting rolled in the mud. I think he objects to being so very white. LOL!