2011-08-21

Big decisions...


It has been a very nice summer, now the holiday is over, and it is time to look forward for the autumn and winter. Some mushrooms are already growing in the woods, and I try to make a little trip to the woods every day. The blueberries are already in the freezer (about 60 liters ). And now is the time to pick the huckleberries, the cranberries and some of the late mushrooms is still to come.

I have made a big decision, to sterilize Boogie because of her character. Yes, and that is the only reason. Because of a few particular occurrences that have happened, I finally made this decision. She is a healthy dog in every ways, and has been examined properly for her health. However, I have a clear vision of what kind of schapendoezen I want to breed, and unfortunately Boogie has these few dominant features in her character, that doesn’t fit in the breeding indications of the breed’s character partition and my own wishes and values. And these features has become stronger now. She has a fantastic will for working, and she does not give up easily, and she really is an operant dog. I love to train and do things with her, but our obstacle is that she is too guarded with people she does not know. She is too withdrawn when she meets new people, and often barks a long time. And the main problem is that she can’t calm down, she is nervous and on the alert and can’t relax. This is the part of her character I do not like. This is the reasons briefly. 

Almost every import dog is always important for the breed in its country, and Boogie has left her little footprint in our Finnish schapendoes-lines with a wonderful male. And so far it seems that the litter is a really good one. I hope these four puppies after Boogie and Roope will be as social and happy dogs, as they are now, also when they grow up. Maybe they will continue these lines, and the characters will be identifiable for the breed in the next generations. We'll see..

As I have pointed out before, breeding dogs is not easy! If you want to hold on to your own visions and values, and try to follow the breeding indications, it is really a big deal of making hard decisions. I want to be an honest breeder, and I try my best to be a good breeder.
I have had a challenging beginning with my breeding work, with some bad luck too. Maybe one day the rocky road so to speak, will get a bit easier.

 Boogie our little patient :o)