Available

 Happy 2019! I feel like my last few posts have continually apologized for how long I go in between each one but with my computer being so old and slow which makes pictures difficult I just sort of gave up on the blog as it was becoming an exercise in frustration. This post is coming from my phone so we’ll see how it goes. Texting is not as fast as typing so posts may be shorter for now.

I have two lovely girls available to the right homes. The first is Siri, more formally known as Am/Can Ch Lil’itch J’cobe Satisfaction. Siri has been with us for a year and I did have grand plans for her but unfortunately she and my other girls do not get a long at all. Yes, it can be a part of owning terriers, they can have strong personalities, but in this case I think she would be better off in another home. She’s absolutely wonderful with people, including children, is an excellent show dog (group winner), very confident, and gets along well with male dogs. She’s crate trained, a great traveler, and has an excellent pedigree. She has so many good qualities, and with her stellar pedigree could go on to way out produce herself. I find myself waffling on letting her go, both because I love her and because I feel her contribution to my breeding program could be monumental. Her pedigree can be found here.

Here is a quick picture collage I posted to the Braebrook Kennels Facebook page:

The other girl I have available is Ch Trollhattan Until Next Time “Asta”. Asta turned six years old in December and has been a lovely addition to our breeding program. In the interest of keeping numbers down and manageable (those of you who have been here know that I don’t have a kennel, my dogs are house dogs) I occasionally have adult dogs available to loving retirement homes. This way the dogs get lots of one on one attention and people get a lovely Champion, health tested pet without having to go through the puppy stage. Asta would make an excellent companion for an older couple as she is very sweet and quiet, excellent both on and off lead (never pulls, great recall) and is very easy going for a Smooth. Asta is crate trained, a great traveler, good with older children and most dogs (males preferred).


Here are a couple of photos of Asta:

Any inquiries on these two lovely girls can be directed to: braebrookkennels@gmail.com

Happy Labour Day Weekend!

Hello! Wow, it's been ten months since I have written a blog post, and the break was very much needed. I have been solely focused on my family and just enjoying the dogs as pets so there hasn't really been anything much to post. My focus does of course remain on my family but Fiona and I have been playing around in Barn Hunt and hopefully we'll be ready to trial in the not too distant future. Fiona has actually caught and killed a couple of mice here at home but she isn't quite as sure of herself in the Barn Hunt environment. I try to stay back from her for the most part and let her figure it out, with only the occasional gentle word of encouragement.

I do have a bit of show news, in that our Ch Braebrook's Bill finished his championship in just five days at ten months of age. Bill finished in a big way too, winning a third in the terrier group as well as a best puppy in group. He is from our breeding of BISS/BIS Am/Can Ch Broxden Dress for Success CGN "Sebastian" x Am Ch Lil'itch Skylarke "Fiona".

Here he is pictured with handler and co owner Heidi:

We do have some breeding plans in the works for this fall, and I'm excited to share the news once things have become a little more solidified so stay tuned for that!

I hope you are having a wonderful Labour Day Weekend and getting that last hurrah in, or last bit of summer relaxing in before the kiddies head back to school and schedules and routines come back into place. We are taking it easy around here this weekend, sleeping in, doing a bit of yard work, and figuring out lunches, clothes etc for Tuesday. I can't believe summer break is over, I always miss the kids when they go back to school. It will give me a bit more time to train dogs though. ;)

Update

Wow, it's December already and time is really flying. I know I haven't posted anything to the blog since September, and there really is stuff to post...some good, some very bad, it's time for an update.

Let's start with the bad to get it out of the way. I'm sure if you follow me on Facebook you already know that the Vet Assoc of BC has decided to ban it's members from docking tails. Ears last year and now no more tail docking, this is going to have very long term results that they have no idea about, and seemingly didn't want to take the time to research. It's a sad time for breeders. So many people out there who have dedicated their lives to their breeds and now suddenly the carpet is ripped out from underneath them. 

 Because of this recent ban I will no longer be breeding Dobermans or German Shorthaired Pointers here at my home. I do have some co breedings in the US and out of province that will be happening, but as far as breeding here at Braebrook there will only be the occasional Smooth Fox Terrier litter. Yes, Smooths are docked too but only just a little and I will be able to continue on with them even undocked.

 Since I will no longer be breeding Dobes and GSPs I decided to let my young up and coming dogs go to good homes. The old dogs will stay of course, but the youngsters have great potential and I would love to see them with someone who will continue to show or work in performance with them. Hardy and Pearl have found wonderful homes and although I wasn't quite sure if I could let Dusty go, she is also available to the right home. She is very smart and trainable, and would be a fun obedience dog, she would also finish her championship quite easily.

Braebrook's Varekai "Dusty"

(Am/Can Ch Backbone Harrison Ford x Braebrook's Pellegrino CGN)

The good news is I have a lovely litter of 4.5 week old Smooth Fox Terriers. Three scrappy and confident young boys sired by BIS/BISS Am GrCH Can GrChEx Broxden Dress For Success CGN and out of Am Ch Lil'itch Skylarke. They are looking so good and I'm very excited about them.

About two weeks here..

Thank you so much to my puppy people who have supported me and shared with me all they are doing with their Braebrook pups, please continue to do so, I love the updates. I will continue to post pictures of the dogs I own and have bred to the Braebrook Facebook page so be sure to watch for them, and of course lots of Smooth updates.

Field Training

I know that every time I write about training in performance I always say how much I love watching dogs doing what they were bred to do....and I'll say it again..I love it. Seeing that instinct that has been bred in for generation after generation manifest itself always makes my heart skip a beat...so cool.

Vinnie (Am/Can Ch Stoney's There's No Crying in Baseball CGN) and his daughter Hardy (Braebrook's Hard Luck) and I went to the fall training day with The Vancouver Island Pointing Dog Club and they loved it. Vinnie was hunting before we even started, he knew what he was there to do. I am really excited to get these two ready for the Field Dog Junior tests coming up in the spring.

Lincoln (Braebrook's What a Luxury from our Hero x Libby litter) came out to get on his first bird too and while he wasn't completely sure what was going on he was very interested in the bird. There's definitely promise there!

 Vinnie's father was a very well known dog in his day, both as a field trial dog and as a show dog. He was a dual champion which is very hard to accomplish and takes a good dog and serious dedication. Vinnie is a chip off the old block...he loves birds!

 Hardy is showing great promise too and I'm excited to get her really training. Neither dog has been on birds very much but there is no doubt the instinct is there which means it's up to me to get them ready to trial. I think it's time to get some chukar!

Hardy held this point forever...so pleased with her.

 Now that the weather has cooled off and working outside with the dogs is easier it's time to get back to training regularly. We recently went on a family road trip through BC and AB and I'm feeling refreshed and renewed and ready to train! Love my dogs. :)

Essential Oils

I'll start this blog post off by saying I love essential oils. I was introduced to them originally when I was in esthetics school over a decade ago now and have used EO based cleaners in my house for years. I have only recently gotten more involved with them through Young Living, and have been trying to use them instead of standard meds when I can. I have used them for headaches, sore muscles, cramps, anxiety...all with great success. I've also made salt scrubs (summer skin is dry and tired), air fresheners for the vehicle (good bye doggy smell) and I diffuse them pretty much all day long. I used to use candles because having dogs in the house makes me quite paranoid about dog smells, but the diffuser is so much better. The scent is so much purer and it's also much healthier to be diffusing rather than burning a candle.

I started with a starter kit which includes 11 basic oils which can be used for many many things as well as a diffuser, a few extra samples, a few small roller bottles and lots of literature.

My diffuser is pretty much going all the time. One fill up (which only takes about 7 drops of oil) lasts for four hours and the diffuser turns itself off. You can choose to have the soft blue light which I like or no light.

I love the Northern Lights Black Spruce (oils are farmed and expressed right here in BC), it's like walking in the forest so I used it along with Frankincense to make this DIY vehicle air freshener.

The Frankincense is very good for anxiety and I diffuse it when I am feeling stressed and I actually used this on a young dog who was quite wound up while staying here and after rubbing a few drops into his coat he laid right down and had a nap...I'm not kidding you, it was quite amazing.

Melissa Shelton is a holistic vet and I have watched many of her videos and read a lot of her work about her practice which focuses on using EO's (she uses Young Living oils too!) and the results have been nothing short of amazing....tumors, cancer, animals on their very last legs being brought back from the brink. I ordered her Desk Reference book which goes into great detail on what oils to use and how to use them. The book only arrived a couple of days ago so I haven't read it all yet but I love how it's set up for easy reference.

One thing I really like about the holistic approach is that it is quite focused on building up health to avoid getting to the point where you have to treat illnesses. I am integrating many of Dr. Shelton's suggestions (diffusing, adding oils to drinking water etc..) in the hopes that it will build up good health and immunity. I'll keep you posted.

If you have any questions or interest in the oils I am happy to chat about them, I am finding my research quite fascinating!

Barn Hunt Training Day

I love training and trialing in performance events of just about any kind. When you are working with a dog in something they were specifically bred for it's very exciting, and I always feel nostalgic and thankful to the breeders who came before me. While Smooth Fox Terriers were bred to bolt foxes from dens for the hounds on fox hunting days, terriers on a whole are bred for the dispatching of vermin. Barn Hunt and Earth Dog trials test natural instinct on terriers (Barn Hunt is actually open to all breeds) to find rats. Rat care is top of the list during training and trials and they are well used to the dogs. When not at these events the rats live as pets in peoples homes. The dogs never touch (or are able to hurt) the rats, these trials are strictly to show instinct and the ability to find the rats.

Were the dogs excited?? You bet!

Fiona (Am Ch Lil'itch Skylarke) gave me lots of excited kisses before we got down to business..

And although you can't see Bling's (Braebrook's Successorize) tail in this picture...I assure you it was vibrating.

Bling was the first to go and she tore right through the tunnel, over the bales of hay...

and found the rat!

 Both girls started with an instinct run to see how they would do and then once completed they moved on to a novice run which is the first level in trialing.

Fiona's turn..

No problem at all..

Next we worked on the instinct run and in order to pass in a trial the dog has to go through a tunnel, over a bale of hay and find the rat within the two minute time limit. They can do these things in whatever order they like.

Bling is easily distracted but also easily directed. I can see her little brain whirling (along with her tail...did you notice that every single picture of her shows a blurred tail??) and wondering what's going on and why everything smells so good. She listens fairly well to me though and I can guide her up and over bales to search.

Mmmmm....that rat smells good!

Fiona works a little slower and isn't sure why I would want her to jump over a bale when it's easier to go around. She's smart though and getting her over bales will be easy to train.

She found the rat within her time limit..

And we did a little extra ball work which she thought was most excellent. So much more exciting when you can see them.

I hugely encourage everyone to get involved in performance events, the dogs love them and I think they are an important testing ground for breeding dogs. Plus, they are so much fun!

What are you involved in with your dog? What are you hoping to get involved with in the future? Please share in the comments section below. 

Dog Walk On The Salmon River

We recently headed to Sayward as a family to celebrate my Dad's retirement (go Dad!) and took most of the dogs with us. My parents have 40 acres on the Salmon River and it's a dogs paradise. Chris snapped a few photos from an evening run. The light was starting to fade but it still shows you what a great spot it is and how much the dogs love it. Even 10.5 year old London ran like a champ and played in the water. They all got wet and sandy and all of them slept like stones that night.

My lovely old London...

This is Bling's thing...she loves she bounce along beside you when you walk.

Hardy swims like her Dad Vinnie (who adores the water and swims like a fish) and it was enough to encourage Dusty to get right in there and swim too! Even the Smooths got pretty deep, although not quite swimming deep.

London stood back and barked at them until they came back..lol

Pearl and Dusty (and Hardy and Bling in the background).

Good heart pounding runs in nature are so good for the soul, dogs and humans alike....it keeps all of us happy. It's nice to look at these pictures when it's in the high 30's outside right now and everybody is inside in the AC because it's too darn hot to do anything else! These pictures help us think cool thoughts. ;)