Hi everyone,
Jake does not have a health problem, nor is his owner his breeder. Jake is a Canadian champion; He has his hips and elbows tested. I have tested his thyroid, there is nothing wrong with it. Jake is almost ten years old. He is confined while his owners are at work until evening, and is free-fed Ol' Roy and Pedigree (which he takes great advantage of). He does not go for walks; Just goes to the dog park once or twice a week. Of course he is overweight. I used to dogsit him years ago, for weeks at a time. He would consistently lose 3 lbs a week when I had him, simply from raw feeding and plenty of exercise. He is healthy and capable of losing weight.
To me, a dog that has been living with such lack of exercise and poor nutrition, that is now nearly ten years old, so overweight, yet still has good hips/elbows, a good thyroid, can jump a 5 foot fence with ease, has absolutely no temeprament issues with people OR dogs even with his lack of socialisation, and has shown no signs of any allergies despite his crappy food.. To me, that is one DARN healthy dog, and I am proud to have him be the sire of my litter. I also can't get over how amazing his shoulders are for his weight all these years. This is a linebreeding that I have been wanting to do for a VERY long time. I know this pedigree very well -- it is a perfect match for my female, and the linebreeding is on some very very rare old lines. One of my goals in breeding is to improve the size of our gene pool. This is why I like using some of the oldest rarest lines I can find. I was originally planning to do the linebreeding with a different dog, but it didn't pan out. Still, I have considered this breeding for years... Weighing the pros and cons.. And it will be excellent. I have had the priveledge of knowing some of Jake's past offspring, littermates, his dam, and several half siblings. These are excellent dogs.
My kennel name is linked to nothing; Jake is a retired show dog in a pet home. They are doing this as a favor to me for dogsitting him all those years. Nobody in the show world has met Jake in nearly 9 years. He finished at 18 months of age.
As an update to my litter... Turns out Jake was making a liar out of me. On the last day, he naturally bred, RIGHT AFTER I AI'ed them. Darn dog. He would have had little, if any, semen left in his system after the AI. Hopefully he just helped push the little "sea men" to their destinations.... For once, Visa is growing a belly early on. I am hoping this means she will have a normal-sized litter. She is also digging a den, which she only does when she is pregnant. We're going to the vet tomorrow to confirm the pregnancy and get an idea of how many to expect. I am very excited!
And here are some pictures of Jake..
Jake at 6.5 years
A very old picture of Jake, finishing at 18 months:
Recent shots of Jake at 9.5 years:
