Allie went into labor on her due date and labored, as first time mamas usually do, all night long and during the next day which happened to be Earth Day AND Beagle Day.
Around 1:30 her waters broke and so we were excited that maybe we were going to have a daytime birth. However, she started to push every now and then, but not with a lot of vigor and certainly not consistently.
At 4:30 another water sack appeared – this one clear and so I figured there was a puppy close….but we waited and waited and no puppy came. Allie was not in distress, and I kept in regular contact with breeder friends and with my trusted vets Dr Cyndi Smith from The Pet Dr and Dr Anders Thorsen from Klahaya Animal Hospital. Since we weren’t having green (indicating placental detachment), and Allie was calm, we decided to wait patiently, but around 9:30pm it just felt like we weren’t progressing and I didn’t want to wait all night and lose a baby (or worse all plus Allie) because we waited too long.
So, Dr Thoreson kindly allowed us to come in for a c-section. My loving husband and 14 year old daughter were there to rub puppies after I “caught” them.
We quickly realized why the puppies didnt come out – they were HUGE. 2 boys and 3 girls. Boy 1 was 12.35oz, Boy 2 was 11.82oz, Girl 1 was 10.62oz, Girl 2 was 11.46oz and Girl 3 was 10.82oz. Those were some big babies. And they were HUNGRY. We got them latched on as Allie was waking up – poor poppet.
She is adjusting to motherhood slowly – she doesn’t dislike them but i think she is very confused as to why these little beans keep wiggling all over her. I am doing all the potty work right now – I am sure she will catch on soon. <3
These puppies are sired by my homebred by Leo – CH Kazuri’s Hear Me Roar. This is his first litter and i have to say I like what I see so far.
Enjoy their brand new pics – proper ones coming soon.
*please note, these pups are not available at this time*
Introducing:AKC GCH CKC CH Lockestar ‘Cause I’m Up To No Good, CGC CGCA CGCU TKN RATN RATNX RATO (and Crazy8s Bronze)!
Our boy Sirius has just finished earning THREE new Barn Hunting titles in a single weekend, and might be the FIRST Cavalier to have accomplished one of them! (we are just waiting on the confirmation of this).
His co-owner, Susan Lockleer and Sirius have worked so hard together to get this far and make an amazing team! Sirius is truly a once in a lifetime dog with his eagerness to please, willingness to work, intelligence, versatility, and bomb-proof happy go lucky temperament. He’s definitely not stopping here. I can’t wait to see how far this team goes!
Sirius is sired by Mary Beth Squirrell from Embee’s lovely boy CKC CH Embee’s Mischief Managed, ROM – “Loki” and out of LockeStar Love Struck, CGC – “Arrow” (sired by CH Turretbank To Sir With Love – “Sidney” daughter). Both of his parents are heart clear 5+ with SM0 MRI scans.
Sirius is currently heart clear at 4.5yrs also with a SM0 MRI scan.
As a breeder and owner I am so proud of both his brains and beauty.
The cavalier babies are getting bigger. This week they had their first taste of food and they loved it. I always start them on a little ground beef and Answers Goats Milk as it is very easy on the tummy. If you want to see a little video, go to my instagram page @kazuri.beaglesandcavaliers as you can see a little video there 🙂
The babies are starting to move around the pen more. We have given them a “big bed” to sleep in and mama Charlotte can come and go as she wants to. She now feeds them and then spends the rest of the day sitting in the sun or getting belly rubs on the couch.
Okay – I know this is the part you are looking forward to – the updated pictures of these cuties. I woke these guys up from a nap, so thats why they look a little sleepy.
*please note that none of these puppies are available at this time* If you would like to apply for a puppy, you may do so through our “puppy page”.
I get asked this question all the time – aren’t breeders all the same? How can I tell the difference between an ethical breeder and a backyard breeder or a puppy mill?
Well, the answer is simple. No. They are not all the same.
And more than that, just because it is “pure bred” does not mean it was “well bred”.
For this blogpost, I want to define that an ethical/preservation breeder is someone who breeds to improve the breed as their primary focus. They are not in it for the money and having puppies is not their income source. A backyard breeder, for this blog post, is defined as someone who has a dog that has “papers” and wants to have a litter to have fun or the experience. They generally don’t do any health testing. They sometimes will purchase a male and female and just breed them together. A puppy mill, for this blog post, is a breeder who breeds solely to make money. They are not always the horrible images we see on TV (although there are extreme puppy mills that do treat their dogs like that), but mostly they cut as many corners and costs to maximize profits. The health and safety are not really a priority and so the dogs have limited routine vet checks and don’t usually have the recommended health tests. Some of these puppy mills have beautiful websites and photos and so as a buyer you have to really be vigilant to make sure that is not where you are buying your puppy from.
I also want to make something else clear – AKC is a pedigree registry. It is a place that records the history of your dog’s parentage so they can prove that it is (or isn’t) a pure bred dog. Each breed of dog has a written standard of what they should look like. It does not monitor how close they are to the standard and so it is up to you as a buyer to check that your breeder is adhering to what they need to, to keep to the standard.
Many ethical breeders will show their dogs in conformation shows. This is not just for prestige – although the ribbons and awards are certainly fun. Most of the time it is to make sure that the dogs they are producing are adhering to the standard. When you get together with other breeders, you can compare your breeding stock with other breeders and see if you are “on track”. You also get feedback from impartial judges. It helps many breeders try not to have “mommy goggles” as lets be honest – we all think our dogs are the most beautiful in the world.
What separates ethical/preservation breeders from backyard breeders or puppy mills is their commitment to the breed itself. By showing their dogs, a breeder shows their commitment to keeping their dogs to the standard. How can you tell if your breeder is committed? Ask your breeder what clubs they belong to. Ask them if they do any sports with their dogs such as tracking/scent work or barn hunting or obedience or even good canine citizen awards. Even if they don’t show their dogs (their is no reason not to) they should be committed to being part of the local clubs – this requires them to adhere to ethical standards of breeding, and accountability.
If a breeder talks about their dogs “champion bloodlines”, they are probably trying to trick you into thinking they show their dogs, or that they adhere to the standard in their breeding. However, this “champion” could be far back in their pedigree and pretty meaningless.
Health testing also sets ethical/preservation breeders apart from those just in it to make money. AKC has a list for each breed, of the health tests recommended by each parent club. The images below are the beagle and CKCS recommended health tests.
Ethical breeders will have these tests and have proof that they are done. There is a registry for health tests online called www.ofa.org – here you can look up any dog by it’s registered name and verify information given to you by the breeder.
However, I will note that it costs money to register the results online so many breeders do the tests but don’t put the results online, so make sure you ask if you don’t see them.
For Hearts, check that the check was done by a cardiologist, not just a vet practitioner. Breeders that are not taking their dogs to a cardiologist are not adhering to the standard and are cutting a very important step but pretending they aren’t.
Cavalier hearts should be checked every year. Many backyard breeders and puppy mills will do them once (if at all). So, check the dates and ask questions if they are not current.
This is an OFA eye check – this girl has extra eyelashes (distichiasis), but her eyes have no eye disease. It’s important to read results thoroughly and feel free to ask or google anything you aren’t sure about.
The final way to tell an ethical/preservation breeder from a backyard breeder or a puppy mill is by looking at if they are working towards making their breeding program and the breed better by their breedings, or if they are just pumping out puppies.
An ethical/preservation breeder will search out the best match for their dams (moms). Most of the time, it will not be in their back yard. They are not afraid to import semen from overseas, across the US or from their network of breeder friends. A backyard breeder or puppy mill want to save as much money as possible to maximize profits and so use the same stud and dam for every single litter. If they never use any other studs, it should be a red flag.
Every puppy will be cute. So, don’t base your decisions on a cute puppy. Ask questions and be prepared to walk away if you are not liking what you hear. You deserve to get a puppy that has had the best start in life.
Both Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and Beagles should have their hearts checks before breeding.
CKCS should go one step further and have theirs checked every single year, since our breed is plagued with a heart disease that can develop over time.
Hearts, while they can be checked by a general practitioner, *should* be checked by a cardiologist. Cardiologists train to hear the difference in the clicks and ticks that hearts make and what these noises make. They are trained to see things on echocardiograms to understand how the heart valves work and blood flows.
To know if your breeder is having their hearts checked properly, check their documentation. Have a look to see what is written. I will show you two examples.
This beagle was seen by a cardiologist as you can see on the bottom right.
This cavalier was seen by a regular vet (unfortunately).
As I mentioned earlier, heart clearances for cavaliers are only valid for 1 year. If your breeder is breeding dogs that haven’t got current clearances, you should ask them why not.
Not every breeder posts the results online – it can get expensive to do so. So, they can just show you the paperwork that would be submitted to www.ofa.org. Below are some examples for you to look at.
If you want to know more about what a heart murmur is, there is a little video about it here:
We are SO excited to announce that the February statistics of the “Canine Chronical” shows that Nick is the #2 15 inch beagle in the USA (All Breed points) and #3 15 inch beagle in the USA (Breed points). He is also the #15 Hound in the USA.
He has had group wins and placements under judges such as Mr Raymond V. Filburn Jr, Mr Dana P. Cline, Mr James Mitchell, Mr Thomas Kirstein, Mr John P. Wade, Mrs. Linda Hurlebaus, Mr Allen L Odem and Ms. JoAnne Buehler.
We can’t wait to see what the march statistics show, and what the rest of the year has in store for us. This boy certainly makes us feel like all our Christmases have come at once.
2 weeks flies by so quickly. As a breeder, I can breathe a little sigh of relief as it means I can start getting a little more sleep. I don’t have to wake up every hour or two through the night anymore to check on them. Not that I mind – but my bed is calling after 2 weeks of broken nights of rest.
The puppies are thriving, and by all accounts a little on the advanced side. Because cavalier puppies are born “early” (by dog standards), they tend to be like preemie human babies that can be a little developmentally delayed – they get there eventually but maybe a month or two behind their peers sometimes (or in puppy cases a few days or a week behind what i would expect a beagle pup to do).
However, these little guys, the two blenhiem pups decided day 10 was the day to start opening their eyes. This means that they are also starting to hear and they are moving around the whelping pen more. The two tri girls are not far behind and at 14 days both have slivers of eyes opening.
I can’t wait till we start seeing their little personalities emerging. For now we are just enjoying their little blobby snuggles. Enjoy the photos of them growing up.
*please note that they are not available at this time. *
Time flies when we are having fun and our Easter gift this year is that Charlotte’s puppies turned a week old. They are all thriving and active. They are nursing well and gaining weight like they should. Charlotte is healing well from her c-section and is a wonderful mother, taking great care of them. They are clean and bonny. What more could we ask for?
Without further ado, I know what you are here for – photos of the little dumplings. Enjoy.
*please remember that none are for sale at this time. *
Now that Charlotte’s babies are a few days old and starting to fill out a little, I took some time to photograph them with my phone tonight before doing their dewclaws. I usually use my “big girl” camera, but I couldnt be bothered – sorry. But they still look cute anyway I think.
*please note that none of these puppies are available at this time*
Charlotte’s due date was Friday the 26th. We had done the xrays on Wednesday the 24th and we knew there were 4 puppies on board. True to timing, she started panting and nesting Friday evening around 7pm.
I woke up every 1.5 hours through the night to check on her. I walked her, and pottied her but there wasn’t much action happening. This is normal. Stage 1 can be long (just like a human – they are opening the cervix to “10 cm”). Around 4am she cried a lot so I ended up sleeping beside her from that point, with my hand on her as she slept and panted and shifted.
Saturday was much the same – watching her, but not much happening. we went on lots of walks/potty breaks. That was, till about 4:30pm. During one of our potty breaks, her water sack came out and she proceeded to pop it. “Awesome”, I thought. “We will have a puppy soon.” But, as the afternoon wore on, Charlotte kept panting and then would do an occasional push, but nothing worth noting.
In the dog breeding world, you start to worry when your dog has been pushing consistently for an hour. She hadn’t been doing that, but after 3 hours of waiting, it just didn’t feel right. By this stage, Molly and Abbey arrived. Molly is Charlotte’s ‘other mom’ (Charlotte lives in a guardian home with one of my closest friends).
Around 8pm, we spotted a little bubble – YEAH – a puppy was on it’s way, but then we saw feet. UH OH – that’s not usually a good sign. Feet without a sack means a dry birth, which is harder for momma to push out, and a bubble usually means there is another baby competing for space. We did the “wheelbarrow” technique to try to reposition the babies and called our vet. He said since there was a puppy so close, we should grab a towel and try to gently pull the puppy out. We tried to do this, however, Charlotte kept sucking it back inside making it near impossible to grab. I made the call to Dr Anders to do a c-section – he agreed.
At this stage, I will say a HUGE thank you to Dr Anders Thoreson from Klahaya Animal Hospital for being on call – I know this is not normal and it is SO appreciated.
As irony would have is, just as we pulled in the the Klahaya carpark, Charlotte gave birth to that birth puppy on Molly’s arm. In the breeding world we call that “bumpy road protocol” 🙂 haha.
Inside we talked about it – between the lack of pushing and the long labor, we decided to go ahead with the c-section and get the babies out. Better to have healthy babies alive than wait too long and have them die.
I was in the surgical room (far back from the clean area) to “catch” puppies and then i ran them out to Brianna, Molly and Abbey so they could rub them down. All 4 are healthy and strong – at first a little tired from surgery but it didnt take long to get them nursing.
We got 3 girls and a boy. 2 tri girls and 1 blen girl and 1 blen boy. 🙂 Born just before 10pm on Saturday the 27th. Mama and babies were able to come home an hour later and so I got up all through the night to check on their progress.
We are so thankful for these precious little lives and look forward to them growing up.
Since Charlotte is named after Princess Charlotte, it seemed only fitting we did a “Royal” litter in her honor.
Blen girl was born at 6.17oz. We are nicknaming her “Fergie”
Blen boy was born 6.49oz. We are nicknaming him “Archie”
Tri girl 1 (with the larger blaze) was born at 6.53oz. We are nicknaming her “Victoria”
Tri girl 2 (with the smaller blaze) was born 6.67oz and we named “Kate” since she looks so much like her mom.
**please note that none of these puppies are available at this time**
