Welcome to Brogan Saints! » puppies

No puppies for Polly :(

Amy D — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 23:59:59 +0000

On Friday, Matt brought Polly in for her appointment. We kind of knew going in there that there weren’t many, if any at all. Our fears were realized when the doctor said she either reabsorbed them or was having a good false pregnancy. We wouldn’t know without having an ultrasound done, but we declined that.

So what to do now? I have my thoughts, and Matt has his and I’m sure Donna has hers. It’s just a matter if we are all on the same page……which I don’t think we’re going to be. Stayed tuned…..

~Amy D.

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Polly, the pregnant bitch….we hope?

Amy D — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:08:48 +0000

So, I finally got around to capturing a picture of Polly today. Not on a weekly target like I had hoped, being the 8th of August was the last and only photo of her to compare this to. I still say she is bred. I don’t think we are looking at 7 or more, maybe 3 or 4. I like to be proved wrong though! So without further ado, I present the pregnant bitch, Polly.

*Please don’t judge me on the horrible coat condition she is in. We just had 2 full days of rain and there is now a pond where the kennel is! She is getting a bath this week come hell or high water…..I guess we already got the high water….*

Polly on August 8th, 2010

August 8th, 2010

Polly on August 28th, 2010

August 24th, 2010

Matt and I just pulled up her pictures from her last litter and she is not as big as she was then. Who knows, maybe she is having a false pregnancy, or only has 1 in there. I’m hoping for a few! Let’s keep our fingers crossed!

~Amy D.

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Mid-Atlantic Saint Bernard Club Specialty Show

Amy D — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 17:35:05 +0000

Matt decided to go down to York, PA again this year to show. He went last year to show Donna’s dogs, but this year he entered Greta. The Working Dog show was also held this weekend in Springfield, MA. It was a tough decision for him, but ultimately he went with York for a shot at more points because there were more shows.

Greta was entered in both Specialty shows, Friday night and Saturday night. She was in Sweeps Saturday and entered at the All-Breed Show Saturday and Sunday.

As I was mopping the bathroom floor Friday night (because it absolutely stunk of wet dog), the phone rings. I’m thinking that the phone is ringing way too early for me to have any results from the show. I pick up and it’s Donna Lee.

“I couldn’t wait to call you. Matt said to wait, but I couldn’t. Greta took her class and Reserve Winner’s Bitch. Can you believe it? And she should go Best Bred -By.”

“Really?” I say. I don’t think it actually sunk in. Then it did.

“She went Reserve at a Specialty?” And so it was true, our own Greta went Reserve with an entry of 14 Bitches! I was just so excited! Matt called me a little bit later to tell me that she did go Best Bred-By also. I think I am more proud of that than the Reserve. This is the first Saint that we have bred and showed, so it’s significantly more monumental as breeders.

She didn’t fair as well at the rest of the shows. Bummer for her, but she is a great girl and will finish her Championship soon. I don’t know when the next show is for her. We did miss the Syracuse entries, sorry everyone!

And tomorrow is someone’s birthday! My “Man” is getting old and senile……

*I will try to get full results up soon. There are some Saints that won that I am not familiar with. Instead of referring to them as “So and So’s dog”, I decided to not post until I have the catalog*

~Amy D~

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The Fancier is out!

Amy D — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:31:33 +0000

Which means I can now share with all of you the ad of our Greta that Marian McShane of Marianette Saint Bernards so gratefully did for us! This is so very exciting for Matt and I because never in our wildest dreams could we have thought this up. It’s kind of a surreal moment for us because the Saint Bernard Club of America’s quarterly publication, The Saint Fancier, is very prestigious to us Saint Bernard people! Not to mention a little out of our budget (which happens to be a big goose egg for advertising)! I was tickled pink when Marian asked me to get a picture of Greta for her for an advertisement. I was thinking how great this was for Greta, for us, for her and for me since I do like taking pictures with my Canon. I even got a crash course in Photoshop with changing the DPI for print. Who knew? Well, I do now! But the biggest surprise of them all was getting the “proofs” of the ads. SHE GAVE GRETA A WHOLE PAGE AD! All of it, the entire 8.5 x 11 inches in pure glossy color!!!! We weren’t expecting that AT ALL. We were expecting a little inset picture of her. So we thank Marian from the bottom of our hearts for her generosity in doing this! She will ultimately benefit from it, too, with stud services for Duncan. He and Polly produced a spectacular litter so far.

The picture of Greta was taken my yours truly in our backyard. The advertisement design was done by Jim Davis. His website addy is www.jimdavis.org. He did a wonderful job designing it. Some of the ads are just too “busy” for me. He is also very easy to work with. He answered my emails promptly and was very informative. He also designs websites. Hmmm…..

So here is our Greta girl in all her glory!

Look for her in Oregon at the National in October and in Romulus, NY at the Wine Country Circuit in September where she will be making her debut! Thank you Marian!!!!!

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Will she get to sleep on the couch?

Amy D — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:15:17 +0000

Editor’s Note: I mistook the name of Marian’s girl. It should be Lolly, not Tootsie. Lolly is Tootsie mom. Also, Greta would not be in the “Open” or “American Bred” classes, she will be in the Puppy Classes. Matt has now offered to proof read all my dog show related posts since I am really batting 1000 right now!

Matt and I have a difficult decision to make. Not so much life changing difficult, but plan altering difficult. You see, we have been asked to have Greta taken to the Saint Bernard Club National show in Oregon in October by Marian, who is a professional handler and proud owner of Duncan, Greta’s sire.

Matt is very adamant to show her in the “Bred By” class himself. He really wants to finish her out of that class. I see his point, and it is a prestigious thing to do. The dogs in that class can only be shown by the breeders of that particular dog. So that would mean Matt, myself (in a pinch) or Donna (no way in hell) would only be able to show her if she were to be entered in that class. Sending her with a handler would mean she would be in the “Open” or “American Bred” class. As much as we would like to go out to Oregon, we just can’t swing it right now with Matt just getting back to work. So what do we do?

We’ve already asked Marian how much it would be and how long she would be gone. It’s going to take 4-5 days traveling both ways with 4-5 days of being out there. That’s not a big deal to me at all. Can she take a kid or two also? I meant to tell her that they don’t eat much! She emailed Matt back and said she would treat her like her bitch Tootsie. My eyebrow went up. “Does that mean she gets to ride up front and lay on the couch like Tootsie?” Matt pounded my question into my Blackberry. Her response was no, that Greta doesn’t know how to hold her urine. Good answer. Because she’s not coming back home to think she’s going to lay on MY couch all day long!

We haven’t made a decision yet. We are leaning to the yes side as of now. A few details still need to be pounded out. And the advertisement that’s going to be in the Fancier is awesome! She sent us the proofs last week. We are just so excited about it! I can’t publish it until the Fancier is out, sorry. That should be in September sometime, so you’ll just have to wait! But it’s worth it!

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Dogs are worse than the kids

Amy D — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 01:07:51 +0000

We have definitely kept the vets in business this week in Upstate New York. It kind of all started a couple weeks ago. We brought Brogan and Greta to a dog show in Bainbridge so Marian could finally see them. Well, the following day, Greta started limping pretty bad. Our thoughts went right to pano (short for panosteitis, or “growing pains”), which is not uncommon in large and giant breeds. We went through it with Patsy, but haven’t lived through it since. We immediately cut her food down and stopped her from running around the yard like the lunatic she is. She was not happy with that, but oh well, we run the ship around here!

So, fast forward to this week. Greta has been limping through and Brogan had a few days of loose stools, but nothing that alarmed us. Wednesday morning, Greta didn’t eat. She barely walked around, just kind of dumpy. Matt left her food in the kennel and she only ate half of it by the time we got home. She had loose stools in her kennel and her disposition didn’t improve. I took her temp and it was around 105 degrees, which is very high for a dog. So, of course, we call our vet. And, of course, it’s 7 pm, because that’s when the shit hits the fan around here. It’s always 7 for some reason! Our vet is thinking Lyme. Dear Lord, can we possibly have another one with Lyme? Isn’t one enough?

The decision was made to take her to the Emergency Vet. Precisely the same place she was born back in October. Because nothing can be a true “emergency” at 1 in the afternoon. No, no, we have to make this difficult, don’t you see?

The vet there ran a Lyme test, and really thought it was going to positive. Well, it wasn’t. So they x-rayed her front right leg looking for HOD. That was negative. They did a CBC. Normal. Temp was still high at 104. So they suggested that they admit her overnight for IV fluids. It’s now 10:30 pm. Matt calls me and asks me what my opinion is. I’m teetering towards just getting her back home. He tells me that he’s going to try to get her to eat and drink. And eat and drink she did! They were still pushing him to leave her to the tune of a price tag of 4 digits. Matt told them no and they insisted on doing subcutaneous fluids. Matt said she looked like a bull calf walking out of there with one liter of fluid on her withers. So, some pain pills and Flagyl later, Greta is doing better. Still limping around, but eating with gusto! Our vet thinks that she has pano and a separate GI bug.

Luci went in today for her recheck. The urine came back bacteria-free and she is dumping some protein. They drew blood on her, so we’re just waiting for her BUN and Creatinine to come back to see how much kidney damage there is. Her appetite has increases and she has gained back 6 pounds. There is hope for her! Keep your fingers crossed!

I’ll leave you with some pictures of Greta that I took this week. For Marian. Who is putting her in an ad for the Fancier, which is the Saint Bernard Club of America’s quarterly publication. When I get it, I’ll scan it.

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The joys of photographing puppies

Amy D — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 01:00:25 +0000

It’s not so joyous after all! And to make matters worse, my auto-focus wasn’t auto-focusing and my eyes obviously need rechecked once I put the pictures on the computer. I did manage to scrape a few together. Not the best work I’ve ever done. But they are puppies and they were running free and then they were waiting for their dinner in their kennels. So there is much more chain link fence than I wanted, but beggers can’t be choosers here!

That’s Greta on top and my boy, Brogan, on the bottom. He is just the sweetest dog ever! I’m probably being a little biased, but when Greta “The Gazelle” is jumping on my back while I’m filling water buckets and Brogan is just happy to be sitting by my side, a little frustration goes her way. It’s annoying to have a Saint Bernard that likes to jump on you any chance they get, especially with your back turned.

And this picture above, is why I call her “The Gazelle”. She’s on the left and she has some inches on Brogan. He has caught up a little in recent weeks, but the fertilizer we feed her must be working wonders! Just joking! Because I’m sure PETA would love to blast that sentence!

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New pictures from Polly’s litter

Amy D — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:03:17 +0000

Wally on his couch

This is the half mask male that went to Long Island, my little Walter! He is growing up so fast. I think Jason said he was around 124 pounds a couple of weeks ago. This is the only couch he’s allowed on in the house, it’s down in the “man cave” located in the basement. Doesn’t he look like he just owns the place? He’s getting a human-variety little sis soon, so he’ll have some adjusting to do, but I know he’ll do just fine!

Ruby

This is Ruby. She’s a longhair bitch that went down to the Jersey Shore. She was the one with the monk’s cap. Her owners emailed me this picture that one of their friends took on their cell phone. It turned out well!

Brogan and Greta

And here are my two. Matt went out in the early morning and snapped this with my Blackberry. Not great quality, not a good picture of Brogan, but with two squirrely puppies, you get what you can! Greta, the gazelle, is on the right.

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Hey, Mom, this Show thing is exhausting!

Amy D — Sat, 30 May 2009 01:37:12 +0000

The last dog show we were at with our own Saints was April 18th in Springfield, Mass. We entered Polly because she was looking damn good after her coat came back in from blowing it after the puppies were born. We were also having pipe dreams thinking she may actually LIKE the show ring, but that did not happen. But, hey we tried. And she was a good sport, for the most part. Polly took Best of Opposite. For my readers who don’t know what that means, it means the Best of Breed was won by a male and Polly, a female (or bitch to us) was the “opposite”, and therefore the best female there. If a female had won breed, first we would all fall off our rockers, then we would all go “Huh?”, because, more often than not, males win the breed. But IF that had happened, the Best of Opposite would go to the best male entered. Got it? Good.

But the real story is that we brought Brogan over with us. I, myself, had doubts about bringing him. He’s an untrained puppy on an untrained lead (meaning ME, I was to be his keeper). Donna ended up with him for awhile and I walked him all around. The big shit did pretty well, better than I had expected! But judging was running really late that day. And the poor thing was exhausted, as you can tell.

And, I don’t think he was really impressed yet. Tail hanging in the ring and all, he didn’t even watch judging! He just slept at Donna’s feet, content as can be, tired from a full day of attention. And his momma looked her best in a long time.

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Recycling is good, right?

Amy D — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:52:18 +0000

I know that recycling is great for Mother Earth, but when we use that specific word around here, it’s usually in different context than what most (READ: people who aren’t crazy enough to have a kennel of dogs) think of it as. And yes, dog people, you are guessing where this is going, I just know you are! So don’t deny, you’ve probably had this situation before.

See, we have a recycling PROBLEM around here. Yes, some of my dogs eat poo, sometimes their own and sometimes only at specific temperatures. And we have come to realize that Brogan is a big offender. He does not discriminate. We split Brogan and Greta up this weekend (Yeah! New kennel built!!) and we have confirmed that he does eat his own poo. Matt has gone out there to scoop no poo from his kennel and shovelfuls from the others. So, he must be a recycler. We thought it may be Greta, and she may very well be, but not on an extreme basis as the boy. It’s a habit, I guess, and very hard to break. In fact, Donna and Matt had this conversation not too long ago:

Donna: “You know, they make these tablets that you can put on their food so they’ll stop eating the poop.”

Matt: “Well, I mean, he eats shit, how much worse do you think it can taste?”

Donna burst out laughing, because, well the truth of the matter is that. Can something that taste like shit really taste any worse? I can make a brownie sundae taste more chocolately if I add some chocolate syrup, but I’m not so sure about the shit taste.

Patsy and Luci are my other “Recyclers”. Luci has cut back as of lately, but Patsy’s season is most definitely winter. We affectionately term them “poopsicles”. She sometimes even tries to sneak them in the house. And the spring thaw is like the Last Supper for her. The snow melts in layers, so every few days or so, it’s turned into another buffet. Sad, I know, that I have to blog about this. Hope you’re not offended, I work in healthcare, and don’t offend easily, so I’m not going to stop.

Tonight, Matt informed me that Polly didn’t eat all of her breakfast before it rained and half of it was soggy. So he tries to “hide” it in the shit pile thinking our Recyclers won’t get it. So what did Brogan do?

Matt: “He found the shit pile.”

Me: “What were you thinking? He’s like ‘Thanks Dad, that’s great, dog food AND shit in one place!’”

Matt just sat there and laughed at me and said, “I never thought of that!”

And you wonder why he needs me……

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