Linda and I have been "breeders" for 10 years and during that time, we have bred only 3 litters. The most recent one was whelped on January 4 and it gave me the opportunity to chronicle the development of the litter in general and the one puppy we decided to keep almost from the very beginning -- Sundance (Annihaus Cassidys Sundance Kid).

I'd like to share with you some puppy pics of Sundance as he was growing up during those 8 weeks when the litter is ours and before the others go to their new homes. The first is a photo of mom, Cassidy, with the entire litter 4 days after birth.



Sundance is under mom's right arm -- probably fell asleep on the nipple.

Next is a shot of him starting his Agility career by getting stuck in the triangle. This was at 10 days just before the eyes opened.



While traumatized by the experience, we were glad to see he's outgrown it . The next shot is when we started bringing the puppies outside at 4 weeks of age.



At 6 weeks of age, he's learned how to self-stack.



And at 8 weeks, he's just lost most of the littermates and he's feeling both lonely and relieved to realize he's the one that's staying.



A few weeks later, he's playing with his evil twin brother Jasper and learning to be an embassador for Rottweilers in our neighborhood.



Here are his new best friends, Blossom and Izzy the Shih Tzus from down the street.



I'll send a current photo of Sundance showing him as he turns 6 months old on July 4. He is confident, sweet and plays constantly with anyone or anything that will play with him. We are very fortunate to have another great Rottie in our family.

Thought you'd enjoy the photos.

Jim

Those are adorable photos!!! It is amazing how much like ROTTWEILERS they look!!! Whippets look like mutts for so long

Julie,
at 6 mos of age, Sundance is 82 lbs and 24 1/2 inches tall, as tall as his mom, Cassidy. Believe me, he IS a Rottweiler. But a gentle, sweet, confident boy who enjoys everything that life brings him every day.

We are truly blessed.

Jim

Hey Jim~
Wonderful diary of Sunny's beginnings! Very sweet he looks, I can only imagine the love bug he is in person!
I AM taking photos of the litter, but didn't figure I'd bore everyone, when the changes are few.
I'll wait to have our "diary" a little further along!

Marta,
well, I only posted these because they are "pet portraits" .

We sent out photos of the puppies every week to the prospective buyers (we fortunately had the litter pre-sold shortly after Cassidy was bred) so I have a lot of really cute puppy photos. I was sorting them last night and thought I'd share some.

It reminded me of what a wonderful time those first 8 weeks are. How much they change and yet how much you can tell by just watching them those first few days. It's amazing!

Send more Golden photos!!!

Jim

Oh, these are just darling. How fun it is to see them grow. Unfortunately way too fast.

Hey Jim,

These are great. It must be so difficult to breed the dogs - I would not be able to let them go. I am currently close to turning into the 'crazy cat person' as we have decided to keep Dylan (that is 5 plus the dog).

Curiously, when you mention that you have only bred your dogs 3 times in 10 years, what is that about?

James

Curiously, when you mention that you have only bred your dogs 3 times in 10 years, what is that about>>

I'm gonna guess and say, "He's not in it for the money"?
To me, I smiled when I saw that, knowing I've caught up with a responsible dog breeder/owner, who doesn't exploit their breed for the money.
Let me know if I'm out of line...

James,
there are breeders out there -- and unfortunately quite a lot of them -- who breed several litters a year. They always have puppies showing in the Futurity and Sweepstakes classes.

As someone who does a lot of Rescue, I believe that the world has enough Rottweilers but not enough good homes. We've been very fortunate to have placed our puppies in fantastic homes and, in fact, we've only had to re-home one of our puppies ever.

But, increasingly, it is getting harder and harder to find the types of homes necessary for Rotties. Let's face it: not everyone should have one of these dogs. Linda and I have only half-kiddingly suggested that we give prospective buyers IQ tests to make sure they are brighter than the dog they're buying.

Another factor for us is that we will not breed a dog that has not gotten all of the necessary health clearances: hips, elbows, heart and eyes. We also check thyroid just to be safe. And, we won't breed a bitch more than twice in her lifetime. This far, we've only bred two of our girls -- Annie Fay our 10 1/2 year old Queen Of The Universe and Cassidy, her 4-year-old granddaughter.

And lastly, we only breed for ourselves. That means if we can't keep at least one of the puppies then we don't breed. We currently have 5 Rotties (including a Rescue girl) and a Golden. That is more than enough.

As Marta said, there are folks out there that breed a lot and breed to make money. My dogs are not on this earth simply to produce puppies. They are our companions and their offspring are in homes that believe in the same things we do.

So, that's why we breed infrequently but we breed good dogs. BTW, Annie Fay produced 17 puppies in her 2 litters and she was just awarded her Gold Producer Award from the American Rottweiler Club -- one of only 8 bitches in the history of the breed to go Gold on 2 or fewer litters.

Marta, thanks for the compliment. As you know, breeding isn't easy. It's a tremendous responsibility. When we've lost a puppy in whelping (and fortunately that's been very few) it broke our hearts. For the first 8 weeks of the puppies' lives, we actually spend as much time with the pups as their mom. We don't do it like most breeders but we believe that our puppies benefit from relating to people as much as to other dogs. Fortunately, the results speak for themselves: of Annie's 17 kids, 8 are TDI-certified Therapy Dogs; of the 3 litters that Rowdy has sired, he has 6 TDI-certified Therapy Dogs. I would like folks to think of the term Good Rottie as commonplace and not as an oxymoron.

Jim

WAAAY too cute for words! My gosh those are cute puppies.

I admire you very much for your ethics Jim. If only all breeders were like that...think of the progress in overpopulation and health and behavior problems!