Breeding: Ana X Vivaro

Amazingly, we were able to get all Ana's health clearances completed and everything lined up in time for Ana to be bred to an INCREDIBLE stud--Vivaro v. Noblesshof: IPO-1, BH.  Everything just seemed to fall into place quite easily.  Ana & Vivaro spent the week together; and if all goes as planned, we should be expecting puppies around September 22nd!  We are so excited to see what these two beauties produce! Pregnancy will be confirmed via ultrasound August 22nd.

Vivaro was imported from Noblesshof Kennels in Serbia.  He has a solid, thick, European frame and the working mentality to go along with it.  He is also amazingly gentle, calm, and personable.  We REALLY like this guy and everything he has to offer!  He's got the whole package: working aptitude, solid character and temperament, proven lines, strong health, great looks and coloring.  He is a perfect compliment to our Ana girl.

Ana's Hips

We had Ana's hips checked out today at the vet.  He says they are BEAUTIFUL!!!  Possibly among the most beautiful hips he's ever seen.  That is excellent news for our girl!  The vet said, "If the OFA does not give her an 'excellent' rating then they are either smoking something or having a really, really bad day!"  We are so pleased with this news.  Things are moving forward in wonderful, positive ways!

This Girl is Full of Surprises!

Well, it appears as though our new girl Ivana Di Altobello has surprised us all and came into heat much earlier than anticipated! We've only had her one week and were anticipating her to be in heat in 2 months, however, the previous owner was not certain of the date.  She certainly surprised us all!!!  We have some of her health tests completed/in the works and others are now being expedited! If we can get all our ducks in a row soon enough we are going to see about getting Ana bred this heat. Wow, things are happening so quickly!!! It's been quite the whirlwind of a week!  If everything goes smoothly with testing and lining up the stud, we could have puppies toward the end of September!

Ivana Di Altobello--"Ana"--She's here!!!

Ivana Di Altobello, "Ana," has finally joined our family! We brought her home a week ago and have been enjoying her company and getting to know each other. She is a pure joy! She has transitioned very well and acts like she's lived here all her life. She and our male Mack are getting along great and we all love her! She is SOOOOOO affectionate and sweet! She loves being nearby and checking up on everyone. We have started the process of getting all her health clearances done and are excited to begin this new chapter together.

 Mack and Ana are getting along really well.  I think Mack enjoys having another 4-legged friend around and Ana watches him to learn all the house rules.  They are a good pair.

(In case you are wondering...NO, Ana does NOT need all those collars in order to keep her behaved.  We've been doing some collar desensitization with her where we put different collars on at various times of the day. Sometimes she has one, other times she has 2 or more.  It's an exercise to get her used to the feel of lots of different collars--types and number--around her neck.  This creates a dog who learns not to associate the feel of a particular collar with a specific type of correction.  In essence, they learn that the correction does not come from the collar, but from their behavior.)