Salsa is a three-year old livernose. She has had a very successful show career, being an American Kennel Club Grand Champion at the Bronze Level (104 Grand Champion points). She has several Bests of Breed and a Hound Group placement from the puppy classes. She has done particularly well at large specialty shows, taking Select Bitch or Award of Merit in very large shows several times. Fanning is five years of age and has been a successful show dog in Australia. He is litter-brother to Sheila, who was the dam of our last two Camelot litters. The breeding was carried out by transcervical insemination with frozen semen on April 18 and 19. Pregnancy was confirmed by ultrasound on May 16. At that time, Dr. Cain estimated that there would be seven puppies.
At this point, all seven puppies have tentative homes. However, several of these placements are with families who particularly want a show-quality puppy. I will not be able to make definitive call on show potential until the puppies are 6-7 weeks old, so it is still possible that one or more of the puppies who are tentatively placed will become available. If you are interested in beingon the waiting list as a family for one of these puppies, please download our questionaire and return it by email to Clayton Heathcock.
When the puppies are old enough (about 4 weeks), I will arrange visits for families who are interested in buying one of the puppies. Since I prefer to place puppies with people I have met in person, I am not normally willing to ship puppies to other locations. Exceptions can be made, however, if I feel I have interacted with someone enough. In those cases, I prefer that the new owner come to Camelot to pick up the puppy.
All pet-quality puppies are sold with limited AKC registration, meaning that they cannot be exhibited in AKC conformation events and, if bred, their offspring cannot be registered with the AKC. In addition, pet-quality puppies are sold with a contract that requires neutering or spaying by the age of nine months.
For show-quality puppies, preference is given to individuals who are members of one of the recognized Rhodesian Ridgeback breed clubs (preferably the Rhodesian Ridgeback Club of the United States, RRCUS) or who have prior conformation experience.
It is Father's Day and, as on cue, Salsa is in labor. She slept on the bed last night with Cheri and me and was panting and licking part of the time. This is one of the early signs of labor. She has been hanging out in a crate much of the time and from time to time she gets up to scratch up the bedding--another sure sign. The whelping box is all set up although there is a good chance the first puppy will be born on our bed or in the large crate she has been nesting in.
At 11:30 I took Angkor over to Concord for a BARRC event. Shortly after I got there Cheri called to tell me that Salsa was having contractions and while I was handing over a computer that I had brought to send to Patty Olney with other material from the Bay Area Cheri called again to tell me that the first puppy was born! The first-born is a 10-oz, liver-nosed girl with a beautiful show ridge, born at 12:07 pm.
After a 2 1/2 hour gap, Salsa got going at 2:37 with another liver-nosed girl. This was followed at 2:54 by a black-nosed girl and at 3:03 by a third liver-nosed girl. The next two puppies, at 3:43 and 4:30 were a liver-nosed boy and a black-nosed boy. Here are a few photos taken over the afternoon:
At 5:30 Salsa had a 7th puppy, another liver-nosed boy and I think she is done. The final summary is:
All seven puppies are ridged and six have definite show ridges. One of the liver-nosed girls may have a single crown ridge.
Cheri and I did their nails and took head shots this morning. While we were doing this the rest of the puppies played in the yard.
Ulrika
Sigrid
Inge
Harald
Head photos, August 1 (6.5 weeks old)I have two "yearlings" here for a few days; litter-sisters Coco and McKayla, who are just over one year old. Coco already loves to play with the puppies and now she is trying to teach McKayla to do the same thing. The rapid growth phase has set in--five of the pups are now over 10 pounds and even Inge is 8 pounds now. They are almost too big for the postal scale that I use to weigh them every morning (that is Sigrid on the balance):
Lots on tap this weekend. Granddaughter Camille is coming to visit about noon. Sunday we will be doing the stack photos for the 7-week-old audition and also getting the first DHPP vaccination.
As I wrote Friday, it was a busy weekend. We had shows in Dixon Saturday and Sunday and Cheri is in LA visiting with her family for her step-mom's 80th birthday party. So I had to rise at 5:30 each day, make the coffee and morning Honest Kitchen for the adults, feed the puppies, clean out their room, feed the adult dogs, pick up the poop in the kennel runs, have breakfast, shower, dress and haul Molly and Coco to the show. Whew. It was a busy but productive weekend. Molly won Best of Breed and Hound Group 3rd on Saturday and was Best of Opposite Sex today. Coco wass 2nd in her class Saturday and 1st today. Bolt was 4th on Saturday and 3rd today. Yesterday we had visitors as Theresa Bowermaster and Cyd Hammett came to see the puppies and today David Bueno, Greg Castillo and Louise Vansgaard visited to help me photograph the pups for their 7-week audition photos. Louise also helped me weigh and adminster the first DHPP vaccination.
Following are one stack photo of each puppy and a link to a file with other photos of that puppy. The only exception is Inge, who was VERY squirrelly today and we just couldn't get her to hold a stack long enough to get a good photo. Salsa was the same way as a puppy. I will try again in a couple of days.
Inge
Margrete see more
Ulrika see more
Sigrid see more
Harald see more
Olav see more
Knut see more
It is always bittersweet when the pups start departing for their new homes. Today was graduation day for Margrete, who is going to Manhattan Beach with the Carr family. The following photo is 3/4 of the family, Colby, Maria and daughter Miranda.
The pups are spending today in our large kennel yard with mom. This is Sigrid taking the rays.
I sort of slacked off on the blog. Over the last two weeks three more puppies have gone to their new homes. Following are photos of Knut with his new owner Roger Lynch and Harald with his new family, Buster and Rachel Fagan. Knut's new name is Zeus and he will be living in Beverly Hills. Harald's new name is Kamryn and he will be living in Thibodaux, Louisiana. Roger drove up from the LA area to bring Zeus home. Kamryn was taken to Monroe, Louisiana by air by my good friend Tinamaria van der Horst Charney, who came out to the Bay area for a day of fun and took Kamryn back with her in the plane cabin. Sigrid has gone to live with Halo (Sheila-Ruger show male) at the home of Terry and Tori Rosen in Hillsborough. Her new name is Hera.
