Clementine is our first Basset Fauve de Bretagne and comes from the Hibeck litter of little oranges ( Satsuma probably the best known, but also Jaffa, Tangerine - you get the picture!). The picture is of Clementine, her aunt Cracker, her son and daughter Milo and Marmalade.
We liked the look of young Oliver ( Venquest Popcorn of Hibeck), Clem's first litter at age 4 was his first litter at just over one.
She had six puppies in October 2008 and Mack, Missy ( Mistletoe) Mandarin ( Dylan) and Monty have grown into delightful characters with many a wicked story to tell from their first year. Lets see.... Missy sitting on the garden table waiting for birds, Dylan popping down to the Legion club on the common for his customary bag of crisps, Monty taking two hours about his walks off the lead ( but announcing his presence in the woods by barking regularly)Mack running off the first and only time he was asked to be without his own family. Then there is the "inner foodie" - Dylan navigating across chairs radiators and windowledges to reach the counter and the cake ( and so obsessed with roast lamb he cant be trusted in the kitchen when sunday lunch is put out).
My own little Clementinies Milo and Marmalade..... Milo was nicknamed " shy boy" as after being dropped by a visiting child he refused to go near this alien species.As a result I accidentally kept a very confident little show dog. Clementine is a very happy fauve who enjoyed showing but didnt do much of it, I have learned more about the game with Milo but he still doesnt stand still for very long. Marmalade ( Marmie) is a complete lapdog, charming with humans and bottom of the pecking order of the pack, which she doesnt seem to mind at all. She's recently killed her first mouse and spends a lot of time in the garden looking for her next one.
The other part of the fauve family is the small and very bossy Cracker, pack leader and raiser of alarums and excursions for the youngsters. She's a wonderful auntie and in the summer was the mother of Woody, Harvey and Saffron - we had the puppies here although it was a "Hibeck" litter as Cracker officially belongs to Jean Ulliott.
Moving to the present day, I had been looking at the fauve dogs and wondered for a while whether Clementine would be making a trip to her homeland, but the combination of my poor french and the need to do rabies jab in good time for a pet passport rather put paid to that for the time being. Also there are some rather nice fauves and i kept noticing one or two of them in particular. Using a principle which has stood me in good stead with irish wolfhounds over the years I looked for a dog that didnt have Clementine's faults and looked as if he could provide strong virtues and was also the son of a seriously nice mother. Time will tell how right this approach is in fauves as the litter was born on 22nd December and has yet to grow up.
As with the last litter Clementine got straight into the whelping and had her puppies cleaned up and settled over the space of a morning. Those one hour road walks certainly helped her fitness and her "baby weight" fell straight off as soon as the puppies arrived. She's now deeply engaged with the puppies and wont leave them unless she really has to.
Birth weights were 8 oz- 12 oz and the next thing was to pick some Xmas themed names, with the help of "fauve friends" and their good ideas. If the kennel club permits these puppies are going to be called Melchior, Lord of Misrule,Merry ( boys) and Myrhh, Mince Pie and Marzipan ( or Marchpane) for the girls.
We liked the look of young Oliver ( Venquest Popcorn of Hibeck), Clem's first litter at age 4 was his first litter at just over one.
She had six puppies in October 2008 and Mack, Missy ( Mistletoe) Mandarin ( Dylan) and Monty have grown into delightful characters with many a wicked story to tell from their first year. Lets see.... Missy sitting on the garden table waiting for birds, Dylan popping down to the Legion club on the common for his customary bag of crisps, Monty taking two hours about his walks off the lead ( but announcing his presence in the woods by barking regularly)Mack running off the first and only time he was asked to be without his own family. Then there is the "inner foodie" - Dylan navigating across chairs radiators and windowledges to reach the counter and the cake ( and so obsessed with roast lamb he cant be trusted in the kitchen when sunday lunch is put out).
My own little Clementinies Milo and Marmalade..... Milo was nicknamed " shy boy" as after being dropped by a visiting child he refused to go near this alien species.As a result I accidentally kept a very confident little show dog. Clementine is a very happy fauve who enjoyed showing but didnt do much of it, I have learned more about the game with Milo but he still doesnt stand still for very long. Marmalade ( Marmie) is a complete lapdog, charming with humans and bottom of the pecking order of the pack, which she doesnt seem to mind at all. She's recently killed her first mouse and spends a lot of time in the garden looking for her next one.
The other part of the fauve family is the small and very bossy Cracker, pack leader and raiser of alarums and excursions for the youngsters. She's a wonderful auntie and in the summer was the mother of Woody, Harvey and Saffron - we had the puppies here although it was a "Hibeck" litter as Cracker officially belongs to Jean Ulliott.
Moving to the present day, I had been looking at the fauve dogs and wondered for a while whether Clementine would be making a trip to her homeland, but the combination of my poor french and the need to do rabies jab in good time for a pet passport rather put paid to that for the time being. Also there are some rather nice fauves and i kept noticing one or two of them in particular. Using a principle which has stood me in good stead with irish wolfhounds over the years I looked for a dog that didnt have Clementine's faults and looked as if he could provide strong virtues and was also the son of a seriously nice mother. Time will tell how right this approach is in fauves as the litter was born on 22nd December and has yet to grow up.
As with the last litter Clementine got straight into the whelping and had her puppies cleaned up and settled over the space of a morning. Those one hour road walks certainly helped her fitness and her "baby weight" fell straight off as soon as the puppies arrived. She's now deeply engaged with the puppies and wont leave them unless she really has to.
Birth weights were 8 oz- 12 oz and the next thing was to pick some Xmas themed names, with the help of "fauve friends" and their good ideas. If the kennel club permits these puppies are going to be called Melchior, Lord of Misrule,Merry ( boys) and Myrhh, Mince Pie and Marzipan ( or Marchpane) for the girls.
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