Growth and Happiness for the Holidays

Our Picard family is growing by leaps and bounds. Little Danu has been here a week and has simply lept into our hearts. She is so good, just a joy to be around. She tackles "firsts"...first flight, first meeting of her new pack, first outing, first walk, first trip to the grandparents house, first nail grooming....all of it with such enthusiasm and sweetness. It is a tribute to her breeder Val and to Val's children that little "Danni" as we call her is such a great girl.

We've been so fortunate, we hope this fortune continues on with little Della Reese, another Picard girl who was born December 1st right here in our home state in Roanoke VA. She is a brindle girl out of super lines and will help to complete our breeding program. We'll get to meet the litter of pups that Della belongs to at one month of age!!! OOOOh, early bonding, yay!!!

What a great year it has been for us! We have met some fantastic friends along the way, have some wonderful memories as a couple, and have a super dog in Chaudron. Chaudron loves the Danni puppy and all 5 of our dogs are healthy, happy and simply glowing right now.

Here's hoping you and your pack, no matter how big or small, have a wonderful holiday and a joyous new year! Our hopes for the New Year will be to, well, stay SANE raising two puppy girls, keep all of our dogs healthy and happy, and continue spreading the word about such a wonderful breed.

Weekend in Richmond

"Sugar"
"Chaudron"
It was great to see Betsy and her female Picard, Sugar. She has turned into a very sweet young lady and Cau was very charmed by her presence.
If I counted right, we finished our Ch. this weekend with 3 BOB and 2 group Fours. (we only needed one more win to Ch.!) Yay!!!
Thank you Betsy for showing your girl...she now has a leg and a group placement, too.
Conformation is fun, great socialization, and gets the breeds name out there. We always meet so many nice folks and interest in the breed is amazing. Consider getting your picard out next weekend, I'm sure there is a UKC event near you!

Introducing Danu.......

Welcome to the world little Danu de la Vie en Rouge. She will be a new addition to our family. This little miracle has stolen our hearts from the moment she was concieved, and we cannot wait to have her join our family. Here she is at 20 days old. Her breeder says she is full of sweetness. We have a little more than a month to go to meet our sweet girl in the flesh, but enjoy almost daily updates from her breeder.
Be sure to check back often for more updates and pup pictures!

Going for a swim.....

The end of summer is always a busy time in the Valley. For Chaudron it's been a busy time too. A time of learning and growth for sure, but he's had fun along the way. He has been out lots to different Valley events, meeting and greeting the public. The hardest part for Chaudron must be standing still to talk with so many folks about what kind of dog he is and where is he from etc. etc. People will come from across the town lawn just to ask and pet him....some even want a picture. I think in another year this little region will be well educated on this breed of dog! He has gotten some friends along the way who know him and will spot him from across a street, shouting his name. But he's a dog, for the most part he takes it all in stride.

The first weekend of the month was the New Market Fall Festival...lots of sites, sounds, and smells...oh and yummy food. This past weekend he attended the Edinburg Ole Time Festival and then a rather large childrens party...thoroughly exhausted by the end of the weekend after the kids were finished with him. But the cake was so good. Last weekend it was the final swim at the county pool, all for the dogs. Here is a picture of him shaking it off, thanks to Jean Fogle, author of "Salty Dogs". She was snapping away at dock diving dogs and dogs just blissing out hanging with each other at the pool. Here is a link to her site. http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/dogaholics/

Quote for the day......

Found this great quote on a Pawpeds site and just wanted to put it somewhere to remind myself in the future.....

Some of you question the need for such a book and ask yourself why it should concern you. Robert Jay Russell Ph.D., zoologist and breeder of Cotons de Tulear, put it succinctly1:


"Every breeder has the ability in a free society to "determine his or her own stopping point." But, a single breeder's actions may have consequences that are far-reaching. A breed is necessarily maintained by a society of breeders. As such, the actions of each breeder affects the actions of every breeder who dips their brush in the gene pool and every buyer - present and future - who buys one of these 'works of art.' Pragmatically (and ethically), a breeder loses his/her right to independence and his/her ability to be independent the minute he/she puts up a shingle that says 'Puppies for Sale.' "

from Dr. Susan Thorpe-Vargas Genetics and breeding strategies: Essays for the future.

Work on website

Well, we returned from Premier with many new friends! Since then we've been taking it easy and camping, relaxing, and I've been working on school projects! Chaudron and Bernie have been learning a bit about sheep, swimming and 4 wheeling.


The big news is that I have recruited my brother in law to help with the web site, it is shaping up nicely. http://www.mauvaisbergerpicard.com/

Shortly Cau will be a year old, and we hope to have some girls interested down the line. He's a wonderful dog with a wonderful temperament and beautiful topline. We are also hoping for a female of our own this year or next, but we are holding out for that special girl with just the right lines.




Enjoy the summer pics!

Settled in after the dog show

Well, Cau and I are back after the long weekend of dogshowing and things have finally settled down. He's back to normal-dog status.....happy to be back with his pack and well rested from camping and playing with the other dogs. I think he misses the limelight a bit, though. At 9 mos. of age, here he is on blue ribbon day, finishing his championship! Yay Chaudron!

Pictures are up on the Berger Picard Club of America Yahoo site, as well as on a Flickr link of all the dogs who made it to Premier. We had a HUGE group for such small numbers overall in this country. A great time was had by all! We also had a very successful first fundraiser for rescue.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mauvais/sets/72157603990964663/

This week, onto bigger and better things for him....sheepherding Friday.....

I'll let you know how that goes.

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Time to get listing and blogging again from fidshouse!!!

Well, we, have 1 week to go before the "big show!" Hard to believe that in a week we will be in MI with about 30 other Picards! For those who aren't aware, The Berger Picard is a hardy breed that is still pretty rare in this country. Our boy Chaudron du Mauvais was imported last fall from the east coast of France after their National Specialty in France. We are excited to have such a fun loving, easy care, happy-go-lucky breed...he is truly a pleasure to be around! So we have lots to do around here and here I am writing! But today, we have to go and shop for the rest of the pack staying home next week! Plus, a very special friend is in town, filming for the Upperville Horse and Pony Show, who we need to go visit tonight...gosh I remember helping her prioritize horse care needs long ago...makes me feel OLD!! Now she's all grown up with her own business filming show horses!!!

So, the countdown begins for our first national specialty and our first time at UKC's Premier. Should be a busy week for us!

Anyhow, check back often, next week we should have updates from the show!

Fondly--fidsmom