| ~Bloodhounds~ With the "Best in Show" movie, the Bloodhound winning the hound group at Wesminster 2001, and more commercials with Bloodhounds in them, the Bloodhound is becoming more sought after. They are wonderful dogs.....BUT They can be very stubborn. They should not be allowed to run loose, even in the country. They follow their nose and will not stop for anyone or anything when on a trail. You can yell until you are blue in the face and you probably won't get a Bloodhound's attention. They will run in front of cars and not even know it because they get so concentrated on the scent that they are following. It is very dangerous for the Bloodhound to allow him to run loose. I have watched them run right into the side of my parked truck following the cat trail that led under it. You may think that this makes them stupid. They are not....just very focused. That is what makes them so good at what they are bred for...finding people. They get to be very big. I have heard MANY times people say "I didn't know they got that big". They can get up to 130 pounds or more. My smallest adult is right at 100 pounds. When they are puppies, they are BIG puppies. They will do puppy things in a BIG way! They are also not the lazy porch dogs that you will see on TV. They need lots of room to run. They slobber, drool, and have wet ears and lips most of the time. They will get a drink of water and shake their head and water/slime will fly all over. Then....they will come to give you a big ol' wet kiss. They are very loving and will even think that they belong right in your lap....all 100+ pounds of them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~Breeding~ If you breed dogs and are making money, you aren't doing something right. A quote from a Pedigree dog food commercial.... "You don't breed Champion dogs to get rich, you do it for the love of the breed". Unless someone 'abuses' their dogs, they will not make a 'profit' breeding dogs. Many people have said to me "Boy, I'll bet you make a lot of money off of those dogs"....WRONG!!!! Dogs are not puppy machines. They should be your pets and companions FIRST! I firmly believe that no dog should be bred until she is at least 2 years old (let her grow up herself before she is made to be a mother), should not be bred every time she comes in heat, and at the most only have 2-3 litters. That is ONLY if they are of good quality and in good health. In order to raise a good litter of puppies, there is a lot of money that has to be put into the litter. There is a stud fee (unless you have the father-which then he would require constant care=$$), feeding the puppies until they are all gone, paying for advertisement to sell the pups, shots, worming, etc. Then there can be problems such as mastitis (where the mother gets an infection in her teats). It may require surgery or at least antibiotics. She may die or you could lose your puppies. You may have to bottle feed them. The mothers often accidently lay on the puppies which will kill them if you are not there to help. They require tons of work too. Lots of cleaning up after a whole litter of pups, lots more laundry-washing their blankets. Mopping, scooping, mopping, mopping, mopping. And anyone that would leave their dogs outside on a chain to have babies in the mud....well, you don't want to know my opinion of you. You probably wouldn't care anyway. If you don't want to breed for quality, and be committed to EACH and EVERY puppy you bring into this world-for it's whole lifetime, don't do it! PLEASE! There are too many unwanted dogs in the world the way it is. Don't add to that. Don't allow your dog to run around and get pregnant or get someone else's dog pregnant. I have seen what happens to too many of these animals.....even the purebred ones. Please don't buy dogs from a pet store. Most of the dogs at pet stores come from Puppy Mills. The puppy may be soooo cute, but think of what that puppy and it's parents had to go through to get there. By buying that one pup at the pet store, you are encouraging the puppy millers to produce even more puppies. Pet stores also usually charge as much or more than a breeder. A lot of breeders will occasionally have one that needs to be re-homed for some reason and can give you a pretty good deal on a pet. Also, for anyone wanting a pet (of any breed), there are breed rescues. Probably every breed of dog has a rescue organization. They will rescue their breed from pounds, or whatever the situation is. They need to find good, loving homes for these dogs. They will normally have all their shots, heartworm checked, and be spayed/neutered when you get them. Rescues rarely have puppies, but have young adults that are housebroken and out of the puppy stage. They will have a donation/fee to help cover their expenses. Go to the AKC web site to see the listing of rescue organizations in this area... Here is where you can find a bloodhound rescue... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~Fia Whirlwind Bloodhounds~ I got my first Bloodhound almost 10 years ago and have 8 Bloodhounds here now. We have 3 Champions that I have bred, raised, and shown myself. We have also sold several that have acquired their Championship. We have had some of our offspring ranked in the top 20 Bloodhounds in the United States. I sold a pup to a fireman in Ohio that is doing Search and Rescue work and one that is in Washington state with a policeman that is being trained for Search and Rescue. And of course, many happy pets. My first Champion from my 1st litter (Ch. Fiawhirlwind's Gentle Ben) was a model for a children's book, "Old Jake's Skirts". Illustrator, David Slonim came here to take pictures of Ben to help him with his illustrations and gave Ben a credit in the book. Photographer, Cheryl Ertelt has been here several times to photograph my dogs. She submits pictures to several magazines, etc. There was a picture of my pups in the Dogs USA magazine. She also has a picture of Maj (Fiawhirlwind's Royal Majesty) and me in the March 2001 issue of Dog World. Cheryl took pictures to submit to another children's book. Five photos of my dogs are in the book...including the cover! The book just came out. It is a 'learning about dogs' series printed by Capstone Press called "The Bloodhound". There are also pictures of them in two 2002 Bloodhound calendars. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |