Somewhere In Time

Somewhere ... over the RAINBOW BRIDGE

Oil in Canvass

DEDICATED TO FLUTE

Australian Shepherd who suffered from heat stroke during the last El Nino, September 21, 1998.

When you live with dogs, the most difficult part is letting go ... and learning to live without them. They don't live long. They not only steal your heart right away, they grow on you and when it's time to let go, all that is left is an empty space ... a hole in your heart. No matter how many times one loses a dog, no matter how often ... the pain never goes away. With the hundred dogs I have, the hundred dogs I lost and a hundred dogs to come and maybe more ... the pain is a thousand-fold. It is actually immeasurable. I tried almost every trick in the book. Everything boils down to the same ol' feeling.

The feeling never goes away. Maybe, someday ... somewhere, over the rainbow,

at the bridge we shall meet, my friends and I ...

somewhere ... in time.

Sittin 'Peacefully ...

Oil in Canvass

... Waitin' patiently, under a tree ...

Somewhere ... my master is,

In time ... she will come for me.

And I will meet her ... lick her face, her hands and stay by her foot once again ...

soon as she steps, on the foot of the bridge ...

across the Rainbow ... that's where she is!

DEDICATED TO LATIN

Who recently passed away at 11 years old, early this year 2002

Oftentimes, I would come across books and magazine articles regarding the best age to acquire a dog. A lot would advice that it is best to get a puppy like let's say between 6 to 8 weeks old when the puppies start to venture out to the new world and discover ... One would often hear that it is best at this time because the puppy bonds with its human well and for the rest of its life. Stories told over and over again, read in dog literature and now, through the web stream of information and resources.

I've bred many a puppies to the extent of being labelled a puppy factory and just recently a puppy manufacturer. It is simple arithmetic and one does not need to go to college. We don't even actually need a calculator, just the multiplication tables that our grade school teachers made us memorize over and over again:

HYPOTHESIS 1: Acceptable breeding age is from 2 years to 6 years old and bitches normally come on heat twice a year

1 pair of dogs with an average of 6 puppies in one breeding:

At age 2 years old, bred twice would be equal to 12 puppies; bred on the same conditions until 6 would total to 60 puppies

1 dog with 2 bitches would total to 120 puppies out of 2 bitches in 5 years

Having 2 bitches and a stud is a relatively small kennel. When Breeders say that they have a small kennel, what they mean more than likely is that they started out with 3 to 4 bitches and 2 stud dogs. And a "Responsible Breeder" would not have bred the bitches every heat but would have kept several outstanding picks. Before the "Responsible Breeder" knows it, there's 8 bitches and probably 4 stud dogs in the small kennel. In a couple of years, keeping picks and introducing new lines, the small kennel now has around 20 sometimes 30 dogs of one breed.

ACCEPTABLE?

HYPOTHESIS 2: Same as Hypothesis 1 except that instead of one breed, the "Responsible Breeder" has 2 breeds. It is common for "Responsible Breeders" to have a second breed.

JUST EXACTLY WHAT MAKES OR BREAK A BREEDER?

I've probably bred the most number of puppies through the course of my lifetime since I was 12 years old. And even after 30 years, I still find it hard to let go of the puppies that I held so gently in my hands Day 1 of their lives every time the new owner comes. My heart weeps when I see them mistreated or not taken cared of by their owners. Silently I grieve.

One of the best scents I've ever sniffed is that of a puppy's breath especially birth to about 2 weeks old. I try very hard to resist temptation every time a Chinese Shar-Pei bitch comes on heat. The breed is a puppy miller's delight and a veterinarian's dream. With a lot of genetic defects passed on generation to generation with the limited gene pool from eye to ear to swollen hock syndromes and Shar-Pei fever, kidney and liver problems not counting the skin allergies and stress-induced immune deficiency the breed suffers. I refrain from breeding my bitches. Yes, I pioneered the breed in our country. And yes, to be a responsible breeder, one must first be a responsible human being with respect to life.

DEDICATED TO ALL MY CHINESE SHAR-PEI WHO HAVE PASSED AWAY

It doesn't matter at what age a puppy or a dog comes into your life. They will bond when you open your heart. I've had adult dogs come into my care at age 5, some even 7 or older ... pups I held in my hand when they were born never forgot my scent even after they have bonded with their new owners.