Etta gave birth to the first five little "woollen bohemes" at the age of 2 years. Because those were the first puppies I had ever dealt with I had a lots to learn about the basics of the breeding process! Although everything was new for both of us, me and Etta, the puppies still grew well and flourished in our bedroom! The litter was originally my mum's idea and she was actually much more enthusiastic to get Etta pregnant than I was. In fact she was the one, who had persuaded me to buy a bitch instead of a male puppy in the first place.
Etta after 59 days of pregnancy!
I could not have ever imagined that I would get so much into this breeding of poodles. Mum's enthusiasm faded quickly away when the puppies started to grow and get noisy but I could not help loving those little creatures no matter how much work they were. I barely passed my exams, because I spent all my time taking care of the little guys and simply enjoyed sitting among them. That is why I was always late for my lectures!
Below: The proud, brand new mother Etta and her first five puppies as 7 day olds. More photos of these puppies here.
Etta's second litter was born in the autumn of 1998. I wanted another litter for her because the former puppies turned out to be healthy and had pleasing and balanced characters. I was happy with their outlook too. This time it was easier to orientate to take care of these hairy babies because I was endowed with much more information about breeding, advising new owners, assessing puppies' characters and structure, selling each little personality type to a suitable family and all the stuff that goes with it. At the age of 7 weeks puppies were tested by my dear friend Mirka Jokela with Vollhard's Puppy Aptitude Test, which is also used for predicting the future character of guide dog puppies. The new owners got a detailed information package about poodle as a breed, their new puppy's individual features and also about how to teach, feed and groom the puppy. Information of possible hobbies and solving the most likely problems that might occur were included. I had already constructed an information booklet with fewer pages to give with the puppies of the first litter but now I found essential to broaden it. It is really important that new owners get good instructions of everything to be able to enjoy their new pet at the best possible extent and this goes for the puppy too. The information booklet will be added on these pages later on this spring. Pictures of these puppies you can find here.
As for breeding the poodles is concerned I find some things very important. Some time in the future I probably will breed well planned litters occasionally if I have a suitable bitch for breeding and also time to concentrate on the litter as much as possible. Health of the parents is essential and I am eager to follow the health status of the miniature poodle population to avoid problems. In miniature poodles diseases like epilepsy, PRA and paltellar luxation occur quite often. My both bitches are free from these problems so far and the same thing goes for Etta's ten descendants as well. Unfortunately one of her decendants has been recently diagnosed to have Legg Perthes disease in the other hip. It is a disease caused partly by genes inherited from both parents and partly by the environment. All the other owners of the dogs I have bred will be encouraged to get their poodles' hips x-rayed. One male has C-hips and therefore I have thought that it would be wise to to get information of miniatures' hips more broadly, so I recommend other people who own miniatures to get their dogs examined too.
Miniature poodles should have a balanced and healthy body structure
and a real poodle character. Miniatures should be
lively and noble animals and show great enthusiasm to work and learn.
Poodles have been used both as circus dogs and retrievers and these are
the kind of uses that require intelligence, quick ability to learn and
will to please the owner. I regard these as worth to consider in breeding.
I do not find show merits essential for breeding. A healthy, well
structured poodle with lovely character may very well be running on the
yard of a farmer in terrier clip never touched by a sophisticated judge!
One thing that has also occurred into my mind when getting more and
more into this breed, is the surprising fact how narrow the effective population
size (the dogs used for breeding in relation all the population in Finland)
of miniature poodles is. There is a tendency mostly to use stud dogs which
have done well in shows and the same thing goes for bitches as well. I
wonder if this is good at all for the breed in the long term! I have been
looking for a suitable stud for my younger bitch and examined its background
comparing the ancestors to ones of other apricot miniatures in Finland.
It is amazing how homogenous their background really seems to be and this
arouses my suspicions of the loss of a good genetic material that may have
been happening during the last decades within this breed. There has also
been inbreeding and it has not been the number one thing to prevent the
increasing amounts of PRA cases lately. I used to think that if there
ever was a litter from this younger bitch of mine, I would try to do my
best to avoid it to be a further add to the genetic reduction of miniature
poodles. This bitch will most propably get withdrawn outside the breeding
plans though because I recently found out that there might be epilepsia
in a close relative of hers. Sadly the information of this was not given
me openly. For some people it is still difficult to understand that continuos
share of information of the health of poodles is the only way to get any
results in breeding in a long term and a way to secure the future of this
magnificent breed.
What could be more touching than the faithful and adoring eyes of your
sensitive little friend? (Etta's son Jesse)
What can we give back to these loyal companions of ours, both on the
breed and on the individual level? This is the most essential thing to
consider when dealing with a poodle!