Saying Goodbye to The Cinnamon Bear.

The Cinnamon Bear at three months.

 The Cinnamon Bear came to us from LaPine, Oregon on a cold rainy morning in 2014. She was so little then. Her breeders might have mis-counted the weeks, she seemed about six weeks old. The Bear was the second Basset female we brought home with us, the other being CarmelCorn SanDiego.

As a puppy Cinnamon walked on her ears in a way that reminded me of a bear, and since I had named Carmen after a sweet candy I named this new baby girl The Cinnamon Bear. Themes are a thing I do. 

She was called many things over the years: The Bear, Cinna-mini, and Bear-bear were just a few of the nice things, but there were others. The Bear could be a real bitch where she wanted. After our Henry Hudson passed she became our Alpha and ruled with an iron fist. She was our alpha for three years prior to Laffee Taffee whelping her first litter, less so after that. 

Carmen and Cinnamon

Cinnamon had two litters; both of eleven pups each. She was a good mother. Our plan is always to breed one of our girls three times before finding a good retirement for them. We made these plans early on in our Farm dream, thinking that this would be the best thing for the female while keeping our kennel numbers reasonable. Since she was the second female we waited for her to birth a third litter, but she really didn't have much interest after the second litter. Eventually we decided to retire her at eight years old. After her spay we began seriously looking for a new place for her. 

Cinnamon's first litter

Letting go of one of our puppies is hard. We spend so much time with them, love them, discipline them, wash their dirty ears, everything one does with human children we do with the puppies we take in.

Our original plan was always to let the girls  retire once they were no longer suited to the breeding business. But this has not been nearly as easily done as we would wish. Rational decisions are usually best, but not always easier to do when the time arrives to let one of our girls go. We are careful in choosing a place for them to go and this is the best we can do. 

Cinnamon was picky with people. We interviewed five families who were interested in taking her but she really only clicked with three of them. Eventually we found a nice person with an Emu farm and last weekend we took The Cinnamon Bear for a long car ride to her new home. 

Unfortunately for all of us, Bear-bear found a hole in the new family's fence and made it onto the highway where she died instantly. We are heart broken twice this week. Letting her go, then losing her again a few days later. But this is life and the thread holding any one of us to life is very thinly made. There is no blame for anyone in this. Cinnamon was always good at finding the hole in the fence. 

Cinnamon was a very good Basset. Long ears and stubborn. She loved her family and was loved every day of her life. We all might hope for better, but must accept what comes. She will be missed. She will be in our thoughts. Today she is in our prayers. 

The End of the Hard Candies

 I forgot to post this a week ago, but the Hard Candy Litter finished when we delivered d'Artaneon to his new home. The Candies were a nice little five pup litter; four males and one female. They came into the world easy and spent the little time we had together happily. None of them had health issues, all were well developed. Only time will tell how they will turn out but we're thinking that ClarkeBar's great genetics seem to shine the most in these puppies. 

Bit O'Honey came through the litter as expected. We weened the pups on time and her body snapped back into a slim and athletic form. She matured quite a bit and has begun challenging the older girls for dominance. We found a good re-home spot for our alpha, The Cinnamon Bear, so the alpha spot is slightly open today. Laffee Taffee is the natural leader, but 'Honey seems to wish to take charge. Things will work themselves out in time. 

Our next breeding season begins in March 2022. We hope to find a new female puppy to take Cinnamon's spot but will likely wait until after the next litter. We are hoping to find a trade, but cash seems to work too. Our next scheduled pairing will be Abba Zabba's first litter. 

Six Week Evaluation for Red Hot

 

Rocketdog Bassets has  provided many litters of puppies over the years. So were good, some better, and a few have been exceptional. In all of these each puppy from each litter has been evaluated as a single puppy, separate from the litter, but all by the same criteria and at the same level of development. The criteria for our pseudo-objective evaluations can be found here and you might want to review this information prior to moving forward through each evaluation. 

When RedHot arrived he a solid (11.1 ounces) red and white (lemon) boy. Since this is Bit O'Honey's first litter we did not know what to expect. But RedHot has developed into a very good little pet quality  Basset Hound.  His head shape is wonderfully domed with good, though not great, ear length at six weeks. His jaw set and ear position are very much up to the Standard and hiser body shape is strong with no flanged ribs or other negative aspects. Foreleg bone density is not bad, but also not as heavy as some. He lacks the appearance of a field dog, but is lovely in appearance none-the-less.

The way a dog stands at rest is called Stance. In Basset Hounds, this is often associated with long term hip health. RedHot haas very good stance but lacks the heavy bones which usually make the dog look aggressive, even when at rest. I don't see anything in him to indicate that he will develop bone health problems and his hip setting is very strong.

All indications are that RedHot will develop into an adult more of his mother's form than fathers, with few of the more desirable heavier European traits coming from ClarkeBar Griswold. Expect him to eventually weigh in under fifty pounds as an adult providing sufficient care is taken in feeding and exercise. 

RedHot has has many strong points: a wonderful coloring, and a really sweet personality.  He is a clown when playing. Quick and agile, he is not a puppy you can attack. RedHot is a team player, joining in whatever fun comes. His fur is wonderfully equally red and white, I expect he will eventually become more white than red as time goes by. 

Overall I must give him four and one half points of the five AKC Standard points and a half point for aesthetics, making him a solid 5 of 6 points. This is what we expect in a pet quality Basset. I take  half a point from his for foreleg density and paw size, half a point for ear length. Otherwise he is a fine Basset Hound puppy. He might be bred, providing that care is taken to introduce more European genetic traits.