Rhea is a mum!

On July 16th Rhea gave birth to a single male pup - now called Charlie Bubbles. You guessed it - he's staying. His dad is Doddsline Rocky at Telpoolwyn. Thanks to Tony Powell for allowing us to use Rocky to produce this gorgeous little lancashire lad.

Charlie has been DNA tested for PLL and I'm pleased to say that the test came back as 'Normal' or Clear - which means Charlie will not develop PLL as a genetic result (it can still occur through trauma or illness) and cannot pass on the faulty gene to any offspring he fathers. It is too early to determine if Charlie will be of sufficient quality to be used at stud, although the signs are that he eventually wiil.

I'm very much looking forward to bringing Charlie to his first champ show (along with his mum to show him the ropes). Fingers crossed that the judges think well of him too.

Update:

Charlie is now 12 weeks old and growing more handsome each day. Good grief!, 12 weeks have flown by. He and his mum now make the short trek up to the school each day to meet and greet the children and their mums at 'home time'. I've lost count of the number of times I've had to give a potted version of the Heeler background and history. Needless to say this pretty little pup is doing some wonderful PR work for the breed - and so is his mum, Rhea. She is a delight to take to such 'meet and greet' situations because she the sort of dog that adores being petted and loves everyone. No nose is allowed to go on it's way until she has inspected and cleaned each nostril, no ear is safe from her darting tongue - but she means well. Charlie loves the attention and is very good at gently taking small treats without catching fingers - much to the delight of his growing fan club. I've had a few of the mums saying that they are glad to be able to introduce their little ones to dogs in such a controlled and calm way and to be able to have their children encouraged to approach strange sogs with care and gentleness. My thought on the subject is that we have to catch them young to ensure the next generation are going to be responsible dog owners - and hopefully a few will be our new Heeler owners too. So, I'm doing my bit in a small way for the breed.