A.K.C. Doberman Puppies For Sale|Hawthorne FL

The Pups Are Stars!

10/2/2018

Well ok, maybe not stars... but they did have their first, and likely only, Music Video debut. Being used to being handled by myself, they were a little out of their element with another handler. Especially with little time for dogs and person to become acquainted with one another. I guess it's safe to say they could have been a bit more cooperative. All in all though I think they did well. Ritz a little more comfortable with the proceedings than Serious who flat out refused to put his ears up. Funny thing actually... at home, on the range, he rarely ever puts them back. My happy go lucky boy!

On YouTube for your viewing pleasure!!! Claire Vandiver, accompanied by Serious and Ritz brave the wilds of an old Cemetery in Cassadaga Florida! Perfect for a Halloween release. The town itself is reportedly known for paranormal activity and is dubbed the "Psychic Capital of the World". The cemetery, known by locals as home to the Devils Chair, lies just on the outskirts of town. That chair... "The Devil's Chair" is subject of urban legend in and of itself. All of this unknown to me until I received a brief synopsis and did a bit of research before committing to participate. A little spooky? Yep. But by design. Being included, having my dogs included, was an honor and a unique experience. It was an opportunity to get a glimpse of the behind the scenes components that go into creating video from makeup to camera to sound. And then came the editing process as I anxiously awaited release to see if Serious and Ritz were able to deliver. I wish Claire and crew, all the best in future endeavors. Claire, with a voice that seems never to disappoint and the crew, each bringing to the table their own talents. Cassadaga joins Claire's lineup on YouTube and is available for your listening pleasure on iTunes and Spotify. In the flesh she performs locally and beyond. Check her out.

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Past Present & Future... Time For An Update!

9/22/2018

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A while back, I received a call... out of the blue from an up and coming artist. She found me online and phoned, expressing an interest to include some Dobermans or at the least a Doberman in a music video she was in the process of putting together.

Normally I probably would've shut the conversation down pretty quickly but when she started it with "this is probably going to sound kind of strange..." I was willing to listen.

We chatted on the phone for a while, then communicated back and forth some through my GMBD's facebook page. I'll have to admit while I was a bit leery at first, after speaking with her and gaining some more information, my intrigue grew. She shared a sound clip of her music intended for the video, a bit about the location and a brief synopsis of the video itself. Regarding the video, much was left and remains for the imagination but one thing was certain, Claire Vandiver has an incredible voice.

In the end, after I was assured the dogs wouldn't in any way be portrayed in a negative light, I was happy to do what I could to fulfill her request. When I asked if there was anyone in particular she'd like to include she mentioned Serious. So Serious it was, accompanied by my choice- Ritz. On the day of the shoot for which they'd be included, I loaded them up and we were on our way to Cassadaga to visit the Devils Chair!

Looking back, it was an enjoyable afternoon and absolutely a unique experience watching Claire and her crew during the process of production. And at the end of the day I was left with the hope the dogs had offered enough cooperation to provide that which was sought for the making of the video. Seems my boy Serious has ears up only for me!

I'm excited to see the finished product and feel privileged, both for the experience and for the inclusion of my pups Serious and Ritz in it's production!

Puppy Play Date

Yep, seems I've been busy!
A couple weeks after the video I had an invite to a doggy-play-date with none other than a pack of my pups and their people. Those in attendance included Echo, Rocky, and our host-pup Scrambles from Skye's Hurricane Irma Litter as well as Ryker from Getka's Valentine litter and his older sister from another mother Kaya.
Fun was had by all! The dogs remarkably well behaved and happy to enjoy one another's company.
Thanks Simone and Max for organizing the event! It was great to see everybody once again.
Pups and people!!!

Upcoming...

It's That Time Again - For The Sunshine Sieger!

Wish I could Take Them All But This Time It's Galtero Who'll Be Put Through The Paces :-)

Wish Us Luck!

And...
Last -But Certainly Not Least!

For Those On The Wait List

After what seemed to be a bit of a lull.. we've got some exciting news to share.

News of Hope Anyway

We are excited to announce we're expecting a
Fall-Winter
litter from
Remedy & Galtero

Meet Our Expectant Parents!

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National Dog Day ...

8/26/2018

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The Gang!

National Dog Day! The day we celebrate "mans best friend".
Our most loyal, loving and trusted companions. Unless they're puppies of course.... the trust thing can be a bit precarious there. The rest comes pretty natural and quickly. Trust, like love grows with time. Seems everyday is dog day around here but today a little extra special. Today we celebrated with a photo shoot and a little time spent with each dog doing whatever that dog loves best. Selecting my favorite of each from the shoot a little challenging.
Selecting a favorite from the pack. Impossible!!!
Each is my favorite and each for different reasons.

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Some Good News On The Homefront...

8/21/2018

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Just returned home from the Vet with Ritz who finally had her hip X-rays done for OFA... It will be a while before our official OFA report surfaces but per Dr McBride who consistently correctly or, erroring on the side, caution, "under" estimates quality of hip structure and anatomy -Ritz's hip's are good to excellent.
Photo at left for interest only. Not Ritz... she's much more attractive! :-)

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Cardiac... Dobermans

8/18/2018

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Well the reports are in and the dust has settled. And unfortunately one dog will be removed from my breeding program. My beautiful Skye failed her Holter exam based on an abundance of PVC's or as some would call them VPC's. While I've read reports of dogs having PVC's in the 1000's, some in the many of thousands -more than 50 in a 24 hour period is considered an abnormal number for Dobermans for purposes of screening. Some of Skye's complexes reported as PVC's were later identified to be artifact but even so with the original report of 150 beats she lies outside of the parameter of normal. With a desire to shed additional light on Skye, her reading, need for treatment, prognosis, etc. I scheduled her to be seen by a cardiologist and receive an echo which was completed yesterday at UF. Fortunately the echo results were normal. My hope of course is that it will stay that way and that an increase in PVC's will not occur over time. And only time will tell. The only recommendation now is to do another Holter in 6 months. Skye will be monitored closely for her own sake as well as for the sake of general tracking.

Bottom line, as we all know research surrounding Dobermans and their hearts is muddled. As a result research continues in earnest. There are genetic tests available but consistently provide inconsistent results proving them essentially worthless. For screening purposes Holters have been found to be fairly worthy in identifying dogs who may later develop DCM as well as helping to identify dogs who may experience sudden cardiac death due to lethal arrhythmia. And echocardiograms -the gold standard for identifying and diagnosing true DCM when it occurs.

Ritz, Remedy, Getka, Serious, and Galtero all fell within the guidelines of normal on Holter exam as did Majestic. Ritz had a blip in the middle of her report that was read as V-tach which I found alarming. But the blip and it's accuracy of interpretation was also one I questioned. The Cardiologist at UF was kind enough to provide input on the rhythm strip in question and confirmed my suspicion that the reading was incorrectly read as V-tach when in fact it was an idioventricular rhythm. While not normal, not sinus rhythm, it isn't associated with DCM. It's basically an autonomic response to a slow rate (bradycardia) where the ventricle kicks in essentially acting as a back up pacemaker. His opinion was appreciated and fell in line with my thoughts regarding future breedings for Ritz. Today he would not withhold her from a breeding program based on Holter reports. But he reminded me of what I already know... a normal echo or Holter today doesn't mean the same tests taken a year down the road will be normal. For any Doberman. It's just the sad but very real truth.

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Oh... The Things That Irritate! Data Transmission!!!

7/30/2018

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Holter update!

All was going well. The Holter unit working as expected, the dogs cooperating for the most part, and a 24 hour uninterrupted time span of vest wearing complete. Then came the transmission glitch.
I stopped just short of getting to the point of the character on the left! Historically I've never gotten quite "there" but I've been close. Fortunately my computer and the Holter monitor are still intact. But it seems the two are not communicating well together! Or maybe it's me that's not communicating with one or the other components...
More than likely that!

Friday evening, was a nightmare with frustration building every step of the way as I continued "doing" in an attempt to get a report transmitted. I began cursing my equipment and then myself for not being more technologically savvy. That didn't help at all so I went back to "doing". Now I'm thinking that may have been a mistake. After completing Skye's study, I proceeded to insert the SD card removed from the unit into the appropriate slot on my computer. Following, I finally located a file by the name of "No Name" on my system. Clicking on it opened up something called ?.dat that I assumed, based on directions provided, was the file I was supposed to transmit. Sounded simple enough. Drag the file to the drop box provided by a link from the company. And it appeared to be working -but midstream I received a transmission error report. I thought maybe it was a problem with slow connection speed or something so I decided to try again. I once again found the "No Name" file but this time clicking on it left me with an empty box... no .dat file there. Assuming I had done something wrong, I reinserted the SD card back into the Holter with intent to re-record. Just a short segment as a trial assuming, with some regret, I would have to re-do Skye once I got the mechanisms figured out. More frustration for her. And then more frustration for me when I inserted the card into the Holter and received message telling me "no card present". With that I was at the head in hands, pulling hair stage... Frustration was maxed out and I knew I was nearing the point of 1.) The character in the photo or 2.) Quitting before I got there! I opted for quit!!!

Saturday afternoon, after the blood had a chance to simmer down I inserted a new card in hopes of getting Remedy's study underway. Like Skye's, that process and the study itself seemed to flow without a hitch.

Since I've been unable to locate said data "flash.dat" since Friday anywhere on my Mac and now have reason to believe all Skye's data is likely destroyed in my fiddlings it was definitely time for Tech support. I spoke with John from Alba this morning as I held two SD cards in my hand. One with Skye's supposed reading on it that I'd fiddled around with per direction and then some. And one with Remedy's data that I had planned to upload under direct supervision while on the phone with support. Problem is they know their equipment but not every computer make, model and operating system. He confirmed others with Mac's have reported the file appearing as "No Name" and that I was in deed looking for a .dat file. After a brief discussion though and a fear that Skye's information may be gone since I've not been able to locate said "flash.dat" data since Friday and the card is no longer recognized in the Holter, it would probably be best to mail the SD cards and allow them to retrieve Remedy's recordings and hope to gain access to Skye's. I've read and re-read I was not to erase card via the computer so I was sure not to do that. And since the card wasn't recognized by the Holter the second time around it was never erased there either. So maybe, just maybe Skye's information is still there. So disappointing though when stuff doesn't work the way it's intended. I liked the idea of the digital unit over the older cassette version both for it's newer technology and option of online transmission. Having to rely now on snail mail is frustrating but a route that's been tried and is true. They're sending me enough cards to complete my studies and for now I guess snail mail it will be. Once the studies are done I'll fiddle with a dog, some short recordings and again attempt online transmission. For now I just want results. The rest nothing more than an irritant.

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Round Two.... My Sweet Remedy

7/28/2018

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Holter Monitoring And Cardiac Health...

7/27/2018

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While it's poorly understood how much heredity plays a factor in cardiac disease in general within the breed, there is an understanding that it plays a role. Unfortunately, regarding true DCM the genetic testing available thus far for Dobermans is not panning out as far as identifying dogs who will develop the disease vs those who will go on to live long healthy lives. As a result these tests, the genetic markers, are all but worthless. It has to do with variable penetrance which is complicated to understand and even more complicated for geneticists when trying to shed light on the disease. Fortunately for the breed research is ongoing and I think being taken seriously. But for now, we who love our Dobermans are basically playing Russian Roulette regarding true DCM, described by owners of dogs who are generally middle aged to older who suddenly develop a cough which all too often leads to the dreaded diagnosis of DCM. These dogs without any other prior symptoms are generally given poor prognosis even with every medication known to man thrown at them.

Regarding heart disease in the breed it seems to me, based on the many studies, articles and observations available, there are two distinct types. As a cardiac nurse of 30 years I have a fairly good grasp on the basics of cardiac health. I've also had, on occasion, the opportunity to discuss heart health pertaining to dogs, not my dogs specifically but dogs in general, with cardiologists (of humans) at work. I honestly don't see the correlation between true DCM 'ie dilated cardiomyopathy and early onset lethal arrhythmias. Generally speaking, it's fairly common for people to have electrical rhythm disturbances in otherwise healthy hearts thereby warranting either a pacemaker for those who's hearts beat dangerously low or defibrillators for those with a propensity toward ventricular tachycardia. Prior to implanting a defibrillator medications are sometimes tried depending on symptoms, or more accurately lack of symptoms, and frequency and character of those PVC's. To my knowledge there has been no talk of implantable devices for canines at this point in time. And if there were I'm sure they would be cost prohibitive for nearly all. Holter monitors though can identify dogs who, in my opinion, should be removed from breeding programs based on abnormal results assuming the trait is one that could potentially be passed to offspring. Dogs lost to "sudden death" are the dogs described as robust, happy, healthy and sometimes very young dogs who drop to their knees without warning while playing fetch with their owners. These dogs are dying from arrhythmias not DCM. Is there a genetic component to this... I'm not sure but it seems likely there would be.

After a great deal of research that's been ongoing and simmering away, I've come to the conclusion that doing yearly Holter monitoring on my breeding dogs, is a prudent decision and well worth the cost if by doing so I'm able to help to prevent the spread of Dobermans suffering from sudden death related to abnormal and lethal ventricular arrhythmias. While Holters are just a 24 hour snapshot of the electrical activity of the heart and offer no guarantees, they are the best method of attempting to identify those dogs with rhythm disturbances.

The photo of Skye above shows her tolerant and accepting of the equipment used for the study. I must confess, I had some concern I'd wake up to a dog without vest and a vest a heap on the floor but Skye did well. Not perfect but well. My sewing abilities were put to the test by one small tear at the shoulder. It seems though, on the tech end of things, on my end, there are some glitches that still need to be worked through. Skye did her part and wore the vest and monitor for the required 24 hour period. Unfortunately though I wasn't able to transmit her report online per the instructions provided by the company. And... as luck would have it the guy from tech support at Alba took the option to take Friday for a three day weekend. Hopefully, all is not lost and Monday I'll have success with transmission. The lack of my ability to transmit was very disappointing as I had planned to transmit and move right along with Holtering my next in line. Instead I continued trying to the point of total frustration. It'll be more disappointing and frustrating if I find the time and compliance afforded by Skye on Friday will have to be repeated. Hopefully her report and those of the rest of the crew will be forthcoming soon. When available they will be logged under the Pedigree and Health Docs tab for each.

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A great time to re-visit and update!

7/22/2018

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On yet another rainy day! This summer has been one of those. Rain, rain and more rain. As a friend wrote today, "I feel like I'm living in a rain forest"! That pretty well describes the scenario around here. Sounds like I'm living in a rainforest too. Sounds of nature that I love. Who knew frogs and Cicada's could create such a racket!

Now for the news. Or maybe in some respects lack of news. A couple weeks after successfully getting my most recent litter placed in homes where they're spoiled and adored I once again find myself recovered, refreshed and things back to a semblance of normal... what ever normal is.

As for lack of news, unfortunately I had a missed breeding between Getka and Serious and had the unpleasant task of placing some disappointing phone calls to those waiting for pups. The dogs sometimes have minds of their own it seems. Serious was eager enough to become a dad once again but Getka apparently not ready for motherhood. I really hate making those calls. I've been on the receiving end of one myself so understand the disappointment. As far as Serious and Getka's litter is concerned, a couple deposits were refunded, some will wait for my next litter and some will wait specifically for a pup expected from Getka next spring.

On the home front, a break between litters means I've got some additional time to complete a few more things that have been sitting on the back burner and maybe contemplate a new project or two. Painting the interior remains at the top of the to do list and I think I've finally got my colors chosen... Color is always hard for me! I know what I like when I see it but trying to replicate it from memory and available paint swatches or chips is not my forte. Had actually hoped to be finished or at least well on my way to a freshly painted interior by now but plans shifted a bit as I ended up re-vamping the well used and abused mud room/pup room. The project ran into a couple snags but the now nearly finished project is turning out fabulous! New lighting, a closet to hide the washer and hot water heater, walls that are easy to clean and a counter top with utility sink large enough to wash even the largest pups are in. It's great to have a user friendly spot to bathe and otherwise prepare pups for their ear crops and new homes. Photos of the finished project, some before and some after, will be forthcoming as soon as a few finishing touches are complete. With that project behind me I'll move into the body of the house with paint can and brush in hand. Soon.

With all the rain we've had this year and the shade created by the trees I guess the exterior could use some attention too. Pressure washing at the least.

The weather this summer when I think about it hasn't done anything around here much good. With the exception of the grass and pasture of course. Those have improved immensely. My newly acquired dog houses highlighted a couple posts ago though have suffered. But honestly, I'm not surprised. I guess I wasn't expecting much from them. While they looked pretty good from a distance sitting in the back of my truck, the craftsmanship simply isn't there. I knew it when I purchased them and they served their purpose. The one I built shortly after moving here eight years ago, on the other hand, I'm proud to say is still holding strong. Even after surviving, unscathed, hurricane Irma! My momma taught me well! Even so, I've decided to switch gears on shelter plans. Tractor Supply had a great deal on the Petmate Indigo's so I picked up a couple of those. They've always intrigued me. The dogs seem to like them, they have great reviews, they're essentially maintenance free and seem sturdy. And again, ready now. That part I especially like. Hopefully their longevity will pan out.

As far as the dogs themselves go, things have settled down greatly. I'm still keeping the girls separate for the most part and the half doors have helped tremendously to that end. I think, at least for the dogs, they were the most needed and appreciated improvement here. Majestic, along with a C-section to deliver her last litter received her spay concurrently and I'm hoping a decrease in raging hormones, even if slight will continue the trend toward regaining harmony within the pack. At least we're on the right track.

A continuation of the to do list includes creating Galtero's page and updating the puppy pages of past with a slew of photos sent to me or that I've collected from the various litter pages etc. There are many!

But for now, a slide show of my most recent accomplishment and the one I'm most passionate about. Another beautiful, well socialized, happy healthy Doberman litter. Majestic's last. What an incredibly good mom she's been! And from her, she has brought happiness to many. Her position now- Queen of our castle. I'm more than happy to give her that and accept title of master of castle for myself.

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Pests...

6/24/2018

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I've been wondering why the dogs have been digging holes, sometimes frantically, out in the middle of nowhere seemingly in trails or paths. Today my suspicion of them tracking moles was confirmed. Majestic carried one in ever so quietly that I didn't notice. Next trip in the kitchen I looked, wondering what the heck was on the just mopped floor. A closer inspection revealed a wet, still intact but very dead mole. Jess and Galtero had been out together so at the time of discovery I didn't know who was the catcher but Jess told on herself. When I went to get a sweeper to remove the carcass I came back to, you guessed it, no carcass. One look at Jess holding it gently in her mouth pretty much told me. Some things we just don't photograph though. Still live armadillos in the mouth of a dog is one thing (thanks for that one Serious). Respect for the deceased another. Hopefully the pests will have a pow wow and move on to neighboring properties. For reasons not needing mention.

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