Mountain Run Puppy Watch
Octobe 1998
In the last fourteen months, we�ve lost two fox terrier members of our family. Nutie was almost fifteen when she died in August of 1997. Dugan was only eight when he lost his battle with lymphosarcoma in September of this year.
We spent the weekend before his death at an obedience trial. Dugan, still in remission and feeling fine, was entered in Veterans� Class. He easily took first place both days and won High in Trial for Non-Regular Class dogs both days. Jennie, Jagger, and Bear also did well, with a first place in Novice for Jennie, a fourth place for Jagger in Open, and an Open title completion for Bear. So we spent much time that weekend at the trophy table, where we made a new friend in one of the trophy table workers..
Meeting Esther seems proof that it is not a random universe. She was happy to hear that a smooth fox terrier was doing so well at the trial because she breeds and shows smooth fox in conformation, obedience, and agility. In fact, she put a Utility title on her smooth fox Abby! She told us she didn�t breed regularly but did have three litters planned for this fall. We enjoyed talking to her over the weekend, and when we parted company, we told her we hoped we wouldn�t be looking for a new obedience fox terrier any time soon but wanted her address and phone number for the future.
Two days after we returned from that weekend, Dugan lost his second remission from his aggressive cancer. Further chemotherapy offered us no hope of a �durable remission,� and by the following weekend, we had lost him. .
In the sad wake of this loss, we contacted Esther, who told us about one of the litters due this fall. The dam, Sprite, is the granddaughter of her UD dog, Abby. The sire, Bubba, is the son of Mason, who was working on his CDX when he was tragically killed in an accident. Esther graciously offered to let us have the �pick puppy� from this litter if the litter produced a dog we would want. .
Two weeks later we were able to meet Sprite in person (in dog?) at Wine Country--pregnant with her litter. Sprite enjoys earth dog work and--believe it or not--lure coursing! She seems to have the kind of temperament we�re looking for, feisty but sweet. We also saw photos of Bubba, a real beauty!
We went home and prayed for boys, Jennie being what she is (a warrior princess, to put it in polite terms!)..
On October 17, Sprite gave birth to FIVE boys! Four are brown and whites, and the other is a black and white. Latest word has it that the black and white is �simply smashing� so far! (He�s already got extra points just for being a black and white.).
With some help from our fearless leader at the Rotty Den, we�ll be temperament testing the litter in about five weeks, looking for that right obedience/agility and maybe even conformation prospect..
Stay tuned for Puppy Watch Updates as they become available!!.
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