Suwannee Cockers
The Place for Natural Merles and Sables
SunCatcher's Lil Darlin
We never intended to buy a solid Buff girl, but once we saw this little bundle of Buff, at ten weeks old, we just had to have her. And she gave us two beautiful litters of puppies before she went to live with her new family in Deltona, Florida, and we did keep three of her puppies here with us to breed--all Merles--a blue Sable and white male named ZuZu, now retired from breeding; a blue Sable-Merle and white male named Zecchino, who we do intend to breed in 2007; and solid Sable-Merle girl named Zelda who is also now retired from breeding.
We don't have very many pictures of Darlin when she was a young puppy because our old K-1000 manual camera broke at about that time, but this is a picture of Darlin caught when she was running, at about five months old. And when we think of Darlin, we always think of her as running, as we have never seen a Cocker that loves to run as much as this girl does.
Darlin was an enigma to us because she seems so beutiful and fragile looking, yet as a young dog she was incredibly athletic and energetic outdoors, and she loved to run in the woods, chasing small animals, totally impervious to the weather. Yet indoors she was the ultimate couch potato, and she loved to be hugged and petted, and she especially loved to have her stomach rubbed.
We called our Lil Darlin our Lil Speed Demon! And we learned that we had to keep her on a leash, even out here in the country, just walking her from the house to the dog yards, or she would take off chasing anything that she could chase, so the hunting instinct is very strong in this girl.
When Darlin was about seven months old we moved to our new property with two other young Cocker girls, and although the other two girls grew quite fast, our little speed demon was a very slow grower, and for awhile we thought that she was going to be too small to breed. But we had hopes for her, as she was such a lovely silvery Buff color, and she had such a sweet nature. But she puzzled us, as her color would change from a true silvery Buff, as in this picture, to more of a cream Buff color, and we have since learned that some Buff Cockers do periodically change colors from light to dark and back again, and that these color changes are temperature sensitive. And when we first got Darlin, her nose seemed very black, but even her nose would change color, looking more brown at times, as did her eyerims, and this color change is called a "Winter nose." We knew that her sire had thrown some chocolate puppies, so we had hopes that Darlin was either a chocolate, or carrying chocolate, and Darlin does have some chocolate grandpups now.
Darlin is shown here in her darker phase, at about ten months old.
Coat length and thickness in unspayed female dogs are often influenced by the dog's hormone cycle, and Darlin exhibited a sport coat in her first three years. Here she is shown at about a year old, still with her top knot because we had just gone through a very cold Winter--the coldest Winter on record here in Northcentral Florida in 100 years; and we were without any running water for about four months, as our well went dry and we kept hoping that it would come back with the Winter rains. But we finally had to drill a new 70 foot deep well, and our first hot shower was wonderful! But we let our dogs' hair grow all of that Winter, as we figured that every bit of insulation helped to keep them warm. But we were really surprised at Darlin's sport coat, as both of her parents had heavy coats. However, we later found out that a sport coat in Cockers is recessive, and Darlin threw some very heavily coated puppies, especially her black puppies.
This is another picture of Darlin at close to a year old, showing off her big dark eyes.
By her second Winter Darlin had such a pretty silvery top knot we were still loathe to cut it, so we were still keeping it long.
But when we finally did clip Darlin, she revealed her 50's style, classic Cocker head.
Darlin lived with us for about three years, and she had two litters here. Here she is shown as an almost three year old, just a few days away from giving birth to her second litter. And unless it is really cold weather, we will clip most of the hair from our whelping and nursing dams, as it is much easier to keep both them and the pups cleaner that way.
Darlin was an excellent MaMa dog, and she had seven puppies in her second litter: one solid black, one chocolate Sable, three parti Merles, and two black and whites. We bred Darlin both times to our Sable-Merle and white boy named Max, but she never had any Buff puppies, as Max doesn't carry a Buff gene. However, the puppies that we kept from her are carrying Buff, and if bred to a Buff dog, or to another dog carrying Buff, then the Buff color will show up again.
A domestic dog's involvement with her puppies is limited to whelping and nursing, and by the time that the puppies are eight to ten weeks old, the MaMa dog often prefers a gate between she and any puppies! We keep our girls clipped through the whelping and nursing stages, as it is just easier to keep everyone clean without all of that hair in the way. Plus when the dogs are clipped we can see their beautiful shape and their muscles.
During her last days with us Darlin often hung out with her blue Merle and white son--our ZuZu--a dog that we kept from Darlin's first litter.
We place our breeding girls while they are still somewhat young, and Darlin was retired from breeding after only two litters, at three years old. We searched for almost a year for the perfect home for her, and after she was spayed she left here one cool Spring day to go live with her new family down in Deltona, Florida. She surprised us by seeming quite happy to go--it seemed as if she knew what was waiting for her--and she left in a nice new crate, with a big pink stuffed animal, and a new bright pink collar--our "Pretty in Pink" girl.
In the picture above Darlin is shown sleeping in the crate on the way home, and we do believe in crating dogs in a car, for everyone's safety, as we once had an Afghan Hound jump from the back seat of a Volkswagon Bug onto our head and shoulders while we were driving, causing the writer to swerve into a wire pasture fence, after the dog was stung by a bee that had flown into the car. Fortunately we were driving down a country lane with no other traffic, and an electrical crew that saw the accident helped get the small car pulled from the fence and even helped straighten out the crunched fender so that we could get back on the road. But now all dogs ride in a crate in our car.
And meanwhile, down in Deltona waiting for Darlin, was a chocolate and white Cocker boy named Hershey.
But at first Darlin wasn't too sure about meeting this big new Cocker boy. Here the two dogs are meeting out in the new dog yard that wasn't quite finished yet.
But Darlin has never met a Cocker boy that she didn't like. And although Darlin is a rather small Cocker, she was our Alpha female here, and she managed to get along with every dog that we had here quite well, as she has a quiet but steady temperament. And she is pretty smart too!
But it didn't take long for Darlin to decide that she liked Hershey just fine!
And pretty soon Hershey had Darlin playing like a puppy.
From the glowing reports from Darlin's owners, it seems that she has made a successful transition from a very rural breeding kennel into a suburban home. But it is not always easy for an older dog to make this transition, especially a breeding dog, as the way of life is so different. Thus we do make a huge effort to socialize and house train all of our dogs, so that they will be acceptable in their new homes once they are retired. But because we must protect our breeding dogs from the various diseases that are out there, we do limit their contact with the outside world, so everything is new to them when they leave here, and it takes a special family to take a chance on an older dog. But the advantages are of course knowing what the dog will look like when it is grown, and also not having to deal with all of the growing pains involved with raising a very young puppy.
And of course the older dog must adjust to not only new animals, but to new people. But we understand that Darlin has become a loving member of her family. Of course a scratch on the ear always helps.
But what a differce eight months make! Darlin's coat has really grown out since she has gone to her new home, and now that she is spayed she should keep her coat throughout the year. Here she and Hershey are playing out around the pool.
Darlin will always have a place in our hearts, and we are just thrilled when we get pictures of our former dogs living happily in their new homes.
But it looks as if Darlin still loves to run!
We still love you, you beautiful girl, and we see reflections of you in your offspring every day, and your daughter, "Zippy Zelda," isn't called Zippy for nothing.
To see Darlin's pedigree, please go to Darlin's pedigree page.
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