Hello There

[silverdog]

Hi all,

I've been following all of your posts for sometime now after stumbling onto you while searching the web and I thought it was about time to join.  My name is Terri and I am the very happy mother of a silver standard poodle, australian shepherd, and two retired racing greyhounds.

The SP is actually my partner's and she co-owns her with her mother but since we live together and more times than not Ricky can be found warming my lap, I've decided to lay claim to her.

Julie owns Alemir Poodles and I am her web designer.  I'm not the best at it so please let me know if you have any helpful hints! 

Right now I am commuting about three hours each way into Washington DC to work which doesn't leave a ot of time for puppy play but I'm hoping to change that soon. 

Which reminds me.... I shoudl probably get back to work!

[silverdog]

LOL I'm learning how to post pics to my signatures.....  hmmm not too hard if I do say so!
The first picture is of our little show female Bree when she was only about 5 months old and the second is my Ricky mid jump during a flyball tournament!

[zefi]

Hello and welcome to the PR!!! Nice to see you. I looked at your partners website. Nice dogs, and I must say, I like her fostering idea... You just cant keep all the puppies. And I dont want to breed many litters either... so its a nice idea to enable you to keep breeding for better dogs yet not having to keep too many and them miss out on special homes.

[silverdog]

Thank you for the compliments!  The website is my baby right now and Julie (Alena's -my partner- mom and owner of the dogs) is having a blast showing the dogs.  She just called to say Bree and her litter mate Guido had a very successful show this morning!  But I guess I'll have to add that to the Brag page!  

I also think the fostering idea is a good one.  I know some people don't agree with it, they believe in owning only as many dogs as you can home with you, but I think this is working out very nicely.  They are all housed close to her and she is in constant contact with the families. And everyone is spoiled rotten! 

[zefi]

Its a touchy subject. There's a lady I know who does something similar but not at all the same - she hasnt got a good reputation and is called a miller by some because she breeds a lot of litter. However, unlike a miller, she doesnt have a million dogs living in her home, she has them all out in 'foster' homes.

These are my thoughts: isnt it better that each dog is in a special home where its often the only much loved pet of someone, rather than her keeping each and every dog and them living in cages just so she can breed them? For sure. So, even if she IS a miller she's way better than that cause each dog is loved and cared for and each litter is raised in a home (she doesnt take the bitch back to raise the pups, the owners raise them, she sells the pups and gets a cut since she provides stud dogs).

So no matter what people think of her and her methods I do think the dogs get a way better deal out of the arrangement.

Likewise, with your partner, if she was to keep every potential showdog from each litter she would soon have too many dogs to care for and love individually. They wouldnt get what they deserved. Its much better this way.