Canton Pomeranians

Canton Pomeranians has been in the show scene is the Philippines since 1977 and I had my share of wins…many big wins locally. I have sent dog overseas and many of these dogs have distinguished themselves around the world in 5 continents with championship and grandchampionship titles in their new homeland. One in Australia became a grand champion and even top toy for the year. But for me, the biggest challenge is making a name for myself in the US where competition is the toughest.

Veterinarians are people that we need to look up to, having undergone rigid training in animal health and like the human doctor, must be someone that we can trust. Not only do we expect them to give professional advice, but we also expect them to be concerned about how about the human side when it is about the health of our beloved dogs; ie, feelings of the dog owner. I say it is a sad day for veterinarians because this encounter illustrates my disappointment in one of them. I have no desire to put down or embarrass anyone. I rather be focused on issues rather than on the person. As such, I will refrain from giving the names of the customer, veterinarian and vet clinic concerned…but if I am asked privately, I will not hesitate to divulge their identity. So, here is the story.

Decades ago, there was this beautiful champion cream Pomeranian from Canada, so beautiful that I thought he was beyond compare. He was bred to a black and tan champion bitch producing a beautiful sable pup named A_ who could not be shown because he had a blue marbled speckled eye and a weak rear. He was sold to a hobby pet breeder who allowed him to be bred at public stud and at the same time his breeder was given stud rights, thereby producing several champions. Two generations after, an A grandson became the Number 1 Pomeranian and Number 1 All Breed Dog in the Philippines for 2 consecutive years. Three generations after A, from another branch of his breeding, his great great grandson M would become a famous international dog siring an APC BIS Nationals Winner. By this time, the bloodline of A has been spread out in most of the continents of the world. I liked the sire of A so much that I did a swap deal with the owner of A where I got a bitch puppy sired by my Canton stud bred to a bitch he owned - the bitch was a daughter of A bred to his half paternal sister. I have consciously kept this breeding apart from the rest of my stuff because of “ the dirty blood”…but really these are really silly prejudices as I will explain later.

The following Blog 59 was originally published on December 21, 2011. It was unpublished a few days later after I got a call for the Starfire people who expressed their displeasure. Trying to cope with their sensitivities, I volunteered to have it unpublished. I have gagged myself wasting the opportunity of sharing my thoughts with my blog readers who could very well learn in the process. I have regretted this, and so now, I am republishing it.

It is again Christmas- time and this is a good opportunity to reflect on what has transpired over this year and to reach out for the new year ahead. As we do this, I cannot help but remember what I once heard: “...Give honor to those who have been ahead of us, Celebrate with our contemporaries, And encourage those that come after us. “

When your Pomeranian approach the breeding age, you start thinking about being a breeder. Since I am promoting quality breeding, I will omit pet breeding; ie, breeding without any objective in improving on the puppies. I will focus on upgrading the quality of your puppies whether the female pom that you have is of superior stock or not so superior.

When I talk to some breeders, whether they be breeders of Pomeranians or other breeds, I am totally shocked to hear some of their responses. And so, I thought of writing this blog to talk about breeding basics....the very basic basic...starting with acquiring your first puppy. This may be too basic for some, but hopefully, this would be helpful to at least some

Crabbing is a side-winding movement of a dog...moving in a diagonal path; moving like a crab. Without intervention, the dog cannot move in a straight line but rather in a diagonal path. The professional handler will pull the dog forcing him to move in a straight line. In turn, the dog will try to pull away from the handler in order to do his natural gait. Another way that a professional handler will try to hide this fault is by not walking in a straight line hoping that the judge will not notice.

The following was published by the Pomeranian Review, the official magazine of the American Pomeranian Club. I delayed in putting this in my blog so that it will not affect the said circulation of the magazine.

On March 3, 2011, Bravestar passed away. Autopsy report says death was due to heart failure. Dr Raymundo Lo, my dog-friend and the same time a top human pathologist cannot a give a more detailed explanation on the generic cause of heart failure. It cannot be concluded that this is genetic.