Missing Peyton

There is more than one side to every story, but I'm going to tell my side of this story. There are abundant details that I will recount if requested, but here is the story of Peyton. River's last litter, the one he sired just 7 weeks before he tragically got killed by a car, was with Brian Riggio and Lynn Riggio,'s GCh Elkhorn Jack's Misdemeanor , "Misty." I had her at my house for a few weeks while we bred her. She was a sweet girl, very attached to her Dad, but once he left, she eventually attached herself to me. She had 8 puppies from that breeding, 7 girls and 1 lone boy.
We forced ourselves to go evaluate the litter, as River had just passed away that week. We went through all the puppies along with Michelle Millette, Coppers T Gage and Shawna Wullenwaber. It was hard to evaluate them in front of the great Michelle (she has been breeding dogs for her whole life with her parents, who bred some beautiful Brittanys and even wrote a book about the breed). I learned many things from Michelle that day. Michelle was to get the boy. She took him happily home that day and we took home Lilly, the pick bitch. Brian and Lynn kept Brooke. The rest were settled nicely into other show/pet homes. Michelle's boy was eventually named Peyton.
We didn't get to see many photos of him or hear much about him, but looked forward to seeing him in the ring someday and seeing what he produced in his future breedings in Michelle's kennel. When the pup was about 4-5 months old, on August 21, she posted on Misty's page that Peyton was attacked by her older dogs. They tried to kill him. She later messaged Lynn saying that he had bit her in the incident and this wasn't the first time she had been bitten by him. She later mentioned that he responded to being corrected by attacking her. This is horrible that anyone would ever get bitten by a Brittany. If you have ever been around them, you must know that there had to be a reason. I didn't learn of any of this until Nationals, the week before Thanksgiving. I talked to Michelle while I was there. She told me her side of the story. Told me that she didn't really like how he was turning out and was going to try some obedience and get his temperment in shape if possible and then re-home him. I got right on the phone with Brian, encouraged him to offer to take the dog back. First Option Back is what he was claiming. In the dog show world, among reputable breeders, we always ask to be the first ones to be offered a dog back if it isn't working for you. We never want our dogs to turn up in a shelter. We are a safe place and will re-home the dog ourselves. She agreed to this pretty easily, but then another fight occurred and she got bitten again. She demanded her purchase price back for the dog and a release of liability and sounded very ready to put the dog down immediately. Oh, but then he was put on quarantine. Negotiations occurred and it was agreed upon for Brian to buy the dog back and sign this release (against all normal contract stipulations), he would go up with his son in law tomorrow. The quarantine ended yesterday. Peyton was put down yesterday by Michelle Millette. He was eight months old. He only ever knew the life of a kennel and this person who he knew as "his" person. My heart is grieved. I am so so sorry Peyton, you deserved more. We tried so hard to save you and try to give you a second chance at being happy and not scared for your life.

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2015 National Specialty

We went to the American Brittany Nationals this last week. Mom is still on her way home, driving the dogs bless her heart! I love this event for so many reasons, but mostly for getting to show dogs and enjoying the people there. We went with four of our dogs, three out of our River (two we bred ourselves) and one out of his sister, Mimi. I feel like when you go to this event, you take the dogs that will both handle the trip and the show the best and the ones that are just your best. We have only the best memories of taking River back there, I had the time of my life last year showing him in Best of Breed. This year I got to show his kids. This made me miss him greatly again as I LOVE his kids and as I always knew he'd be a great producer, and I just wish we could make more of his lovely offspring to share. In true Riv-fashion, they bounced around the ring, landed four square on the ground in their self-stacks and were beautiful.

His daughter Lilly, out of GCh Elkhorn Jack's Misdemeanor​ (Misty), obviously did the best. This was her first show at 8 months. Kristina Rickard​ and I co-own her. Kristina was gracious to offer to co-own Lilly with us as she had the pick pup out of the litter. We weren't planning on getting a puppy out of this litter, but then he passed away so suddenly and we had to go evaluate this last litter a week after his death. We evaluated all of those puppies and little Lilly was the final one. I don't think we took any notes on her as she just took our breath away. She was stunning, absolutely perfect, couldn't fault her. We took her home:) Here she is in the few photos we have from the show so far

Winners Bitch, Best of Winners and Best Puppy at the 2015 American Brittany Club Nationals, Copper Caliah's Dream Hi River Lilly

Seriously?! Little Lilly?! BOW from the 6-9 Puppy bitch class

We took two of our own, one Bred-By dog and one bitch. Rose Leale also brought along one little pup from our second litter, Eden, AKA, cutest, sweetest little girl ever! Eden showed in the 9-12 puppy bitch class and I need to get a photo from her. Moses and Penny are both co-owned with us by marvelous owners. David Webb, owner of Penny Blossom came along for his first Nationals experience. Here is Penny and Moses, both 13 months in photos, 15 months when at the show. Penny got 3rd place in the Bred by Exhibitor class and Moses won his Bred by Dog class

Caliah's Boulder Creek Falls

Eden, Caliah Jenvy's Lake of Eden

Caliah's Lottus Blossom Falls

Cricket was our last one. She is out of the lovely Mimi and Chance. She is lovely, field pointed and we love her! She placed 3rd in her sweeps class and 4th in the regular classes.

Copley Caliah's Up A Crick

 Lilly also won the exceptional Puppy Match on Thursday evening. She amazed me, never having been in the ring, she was such a trooper!

We met so many new friends this weekend and enjoyed every minute of hard work that is entailed in pulling a group together for a multiple day event like this. We came home very proud of each and every class placement as the competition was incredible. We've never been so successful at a Nationals event and it was a blast. It truly felt amazing though to feel so supported in the win by our fellow competitors.