Back to "Dogs of my own " Contents Back to Home                                                                 Angels from father to sons In France, the breeders can't choose the letter of a dog's litter ; all dogs born into a year must receive a name that begins by the same letter, and this letter is given by the French Dog-Organization - alphabetically, excepted a few letters, scarcely used in French, so after my V-litter in 2004, I knew that in 2005 my litter would be an A-litter. In 2006 the letter is B, next year it will be C, and so on. So I was waiting for my A-litter. Of course, we can never know exactly when the births happen. I was expecting it in the middle of last September. I've been informed of the imminence of the delivery by my second male, Gidan - Gidan is of this kind of guy who always knows everything, and he knows everything because he dabbles in everything. So I could be near the mother to see every birth. When I returned the newborn pup and saw that he was a male, I thought immediately : "That is Andeo". A little later, while the bitch was quiet and the following birth didn't seem imminent, I went to another room to look at the dictionary and be sure of the spelling - d of Andeo is a Croatian special letter that doesn't exist in French, so it became a simple d. Then I saw near this word another that pleased me too : Andelko (with the same special d). And I thought that finally, it could be Andelko instead of Andeo, Andeo or Andelko, but just after I thought that perhaps it would be Andeo and Andelko. When the second male was just born, I noticed that he was bigger, but I didn't think at all of a name for him. When the third and last male arrived, I pointed that he was the smallest, without thinking of any name for him. A few hours later, I was searching to name each pup. So the first born pup was already called Andeo. I remembered the word Arslan, naturally it was suiting to the biggest, and without thinking anymore, I name the last born pup Andelko. As some already know, both Andeo and Andelko mean Angel - common noun and corresponding first name. So I often call my A-litter "the Angel litter". Using the French word that means Angel wasn't really one of my habits. But when I wrote "Fango of mine", I translated my usual French words by "is an angel", and then the word "angel" became joined to Fango. Only later I realized that my two Angels were simply like their father : Angels from father to sons. Today the pups are exactly 6 months old. For already a long time, I noticed how Andeo and Andelko were reminding so much of Fango - who was not yet associated to the word "Angel". In the opposite, during a long time the small Arslan was reminding very much of his mother - but with more class, it can't be denied that his mother has some qualities, but it can't be denied too that she has no class at all. I named Arslan the biggest pup, but a few days before they were 1 month, the 3 pups had about the same weight - about 1500 g, while Arslan was born with about 235 g, Andeo 215 g and Andelko 200 g. Then, day after day, week after week, month after month, the two Angels became more and more bigger than Arslan. When I began to measure height, the pups were 5 weeks, and Arslan were 3 cm minus Andeo and 1 cm minus Andelko. Now they are 6 months, and Arslan is about 40,5 cm and 8,1 kg, while Andeo is about 43,5 cm and 8,7 kg, and Andelko about 43,5 cm and 9,5 kg : Andelko  was born the smallest but became quickly the biggest ! (In my previous litter, the only male was about 42 cm and 8,4 kg when he was 6 months). But I am anxious to know how high they will be when they are fully-grown : I wouldn't be surprised at all that Arslan would be as high as the others, even more, if he grows during a longer time than his brothers. For the time being, Artslan begins to get bigger and not to remind of his mother as he did before. Andelko is more elongated than Fango, while Andeo is more like his father, but they are only 6 months and they can change a lot. The difference between the two Angels and their father, and Arslan and his mother, can be noticed in their personalities. All are quiet and not overactive, but Arslan is more acting and moving, and he would easily bark in dominating attitude if I would agree, but I don't ...  The two Angels, like Fango, seems to save their energy for situations that really interest them. Their whole personalities remind me of their father very much - and their head expression ... And precisely that is the main problem for me. Pups like children were born to leave home one day ... For the moment, I still don't search any owner, but when they are older, I will have to do. I would like to know how their morphology will be when they are fully-grown, especially their heights. Height is always a chief problem, because no one can know how high will be a dog till he has nearly ended his growth. In France, judges have to respect the standards - and the standard dated 1969 gives a few eliminating defects for the Croatian Sheepdog, among them we can find height below 40 cm or above 50 cm ; in France, we admit how it is difficult to get good precision in height measurement, so judges must accept + or - 1 cm : that is to say that a judge can't refuse the exam for breeding if he measure a Croatian Sheepdog between 39 cm and 40 cm or between 50cm and 51 cm. But we know how much dogs are taller than 50 cm and even 51 cm in this breed ! So I prefer be careful. I still must wait a few months to know how high my two Angels and Arslan will be, and as I already said, I am not sure at all that Arslan will still be the smallest. But now they are only 6 months, and it is no time to think of such things ! 15/03/06 Isabelle Coquinot Back to "Dogs of my own" Contents Back to Home