Libby Update

I received this testimonial about Libby. This is what makes me feel so good about being a breeder, making people happy. :)

"I cannot thank you enough for our wonderful girl “Libby”. As a client who has recently adopted one of your retiring dogs, I cannot thank you enough, nor can I praise you enough. Having an 8 month old Cairn terrier, we felt, that finding the right brother or sister was going to be tricky. Your guidance when we asked about an older dog helped us find our perfect little girl and our family has been completed by her. This was the perfect match. We love her just as much as if we had raised her from a puppy and cannot imagine life without her now. She and Chewie love each other too and it has been a really wonderful thing for our lives.

I want to commend you for doing such an amazing job raising her these past three years. Your care for your dogs shows and it has helped her transition into our household easily. She’s been a dream for potty-training and her socialization has been great. She’s friendly with our neighbors and their dogs and has adjusted to life in the house very easily.

I wish you continued success as a breeder – you are outstanding and your love and knowledge of this breed is unsurpassed. It means a great deal to me that you care so much about these dogs, their health, their socialization, and are interested in finding the right homes for them.

Thank you.
Mia Stark
Grayslake, IL"

Bentley and Color Genetics

Color genetics have always intrigued me in horses. I owned a grullo gelding with the brindle gene. In horses, the brindle gene is so rare, there aren't enough horses in existence to trace the genetic marker. My favorite color is the grullo, a mousy color that is genetically a black horse with dun factor (dorsal stripe, leg barring, wither bar, tipped ears). They are of course the rarest color and very difficult to find. This intrigue about color genetics carries over to the Cairn, since color is the biggest unknown factor in the breed. From my own experience, I understand the brindle gene in the breed and they either have it or they don't. The brindle can vary from a very light color with only a few stripes in the undercoat, to a very dark color with lots of stripes and a very dark top coat. Bentley however, is a mystery. He is the only Cairn known to be his color of mahogany red with black points. He has not changed in color other than he's getting a few gray hairs with age. He produces about 97% brindle puppies, so he must have the brindle gene even though he does not have apparent striping in the undercoat. This is probably because his undercoat is too dark to see the striping. Canine color genetics is not yet fully developed, but they are working on the fawn & brindle genes as seen in the boxer breed. They can currently test for the black mask and I believe they can test for the brindle gene in the Cairn Terrier. Bentley is going to participate as a research dog and they will evaluate his color genetics. They may not have testing currently available to assess what he truly is genetically, but I hope he can be of value to their research. Isn't that just the coolest thing!!!?? :)