Exactly a year ago, while driving to Sydney Royal, Jacq asked me if I had decided on any plans for Liina.
I had not. So she floated the idea of Peikkovuoren Mozart. Of course, I jumped at the idea! I had the pleasure of seeing him in the flesh during our trip to Finland in 2018 and have really liked much of what he has produced. He turns 12 years old in a couple of days (13 April) and was still being shown up until the end of last year (photo taken October 2022 at 11.5 years old).
The decision was made this would be a joint litter, marking the beginning of a breeding partnership. A prefix had to be decided upon and we engaged the services of Fetch Creative to design our logo. And so AETØZEE was born.
Once all the 'house keeping' bits were in place it was the waiting game for Liina to come into season...and she was not in a hurry! Eventually, in January, she came in (while Jacq was managing another litter of puppies), so over she flew so we could use the services of Monash Veterinary Practice.
The 28-day ultrasound confirmed pregnancy, but it looked like only on she was only having 2 maybe 3 puppies. I wasn't totally surprised by this: maiden girl, had travelled interstate for the AI, not great quality semen. But I was hoping for three rather than two simply to reduce the chances of big puppies and labour complications. So on Friday night when the x-ray image came up on the screen, I exclaimed, "That's more than two!". Six puppies clearly presented themselves.
After a long 24 hours of Stage One labour, Liina did exactly what she was meant to do, going into Stage Two at 7.30am on Day 63. Pretty much a year to the day since Jacq floated the idea. And Liina wasn't done with the surprises, producing six girls, including a brown & tan. It was a lovely straightforward delivery despite their birth weights (an average of 369gm).
So we present the AETØZEE Drag Race Litter:
Their temporary names are all types of beans, in honour of their father (Papu is Finnish for Bean) and Liina's nickname 'Liina Bean':
Jelly (pink)
Pinto (orange)
Coffee (purple)
Cocoa (black)
Cannellini (blue)
Butter (yellow)
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