Litter Plans

As Cookie (GaiAlmas Pippilotta) is a very special girl, a fawn out of harlequin breeding, I wanted to choose a very special male for her second and last litter. After a long search I decided to import the frozen semen of Dal’z Lord Fred from far far away: Australia. Because even if he is a Norwegian male, his last semen was only available down under. Fred is a beautiful brindle male who lived 9+ years. He has A-hips and is Norwegian and Swedish Champion plus Norwegian Winner 2011.

For me it was important to find a male who does not have the popular sires of the last 20-30 years in his pedigree, which dominate the current fawn/brindle family in Scandinavia (and were also used a lot in many other countries) and thus decreased the gene pool immensely. I wanted to go back in time and revive old Scandinavian lines, like Hotpoint’s (Norway), Airways (Sweden) and Helisain (Finland). Through his Airways-Harmony Hill-Gilbert’s-Dinro-Brae Tarn lineage he even goes back directly to the famous von Loheland lines several times (see my book about this kennel). And I think you can see it in his classic look, which I love. Also Cookie is a very correct and elegant girl in the classic dane type.

As Cookie carries less than 12,5% fawn/brindle blood she is almost totally unrelated to Fred, they actually share only one common ancestor in 8 generations (510 ancestors). This is very rare and shows, that this combination with a COI (Coefficient of Inbreeding) of 0,00% and ALC (Ancestor Loss Coefficient) of 89,68% is a very wide outcross. This increases the chance for healthy, vital offspring with a sound temperament. Cookie has A-hips and elbows without any signs of dysplasia. Her heart has been checked again shortly before the mating with EKG and ultrasound (31.01.2025) and is completely healthy, as was the heart of her parents and grandparents, who mostly reached a high age. Also many of her ancestors in earlier generations had been heart screened. Fred does not have a heart check, as this was not mandatory (and still isn’t) in Norway and very uncommon 20 years ago. But as he lived more than 9 years the risk that he had an inherited heart disease is very low.
Fred has only produced 3 litters with altogether 24 puppies (two litters in Norway, one in Australia) and I talked to all the 3 breeders who used him. They were all very happy with the offspring they got and did not mention any problems with severe diseases.

Combining all these factors I am hoping for healthy puppies in fawn and brindle in the beginning of May. All this would not be possible without the help of Cookie’s Co-Owner Alex, who supports me immensely and who I cannot thank enough for his efforts!