Anyone in South TX interested in 1/2 St. Bernard pups?

Kyonarai · **Posted:** Sun Sep 11, 2011 5:06 pm

They are half Saint and half Black mouth cur.

My friend had a young BMC bitch dropped off in her yard by one of her dad's ex girlfriends. The ex claimed that she was spayed and would be back for her. Apparently the ex found her wandering around a neighborhood. She was extremely timid when they found her.

About a month later, the cur went into heat. My friend has like 10 acres with a pond, so the cur was outside most of the time and so she didn't realize that the cur had went into heat till it was far too late. The only intact male on the property was her young saint bernard whom she is waiting to neuter until he's a year and a half(delayed neutering in giant breeds helps ensure that the growth plates on their joints close fully and therefor helps to prevent or minimize hip/elbow displasia). She is very responsible with her animals, and if she had known that the Cur was still intact the two would have never been around each other unsupervised.

By the time she realized the Cur was pregnant, it was too late for an emergency spay. Or at least in our eyes it was, as it would essentially entail killing puppies that were already partially developed. My friend was freaking out though about what to do with them, as she already had 3 older fosters and a pup she was bottle feeding, so I offered to take the mama and care for her and the puppies until they all find homes, and then have her spayed(for real this time! >.<) and find her a home as well.

She whelped last Monday(August 29th), and gave birth to 13 puppies! *Runs around screaming thinking about how big half saint puppies are going to be in 7 weeks* They will likely be pretty big dogs, as the daddy is 110lbs(and still growing!) and mama is prolly 40lbsish. So on the small end, large lab size, and on the bigger end, Rottie or possibly even small saint sized. Daddy is a pet quality saint, and doesn't have the correct head or jowls for the breed, so the pups arn't gonna be big droolers and wont be super bulky either.

Mama is sweet, loyal, smart, and very protective of the yard(typical black mouth cur temperament). Daddy is mellow and a total sweetheart with all baby things. He helps my friend raise her orphaned foster puppies/kittens from the shelter.

All of the puppies are varying shades of brown/tan with rich black masks. Most of them have a snip of white on their noses and a few have thin blazes as well. A few have white paws/chests/tail tips in varying degrees, depending on the pup.

Right now, I'm just hoping to use every means necessary to get these guys networked and out in the open for potential puppy adopters to see, and trying not to think about what my food bill is going to be with 13 puppies, one mama dog, and two full grown saint bernards of my own in this house. Actually, my show boy isn't full grown yet, but he's on a diet due to pano(basically growing pains), so he's not eating as much right now, lol.

So if anyone is interested, or knows someone who might be, please send me a message! I am an amateur dog trainer(hoping to attend a technical school after I've had this baby(5 months pregnant atm) to get my certification), so the pups will be taught the basics of sit and loose leash walking while they are very young and have a good foundation for obedience. Some of these pups are for sure going into a program for mobility assistance service dogs, but not all of them will make the cut, so there will be plenty available for pet homes too. They will have their shots up to date and dewormed before leaving, and you will have to sign a spay/neuter agreement to adopt one. Adoption fee will prolly be around $50 max, but definitely not over that, really just to cover a few expenses.

Here are pics!

Mama:

Daddy:

Aleu · **Posted:** Sun Sep 11, 2011 6:30 pm

Adorable puppies! I am sadly too far away and I don't think I could handle such a big dog with two cats and another dog. Good luck finding them homes though. They look so cuddly. :<

GormanGhaste · **Posted:** Sun Sep 11, 2011 6:43 pm

Unfortunately, I'm not able to care for a dog right now, but that is an adorable Daddy and kitten pic!

Zhele · **Posted:** Sun Sep 11, 2011 7:08 pm

Do you mind if I post this around at all and link back?

Kyonarai · **Posted:** Sun Sep 11, 2011 7:52 pm

Oooh! Please do! I definitely have no problem with that. Of the 13, one is spoken for already(not pictured here), but the remaining twelve are available. We're trying to place as many as possible into pet homes, as the man that does the service dog work has limited room/resources.

Zhele · **Posted:** Mon Sep 12, 2011 8:35 am

One of the places I posted is here http://dog-lovers.livejournal.com/3391886.html

Someone has the question of where do you get the dogs mobility trained? They said they will be looking for a dog "sooner than they thought" and want to know.

Sam · **Posted:** Mon Sep 12, 2011 10:21 am

What adorable pup nuggets those are!

dragonmhs · **Joined:** Mon Sep 12, 2011 4:05 pm **Posts:** 1

I have some questions and may be interested. Can you e-mail me off this forum at dragonmhs @ gmail ?

Thanks so much.

Kyonarai · **Posted:** Mon Sep 12, 2011 7:32 pm

@ Zhele - I tried posting on the live journal thing but it's not letting me since I'm not a member of that group. I've never used live journal, so I'm a bit confused by the thing, lol.

Anyways, this is what I was trying to post:

"Hi guys! I'm the original poster of this from the other forum.

The black mouth cur is basically an unofficial(non AKC), southern breed of hunting dog, sort of like coon hounds and blue lacys. They aren't really a "pure" breed per say. It's hard to tell in the pic, but she's not all that big. She's small/medium lab sized at best. The father isn't a fully grown saint, and isn't as bulky as the breed should be either, or they probably would have had a hard time mating in the first place. I know my show quality saint would squish her if he tried, and he's not fully grown either. Daddy is 110lbs and growing, my boy is 140lbs and growing, and they are only a week apart in age. I expect the dad to top out at 150ish when full grown, so that could have the pups falling anywhere between 60 and 100 most likely.

I think if she had all the weight on her that I'd like her to have, she'd be around 50-60lbs(She's closer to 40 right now). I'm currently feeding her as much kibble as I can get her to eat(Diamond natural chicken and rice), dog safe dinner scraps, yogurt, and goat's milk. It's a struggle to keep any weight on her with so many puppies to feed, and none of the pups will take a bottle easily. You have to sit and fight with them. They like the formula, but hate the fake nipple, and I've tried a few different kinds. So I just feed her as much as she'll eat and make sure she has a fresh supply of the kibble and clean water at all times in between big meals.

As to where they are getting the mobility assistance training: I fostered a Newfoundland/lab mixed puppy about two years ago who was extremely intense, and would have been un-adoptable to a mere pet home. His name is Roku. I started working him into advance obedience because it was the only thing that could work his mind enough to wear him out. I eventually came into contact with an older gentleman by the name of James who had been needing a new service dog and was having a hard time finding both the right type of dog and someone to work with him to form a basis for more specialized training(there is only one organization down here that does mobility dogs, and they don't have high output numbers). We got together and began acclimating Roku to his power chairs and wheel chair, and went from there. Nowadays, Ro has been to Washington DC on disability awareness marches, into many public places and homes, and can pick up a business card off the floor with his teeth and hand it to you without crinkling it. Once I got him started, James did all of the work training Roku, and now is hoping to train some more young dogs into that field. If anyone is needing a mobility assistance service dog in the near future, we can certainly work with you. All of the pups not adopted into pet home are going to be ground worked by me and then have their training completed by James. The ideal situation would be to get them into their target home at 6 months of age(end of ground work) to work closely with their future partner. I will be as flexible as I can about scheduled training sessions with myself and James, but I am also 5 months pregnant at the moment and have a lot on my plate.

The groundwork I do with the little pups for service dog work involves going to 3 different public places for a few hours at a time, learning several basic obedience commands, and just in general being ultra socialized with people and desensitized to different terrain(Slippery floor, mud, water, grates, stairs, gravel, sand, ect.)

It's a lot of work, and a lot of groundworked pups still wont ever be able to be service dogs, but they'll be great pets after all that work.

Also, because I have a cousin in MA who is taking one(the one spoken for pup), I am already looking into shipping options, so if anyone out of state is really interested, and would be willing to pay the shipping/crate/health certificate fees(it's like $200-300 total I believe, and I would waive the adoption fee for those going through that trouble) I would not be opposed to shipping them within the continental US.

Anyways, thank you for the interest. I'll try and keep tabs on this, but if not, my email is Ratsofire@yahoo.com if anyone is interested or would like additional info."

Mozag · **Posted:** Tue Sep 13, 2011 4:06 am

I wish I could help, but I'm all the way in Europe. Good luck finding these babies homes, they're absolutely adorable!

Serenith · **Posted:** Tue Sep 13, 2011 4:09 am

Aww, would love to... they look so cute, but we can't have a dog

Qadesh · **Posted:** Wed Sep 14, 2011 9:48 am

I just love the pic of the St. Bernard with the kitten!

Kyonarai · **Posted:** Thu Sep 15, 2011 1:20 pm

Yeah, Luke is a total sweetheart. He loves all baby things. My male Saint is the same way. We had a kitten here that would sleep on him like a mattress before it was adopted. My girl isn't fond of baby animals(especially not puppies) but loves human children.

LupisDarkmoon · **Posted:** Thu Sep 15, 2011 11:56 pm

They are so dang cute. I live way far away and I already have two dogs, but if I didn't I'd be adopting one in a second. They sound like they'll make awfully pretty dogs, too. Good luck homing them!

Miacoda · **Posted:** Sun Sep 18, 2011 5:18 pm

AWWWWWWWWWWWWW so cute <3 Totally wish I was close enough/could afford to keep a third dog.

Good luck to them finding good homes <333

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Anyone in South TX interested in 1/2 St. Bernard pups?

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