Okay!… Let the fun begin! All of us here at SP Kennel challenge you to “Name The Mystery Pups’ Parents!”
We honestly think at least one of you avid Dog Log readers will figure it out right away. Plus, in reviewing the videos, we realize we’ve already given you lots of hints!
But, to help you get started, we’re posting this photo of the trio — Boris and Raffie in front, Mac in the back — taken about a month ago which gives you a good, clear look at them. And, just so you know there’s no funny business on our part, we will tell you that both parents are SP Kennel Racing Dogs who can be seen on The Dogs!” page.
For this game, let’s use the comments rather than email so that everyone can share in the fun.
So, get after it!… Name the mystery pup’s parents!
(Note: For any of you who already know who the parents are, please don’t spoil the fun for everybody else!)
Totally winging it… Betsy (who likes the boys?) and Roy??
I've been waiting for this since the last video posted and Aliy almost told before you said it would be a contest!
I have several pairings in mind but for my first try I'm going to guess:
Betsy & Cutter.
Oooh oooh. Stormy and Tatfish? They have his energy, and I just realized I haven't seen Stormy in any of the previous videos this winter/fall (except for the nail cutting). Maybe she was having puppies!
Tatfish and Nutmeg?
We are guessing Tatfish & Betsy!
All good guesses! All good thinking!
But, alas, also all wrong pairings so far!
We're going to hold off on giving you any more hints until we see some more guesses… but we will tell you this:
Betsy and Stormy — both sweet, gorgeous, popular gals — have been spayed… Which is why they get to live in the boys' area of the Kennel!
Ok ~ Ian says it's Tatfish and Tyson!
Okay my second guess gets more "illicit" and may be why Aliy kept them a secret. Brother/sister pairing Spot & Biscuit. They have to be big parents since Aliy said they will be the biggest dogs at SPK!
Raffie's coloring looks an awful lot like Homebrew and Boris looks like Nutmeg….look at the tilt of the head and those eyes!
Okay, I saw Homebrew and Nutmeg!
Snap! Okay, hrm. Bonita then? And Tatfish?
Still more good guesses! Still wrong!
Okay… so… I may have led you astray in the video when I said Mac was a "Tatfish in training"… I only meant that he seems to have the same unbounded energy… Tatfish has been neutered, so you can leave him out of it…
However, the pups becoming the biggest dogs at the Kennel is an important clue!
Ha! I knew it wasn't Tatfish. I looked back on the March 11, 2009 blog posting at the photograph of the big whiteboard for the Iditarod Line-Ups and figured that the note in the upper right hand corner meant what I thought it did.
Maybe my 3rd try will be the charm….
Spot and Cutter? Allen called him the "biggest dog" in the first run on sleds video.
What about Hunter and Bonita?
Although I swear Mac looks a lot like Roy, only Roy is apparently a smaller dog…
Cutter and Nutmeg
Ok ~ Ian says it's Bonita and Hunter! Say we're right ~ it's late and Ian needs to get to bed!
Looking at the line-up board from last Iditarod!… How clever!!!
Yup… just one of the things we have to "manage" when moving the dogs by truck is which dogs can be where when we "drop" them along the way…
So, we color code the dogs and put the "intact" boys in the opposite truck from the girls in heat… As long as we drop the dogs by the truck they're riding in we shouldn't have any problems!
An interesting little side note to our Mystery Pups is that the male had been neutered BEFORE he got busy with the mom… Just not long enough before it seems!
cutter and kipper?
lol this is hard. Moonpie and Bonita?
Sorry Lynn, but Ian is going to have to keep guessing!
Do you all want another clue yet?
What about Bonita and Cutter?
Nacho and Nutmeg?
I'm just grasping at straws now. How about Cutter and Bullet?
Or maybe Nutmeg and Cutter. Clue please haha
Okay… I think we've all got other stuff we probably should do… So, here's the part of it you've already pretty much figured out:
Cutter is the proud papa! Don't the pups look just like him? Or is it that we see them both together every day?
Anyway, Cutter is half the answer… Now, look at the girls… They look just like her, too!
I think you said in the comments of a post a few days back that it wasn't Bonita…
I still like Cutter for the Daddy but I guess I have to give up on Spot as the Mommy.
How about Cutter and Rose?
Chica????
Chica?
Cutter and KitKat
I'm guessing Spot ….
Drumroll please… The lovely mom is Chica!
Pepper
Now we have to hear the whole story!
Gotta give Cutter credit though – he must really be tough dog to go after nature's call while still probably pretty sore and stitched up from the neutering. Now doubt Aliy believed that Chica's virtue was safe.
Whew! That was a tough one! But now that I know, looking at the pups and the parents I can see the resemblence.
So, what you have is a cross between Chica — a solid young gal who comes from Venus and Zorro (an SP Kennel legend and Lance Mackey's prize stud) — and Cutter — currently the biggest dog in the Kennel from outstanding parents Pingo and Pepper (both extraordinary SP Kennel dogs).
With genes like those, we have high hopes for the three Mystery Pups!
More details to follow, we promise!
Meanwhile… Thanks to everybody for playing!… It was really fun!… Though I haven't gotten a thing done besides press "Approve Comments" and "Reload Page" for almost 3 hours!
Cheers, Mac
Could you talk at some point about what traits you're looking for in a breeding (or breedable, I guess) dog? Generally what percentage of the kennel is neutered and spayed? From last year's Iditarod posts linked earlier in the comments, it looks like you're racing fertile females, at least. Is it an issue during the race?
Thanks.