Royal T Mi-kis 2018 Recap

A collage of some of our Mi-ki puppies of 2018. So much to be thankful for!

So many beautiful Mi-kis!

2018 started out really strong for us at Royal T Mi-kis. We had three litters in January and kept Eden and Denaya as breeding hopefuls who will be making their debut as moms in 2019. 

We also added two new members to our future chocolate Mi-ki breeding program. The first is Jubilee’s Champagne Truffle – a 4.5-pound solid chocolate female. Truffle earned her UKC Championship for us in July of 2018. 

Jubilee’s Champagne “Truffle!”

We also adopted a chocolate-carrying Mi-ki male with a gorgeous red and white coat.  Baron weighs 5.5 pounds and has a very sweet, loving, quiet personality. 

Brumby’s Run “Baron” von Royal T

New Champions!

2018 also gave Royal T Mi-kis two UKC Champions! First, our very own Royal T’s Brilliant Brighton, and later Jubilee’s Champagne Truffle. We are looking forward to showing our sires and other upcoming juveniles in 2019.

New Friends

We are so blessed to have such wonderful adopters who have also become friends. We love getting updates and following our former puppies on their social media accounts. 

Looking towards 2019

We’re excited for our expanded program in 2019 and anticipate producing our first chocolates and possibly our first smooth-face Mi-kis. We also anticipate moving our homestead to a more rural location to accommodate our breeding program. We will likely have more Mi-ki puppies available around March 2019. Stay tuned for updates!

The Mi-kis Love Cheese

It’s Labor Day, and we’re taking the opportunity to do some Mi-ki grooming. All that brushing and bathing can make both groomer and dogs hungry.

So it’s time for some cheese!

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I love the dog memes featuring cheese, and there’s nothing like cheese to make a person feel popular. Imagine how popular I feel with all these Mi-kis staring adorably at me and my cheese?

Breeding Mi-ki Dogs: Not for the faint of heart!

We are so pleased to announce that we have had another litter here at Royal T Mi-kis! The proud parents are Rayne and Moses. You can read more about them on the “Our Dogs” page.

For those of you that prefer to cut to the chase, the good news is that we have two beautiful puppies! The first is a girl we’re calling Felicity after good fortune and happiness. She appears to have her mother’s black and tan saddle pattern with white toes and a white stripe down her chest. She is tiny but vocal! She already looks like she has her mother’s sweet face.

We also have a handsome dark sable boy named Finnegan, which means “little fair one.” Surprisingly, Finn looks just like what his father Moses did when he was a puppy. You’d never guess now that our strawberry blonde stud was ever so dark! The color changes are just one of the fun features of the Mi-ki dog breed. And sweet Finn will likely become his namesake and be a light creamy apricot with dark fringe as he matures.

Now for those of you who appreciate details, here’s why we say that breeding dogs is not easy.

Puppies come when they want to come

This was Rayne’s second delivery and it was nothing like her first. The first was a textbook whelping with the puppies coming at even intervals with few complications other than helping reposition mom’s pelvis to make room for the new life.

According to our dog birthing calculator, Rayne would likely be due today (8-7-2018), and not three days ago, but I also knew that her first suitor was trying to woo her for several days and couldn’t seem to get the job done. Moses came to Rayne’s rescue late in her cycle, and so it wasn’t shocking that she delivered a bit earlier than what the calendar said (basing it on ovulation rather than the date of breeding.)

But it was a little disappointing that Rayne chose to deliver during my brother’s giant going-away party. Dog breeders pretty much have to put their lives on hold around delivery time, and that’s just how the cookie crumbles sometimes. Sorry to miss the event, Jeremy and Barbie! We’ll visit you in Alaska!

Puppies don’t always come easily

Rayne started leaking fluid, and developed the classic bubble of the sac, but no puppy was coming out… for over an hour, then two. We used the wheelbarrow technique to help reposition the puppy in case it was transverse over the canal. After elevating Rayne’s hips higher than her head for several minutes, the sac went away. I was getting pretty nervous and was gloving up to get ready to perform the stuck puppy protocol with lube and a feeding tube. But Rayne finally started pushing and out came a beautiful little female – Felicity!

The next puppy took a very, very long time. I found myself scrolling through the files and entries of the various puppy birthing Facebook community pages I belong to and my Myra Savant Harris dog breeding books. Savant Harris believes we need to trust nature more than we have been, that we’ve lost far too many of our precious dogs to complications with all-too-common C-sections. She says the main key is to watch your female and not the clock. A resting and nurturing mother who is tending her pup(s) is not one that needs to be cut open. Pauses in delivery, even very long ones, are normal.

Uterine inertia or a natural pause in labor and delivery? How to decide? All I know is that Rayne is my treasure, and as long as she wasn’t freaking out, I would try and follow her lead while lifting up prayers. I stayed in my street clothes all night with the emergency clinic on speed dial.

Sometimes there are angels

Early the next morning, Rayne calmly delivered a beautiful stillborn female after resting peacefully through the night. The tiny angel came down folded wrong and judging by her size and the placenta, she may not have survived, regardless of early intervention. It is a difficult thing to face and was our first loss as a kennel. Apparently, 30% of puppies die before, during, or shortly after birth, and we’ve been way ahead of that statistic and are extremely blessed.

Twenty minutes later, a very dark sable boy was delivered, and he is healthy and just so sweet! Finnegan is larger than his sister Felicity, but he’s less demanding. We’ve had to supplement his feedings to keep his weight up, which isn’t uncommon in the first few days with the very tiny breeds. It’s my privilege to stay near these babies and lose sleep for feedings, though now I remember why it’s the young people who have babies!

Though it was heartbreaking to lose a puppy, our beautiful Rayne is whole, healthy and happy with two puppies to tend. It was the right decision. She taught me a lot about patience and trust.

No, breeding and raising puppies is not for the faint of heart. We do it for the love of the breed and to bless others with such wonderful companions.

Hopefully, our next litters will be less complicated. Stay tuned!

 

 

Introducing Our New Mi-ki Champions!

Mi-ki UKC Champion: Royal T’s Brilliant Brighton

We are very excited to announce that we have two new UKC champions! First, it was Royal T’s very own Brilliant Brighton, and she really did shine with her silky white coat and gleaming personality. The icing on the cake was that Brighton achieved her champion status on my birthday, and I couldn’t have asked for a better gift!

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As you may recall, our first foray into the show ring last November was very successful, except for the fact that yours truly managed to accidentally miss one of the group competitions. Being so rare, Mi-kis can usually only receive their UKC championship titles by competing with other breeds in the companion category. Along with at least 100 points, three competition wins are required to win a championship. Brighton had enough points but needed one last competition win.

So when Brighton beat her kennel mate Truffle on Friday, I realized, “I think she’s a champion!” And she was, and is, and always will be… ribbons or no ribbons. She’s our firstborn Royal T offspring, and it felt right to have her win on my special 45th birthday.

Mi-ki UKC Champion: Jubilee’s Champagne Truffle

With Brighton’s championship in the bag, next, we focused on our sweet little chocolate Truffle, bred by Barbara Briggs of Jubilee Mi-kis. Weighing just 4 pounds 5 ounces, Truffle is a little dot on the show ring floor. Her beautiful chocolate color has silvered to a gorgeous taupe, but I was worried that she’d blend into the concrete floor of the ring.

To become a champion, we needed Truffle to beat Brighton in the next four shows. Those would also count as competition wins. Beating Brighton would be a feat because Brighton’s outgoing personality and bright white coat are so vibrant.

How would tiny Truffle do against the other companion breeds in the group competitions? We learned that many of the other dogs were already AKC champions, so the competition was pretty stiff! Plus, with UKC shows, our tiny Mi-kis can be competing with athletic Dalmatians, glamorous Shih Tzus, popular French Bulldogs, and flashy miniature Poodles.

Truffle always gets lots of positive feedback at our Plum Creek Kennel Club conformation class. She naturally stacks beautifully (meaning she stands straight and evenly) and always gives the judge a warm expression with alert ears. Truffle moves so smoothly and has such lovely proportions, so I was hopeful that she was just a little nervous when she lost to Brighton but would do well after that practice run.

Sure enough, after a long weekend of four more shows, Truffle was able to beat Brighton each time to gain her required 100 points! Since Truffle beat Brighton, those also counted as her competition wins.

The pleasant surprise was that tiny Truffle was able to catch the notice of the judges. She placed 4th in the group competition three times! I’ve heard from more experienced showers that the rare breeds don’t usually get much recognition in the group rings, so the fact that Truffle placed at all was a significant win not only for her but also for the Mi-ki breed. We’re very proud of her!

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Special Thanks

Of course, these wins wouldn’t be possible without the support of our friends and family. Thanks to Bill Parker, the other half of the Royal T Team for helping me show, to my daughter Annaliese who also showed for the first time, and my aunt Marty Frick who came to support us and even took a little video for us!

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Aunt Marty Frick came out to support us at the Twin Peaks dog show!

We are also grateful to our judges including Kathy Carter who awarded Brighton with her Championship, Alan Krenek who gives us wonderful advice and training, Heidi Scheff, the cheerful and thorough Sandy Shaw, and Rick Gann, who awarded Truffle with her Championship.

Championship photos credit: Randy and Kindra Solomon.

Mi-ki Dogs are Ideal Medical Alert and Emotional Support Animals

Have you been searching for the perfect dog breed to be your medical alert or emotional support animal? Perhaps you’ve been looking for a dog breed to partner in therapy work at hospitals, nursing homes, or in hospice care.

The traits in support animals that are important for these tasks include having a naturally friendly, cheerful demeanor. A great therapy dog is intuitive and able to read and respond appropriately to the emotional and physical needs of each person that they meet. Other helpful traits are being hypoallergenic, non-shedding, and being small enough to lift and carry.

The Mi-ki dog breed possesses all of these traits. This is the specific reason why I selected Mi-kis for myself. Back in 2013, I was suffering from a medical condition and I was desperate to find a medical alert dog that would detect my health events before they happened.

It’s tough to find a small, hypoallergenic, non-yappy medical alert dog!

I am allergic to most dogs and preferred one that was small but I didn’t want it to bark a lot. I scoured the shelters for an appropriate candidate but was unable to find a young, gentle, small dog that didn’t shed. I realized I would likely need to find a purpose-bred dog to help me.

Fortunately, I was asked to write about every dog breed for my job and eventually came across the Mi-ki. The traits of the breed were a perfect match for my needs. Being versatile and easy going, I knew this was a dog I could take everywhere.

Soon I began interviewing Mi-ki breeders. When I heard that Barbara Briggs of Jubilee Mi-kis had Halle, a diabetic medical alert dog in her lines, I knew I had found the perfect candidate. Barbara agreed to place one of Halle’s precious granddaughters with me – Savannah!

Savannah is a delightful dog who goes with me to work, hair appointments, and travels easily. She actually models for me at BaxterBoo.com which is why you see so many professional photos of her wearing fancy dog dresses here at Royal T Mi-kis and plastered all over BaxterBoo.com and other pet clothing retailers. Since Mi-kis are intuitive, she learned quickly to pose and actually smiles for the camera!

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Jubilee’s Savannah is a rare chocolate Mi-ki. Here she is modeling a Doggie Design dog dress.

As it turned out, I was able to cure my medical issue with dietary changes and essential oils, so Savannah has not had to function as a medical alert dog. I am still determined to help others find the medical and emotional support they need through this wonderful breed. It is what drives me as a dog breeder.

Seeing the Mi-ki intuitive nature in action

We like to invite visitors to our home to meet our Mi-kis and feel comfortable with us as the foundation for their future pet. A few weeks ago, we had a lovely mother and daughter come over to see if a Mi-ki might be a good fit. The daughter suffers from allergies as well as likely another unnamed condition, but my guess would probably something on the autism spectrum.

Normally, the Mi-ki pack tends to be a bit excited when folks first come over but quickly settle in and make their way over to our guests for pets and general socializing. They’re very friendly. Some are more outgoing than others. Usually, Brighton (the white dog pictured above) is the most forward as the welcoming ambassador of the breed. But this time, I got to witness a new facet of the amazing intuitiveness of the Mi-ki breed.

All of the Mi-kis uncharacteristically hung back, giving this sensitive girl a pleasant and needed space. Very, very slowly, Brighton gently approached the visitor. Brighton took a very sweet and submissive slow approach with her and, the girl, though initially nervous, was delighted. I was in awe of all of the Mi-kis and how respectful, responsive and kind they were with this precious girl. It’s one thing to hear about the breed being ideal for service and therapy work, but another thing to witness it in a whole group of Mi-kis. Amazing!

Royal T Mi-kis is now partnering with an ESA registry service!

To help people in need of an Emotional Support Animal, we are proud to be partnering with ESAnimals.com. If you suffer from anxiety, social phobias, depression, PTSD, or are looking for a healthy way to cope with stress, a Mi-ki is an ideal choice as an emotional support animal.

If your dog is being adopted specifically to help you cope with emotional difficulties and/or stress, ESAnimals gives you an official confidential evaluation, paperwork, pet photo ID card, and a working vest for your pet. Additionally, your Emotional Service Animal will be added to a national registry.

These tools enable you to legally and easily take your ESA pet with you on planes or to allow your pet to live with you in your rental housing without incurring extra fees. Simply choose the ESA Housing plan, the Air Travel ESA package, or the popular all-in-one Companion combo pack that includes official letters for both housing and travel.

How does it work?

Once you select the ESA plan to fit your needs, a licensed mental health counselor from ESAnimals will evaluate you for ESA assistance. Once approved, you’ll quickly receive an ESA kit that includes letters for housing and/or air travel, a photo pet I.D. card, and an ESA working vest for your pet. No longer will you have to worry about being accused of having a “fake service or emotional support dog.” You’ll be able to travel and live with reduced stress with your dog (hopefully a Mi-ki) by your side.

The ESA plans range from $99 to $149, which could provide you with tremendous savings in pet fees with housing or with air travel. It would likely pay for itself in just one flight. I know this for a fact since I routinely fly with a Mi-ki and pay $125 for an in-cabin under-the-seat pet ticket!

Want to save even more? Simply use the Royal T Mi-ki special discount code:

“RM303”

for an additional $10.00 off!

This code can be applied in the “How did you hear about us?” section of your order. Select “Other” and enter RM303 (for Royal-T Mi-kis and our 303 Colorado area code.)

Please note that Royal T Mi-kis does not promote the use of an emotional support animal service simply to circumvent high pet housing and travel fees. An ESA does not have the same legal function or rights as a service animal. However, if your pet helps you cope with stress, emotional, or cognitive difficulties, an Emotional Support Animal is a healthy way to address these concerns.

To give you confidence and security, ESAnimals provides the materials, the registry, and customer support to individuals in need. It’s also 100% guaranteed.

Visit ESAnimals.com to learn more, and don’t forget your discount code: RM303 !

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The Royal T Mi-kis Dog Breeding Program is Expanding

Breeding with a purpose

Mi-kis are amazing dogs that have been bred specifically for use as therapeutic companions. We hand select every dog in our program both as a treasured household member and as a contributor to the future of this fledgling breed. We choose friendly, calm, cheerful, intuitive dogs that are also simply adorable.

Breeding selections are made after health tests are done to select for the most desirable traits as well as for low inbreeding coefficiencies to promote the genetic health of Mi-kis.

Knowing that genetic diversity is the foundation for any sound breeding program, we’ve added new members to our pack for evaluation as future breeding hopefuls.

Brighton

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Royal T’s Brilliant Brighton is a 6.5-pound cream and white female who has done very well for us in the show ring.  She has a very friendly personality and is very sweet. So far she has passed her heart and patella exams and will get her eye screening soon as well as a DNA trait and health panel test.

Truffle

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Jubilee’s Champagne Truffle is a small chocolate female (we’re calling her a white chocolate mocha color) that we’re very excited about. She has an outgoing personality to make sure she’s noticed despite her small size. Truffle will have her health tests done in June. She has had very positive feedback from our coaches in our conformation class.

Our Youngest Hopefuls:

Baron

Brumby’s Run Baron von Royal T is a handsome and sweet red sable parti-color who carries chocolate and smooth. He has been hand selected to ensure we have a future of beautiful chocolate Mi-kis in our program.

Eden

Eden is a beautiful black and white female with a charming, gentle personality. She has a beautiful coat and a lovely, smooth gait. She carries chocolate and the smooth-face demi-long-coat gene.

Denaya

 

Denaya is very graceful and athletic with beautiful proportions. Her solid black coat is lush and soft. She is very affectionate and fun! We look forward to her participating in showing in the future.

Why We’re Growing

Mi-kis have been a purebred dog breed for only about 30 years but they have won the hearts of many people. The rare Mi-ki dog breed has been accepted by the United Kennel Club (UKC) and is on its way to recognition with the American Kennel Club (AKC).

Recognition and preservation of the Mi-ki dog breed

In order to get full recognition with the AKC, more generations (litters) must be recorded in the Mi-ki pedigree records as well as other qualifications that the Mi-ki clubs are working towards. Royal T Mi-kis registers with both the American Mi-ki Registry Association (AMRA) and the UKC.

Royal T Mi-kis is partnering with local branches of the UKC and AKC to help educate others about the Mi-ki dog breed and to help attain recognition by the AKC. We’ve begun showing our dogs with the UKC to get feedback on the desirable traits that healthy and sound dogs should exhibit for dogs in general as well as for the breed standard.

Royal T Mi-kis is making an effort to be part of the movement to secure a healthy and lasting future for the Mi-ki dog breed through several avenues. We’re making informed decisions for breeding through the use of health tests with both genetic and physical exams. We’re also taking canine genetics classes to understand the best breeding practices not only for a pleasing appearance but also for a sustainable future with a healthy and diverse gene pool.

Future goals

In order to fulfill our dream to provide others with healthy Mi-kis to enjoy and to secure a healthy future for the breed, we are looking to find a property with a bit more space and the appropriate zoning to accommodate a small in-home kennel. We will always remain small to ensure every puppy is socialized in a family home setting.

Royal T Mi-kis – Now Registered with the UKC – and we went to our first dog show!

 

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The Mi-ki was officially recognized by the United Kennel Club in January of 2016. Founded in 1898, The UKC is the world’s largest performance breed registry. This esteemed club offers family-friendly events that not only judge a dog’s appearance but also give dogs an opportunity to demonstrate the skills they were bred for.

With this in mind, we decided to register all of our dogs with the United Kennel Club to be able to participate in dog shows and make it easier for any future Royal T Mi-ki offspring to do so as well. After all, Mi-kis definitely deserve more exposure in the dog world for their beauty, temperament, and trainability!

We joined a local chapter of the UKC, the High Plains Kennel Club (HPKC), and it has been a lot of fun to get to know other dog lovers in Colorado. Alan Krenek, the president of the club, has taken us under his wing to prepare us for UKC shows, for which we are incredibly grateful!

In fact, our first show went so well that Brighton nearly earned her championship, and probably would have had her handler (me) not accidentally missed one of the group ring competitions while socializing with other dog lovers. It was a beginner’s mistake, but we had a lot of fun in spite of ourselves.

Brighton earned tons of ribbons, and excelled in the group ring, competing against seasoned adult companion breeds. Since Brighton is only 7 months old, we are thrilled that the judges found her to shine among such a wide range of excellent breeds.

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There’s always next time, and next time, we’ll show even more of our Mi-kis. We chose to show just Brighton since it was our first event, and the other Mi-kis are much too busy working on new puppies! We hope to have new additions in early January 2018! Stay tuned!

BaxterBoo.com asked us to share about our first show dog experience on their blog. You can read about that here: Brighton’s Big Day – Tips and Trials from our First Dog Show.

 

Royal T Mi-kis Featured on the New American Mi-ki Club Site

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We were tickled to be asked by the American Mi-ki Club to submit photos of our Mi-kis for their new website which was just relaunched this spring of 2017. The new AMC site is really fantastic and will be a great resource for Mi-ki lovers everywhere.

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Photos of Savannah, our chocolate Mi-ki, are nestled throughout the site as well as some of our puppies from our first litter. In fact, Abby is the first puppy featured on the Long Coat Puppy Gallery!

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You’ll really enjoy looking at all the photos in the AMC galleries, and the Mi-ki breed history page is very informative.

When looking through the AMC site, I noticed there is going to be a shop as well! I emailed the president of the club and thanked them for featuring so many of our photos. I then asked, “what will be sold in the shop area?”

That one simple question has now led to me being appointed as the Shop Chairperson. Any suggestions for what a Mi-ki owner would like to buy for themselves or their pups would be appreciated!

Meet Savannah, a Chocolate Mi-ki

 

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Jubilee’s Southern Charm Royal T – “Savannah”

 

Savannah is a beautiful and rare solid chocolate colored Mi-ki from the famed Jubilee Mi-kis of North Carolina.

We made a family trip out of going to pick her up in July of 2016. We visited Barbara Briggs, her breeder, and loved meeting all of Savannah’s relatives. They are beautiful little dogs, and their quality and care really shows through!

Savannah-Annaliese

My daughter meeting Savannah for the first time.

Whether flying home with her or when we’re out on adventures, everyone stops and has to ask about Savannah. People think she looks like an Ewok or a teddy bear!

Not only is she beautiful, but she’s smart and sweet and comes to work with me daily at BaxterBoo.com to model and test products.

Here she is on a video!

We look forward to seeing how Savannah grows, though we don’t expect her to get very big.

Carmen

Savannah’s mother, Carmen

Her mom, Carmen (International Champion Captivating Carmen of Jubilee), is just five pounds. Carmen is a beautiful chocolate sable and white girl with a winning pedigree as she is the daughter of Orlando’s Count Bocelli, who won Best in Show at the Orlando Mi-Ki Specialty in 2010!

We look forward to showing Savannah soon and eventually have her as part of our breeding program here at Royal T Mi-kis in Colorado.

Introducing Evie

 

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Brumby’s Run Evie One Loves Royal T

 

Sometimes things are just meant to be, and this is how we feel about our darling Evie. Originally, we had planned to start our Mi-ki family with a puppy, but we were fortunate to hear of a young adult who was looking for a new breeder home.

Evie is from the prestigious Brumby’s Run Mi-kis of California. She comes from a long line of champion show lines. She is expecting her first litter in August of 2016! Stay tuned for news of the birth!

Evie has a gorgeous long, silky coat that is easy to maintain. She has a sweet, soft personality and has been a perfect addition to our home.