Watercubs & Kivisilmän

working show-quality newfoundlands

A little about the sire: Wee Lovett's Island of Manitou “Manitou”

We are extremely excited about this opportunity to use Manitou (Wee Lovett's Island of Manitou) for our girl Ruuti (Kivisilmän Monitoimikone). Manitou was born in November 1984 in the USA to a litter of 11 puppies. He was black (brown recessive) and a very large male 32” (around 81cm) at the shoulders and around 170-175 lbs (75-80kg). He was very easy going with people, but definitely the well respected king of the kennel. He can be described as the epitome of Newfoundland temperament, which he has also passed down to his offspring. He was an easy breeder, always knowing exactly what to do and when, and very respectful to the girls. Manitou was 11,5 years old when he passed away. Both his parents also reached well over 10 years before passing away of old age. In general Manitou has left behind strong viability in the existing Manitouloa lines, most of his puppies reaching the ages of over 10 and up to 12-13 years with ease.


A little about the dam: Kivisilmän Monitoimikone “Ruuti”

Our own girl Ruuti (Kivisilman Monitoimikone) is one of our best active working dogs. Ruuti has a lot of stamina, she absolutely loves water, and she has an eager will to please and work with us. She'll be happy to relax at home on our busy days, but she'll be much happier out in the forest running and roaming around, in the water, or on the obedience fields working with us. Ruuti has the correct well balanced Newfoundland structure enabling her to succeed both in the show ring and at working trials. Ruuti has not competed much on the working side, but she has always succeeded in all the tests we've entered her in: during a three-day weekend in May 2010, the young 1,5-year-old Ruuti passed waterwork level A, and draft levels 1 and 2 with excellent comments. Late 2010 Ruuti passed the German Level 1 in waterwork. Ruuti has also dominated the conformation show rings; she has become reserve best bitch (with RCAC, RCACIB) several times at very large international shows, and has won several CAC's, also one CACIB.

Ruuti's heart (echo doppler and ECG), hips and elbows have been health screened to be excellent.

Q: Why have we chosen to use a male that was born in 1984 ?

A: According to OFFA and newfoundlanddog-database.net -databases, of the 77 registered offspring Manitou has had:
52% have been hip scored with 83% being excellent or good, 17% fair
12% have been elbow scored, all of them being normal
3 puppies have also been cardiologist checked and screened fully healthy

Manitou has not only left health in his offspring, but also good temperaments that are easy to work with. 22% of Manitou's puppies have been awarded the following working titles: 7 x CD (Companion Dog) and 1 x CDX (Companion Dog Excellence), 3 x TDi (Therapy dog international), 2 x Canine Good Citizen awards, 1 x WRD (water dog), 3 x DD (draft dog). Manitou has also left behind excellent offspring when it comes to the appearance, 21% gaining show champion titles (13 x AM Ch and 3 x CAN Ch) and has as his offspring for example the famous ”Manitouloas My Bear Kodiak”, the first and only brown US national winner, and also #1 Newfoundland in the US for the years 1992 and 1993..!

When it comes to looking at a suitable mate for our girls, we must not only look at the male himself, but also his other relatives for suitability. The first of a few examples is Manitou's mother. She was awarded the Versatile Newfoundland, AM Ch (AM Show Champion), AM CD (AM Companion Dog), WRD (Water Rescue Dog) and TDD (Team Draft Dog) -titles. Among Manitou's full siblings, of the six that are known, three have good hips, and there are dogs with WRD, DD, 2 x AM CD and AM CH -titles. Of Manitou's half-siblings (father's side): there are 8 with excellent, good or normal hips, and only 3 with fair hips. There are 10 x AM Ch, 3 x Can Ch, 2 x WRD, 1 x TD and 1 who has been awarded the ROM. Looking at Manitou's offspring's offspring and some of the very strict line-breedings to Manitou, the trend of healthy, able working and show dogs continues. And as the decade turns to -90's and 00's, and the testing for health results increase, the trend of healthy offspring still continues.

One thing to note from the data is that of course it is not complete, but gives a good indication of what expect Manitou to give to this litter: good health, a widened genepool, and great working dogs with balanced structures.

Q: Do you need to be worried that Manitou has not been health tested any more than his hips?

A: The quick answer is no. Since Manitou has already passed away, all his relatives' data can be taken under the microscope to be analyzed even more carefully than it could be if he were still alive. We can involve all his relatives' data (parents, grandparents, siblings, halfsiblings, offspring, his offspring's offspring's data) into the analyses. Therefore even though Manitou himself was not further health screened in the 1980's (phenotype is unknown), actually his genotype (what health-genes he will pass on to his offspring) can be predicted well through the analysis of his offspring and relatives' data.

Q: Manitou has not been cystinuria tested, should I be worried?

A: No, not at all. Cystinuria is one of the most simple diseases to combat as it an autosomal recessive disease. This means that puppies must get the genes (alleles) from both parents to be affected. Even if Manitou was affected and had both alleles from his parents [which is highly unlikely as cystinuria is lethal for males and usually causes them to die before they reach the age of 2 years], none of the puppies from this combination would ever be affected by the disease, because Ruuti is cystinuria clear [does not have the gene for it]. Therefore there is no scenario in which any of the puppies will ever be sick from cystinuria.

Pedigree:

Puppies: 

Analysis of litter: 

--> Line Continued

- Kivisilmän V-litter (CIB Elboy Du Domaine De Flambeau x EE, LUX J CH ILS & BLS Canine Lifeguard Kivisilmän Rutikuiva RLEx1, RLEx2)
- Kivisilmän Z-litter (AM CH Dockside's Hometown Hero x EE, LUX J CH ILS & BLS Canine Lifeguard Kivisilmän Rutikuiva RLEx1, RLEx2)

(c) Salmelin