Fabric Litter 2025

Expected end of March, 2025

The Backstory

Vanity was from my Magazine Litter in 2022 out my beloved Jenny (CH Telford's Take ALook At Me Now) paired with Brody (GCH Shadynook Lets Hear It For The Boy). To this day I have yet to produce a more kind Beagle that absolutely adores anything with a pulse. Vanity day in and day out chooses to see the world with rose coloured glasses. I catch her wagging her tail at murals, statues and even snowmen. If you follow me on Instagram, you'll be familiar with "Vanity's Best Day" in which I finally let her visit the newest Beagle Babies around the 2 week mark. She is a dog I trust with absolutely anyone and anything and I'm very proud to have had such fabulous temperaments in FoxFire - hers included!

Before I knew it Vanity flew through her health testing to obtain her CHIC with passing colours across the board. That makes her a 2nd generation CHIC tested dam and something that is very important to me. With her Championship finished in both countries, it was time to look at Sire's for her future litters.

My Vision

Vanity, while appreciated by breeder judges, was often overlooked in All-Breed rings being deemed "too long". While length is something I'm working towards adjusting, I will not sacrifice movement to breed a shorter backed dog. I chose to move forward and shouldered any loss with her as I believed in her future contributions in the whelping box and her place within my program.

Bumper is a charismatic Beagle I met showing in the classes at the Amana speciality in 2023. He's a handsome dog who offered phenotypical traits to compliment what Vanity needed. He also brought forward me a really neat linebreeding opportunity that I was keen to map out. Bumper's movement coming and going is very correct and has been appreciated by many judges on the breed and group level. With his out-going temperament and a step in the right direction as far as length of loin goes, I felt he complimented Vanity in the ways I was seeking for her.

In the past, I've bred to Bumper's Sire Quentin (CH BlackSpot Quentin Tarantino) for my Easter Treats Litter and was thrilled with the outgoing temperaments he gave me. Especially when I paired with him a rather soft and sweet Dam of mine - there was no shortage of dogs with showy attitudes. I have faith that Bumper is just the man for the job to add some spice to Van's sweet nature while he himself is still a very sweet and charming boy to live with.

My idea for this pairing out of the gates was to plan around phenotype; however, it was genotype that was in the forefront of my mind with this pairing . My plans for Vanity were always to line breed her and utilize her pedigree for the next generation of my program. This breeding will be the first choice executed with my hopes to explore further line breeding's on different portions of her pedigree thereafter.

Bumper - GCH Shadynook's Danger Zone BCAT

Vanity - AM/CAN CH FoxFire's Cover Story HBI

Trusting Strong Dams

My goal for my program has always been to prioritize creating a solid dam line built off of some of the strongest dam's I've seen in my time in Beagles. Years ago, when I mapped out my plan to breed Vanity's Dam to Ruth Werlein's Rory (GCH Shadynook You Ought Be In Pictures), I found myself looking into her yard focused on two bitches in particular who truly captured my eye. Both of these bitches to this day remain as two of my favourite Beagles I've seen in the flesh. Jolie, GCH Shadynook Pretty One, pictured above, being one of them. It's through her my vision on a suitable linebreeding took shape.

When I looked at Vanity's pedigree, I felt I had a great opportunity to line breed in a few directions. Going back to my goal of creating a solid dam-line it only made sense that Jolie, Vanity's Grandmother and Bumper's Dam would be the Beagle I actively chose to double up on.

Jolie is a third generation winner of the Bred-By Willwood Trophy at the Wisconsin Beagle Club Specialty. She is a lovely representation of the breed with beautiful substance, a classic beagle head, a fabulous temperament, clean, sound movement, excellent spring of rib and length of rib. She now at the age of 8 has held up beautifully and is a bitch I am proud to line breed on. To this very day, with her sugared face and all, she still manages to catch my eye and hope I'm able to make one just like her.

While line breeding isn't always fool proof, I have faith that Jolie and the strong dams in her pedigree will give me a great shot at continuing to move my vision forward in to the next generations. As always, thank you to Ruth for breeding Bumper and providing me lovely pieces to build my line around. Extra thank you to Sandy and Patrick Frater for allowing me to use Bumper for this litter.

Preserving Instinct

Through Vanity, my vision for my program and its purpose has evolved. This past year has given me new experiences I will carry forward for myself for many years to come and continue to reflect on. Moving forward, I believe if I'm personally wanting to use the term 'preservation breeders of Beagles", I do believe some effort should be made in maintaining workability in the field. Whether that is in the form of scent detection/tracking or utilizing the Hunting Beagle performance test and beyond, I believe our hounds should, in some aspect, be able to do what their original intended purpose was. This will be an area I plan to put focus on for FoxFire Beagles.

This past year in Tennessee, I was able to run my hounds in the hunting performance test. While we left all with 6/6 dogs obtaining their HBI titles (Hunting Beagle Instinct Title), it was my own home-bred Vanity that truly blew me away. Not only did she track a rabbit through thick, thorny brush in her Novice Run, she also opened up and sight chased a small rabbit which earned her a leg towards her Novice Title.

Vanity has well in the show ring despite being shown limitedly. However, it was seeing her doing what she was bred to do that made me feel such a massive sense of pride. This little dog, despite not running rabbit prior to this, took to it incredibly fast and so naturally. Vanity on both sides of her pedigree is a distant descendent of dogs who have been involved in field trials. I hope with her offspring and my decision on this pairing that her pups will be just as eager on scent as she is.

Availability

In the next few weeks I will be reaching out to the homes I have on my short list to ensure they're ready to potentially add a FoxFire Beagle to their home late May. That being said, ultrasound showed that there were quite a few baking! Because I don't know how many I may or may not be keeping for myself, I will still welcome applications from homes who are ready and prepared for a Beagle incase I should have availability. To fill out an application for this litter, please fill out my Puppy Application.

As always, I'm excited to share this upcoming litter and I cannot WAIT for Vanity to have her very own "BEST DAY" every day as she journeys through motherhood with me at her side.