VALA (Quicksilver Mercury Rising at Sylvaen)

IDENTITY

BORN: 30.03.2012
BIRTHPLACE: Croatia
STATUS: Retired from Breeding
REGISTRATION #: TDR376G3
MICROCHIP #: 191060000068681
CO-OWNERS: Ana Marija & Domagoj

MORE PHOTOS!

---

BACKGROUND

Vala is a female from the Quicksilver litter. I was present at her birth and, as the vet clinic was short-staffed that day, I was able to assist the veterinarians who were performing the emergency caesarian section on Vega (helping to revive the puppies as they were handed to me one by one). Vala was the last puppy to be born, as well as the "runt" of the litter, and it took around 30 minutes to revive her from the anesthesia. For the first 2 weeks of her life it was questionable if she would survive so she got plenty of extra TLC. Over time, as I watched her grow and develop, I developed a special attachment to her. When it came time to select our puppy from the litter, the choice was obvious. We brought her home at 8 weeks old and she fit perfectly with our pack for the next 4 years or so.

Unfortunately, as Vala matured we discovered that she had very frequent heat cycles, every 4 months or so (average cycle length is around 6 months). As a result, this predisposed her to uterine infections and, during her second heat cycle at only 13 months old, she was diagnosed with open pyometra, which we successfully treated with hormones (Alizin) and antibiotics. Thanks to this revolutionary treatment, Vala was able to have two litters during her lifetime, both sired by Xantho in Austria: Luck litter and EverQuest Dragons litter. Although cured of pyometra and never having a recurrence, Vala's heat cycles continued to be relatively frequent. We had hoped that the hormones from pregnancy and whelping would lengthen her cycles but, unfortunately, they still continued to occur with relative frequency. As a result, Vala gradually became increasingly frustrated and anxious... she was regularly whingeing / howling for a boyfriend, which did not impress the neighbors, and she became less tolerant towards our other bitches, particularly during their synced heat cycles. There was the occassional growl and raised hackles, but nothing too serious... until Umbra's first heat cycle.

Umbra and Vala were both in heat at the same time when they got into a serious fight; fortunately, it happened right in front of me (unfortunately, jealousy over my attention was the trigger). Thankfully, I was able to get them separated but, after that, they were never able to be together again. During their fight, Vala's ear was badly injured but, over time, it healed back to normal. Unfortunately, as a result of that incident, Vala became extremely reactive (insecure) around our other bitches and had to be kept isolated from the rest of the pack. We decided to get her spayed (sterilized) and, while it solved her hormonal issues, she still had to be kept separated from the other packmembers due to her reactivity. It was a very stressful situation and she became increasingly lonely and bored. Ultimately, we made the difficult decision to rehome Vala with a local co-ownership family here in Zagreb, where she would be the only dog in the household and would get plenty of one-on-one attention. Now she has a wonderful life with her new family and we still get to see her from time to time.

---

HEALTH

MyDogDNA
DM: Clear By Parentage
HD: BVA 10 (5:5)
ED: not tested
EYES: Clear (2015)
DNA Profile: Genoscoper (ISAG markers)
DNA Profile: Neogen GeneSeek (AKC markers)
DNA Parentage: Neogen GeneSeek

TEETH: full dentition / complete scissor bite!

---

TEMPERAMENT

Vala is a quirky girl... she is very energetic and playful. She is quite husky-like in that she is extremely vocal and she loves to pull in harness. However, she is also very people-oriented: extremely loving, gentle and sweet towards everyone (children as well as adults). She has a low prey-drive but she is a bit of an escape artist. When she was young, she was not great off-leash but, with lots of practice, she is now fine to be off-leash and has good recall.

---

PHENOTYPE

HEIGHT: 64cm
WEIGHT: 24kg
COLOR: Wolf-Grey

TRAITS:
- athletic body structure
- good conformation
- good head shape

FAULTS:
- size (quite petite)
- tail (curves up when excited)
- relatively short legs
- dark brown eyes

---

GENOTYPE

Colour Locus A = aw/aw (double agouti)
Colour Locus B = B/B (no liver/brown)
Colour Locus E = E/E (no cream/white)
Colour Locus K = ky/ky (no dominant black)

Coat length = G/G (short-haired coat)
Curly coat = T/C (one copy of curly coat gene)
Ear erectness = T/T (pointy ears)
Snout/skull length = C/C (elongated head)

---

PEDIGREE

25 Generation COI: 10.19%
Wolf Content: 6.58% (approx)
[based on pedigree analysis]

---

PARENTS