ColoradoMountainDogs

Colorado Mountain Dogs
in the
Timbers of Fennario Kennels

Understanding the Acronyms:

FARM LETTERS: each breeder of Colorado Mountain Dogs registered with the Colorado Mountain Dog registry are assigned FARM LETTERS represented in the dog's registered name.

CNK BONNIE LEE of TOF

I I I

Letters BEFORE (Prefix) name Where the dog

Original breeder Currently lives

The "G" standings:

Colorado Mountain Dog in the Timbers of Fennario kennels.

Temperament

A livestock guardian bred for small acreage family or hobby farms. Mellow home bodies that do best in a multi-dog environment. Clownish in adolescence, mature adults are stoic and respectful. Accepting of friendly strangers on their property, but can be suspicious of uncontrolled or unfamiliar dogs roaming near their charges. Away from home they are aloof and unconcerned with other dogs, happy to meet new people and have adventures.

Fennario places temperament at the forefront of it's breeding program. Attention and care is taken to evaluate not only each dog, but the over all inheritance of Livestock Guardian aptitudes appropriate for our modern times. Less barking, no wandering or aggressive tendencies are paramount in our selection process. Our dogs are easy to contain, have a talent for discerning what is a threat and what is not.

Socialization and experiences are necessary for a well rounded adult. Many are food motivated and can be easily trained to obedience. As with any hard worker they expect to be paid for their services with hugs and kisses and plenty of affection.. Without it they will stop working for you and find other employment. Resource Guarding can become an issue if not prevented with consistent conditioning. Fennario is working very hard to elliviate all of these issues in their lines.

While researching breeds one day I ran across this video. The magic is still there, I knew I had to have some for myself. Still gives me chills

- Shawna Davies

History

In 2006 a mountain lion killed our three goats, and my search for a livestock guardian dog began. I visited farms and looked at breeds, but could never be sure that I wasn’t getting a dog who would threaten people. I finally gave up. The family of one of my guitar students knew I had been searching. They wrote me and said, “We bought a female guardian pup, and we knew you were looking, so we bought her brother for you. If you like him, we will trade him for two guitar lessons.”

There was a bit of magic in this... I saw the photo and was so struck, I began to shake. I called my husband Don over and said, “That is our dog. We have to go and get him right now.” Two hours later I was holding him in my lap in our car on the way home. I didn’t know he would mature into such a spectacular dog, guarding our 36 acres, a gigantic 31.5 inches at the shoulder, and loving all my guests and leaning on them. This photo, above, is the earliest photo of Caspian. He was about 9 weeks here. You can see his beautiful eye, and refined muzzle.
Having worked with animals all my life, I knew I had something special. Caspian was spectacular. He stopped traffic. He moved like a dressage horse, and hs coat was soft and glossy and easy-care. He stayed white.

I decided to pair him with some LGD cross females. In 2008 I purchased and shipped “Snow” and “River” to Colorado from two different ranches in Texas. I knew how hard it was to find a dog that would guard a property but accept people, so I decided to call my new LGD line, the Colorado Mountain Dog.

I purchased and flew in one other dog from a farm in Ohio, an LGD cross who I named Tirian. These four dogs began the CMD.

Reprinted with permission from www.coloradomountaindogs.com Wendy Francisco , Author

Coat

Colorado Mountain Dogs have a thick "triple" layered coat that moults to a lightly doubled coat in the summer. Other than moulting season they are considered low shed. The outer layers are long and straight, can be slightly wavy especially along the spine. Longer "feathers" on the rear, mane and forelegs. Depending on your CMD's ancestry and lifestyle, monthly maintenance brushing at minimum is necessary to keep the coat in prime condition.

All colors are acceptable. Eyerims pigment and noses should be black or coinciding with coat color. Pink or mottled eye rims are undirable. Nose leather should be black or coinciding with coat color. Pink noses are undesirable.

CLICK FOR CARE AND GROOMING OF THE CMD COAT

Size

Males 29-31" at the shoulder 100-110 lbs. Females 27-29" at the shoulder 80-90 lbs

Physical Appearance

The Colorado Mountain Dog is extra large without being giant. Proportionate and athletic, their movements are deliberate and thoughtful. The curled tail carries with flair over the back, bringing extra attention to their bouncy trot. There is a marked difference of physique between males and females. A male's mane and chest are fuller and females have noticably feminine facial features. The head is wedgeshaped, clean and dry. Stop is minimal and eyes are almond shaped, slanting up towards the ear. The head shape is the most distinctive difference between CMD's and other Livestock guardian breeds, being more refined and less rounded.

Head is Ears are triangle pendant, falling to the sides of the head no longer than equal to midcheek. The neck is well muscled, the backline is straight. The rib cage is well sprung and never barrel shaped. Elbows are close to the body and point directly to the rear when walking or standing.

The rear angulation should be pronounced and within a degree or two of the front angulation. Foot is round, toes are close and well arched.

The above display box is the nutshell cut and dry "standard" of the Colorado Mountain Dog Breed. The breed has now reached it's 5th generation from foundation dogs, allowing for the pedigreed tracking of generations. It is still a breed in development, with a heavy focus on temperament above looks.

Form follows function in nature, so certain physical characteristics such as size and coat type are a necessary part of how a livestock guardian functions.

As the CMD community of breeders selects through the generations, some coats will be longer or shorter, some will be smaller than others and some will have different tail carriages. There will always be a classic white CMD, but other colors will stabilize as the temperament gets honed.

My two cents....

Certain aspects of the CMD breed standard are more exciting to me than others. I want to give a few comments on each section:

TOFCMD'S: The acronyms are a little confusinig at first, and no one is expected to have all the farms memorized. Some social media sites have many posts listing the parents of two dogs and then the pups are from different farms ...oye. But they ARE a very important part of the data collection necessary to build a breed. Future breeders will be able to make connections of health issues that may arise and the generational standings allow breeders to quickly understand the potential to avoid inbreeding.

Size and appearance: Fennario's CMD's will have a large variation in size for a little while as we integrate foundation dogs In'Sh'Allah and Auggie into the fresh King Boaz and Caspian lines. There is plenty of diversity there so we will be able to select away from InShAllah's tiny frame and Auggie's GSD angulation. We are looking for a large dogs- large enough to take on a coyote, not so large as to have clumsy movement that could cause hardship for it's career and the people that keep them. To ME, disqualifications are a high back end, poor angulation front and back, slay feet, feet that point out, long toes and no "full circle" to the tail curl. Over/under bites, blue eyes, pink pigment on the eye rims. I can work with pretty much everything else.

Coat: Fennario's Colorado Mountain Dogs are bred with ease and comfort of care a hallmark of our breeding program. As a 30 year veteran groomer, I have seen some awefully neglected coats over the years. The expense of professional grooming can become exorbitant for the people and the toll it takes on the dog is NOT worth it. Proper care and management needs to be minimal as most caretakers of livestock do not have the time to comb out a pack of LGD's.

COLOR! Fennario Kennels will be dealing with Red White and Blue CMD's. see what I did there? haha. The Blue is absolutely fascinating to me. Technically, it is a Grizzeling modifier for blacks, so um...grey. But that doesn't sound as pretty as "Blue" This Grizzeling happens in degrees that will produce different shedes of grey - we like the blue one. I also like Tuxedo Black, like "Otto, the Other One". It will be necessary to have some blacks in my lines to keep the Blues producing blue.

Temperament:

Shawna's
DOG LIFE Canine professional Breeder of The CMDR Colorado Mountain Dogs