Jelly
Jelly is sort of like Buffy's Irish twin. Less than six months after Bonnie had her litter in December 2024, I decided to breed Epona one last time in a desperate attempt to get a female descendant of her maternal line. Her previous dual-sired litter had yielded a trio of boys, and while they have turned out to be everything I could have hoped for, I wasn't ready to give up a chance for a daughter. As luck would have it, at the age of 9, she blessed me with three daughters and one more son in the summer of 2025. It has been many years (since Epona herself was born) since I've had a summer litter, and what a joyful experience it was raising these babies with her.
Jelly has admittedly been one of the most challenging puppies I've raised in awhile. She's extremely independent and has a lot of strong opinions about almost everything. Sometimes it feels like she's being a contrarian just because it amuses her. But truth be told, she's just a reincarnation of her late grandma, Patti - coming back to remind me to always be humble and patient. At just a little over 12 months old at the time of this writing, Jelly has started to come into her own, both mentally and physically. She is a surprisingly small girl at just a little over 55lbs (the entire litter is much smaller statured than I expected). While there is definitely still some growing to do, I'm very pleased to have such a moderately sized child.
In addition to training for racing and lure coursing, Jelly is doing a little dabbling in flyball with her two big brothers. Although her independent nature has made her less biddable than the boys, she is very food-motivated and quick to learn new things. I don't know how far we will go, but it's a journey for us to go on together. In her free time, Jelly can be found palling around with her Irish twin, Buffy. I keep telling myself that I don't like raising multiple puppies at the same time, but these two have a close bond that is as sisterly as it gets without being actual sisters.
Jelly has admittedly been one of the most challenging puppies I've raised in awhile. She's extremely independent and has a lot of strong opinions about almost everything. Sometimes it feels like she's being a contrarian just because it amuses her. But truth be told, she's just a reincarnation of her late grandma, Patti - coming back to remind me to always be humble and patient. At just a little over 12 months old at the time of this writing, Jelly has started to come into her own, both mentally and physically. She is a surprisingly small girl at just a little over 55lbs (the entire litter is much smaller statured than I expected). While there is definitely still some growing to do, I'm very pleased to have such a moderately sized child.
In addition to training for racing and lure coursing, Jelly is doing a little dabbling in flyball with her two big brothers. Although her independent nature has made her less biddable than the boys, she is very food-motivated and quick to learn new things. I don't know how far we will go, but it's a journey for us to go on together. In her free time, Jelly can be found palling around with her Irish twin, Buffy. I keep telling myself that I don't like raising multiple puppies at the same time, but these two have a close bond that is as sisterly as it gets without being actual sisters.
