It's all Planning, Timing and A Lot of Luck!

Planning...  

The planning of this pairing began at the 2012 National Specialty in Tulsa, OK. OD was a puppy then but I thought he would be a great future match for my sweet Figgy. Alot of planning and thought goes into breeding a litter. A breeder who is breeding to improve the breed and their line from generation to generation takes many things into consideration and that not done lightly, I might add. I don't know how many hours I have stressed over who to breed to, where to go next. All good breeders do this. It is a ritual. What dog will bring desired traits for the next generation into your line? What do you need to improve upon? What will compliment your bitch? Weighing the pros and cons... determining risks and potential.. studying the pedigree... looking up health information on several generations back, looking at temperament, not only on those in the pedigree, but littermates of those in the pedigree. There are no perfect dogs, so it is never an easy decision. At least not for me.

Health Testing.... 

Each breed of dog has a list of which tests should be completed for a dog to be certified with a CHIC number. For Dalmatians it is BAER (hearing), HIPS, and either Eyes or Thyroid testing. A dog does not have to pass these tests to get a CHIC #, only has to have completed the tests, but it shows the dedication to breeding healthy dogs by the breeder. Health testing and paying for the submission of the results into the database is not cheap. By submitting them into the database that breeder is helping the breed as a whole by supplying information and statistics for other breeders and the parent club. Future trends and what we need to focus on as caretakers of the breed may become evident if we keep track of such things. Every breed has a limited gene pool (some more than others) and we take breeding very seriously. That is a good breeders job. To produce wisely and not just make puppies.

Figgy was already a Champion and had her CHIC #. OD completed his Championship and when he turned 2 he had all of his health tests completed. He is BAER Bilateral, OFA Hips Excellent and Thyroid Normal.  Figgy is BAER Bilateral, OFA Hips Excellent and Eyes Normal. All tests were turned in, CHIC #'s granted. Very good. We can now proceed.

Timing is everything!

Frozen was not an option for me, so even though OD has frozen available we had to try for fresh chilled.  Using frozen makes the timing much easier as the semen can wait indefinitely until the exactly right time.

Timing was not going to be easy and may not work out at all. If the dog is at home with the owner it should not be too difficult but OD is currently out specialing with Michael Scott and is a very busy show boy. The timing of getting him collected for a fresh chilled litter was going to be a big fat hit or miss.  No in-between. If he was traveling on the road there would be no time to stop and get him collected and get it shipped at just the exactly right time. We were hopeful, but also realized that timing just may not work out. I have always been one of the faith... "Where there is a will there is a way"... and "We make happen what we want to make happen".

Figgy was due to come into season in December... OD was home for a bit of a break but nope... she didn't come in. She waited until January! When she came into season I called Daniel and asked... "Where is OD going to be this next weekend?" I was hoping he would be at Michael's home base or somewhere close enough I could drive to him.  Daniel checked the schedule and OD was going to be in Florida at shows that weekend! That gave us the option of Daniel and Kevin driving an hour and half to the show, picking him up and getting him collected. Hurtle one down, at least he was going to be in-range. However, the most important part is receiving the semen at exactly the right time when the bitch is ready to be bred! Will Figgy be ready that weekend and what about Fed Ex... you can either ship on Thursday for a Friday delivery, or Monday for a Tuesday delivery.  What if she is ready on Sat, Sunday or Monday? Note: Some remote or rural locations do not have Saturday morning delivery. Most larger towns this is available.

Figgy has had a litter before and by those estimates she would be ready on a Wednesday. That is okay for shipping overnight, but OD will be back on the road traveling by then. The show ends on a Sunday! Hoping/praying she would be ready earlier! I called Carolyn Bolt, who does collection in Florida. She has some super duper extender and was sure OD could be collected on a Sunday, kept refrigerated overnight, and ship out Monday morning. This meant I would get the semen on a Tuesday (almost 48 hours after collection). This is usually not done, but I was determined and had faith. If it is meant to be... it will be...

On doing fresh chilled AI's, I also like to do two inseminations. If you can collect one day and ship and then collect the next day and ship you have a really good chance of getting the timing right and much like you would do for live breeding.

It is a bit of a drive for Daniel and Kevin to pick up OD and take him to Carolyn for collection and back to Michael. It could interfere with Group showing that day and being a Sunday, he would need to get out on the road as soon as possible.  Shoot... a little snag. Carolyn thinks there is a semen clinic at the show. I go online and look at the show program and there is a semen clinic at the show!!! WOO HOO! What luck. 

Okay so... Semen kit and shipper and extender purchased from Carolyn. Daniel and Kevin drive an hour and half to pick up. They get it to Vet at show. They wait the latest they can on Sunday to do the collection. Vet keeps semen overnight and packages on Monday morning for delivery on Tuesday to my vet. But will Figgy be ready????? 

It is a miracle that all of this worked out so perfectly on getting the semen collected and to me... but the most important part is the timing on the bitch! If she is ready on Wednesday, as her history suggests, the semen would have to wait another 24 hours... 72 hour old semen! Usually only overnight (24 hour old) semen is used to AI a bitch. This is pushing our luck!

Meanwhile, Figgy is getting closer but not ready yet. My boys at home not telling me it is time. Will she be ready too late? Semen is due to arrive on Tuesday morning after 10 a.m. On Tuesday morning, I take Figgy in early for Progesterone test so we can get back by noon. Semen arrives. We wait a bit for progesterone results. She is at 10.37.  Vet checks semen under a scope... holding our breath. Is the semen still alive, did it make the journey okay, and did the extra day make a difference? It looks excellent!!! Ooo.... time to inseminate!  

We held our breath until the 6th week of Pregnancy when she definitely was looking PG! Whew! Another hurdle down! I opted not to do an ultrasound. A friend of mine read a study that suggested ultrasound can cause dyslexia in human children. I guess if a puppy was dyslexic, how would you know? Unless you teach them to read. :) But since then, I have not done them anymore to just confirm pregnancy. We can tell soon enough if we are patient.