A long conversation with the breeder of Sable 2 last night gave food for thought. After disguising that Sammi only had 3 puppies in her last litter she came to the conclusion that we mated her too late, and you know what with hindsight and knowledge I think she's right. According to the test Sammi would have ovulated on Tuesday afternoon as her result was 11.4 on Tuesday morning. (Most bitches ovulate around 16, but some as early as 13 or as late as 18) At that time the test was sent off and Larry would phone the results through the next day. He told me to mate Sammi on Friday or Saturday morning. Sammi was mated Saturday lunchtime, maybe it was even early afternoon after the initial failures with Ole. But according to the information Idexx now provide bitches should be mated 48 hrs after ovulation, which means we should have mated her on Thursday, Friday at the latest. The way I read it now by Saturday the ova were aging and there was decreased potential for fertility. So yeah, looks like a mistake was made there doesn't it! Anyway with 2 mating's on the table with Sisco should Sammi ever decide to come in season my friend suggests we go just after ovulation and 48 hours later. That sure makes sense to me!
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| Captain |
The conversation changed to reputable breeders. She had noticed my rant on Facebook and I explained to her that someone local who should know better has bred from an unregistered bitch who has no health tests .. but worse still she has used a dog that I know for a fact is already suffering from HD and getting treatment for it. I just can't get my head around it .. for the life of me I don't understand why anyone would take such risks with the lives of the puppies they produce. Greed or ignorance? Both I'd say! Anyway my friend then told me of a kennel near her where horrendous conditions have caused the loss of lives of puppies, yet this is a licences establishment. I listened and consider whether or not to tell her that when I met my Ex husband he had a dog bred in those kennels, actually no reason not too so I told her. Captain came from this kennel, no wonder he had issues! Crazily I remembered his registered name and his sire, but when we went on to talk about working line GSD's I couldn't remember Loki's bitch line at all! Funny what bits of my brain still function normally and which struggle isn't it!
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| A Young Blade |
After coming off the phone I went looking for one of the only photos I have of Captain and sent it to my friend. I also came across this photo of a young Blade and sent her that, we didn't know each other then. Her reply on Blade was flattering. Hey that's not a bad young dog. Well no he was not a bad dog and if you seriously look at this photo then you can see the bits are in the right place, he just needed to fill into the frame - which he did quite beautifully in my opinion. I'm not blinkered I see the faults .. I always have done, and I should if I am to continue improving my line, but hell I do see the good in them too.
A long conversation with the breeder of Sable 2 last night gave food for thought. After disguising that Sammi only had 3 puppies in her last litter she came to the conclusion that we mated her too late, and you know what with hindsight and knowledge I think she's right. According to the test Sammi would have ovulated on Tuesday afternoon as her result was 11.4 on Tuesday morning. (Most bitches ovulate around 16, but some as early as 13 or as late as 18) At that time the test was sent off and Larry would phone the results through the next day. He told me to mate Sammi on Friday or Saturday morning. Sammi was mated Saturday lunchtime, maybe it was even early afternoon after the initial failures with Ole. But according to the information Idexx now provide bitches should be mated 48 hrs after ovulation, which means we should have mated her on Thursday, Friday at the latest. The way I read it now by Saturday the ova were aging and there was decreased potential for fertility. So yeah, looks like a mistake was made there doesn't it! Anyway with 2 mating's on the table with Sisco should Sammi ever decide to come in season my friend suggests we go just after ovulation and 48 hours later. That sure makes sense to me!
