Sammi's Diary - Part 1

2/12/19 - I guess things are a foot - Though there is no discharge or blood, Nico is showing a little interest in Sammi and Asha has started marking over her wee. I will take her to the field with Loki tomorrow to see what he thinks and when I change the bedding in the morning I'll give her a white vet bed. Please please let her not time this badly and need mating over the three days of Xmas .... Either come in now as in the next 2 days or hang onto it Sammi ... Please hang on a fortnight or a little more ...
07/12/19
I forgot to take her out with Loki but there are no further developments. For convenience I really need her to hang on till after the 15th now ideally ...
08/12/19 - Well I spoke too soon and last night Sammi had a pink discharge. After my initial panic I did calm down and think, well Sammi does tend to dilly dally before she starts to bleed properly. Hopefully she will this time too. If she came in today it would be a nightmare as her days of mating would clash with Xmas, any day after the 11th would help but that would make blood testing difficult .. so really we need to get to the 15th. Mind you knowing Sammi we could get to the 15th of January!!! lol
13/12/19 - Ahhh Red Blood. Shit! I've messages Sisco's owner and I'm now hoping he can accommodate us between Xmas and The New Year.
Ok, I'm now taking charge of it all ... I've booked Sammi in for bloods on the 24th and the 27th and confirmed that Joe is home and that Sisco will be available for the mating between Xmas an New Year. And breath!!! I think the 24th is too early for Sammi as it will be day 12 - but I'm not risking leaving her till the 27th (day 15) without knowing where she's at. Last time she was mated on day 18 - which will take us to the 30th. If her count is similar from these bloods then I think mating her on day 17 and 19 day maybe the best option.
16/12/19 - True to form Sammi is taking the piss. There has been no blood since Friday. I have not informed Joe or cancelled the vets appointment yet best keep everything as it is for now. But I think we can safely agree that was a false start that to be honest is quite typical of Sammi.
19/12/19 - Cancelled everything ... all I can do is wait now!
20/12/19 - Well now I have the answer to "noisy night" - Sammi is bleeding again. No reason to think that maybe she didn't have stomach cramps over night. Poor girl, I totally sympathise. I'm not getting back in touch with Joe today but I have made a vets appointment for the 31st - I'll give it a couple of days just in case she goes off again. I feel a phone call to Katrina coming on!!!!
I chatted to Katrina but still don't have an answer to the question of the day .. Do I class today as day 1 or a week ago when she showed first blood? She said she's had many bitches do the same with varying patterns of when it was day 1. Going from Sammi's previous seasons I would say today is day 1, but of course I'll have to be vigilant now. Thank god I have the boys to assist me!

26/12/19. Sammi continues to "Spot" but there has been no significant blood loss since the 20th. So I guess we are still in something like a pre-season which she has had before. For reference I decided to look back at previous notes
Sammi blood 30/4/19
Sammi Season?? - 25/5/19
Sammi Red Blood Day 1 14/6/19
Dogs in kennels 28/6/19.
So yes it went on for weeks before she finally came in season. The only difference was that she was due in season in June so the blood came prior to the due date. This time she was due in season in December and the spotting started at the due date. That's why it has led to further confusion and I presumed it was a normal season starting. Sammi really needs to come in season properly now if we are to have this Sisco litter otherwise it could clash with taking Kaiah to be mated in April/May. Obviously there is still plenty of time to have the two litters, but the sooner the better .. PLEASE Sammi!
28/12/19 - two tiny drops of blood this morning followed by greater interest in her wee from Loki. Nothing all day .. but now this evening red blood. I'll put white bedding back in her crate.
29/12/19 - Today there is nothing - absolutely nothing again! Ahhhhh I feel for Sammi's sake that after this season and hopefully a litter Sammi should be spayed. I know others say their bitches do it but I feel this can't be left to go on.
31/12/19 - Steve said that the two boys showed some interest in Sammi first thing this morning, but she was still not swollen and still only had that pink discharge. There was great interest in her wee on the walk .. Loki even went back to the spot on the return home. Tonight there is more red blood, I fear the roller coaster ride!
1/1/20 - We are back to nothing, this is just ridiculous, emotionally I'm not coping. I need this so much and ever day of uncertainty causes my further distress and anxiety. None of it is making any sense at all. I don't blame Sammi, it's just nature isn't it .. this is really taking it out of me, this is so hard.
3/1/20 - Blood - lots of blood - all day!
4/1/20 - Still bleeding - I won't book the vets appointment of contact Joe till Monday .. She's not making me look a tit again!
9/1/20 - Day 8, I guess .. some minimal interest from the boys, but Ziva soon put a stop to it!
11/1/20 - Nico has just gone into Sammi's crate to investigate, this is the first time my "Experienced" dog has taken an interest. Last night we had gushes of smelly blood .. things seem normal. I think the vet test on Monday will be far too early but because of the early bleeding I believe it's best I know where she is at. Th reading, however low will give me an idea of what happens next and when ...

The results from test one show Sammi's progesterone levels to be very low. Ideally I would test again on Friday, but as I'm at Manchester Ch. Show  I'll go on Thursday .. and again on Saturday if need be. If she develops normally then it'll be Sunday maybe by the time she's ready ... but I think I'm best to keep an eye on things just in case she shoots up like Kaiah did.

16/1/20 - Test 2 and she's up to 8.2 so we seem to be on the right track. I will test again on Saturday AM, I usually get the results within the hour. Katrina suggests I should mate just after ovulation and again in 48 hrs so if she progresses normally now that could be Saturday pm and Monday, or Sunday and Tuesday. Interestingly piece of information by the way, .. day 15 is the average ovulation day in the breed. Today is day 14 from this last lot of bleeding. Theoretically she should have doubled in 48 hrs so therefore by Saturday morning she will have ovulated.

18/1/20 -The result for test three on day 16 got us in a tiss 23.4. It looks like Sammi ovulated yesterday. (approx 16) Road trip today. On meeting Sisco, Sammi liked him and was quite flirty .. kisses and games were acceptable, but Italian or not, she didn't want anymore thank you very much! We had some difficulties getting her mated as she's a bit of an odd shape internally and awkward about it too.. no wonder the inexperienced Ole didn't manage it! I have to say Joe was just lovely, calm and reassuring and had a wonderful rapport with his dogs. He told me off for shouting at Sammi for being a bucking bronco!!! Anyway the end result was a 20 min tie. Sisco is just lovely, so impressive. Because Sammi has jumped up so quickly Katrina suggested I take her back tomorrow and Joe agrees that she is bang on ready now, by Monday the ova maybe starting to age ..
19/1/20 - Day 17 - Part 2 of the Italian job went well. Again some initial difficulties as Sammi swung her bottom in all directions, but we got there and once she's mate she's quite calm about it all. (25 mins tie)  It takes about 6 hours  for the sperm to get to the eggs and the sperm lives about 48 hours but sometimes up to 7 days - we can do no more! Sammi's count  must be in the 40ies by now.
20/01/20 - This evening the dogs are already a little quieter, so it does look like she's going over quickly.  The waiting game begins now ...
22/01/20 - The dogs are quieter since last night. Ross is now back with Sammi. I won't try Loki till the weekend as he doesn't get it for days. It's only day 20 - she's gone off really quickly, they use to say that was a promising sign for pregnancy as the eggs were fertilised and not continuing to mature into old age. Still best I put it in the back of my mind now and get on with the next few weeks!
26/01/20 - It's all over - Loki is now back with Sammi.