A friend contacted me yesterday to say she is going ahead with her mating to Vesco, I really hope it is successful for her. There are litters born from him to bitches mated before and after our unsuccessful mating, which confirms I guess that we just had shitty bad luck. Anyway, knowing how the mating goes to this bitch will help me decide on future plans. If the mating goes well, and other bitches have litters from him before Siska comes in season then I'll continue with Plan A and use him, if there are more unsuccessful matings then I need a Plan B. Plan B is not an easy one, It'll have to be a proven male of suitable bloodlines who doesn't live at the other end of the country ... none spring to mind that fit all the criteria!
A proven, fertile male does not miss unless his sperm count has been affected by medication, excess heat or the like. We were just unlucky to not have a tie with Siska, a slip mating (a mating without a tie) is far less likely to be successful. After a successful mating but no puppies it is the bitch who's missed, like I said a fertile male does not miss. There are many reasons why a bitch would miss once or twice, but simply some are not fertile! Hopefully next time we can have a good mating with Siska, a mating with a tie ... and then if Miss Otis and her siblings don't come, then we really do have to think again. If we are blessed to have a "Beti" here by then at least there will be some plans for the future. If Zeeta goes ahead to have a litter then the decision regarding Beti will have to be made before the Siska mating, it would be so much easier if it was the other way round, but it is what it is and with Zeeta already mated it can't be changed!
