Zhora’s progesterone was 1.7ng/mL on 7/17 (day 8), 4.5ng/mL on 7/19 (day 10), and 8.1ng/mL on 7/20 (day 11). So she likely ovulated somewhere between Wednesday the 19th and Thursday the 20th.
A dog’s eggs take about 48 hours to “ripen” (they are not able to be fertilized immediately after ovulation). Zhora wanted nothing to do with Bert on Friday (Bert, however, wanted quite a bit to do with Zhora…). As I was course building at an agility trial in Erie, I drove back and forth to try and get this breeding accomplished. Because Zhora was being disinterested to hostile to Bert on Friday, I spent much of Saturday morning at the trial on the phone trying to find a vet or fellow breeder who could manage an artificial insemination for me just in case Zhora wasn’t going to allow a natural breeding.
Saturday night I spent over an hour on the floor trying to help them get the deed done. Bert was willing, Zhora was…not.
And then this (Sunday) morning at 4 am, Zhora woke me up and asked to go in with Bert and got things done like she’d done it many times before! I guess she prefers things on her own terms.
While I’d have been happier with more than one tie, I am very grateful to my breeder friends who assured me that the timing was good and that many, many litters are born from single ties (in fact, many breeders only EVER do one breeding, on purpose). So now we wait. Assuming she ovulated on the 19th or 20th, puppies would be due September 20-21 (dog gestation is 63 days from ovulation, one week in a dog pregnancy is roughly equivalent to one month in a human pregnancy). Fingers and paws and eyes all crossed, because now all we can do is wait.
Zhora’s progesterone was at 0.6 yesterday (day 5). She ovulated on day 9 last time, but it’s important to remember that ovulation can change from cycle to cycle in the same bitch. Average is about day 14, but that can change.
Zhora was on mibolerone (formerly Cheque drops) for 6 months at Dr Hutchison’s suggestion (he’s the repro vet who did the frozen semen surgical artificial insemination that resulted in the B litter, of which Zhora is one!). He thought one of the reasons she reabsorbed last time could have been that her uterine lining was too thick, and the mibolerone will help thin things out (every unbred heat is damaging to a dog’s uterus). Average time to come into season after stopping this medication is 70 days, Zhora went 77.
Further bulletins as events warrant! Please keep fingers and paws crossed that things will work out this time!
Again, I have a waiting list but I do not do “first come first served”, I match puppies to homes. These puppies SHOULD be very nice performance prospects, as both parents are high drive dogs with lovely work ethic (and lovely off switches). I will be giving priority to performance homes, mainly because if the puppies take after their parents (as I hope they will), they will really thrive in homes where they have a job to do. Both parents are very nice dogs to live with, but they do need an outlet for their working drive.
Nina was on 19 1/2 QQ”s today, but I overhandled a tunnel entrance in Standard and cost us the MACH. Oh well, it could be next weekend, it could be next year, but I am so happy to be here with her and running with her. Michele Fletcher’s courses were very technical and challenging but fun, you really felt like you’d accomplished something if you qualified on them! And Bert made his agility debut and did AMAZINGLY well! For a dog with just a few weeks of training (and not daily training either), he was wonderful, brave, focused, willing. What a good boy! He wore Tish’s pink Brilliant K9 harness all weekend and didn’t seem to mind, too!
Nina Saturday Jumpers (NQ because she slipped in the weaves, tried to keep going but had already slipped out. I had no idea how I was going to handle the opening, and then I did a blind cross which was not ANY of the different ways I walked it, worked nicely though!):
Zhora Saturday Jumpers (NQ thanks to handler error that sent her to an off course):
Nina Saturday Standard (NQ):
Zhora Saturday Standard (Q, second place, 29 points, really tough weave entry and she drove ahead and nailed it!):
Bert Saturday Novice Standard (NQ, but what a great very first run, I was telling him all the way around what a good boy he was and what a great job he was doing, you can see on the table when I tell him how awesome he is and his tail starts wagging faster, what a sweetie):
Bert Saturday Novice Jumpers (NQ, but very nearly a Q! And he’s so focused on getting going at the start that he doesn’t want to sit):
Nina Sunday Jumpers (Q, fourth place, 20 points, the first four dogs were within a second of each other, the handling error that caused the near-refusal cost us time, this was a tough course!):
Zhora Sunday Jumpers (QQ # 54, 18 points):
Nina Sunday Standard (not MACH….you can hear me call to videographer Zap “Did we Q?” at the end, after we destroy the course, the line after the non-wing jump after the aframe ate a number of teams alive, that…wasn’t where we had a problem, I called her even though she was headed to the right end of the tunnel after the dogwalk and earned a refusal):
Zhora Sunday Standard (QQ #54, third place, 29 points):
Our second time at the Sportsplex and much better than last time. Zhora earned QQ # 52 on Saturday, and both girls set career-high points on Oksana Syrkin’s awesome Standard course on Saturday (the dogs could see the running lines perfectly and just ran flat out the whole way). It was hot and sticky and while Zhora managed to be the only 8″ dog to qualify on Mary Mullen’s challenging Sunday Standard course, stupid handler errors cost us in JWW with both dogs.
Nina Friday JWW (Q, first place, 23 points, 5.52 YPS):
Zhora Saturday Standard (QQ #52, second place, career-high 37 points, 4.57 YPS):
Nina Saturday Standard (Q, first place, career-high 39 points, 4.82 YPS):
Zhora Saturday Jumpers (QQ #52, second place, 17 points, a bit distracted still in the JWW ring but getting better):
Zhora Sunday Standard (Q, first place, only 8″ qualifier, 32 points, 4.068 YPS, quite a challenging course!):
Zhora Sunday JWW (NQ, she is very distracted by the crating by the ring and I needed to support the tunnel much more than I did, you can hear Nina barking, the crating is way too close to the ring here for my liking):
Nina Sunday JWW (NQ, nice run, I overhandled and got in her way and caused the bar down, you can hear Zhora barking, I only had 5 dogs between them and she had only just finished running and got chucked in the crate with a cookie and a promise for more when I got done running Nina!)):
Well, our first NAC is in the books and I couldn’t be happier! I wanted to run well and qualify and instead Zhora qualified in all four runs (Premier Standard on Friday, and all three NAC rounds), and she finished in 21st place out of 135 dogs. She didn’t run her fastest (it was a very overwhelming environment), but she ran her heart out, I am so proud of her!
Zhora HATES having her picture taken!
Nina came along for moral support. Here we are outside ring 6.
Thank you so much Zhora for this awesome ride!
Rings 1 and 2
Rings 1 and 2
Our stall with Flat Sue (Sue couldn’t come because of injury, so we brought Flat Sue instead!)
Nina had her best weekend in I don’t know how long. One stupid handler error today kept her from a perfect weekend. She earned QQ # 17 (JUST THREE MORE TO GO!), and didn’t knock ONE bar all weekend! Zhora had a perfect weekend, earning QQ’s 46 & 47. Judge Lisa Rieves designed some fun RLH (that’s “run like hell) courses, which are our favorite kind. Quite technical, deceptively trappy, lots of fun. A double double Q weekend that was almost a double double double Q weekend!
Nina Saturday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ # 17, first place, 17 points):
Zhora Saturday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ # 46, second place, 15 points):
Nina Saturday Time 2 Beat (first place, 10 points):
Nina Saturday Standard (part 2 of QQ # 17, first place, 26 points):
Zhora Saturday Standard (part 2 of QQ # 46, third place, 25 points):
Very fun weekend with judge John Defilippi (who is one of the judges at this year’s National Agility Championship). Roger O’Sullivan and Keebler earned their MACH 13, so nice to be able to be there to cheer them on! Nina ran beautifully, just handler errors Saturday and Sunday kept us from qualifying. Zhora earned double q’s #44 and 45 (she is now 1/4 of the way to MACH 3 already!) Saturday and Sunday. Friday was not my best day with either dog.
Zhora Friday Standard (NQ, I accidentally sent her to the off course tunnel after the double because I didn’t rotate fast enough on my front cross):
Nina Friday Standard (NQ):
Zhora Friday Time 2 Beat (Q, first place, 10 points):
Zhora Friday Premier Jumpers (NQ because I overhandled the jump before the second white tunnel):
Zhora Friday Jumpers (Q, first place, 19 points):
Zhora Saturday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ # 44, third place, 18 points):
Nina Saturday Jumpers (NQ):
Nina Saturday Standard (NQ):
Zhora Saturday Standard (part 2 of QQ #44, second place, 26 points):
Nina Saturday Standard (NQ):
Nina Saturday Time 2 Beat (Q, 8 points):
Zhora Sunday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ #45, first place, 17 points):
Nina Sunday Jumpers (I said “tunnel” when she was looking at the wrong end of the white tunnel, then training mode):
Zhora Sunday Standard (part 2 of QQ #45, second place, 28 points):
Nina Sunday Standard:
Zhora Sunday Time 2 Beat (Q, first place, 10 points):
Super fun weekend under one of our favorite judges, Laura Kuterbach! Zhora had a perfect weekend, earning QQ’s # 41 and 42 towards MACH3, plus her Time 2 Beat 2 (T2B2) title. Nina continued to run really, really well, I cost us a double Q both days with handler errors, and she put up two beautiful Standard Q’s, including saving our butts by managing to get over a jump from a crazy bad angle, and a lovely Premier Jumpers Q.
Nina Saturday Jumpers (NQ, nice run, every time I walked it I told myself to go deeper past the weaves before I made my front cross, but did I? No, and it cost us a double Q):
Zhora Saturday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ # 41, first place, 15 points):
Nina Saturday Standard (Q, first place, 30 points):
Zhora Saturday Standard (part 2 of QQ #41, second place, 29 points):
Nina Saturday Time 2 Beat (NQ, nice run):
Zhora Saturday Time 2 Beat (Q, first place, 10 points, Time 2 Beat 2 title):
Nina Sunday Premier Jumpers (Q!):
Nina Sunday Jumpers (NQ, nice run):
Zhora Sunday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ #42, third place, 16 points):
Zhora Sunday Time 2 Beat (Q, first place, 10 points):
Nina Sunday Standard (Q, second place, 29 points, she saved the Q by somehow getting over that jump near the end from a TERRIBLE angle):
Zhora Sunday Standard (part 2 of QQ #42, third place, 26 points):
MACH2 Alkemi Blade Runner LS MXS MJS NF T2B (Zhora)
Me and MACH2 Zhora saying thanks judge Jeff Ipser!
What a weekend! Zhora earned her MACH 2 (Master Agility Champion 2 – that’s 40 double Q’s and 1500 speed points), Nina FINALLY earned another double Q (#15, first since last April), and had her best weekend overall in a very, very long time, the weather was terrible, the judge got sick and we had to get a replacement judge (just like when Zhora earned her MACH, actually!), the judge’s ring measurements were incorrect so we had to change the courses (an AKC rep came to the trial Saturday and Sunday)…excitement, adventure and really wild things.
The lake hasn’t frozen yet, so we are still getting lake effect snow. With lots of warnings in the forecast for this weekend, Sue and I decided to caravan and drive up Thursday afternoon in the hopes of having to drive through a north-moving lake effect snow band as it passed over us, thus minimizing our exposure to it. Well…the band didn’t move as expected, which meant we, and a ton of other people, were trapped in our cars at the Lackawanna toll booths for nearly two hours after a truck jack knifed at the Blasdell exit on I-90. It was frightening, the snow was coming down very heavily (almost 5″ per hour at some points), building up around the car tires, and it was so cold that the wipers kept icing up, so we had to keep getting out to clear snow off our cars and deice our wipers. We eventually got moving and got off the Thruway, had dinner, and then Jim navigated from home to help us find a way out of Hamburg. There were driving bans all over the place, accidents everywhere, you couldn’t tell where the road was, it was very, very scary. We left my house at 3 PM and I eventually made it back home just before 10 PM. Friday morning we decided to try again once the plows had been out, and other than a very nasty few miles with whiteout conditions, the drive was uneventful.
We arrived at Countryside just as the last few dogs were running Standard. The judge (Kelli Verrelli) kindly agreed to let Sue and I run, and we walked the course a few times still wearing our winter boots. Well, lo and behold, BOTH my girls qualified on a very tricky standard course with a very low Q rate. And then they went on to BOTH qualify in Jumpers – a double double Q Friday, WELL worth the drive!
Nina ran just beautifully all weekend, really paying attention to her jumping and knocking very few bars, and qualifying in all three Jumpers runs plus standard on Friday for QQ # 15.
Not only did Zhora earn her MACH 2 just 8 months after her MACH, she ran fast and happy and very attentively. In our standard run today (for her MACH2), we were on the startline when they noticed a timer problem, so we left the ring while they fixed it. Zhora has shown herself to be very level-headed about things like that, I just knelt down on the ground with her and played with her and she was unflappable. She came out just as ready to run as she’d been the first time. And she was the ONLY 8″ dog to qualify on that course. The Q rates were quite low overall, especially for the big dogs.
So thankful to judge Jeff Ipser for making the drive to come and fill in Saturday and Sunday for Kelli after she got sick! We trial with Jeff all the time and it was very nice to earn a MACH under him!
Zhora Friday Jumpers (part 2 of QQ #39, second place, 14 points):
Nina Friday Jumpers (part 2 of QQ # 15, first place, 17 points):
Zhora Saturday Jumpers (Q, second place, 12 points):
Nina Saturday Jumpers (Q, first place, 15 points):
Zhora Saturday Standard (NQ but nice run):
Nina Saturday Standard (NQ but nice run, naughty table!):
Zhora Sunday Jumpers (part 1 of MACH2, second place, 12 points, just ONE SECOND behind Nina!):
Nina Sunday Jumpers (Q, first place, 13 points):
Zhora Sunday Standard (MACH2!!! First place, 27 points, the ONLY 8″ dog to qualify):
Nina Sunday Standard (NQ but really, really nice run, I needed to show more movement towards the table, I asked her to lie down at the start, she said “I don’t think I will”):
Here’s an awesome video of Lobo (Alkemi Beowulf del Roble LS CDX PT RATM CGC) and his mom Jan trying for his second UD (Utility Dog) obedience leg. He didn’t pass this time (he has one UD leg already, he needs three for his UD title) but I have no doubt he will get it soon. This is a very tough title, the runs are long and involve a lot of different skills (he has to heel, perform skills at a distance, discriminate an article Jan has handled from a bunch of articles, and he has to do this with different materials). Jan is a wonderful (and very experienced!) trainer and she clearly has such an amazing bond with her Lobo, the bit where they look at each other while they wait for the judge to place the discrimination article, and there is so much love and trust obvious between them…that does my heart good both as a breeder and as a dog person, we should all have that kind of bond with our dogs!
