Yesterday Alice’s progesterone was 0.4 ng/mL. We want to see a 3-4 point jump in a 24 hour period (usually you want to see them hit approximately 5 and then jump) to show ovulation. So not yet! Retest tomorrow.
Usually I test every other day starting on day 3-5 until we need to start testing daily. The only panic will be if we need to breed at a time the repro vet isn’t available but let’s not worry until and unless we need to!
This little drop of blood means Alice is in season! First progesterone test on Monday!
The litter’s registered name theme will be Lotus motor cars that start with “E”
Breeding is planned for fall 2021 using frozen semen (Zar is an older gentleman now!)
Born: TBA
This is a line breeding on Mystarz Bailey’s Blazer (Tempest), who has produced amazing dogs who have been successful in a variety of performance and companion events, and conformation. And this pedigree is actually (I believe) an example of Brackett’s Formula
What can I say about Zar? I first met him when I was stud shopping for my B litter. I absolutely fell in love with him then (I ended up using his father, Tempest, for that litter but always wanted to use Zar at some point. He is an incredible dog with an amazing temperament. Zar was the first Swedish Vallhund to become a dual champion (Silver Grand Champion AND an AKC herding championship, which is very difficult to accomplish), and he is the sire of our breed’s second (and so far only other) dual champion. He is a Swedish Vallhund Club of America Versatility Grand Champion and has titles in agility, Barn Hunt, rally and multiple herding titles. He’s a working dog down to the bone but also sweet, friendly, outgoing, stable, even-tempered and has a solid “off switch”. All that and handsome too (he’s a Silver Grand Champion after all). Zar is a total dog and I am absolutely thrilled to finally have the opportunity to breed to him. I think he and Alice will be a great cross. Zar is OFA Fair, normal elbows, normal cardiac (cardiologist), normal eyes.
Alice is a fantastic working dog with a lovely, stable temperament. Alice has OFA Good hips, normal elbows, normal patellas, normal cardiac status, full dentition and is a Retinopathy carrier. She is an AKC breed champion, is Canadian Kennel Club championship pointed, and has several agility titles.
I will most definitely be prioritizing performance homes for this litter. While they should have “off switches” like all Vallhunds should have, these will hopefully be dogs best suited to homes where they will get to do something like herding, agility, Barn Hunt, etc. While all Vallhunds should make wonderful pets, I expect that these will not be couch potatoes! Vallhunds don’t need hours of exercise every day, but they do need brain exercise and this litter most likely will do best in a home where they have a job. If you would like more information or if you are interested in a puppy, please email me and tell me something about yourself and your home and what you are looking for in a puppy.
After last weekend, when we had one single Q, we had a kick ass day! I worked quite a lot with Alice over the last week and it paid off. Connection, connection, connection, staying slower (not slowing her down but not pushing for speed) and calmer and quieter meant that she went 3/4 on the day, earned her first Excellent Jumpers Q and finished her Open Agility title (she’s all the way into Excellent now!). It also helped that she had two games classes before a “real” class, so we had a chance to warm up and get some kinks out. And Zhora doubled. Quite challenging Laura Kuterbach courses (the ending of Open Standard was significantly harder than the Masters course ending):
Alice Excellent FAST (NQ, training mode, great weaves and ran off to reward):
Zhora Master Standard (QQ #135):
Alice Time 2 Beat (Q, first T2B leg):
Zhora Master Jumpers (QQ #135):
Alice Excellent Jumpers (Q!):
Alice Open Standard (Q, OA title!):
I made some changes, did more practice, and what do you know? It makes a difference!
Alice really, really needs connection, she really needs me to focus on her and get her to focus on me before we run. And she had her best trial day to date! A beautiful T2B run with just one off course. A FAST run where I didn’t connect and she transformed into ALICEALICEALICEHEY! And then qualifying runs in BOTH Jumpers (for her OAJ title, now she moves into Excellent Jumpers) and Standard (for her second OA leg). And weaves on the first try every time. So proud of her!
And Zhora doubled for QQ #134, winning standard and coming fourth in jumpers. She’s like a pair of comfortable slippers that barks and runs fast.
Really proud of my girls.
Alice Time 2 Beat (NQ but really nice run we need to work on our tunnel call offs and discriminations)
Zhora Master Standard (QQ #134):
Alice Excellent FAST (NQ and a great example of what happens when I don’t connect and use clear and calm cues):
Zhora Master Jumpers (QQ):
Alice Open Jumpers (Q, almost 5 YPS, OAJ title):
Alice Open Standard (Q):
I’m so glad Sue started videoing early yesterday, so I can see what I’m doing and, more importantly, what I’m NOT doing. Until the video got messed up in transfer, you could clearly see Alice is seeking connection multiple times at the start of Jumpers and I don’t give it to her. It’s easy to forget how little mileage she has, and how much more connection and support she needs from me. She’s a working dog down to the bone and that’s a really good thing. I need to do better for her. I’m rusty too obviously, especially since I should have recognized how tricky that tunnel (right lead through the rocket launcher) to weaves (left lead and collection) sequence was for a green dog. I didn’t cue a lead change and should have recognized that was needed. So many little things I need to be aware of. I so love this little dog, I see shades of (grandma) baby Nina here. AND HOW ABOUT THE LAST HALF OF THAT JUMPERS RUN!!!??
Zhora earned QQ #133, won Standard and came second in Jumpers. Running her is like putting on comfortable shoes and we’re getting our mojo back.
Alice Time 2 Beat (I didn’t get to walk since there was a mislabeling of the running order, so it was a disaster and I didn’t do our usual warm up and connection routine):
Alice Excellent FAST (ZOOM):
Zhora Standard (QQ #133, first place):
Zhora Jumpers (QQ #133, second place):
Nina’s still on injured reserve so Alice, Zhora and I made the trek to Erie today (and I came home sick from work yesterday so I wasn’t 100% even though I felt better). Zhora had an uncharacteristic double NQ thanks to the EXACT SAME HANDLER ERROR in both her runs, and Alice had two really nice NQ’s. Her Standard run today is probably one of my favorite runs we’ve had so far, especially since we had over a year off trialing thanks to the pandemic. I am really loving what I’m seeing in her, she’s brave and forward, not afraid of mistakes and always happy to try again, and stresses UP UP UP. I’m also seeing what we need to work more on, but overall I’m very happy, so proud of my girls. And SO HAPPY TO SEE FRIENDS I HADN’T SEEN IN WAY TOO LONG!!!
Zhora Master Standard (nice run, NQ):
Zhora Master Jumpers (nice run, NQ IN THE EXACT SAME SPOT):
Alice Open Jumpers (wild but some good stuff, NQ):
Alice Open Standard (really nice run, NQ):
I have so many pictures and videos and things to post, the last couple of weeks have been crazy and I really have had to just neglect the blog in favor of work and getting the puppies home.
Unsurprisingly, I have some thoughts about the last couple of weeks here.
Choosing homes for puppies is one of the best and one of the worst things about breeding. Some breeders just let people choose a puppy and it’s all good. That works for them. That isn’t what works for me. The way I do things doesn’t work for everyone and that’s ok. I use an application, talk to people, and see if there’s a puppy who seems like a good fit once their personalities come out and once I’ve done their structural evaluations at 8 weeks. My obligation is to my puppies, and I hope people realize that I’m doing my best to find the best home for the puppy AND the right puppy for the owner. And that making a bad match does neither party any favors.
There was a lot of frantic, last minute running around this week and COVID makes everything more difficult (I mean, obviously most difficult for those who are sick or who’ve lost someone to the virus, but it’s amazing how many things you never even think about are harder because of it). And obviously the background level of stress and anxiety is so much higher, so it’s unsurprising that the usually-stressful time of sending the puppies out into the world to start their lives was even worse this time.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the homes for this litter. I always hope I did a good enough job raising them. Both parents are stellar dogs with great temperaments, the puppies all seem like great dogs. But you always worry. Will their owners love them as much as they deserve? Will they love them as much as we do? Will they kiss them on the nose the way that puppy loves? Will they play tug the way that THAT puppy loves? Will they talk to them in the stupid squeaky voice that makes their faces light up and their tails wag? Will they blow on that puppy’s face the way that makes her crazy happy? Will they realize what an amazing being they have to share their lives with now? Will they realize that they are about to become that dog’s whole world?
Letting go is hard. Packing up and putting away the puppy stuff is bittersweet. Going back to normal life is comforting. Planning the next litter is exciting.
I don’t know that people who haven’t raised a litter understand just how much work it is. It’s a labor of love for sure and it’s so gratifying and so fun. But it’s also work. SO much laundry, SO much poop, SO many days you just want to come home from a hard day at work and sit on the couch and veg out and you can’t. But so worth it to see them out there starting their lives and learning about their new people.
Red girl Alfa is now named Mimic and is living in Canada with her great aunt (Grandma Zhora’s sister). She will learn to play agility and probably already knows ten tricks.
Orange boy Bravo is now named Timber and is living in Canada with a lovely couple who are first time puppy/Vallhund owners and who did everything right from research to networking and were so excited to get him it makes me smile every time. It does your heart good.
Yellow girl Charlie is now named Valkyrie (Kyrie) and is living in Vermont with a lovely family who’ve had a Vallhund before. She will learn agility and will go kayaking!
Green boy Delta is now named Whiskey and is living in Canada in an experienced dog home. He will learn agility!
Blue boy Echo is now named Enzo and is co-owned by me and a lovely couple who are friends of mine. He will learn Barn Hunt and will hopefully be a show dog too!
Purple girl Foxtrot is now named Daisy and is living in beautiful Prince Edward Island where she will hopefully be a show dog and will definitely play on the beach!
Pink girl Golf is now named Jovie and is co-owned by me and a wonderful couple who also have Jovie’s great uncle (Zhora’s brother). She is their third Vallhund from me and if that’s not an enormous and humbling compliment I don’t know what is. She will learn agility, hopefully be a show dog, and will go some way towards healing hearts broken by the untimely loss of their oldest dog.
Have wonderful lives my D litter. We will miss you.
Here are the puppies “manding”, or sitting politely in order to ask for something (in this case, be picked up). This is not so much about training them to sit, but rather to teach them that they can communicate their needs (and “you give me something I want, I give you something you want”):
So I made a video about how to play this game. I didn’t invent the game but it’s a super useful way to train your dog to come when called!
This is classical conditioning (like Pavlov): you are teaching the dog to associate their name with something good. They don’t have to DO anything to get the reward, they just have to hear their name, and then eat a cookie!
Here’s how I play this:
I have Orange boy Timber on my lap for this video, but in a bathroom you can just let the puppy wander around (remember, he doesn’t have to come to you, he just has to hear his name and eat a treat, even if you have to follow him around and say his name and feed him like a crazy person!)