Renee the repro vet tech said “she didn’t mess around!”. We’re calling Monday 11/1 ovulation day. The Witness LH test at the repro vet from Saturday’s sample was inconclusive. I ordered an LH test on that same sample at Idexx, we’ll see what that says but it could take a couple of days so we’re going with late Sunday/Monday for ovulation day.
The plan is to breed tomorrow 11/4 and Friday 11/5. Think fertile thoughts!
Alice’s progesterone from 11/1 was 7.8 ng/mL! So we’re running the luteinizing hormone test on her sample from Saturday. Seems likely that she ovulated Sunday (to me, but we’ll see what the repro vet says).
Alice’s progesterone was 0.6 ng/mL on Wednesday, and 1.8 today (Day 9). This was on the repro vet’s in house machine, we also sent some serum to IDEXX so we will see how they compare when we get that back. The in house machine is pretty accurate but it uses a different technology than the IDEXX reference lab uses (meow meow science meow).
We are also freezing some serum from each blood draw so that once we know she has ovulated we can go back and test it from the relevant day for lutenizing hormone, that gives us a much more exact date to go by. Because frozen semen is quite delicate (“compromised” as they say), once it thaws you only have a few hours for it to get where it needs to go and do its thing, so the closer to perfect you can make your timing, the better. With live cover or side by side AI, you’re actually better to be a little early with your breeding, since fresh semen can live for 5-7 days inside the female, so it can just hang out and wait for the eggs to be dropped and then ripen (ripening takes roughly 2 days). The more compromised the semen is, the shorter its lifespan, so chilled lives far less time than fresh does, and frozen lives the shortest time of all (just 12-24 hours).
Awesome repro tech Renee said “if I were a betting woman, I’d put money on next weekend being go time, so clear your calendar”. So we will see!
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!
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.
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):
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):
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):
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):
