Thursday, September 3, 2009

Against All Odds

Ok, it happends even in the good families. Accidental breeding is something that can happen from time to time and it is totally up to us breeders what we want to do about it, if we actually see it happen.
Oh, yes, we did see it happen, so we could save ourselves from the trouble of actually having to find out who the dady is :) DNA tests and today´s technology make things a lot easier, BUT this wasn´t our case. Right?!
We saw it happen, and we knew who the potential dady would be, if we would want to have a litter. Not that the combination would be bad, as a matter of fact, the match was great - structurewise I could not possibly find a better pair to compliment each other, pedigree wise very nice, and even a slight line breeding on some acomplished dogs. BUT, we opted for not having a litter. Actually, for two reasons - first, the female is too young, and second, we already had a litter in June, and, well, I hate mentioning things in advance, but we might have a second litter from a female we bred in August.
Given the fact that we made our clear piont, we asked our vet to perform a pregnancy blood test, before we would use any hormonal means, especially if they would be unnecessary.
We have performed several such blood tests in the past, and the results were always acurate (in either way).
For some reason, I had the urge to ask Cathrine this time a little more about the test. I had this need to find out how acurate it actually is. She went through the trouble of finding out on internet possibly all information available, and came back with the victorious answer, that the acuracy is over 95% (or something like that).
To make the long story a bit shorter, the test turned out negative. Negative means that the female is NOT pregnant.
Well, I´ll stop dramatizing, because at this point you must have the idea of where this all is leading. Yes, we fit in the category of those 5%.
How did I find out? I simply ignorred the fact that Rizey became quieter and calmer, and even a little bit more cuddlier (if that is possible at all, because she is the cudliest dog in the yard). I also ignorred the fact, that her always great apetite became desperately strong.
And on one late August short and fun training run, she looked tired. She worked hard and honest, as usual, but it just wasn´t it. On the way back home, she loosened her tug a couple times. It still didn´t hit me.
When I went through the dog lot and snuggled with all the dogs after the run, loose hairs fell through my fingers, from her belly. I looked at it, took a deep breath and counted. Seven weeks. The puppies are due in ten days. I went back inside the house and brought Rizey a big bowl of dry food and meat. She devoured it gratefully.
Soon it´s puppy time again!
Who is the lucky father, you´re asking? Ask Balto. I´m sure he has something to say, right buddy?!

2 comments:

Rikke said...

I asked my sister about this blood test since I never tried it... She said if it is positive its positive-if it is negative its adviced to take another one.

But toooo late now:)

Katerina said...

Yeah, too late now :) But you´re right, I remember our vet telling me something similar. I think we were thinking about doing it again, then forgot (it was really hectic here in that time) and then it was too late to take the second test, because, well.... she was already 10 days due! :)
They are beautiful puppies, though! LOL