Monday 25th February.
I am pleased to say everything has now settled down and the dogs are all back together as a pack. No incidents between Brewser and Raiza which is a relief, just grumbles here and there.
I have received a couple of mails today alerting me to the fact that It is the 4th birthday of my second litter between Ruby and Dempsey. One was from the owner of Phoenix, a beautiful boy that I very nearly kept. He is so handsome and has so many of the features I happen to love in Ridgebacks. His most recent photos are on facebook sitting on top of Arthurs seat in Edinburgh. I will try and retrieve them for the website.
I am looking for changes in the girls behaviour that may indicate they are pregnant, Ruby seem to be hungry all of the time but I dare not, at this stage, read too much into that. Kasidi is no different, showing too much interest in the pile of chicken manure left, from me taking advantage of a warm day last week and cleaning them out.
I went to New Jersey last week and met up with two of my puppies, Adia formerly known as Hamlet( Kasidi/ Brewster and Ozzie formerly known as Beckham ( Ruby/Raiza. It is lovely to meet up and monitor their progress.
I am hoping Ken and Lisa will let me use Adia in my breeding programme in the future as he is a beautiful boy, the image of Brewster, but with less dark mask on his face. Lisa has recently sent me lovely pictures of him but I will have to wait for Mark to get home on Friday before they can go up on my website.
This time next week I will be heading to New York for my trip to England and to Crufts. There is a record entry of 230 plus dogs entered this year so It should be fabulous.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Dogs and things
Thursday 14th February.
This past week has been a huge learning exercise for me, as I surrendered the control I thought I had over to my dogs. I am sure some breeders would be alarmed by this statement but I am just being honest. I planned to take a litter from Kasidi and Lela using Raiza but they decided otherwise.
I thought Ruby was passed her peak, was not as vigilant as usual and before I knew It she was with Raiza in a tie position. This is not the end of the world as Ruby is an extremely fit and healthy dog.
Lela, through forces now made clear to me, (see previous entry), was never going to let Raiza near her and Kasidi decided one mating was enough and after that refused any advances Raiza attempted..On previous occasions she has been very happy to indulge in several matings. I cannot confidently predict if either bitch is pregnant so we will just have to wait and see.
Understanding how the dogs operate and trying to interpret their behaviour is an ongoing event but I now understand if I am to have success with breeding Lela and Motsi in the future, Ruby and Kasidi will have to be neutered and that is fine.
Motsi has spent the last couple of days in the constant company of her dad Brewster and It's been lovely watching them interact with one another. He is very attentive to her, cleaning her ears out regularly and generally being very loving. They have been sleeping with my son Alex while Raiza's ardour is heightened. Hopefully everything will settle down soon and we can all get back to normal. I just wish there was a pregnancy test for dogs on the market that would turn blue in an instant if pregnancy hormones were detected. Surely its possible, until such time we will have to play the waiting game.
This past week has been a huge learning exercise for me, as I surrendered the control I thought I had over to my dogs. I am sure some breeders would be alarmed by this statement but I am just being honest. I planned to take a litter from Kasidi and Lela using Raiza but they decided otherwise.
I thought Ruby was passed her peak, was not as vigilant as usual and before I knew It she was with Raiza in a tie position. This is not the end of the world as Ruby is an extremely fit and healthy dog.
Lela, through forces now made clear to me, (see previous entry), was never going to let Raiza near her and Kasidi decided one mating was enough and after that refused any advances Raiza attempted..On previous occasions she has been very happy to indulge in several matings. I cannot confidently predict if either bitch is pregnant so we will just have to wait and see.
Understanding how the dogs operate and trying to interpret their behaviour is an ongoing event but I now understand if I am to have success with breeding Lela and Motsi in the future, Ruby and Kasidi will have to be neutered and that is fine.
Motsi has spent the last couple of days in the constant company of her dad Brewster and It's been lovely watching them interact with one another. He is very attentive to her, cleaning her ears out regularly and generally being very loving. They have been sleeping with my son Alex while Raiza's ardour is heightened. Hopefully everything will settle down soon and we can all get back to normal. I just wish there was a pregnancy test for dogs on the market that would turn blue in an instant if pregnancy hormones were detected. Surely its possible, until such time we will have to play the waiting game.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Dogs and things
Monday 11th February.
It has been a chaotic weekend which has not been helped by most of my family being knocked out by a nasty bug.
I realised yesterday that nothing was going to happen with Lela as she was was positively ferocious towards Raiza's advances. Last night I searched the web seeking likely reasons as to why she behaved the way she did and found this very interesting article.
http://www.wolfhouse.dk/articles/sociobiologyofreproduction.php
AI is perhaps a solution, but one for the future as I think she peaked this weekend. Lela is very submissive and this obviously factored into her refusal to mate with Raiza, especially as she has Ruby and Kasidi, both dominant females in the pack and in season too.
The good news is Kasidi and Raiza had a tie this morning. It came from nowhere as Raiza has been per-occupied with Lela all weekend and he did It with no assistance from me, so the penny has finally dropped.
It has been a chaotic weekend which has not been helped by most of my family being knocked out by a nasty bug.
I realised yesterday that nothing was going to happen with Lela as she was was positively ferocious towards Raiza's advances. Last night I searched the web seeking likely reasons as to why she behaved the way she did and found this very interesting article.
http://www.wolfhouse.dk/articles/sociobiologyofreproduction.php
AI is perhaps a solution, but one for the future as I think she peaked this weekend. Lela is very submissive and this obviously factored into her refusal to mate with Raiza, especially as she has Ruby and Kasidi, both dominant females in the pack and in season too.
The good news is Kasidi and Raiza had a tie this morning. It came from nowhere as Raiza has been per-occupied with Lela all weekend and he did It with no assistance from me, so the penny has finally dropped.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Dogs and things
Friday 8th February.
Well, Its pretty crazy here at the momemt and not quite going to plan, Lela was the first to go into season but It was Ruby that peaked first, so Raiza is whinning constantly. I'm not sure if we have missed the boat with Lela or Its just that, like her mum, she ovulates late. Judging by Raiza's behaviour with Ruby, It seems unlikely we have missed her time, so fingers crossed.
I realised, as I was trying to walk the dogs this morning that I cannot leave them all with Mark for me to go to Westminster. They were such a handful , Ruby will run off at the drop of a hat given the chance, she really is a little hussy when she is in season, then of course we have to keep the boys seperate, plus we have to keep Motsi out of the way of Raiza too. Yes, Westminster will have to be missed this year which is a shame.
We have all gone down with this horrible bug that is doing the rounds right now. I also have a poorly chicken kept by the fire who I am feeding regularly with a pipette. She doesn't seem to be making much progress but neither is she deteriorating, so again fingers crossed that she will get well. I checked to see if she was egg bound which she wasn't so I really have no idea what is wrong with her.
I am ready for spring now but I suspect it is some way off yet.
Well, Its pretty crazy here at the momemt and not quite going to plan, Lela was the first to go into season but It was Ruby that peaked first, so Raiza is whinning constantly. I'm not sure if we have missed the boat with Lela or Its just that, like her mum, she ovulates late. Judging by Raiza's behaviour with Ruby, It seems unlikely we have missed her time, so fingers crossed.
I realised, as I was trying to walk the dogs this morning that I cannot leave them all with Mark for me to go to Westminster. They were such a handful , Ruby will run off at the drop of a hat given the chance, she really is a little hussy when she is in season, then of course we have to keep the boys seperate, plus we have to keep Motsi out of the way of Raiza too. Yes, Westminster will have to be missed this year which is a shame.
We have all gone down with this horrible bug that is doing the rounds right now. I also have a poorly chicken kept by the fire who I am feeding regularly with a pipette. She doesn't seem to be making much progress but neither is she deteriorating, so again fingers crossed that she will get well. I checked to see if she was egg bound which she wasn't so I really have no idea what is wrong with her.
I am ready for spring now but I suspect it is some way off yet.
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