Maks is one of a small number of Dalmatians worldwide that carries two copies of the desirable SLC2A9 gene therefore every puppy he produces will have one copy of the gene and therefore Low Uric Acid (LUA)! Emily has one copy of the LUA gene so we expect some of these puppies to have two copies! This beautiful litter is the result of breeding an outcrossed female back to her sire. I believe that homozygous puppies from this litter will be very useful in incorporating the LUA gene in other bloodlines. They are very healthy and consistent.



Thursday, October 6, 2011

Day Twenty Five

Today I am going to talk about breeding and what is involved and also spotlight my sweet little black eye pea LaDonna.


Things have changed so much since I bred my first litter in the early 70's! Back then we didn't have the scientific knowledge to make educated breeding decisions like we have today. For the most part we bred to the best dogs we could find in our area. We certainly didn't have the health testing that is available today. Sadly many breeders are still breeding like it was the 70's. But enough about them.... The only option we had if we wished to breed to a dog in another part of the country was to ship our females to the stud dog owner. This was very stressful for the dog and also for the owner. Now we no longer need to ship our girls across the country we have the option of shipping semen instead. Semen can be shipped fresh chilled or frozen. Either way involves knowing the exact time to inseminate the female. In order to know that, a progesterone test needs to be performed every other day on the female. This is very time consuming and costly for the owner of the female.  Plans cannot be made in advance if fresh semen is being used. That involves the Vet doing the insemination deciding when the correct time is and contacting the stud dog owner to have the semen collected and shipped overnight. Well today was the correct time to collect Maks so his semen could be shipped across the country to a waiting female. I had called around to friends trying to find a female that was in heat. I knew from experience that Maks would be much more willing to go along with this if he had a female that was in season teasing him. All I could find was a little Yorkie but that was good enough for him! They opted to inseminate twice so the same thing has to be done all over again tomorrow! Keep your fingers crossed that it works and results in a nice litter! I hope this wasn't too much info. I thought you might be interested in what breeders do to produce the best quality puppies that they can!


Ok ....subject change! Today I am going to spotlight the calmest quietest puppy in the litter. Just like the person she is named after LaDonna is a peacemaker. She never gets involved in the rowdy play. She is content to just observe. She was the 6th puppy born and she was and still is one of the biggest ones. Of course that doesn't mean she will be the biggest adult. Many times the largest puppy ends up being the smallest adult and visa versa. Here are a few pictures I took of her today.





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1 comment:

  1. LaDonnaOctober 7, 2011 at 5:23 AM

    AWWWW, she has that same sweet, gentle look in her eyes as her Uncle Gage and Daddy Maks. Tell her not to worry, I am the biggest among my friends too and I get along just fine. Thanks for the nice words about being a peacemaker.

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