Monday, August 28, 2006

Random Picture of Kelly #1

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Report From Camp Snowater - Day 7

It's hard to believe Kelly has already been gone a week!

The Good News: Kelly no longer wants to kill Rapper! She is flirting and playing with him and even lets him try to "get friendly".

The Bad News: No natural breeding yet. Rapper does not want anyone near him whan he's breeding a girl. Kelly isn't interested in letting Rapper actually do the deed unless she's being held. This is not a compatible situation.

The Good News: Ken has done tthree AIs with a fourth to occur today. One Wednesday, one Friday, one Sunday and one will happen during Ken's lunch break today.

I am still hoping we will get a natural breeding.... but Ken assures me that what he's doing is just as good..... time will tell.....

Monday, August 21, 2006

As Promised.....

Do you think Kelly likes Ken?


You be the judge...


And here we see Ken showing off Kelly's very considerable sidegait to anyone interested in seeing it.


Ask me how I know what he's doing :)


I can see how happy she is. That makes me happy.



Pictures courtesy of Ron Manor.
Used with permission.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Coming Soon....

.... pictures from Camp Snowater!!

No, they will not be x-rated doggy porno pictures since Kelly is still not interested in letting Rapper get near her.

But they will be pictures of Kelly enjoying herself as a guest at the Samoyed Club of Washington State Specialty last Friday.

Just waiting for the photographer to give me permission to post them!

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Report From Camp Snowater - Day 3

Actually this report came to me from "on the road". Ken packed up Kelly, Rapper, assorted other dogs, himself and his assistant Lacey, and hit the road for the Washington State Specialty today.

I think this will be good for Kelly. As strange as it may sound to those who don't know her, I think she will feel more comfortable with the familiar yet unfamiliar sounds and smells of a dog show around her. It's something she can relate to, she's done this so many times over the past 4 years.

She did finally leave the deck this morning. Ken says he was packing the motor home and she came over to the fence to bark at him. Can we consider this progress??

Kelly still wants to kill Rapper. That's okay, it's still early in her season. Ken went ahead and did an AI last night just... well... because he could, and we both really want puppies this time around.

The plan is to put them together every day, and as long as no natural breedings are ocurring, do an AI every couple days. Sounds good to me.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

The Dog With a Day Planner

I got the first report from Camp Snowater this afternoon. Kelly is doing well except for one little thing.

She won't go outside.

I guess I forgot to tell Ken that Kelly has a little "issue" with change. She is a major creature of habit. She is the dog with a day planner. Schedule is everything. Change is bad.

That's one reason she won't go outside. It's not her yard, she's not going out on her own schedule. Nothing is familiar.

And I think there is another reason. Two years ago we hot wired our fence.

Most of the dogs got shocked once and figured it out. Ilsa got shocked twice, that was enough for her. But poor Kelly kept getting zapped when she least expected it. Once I saw her accidentally back up into the wire while playing with Ilsa. Once I saw her chasing a butterfly and she ran into it. It's not that she is not bright, she just kept ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

She simply could not make the connection to the fence and the shocks. She was convinced the Zappy Monster was everywhere. She didn't leave my deck for two weeks. We went to a show the weekend after the fence went in and she didn't want to go outside the show building. The Zappy Monster might have followed her to the show.

She eventually got over her fear of "outside" and things went back to normal. Or so I thought. But apparently she's having the old fear pop back up. Hopefully she will realize the Zappy Monster does not live in Oregon... then again, I haven't asked Ken... maybe it does?!?!

Meanwhile on the breeding front... Kelly is not intereted in letting Rapper court her yet. In fact, Ken said she was most adamant about Rapper not coming near her today. That's okay it's still early....

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

The K-Dog has Landed!!

Ken called me about 20 minutes ago and said the plane was on the ground and her kennel had been unloaded. He said he could see her about 100 feet away, she was standing up and turning around in her crate. She made it on one piece!

I then received a second call just about 5 minutes ago. She was loaded up in his Excursion, relaxing in the air conditioning and on her way to Camp Snowater. Ken tells me that the whole time they were waiting to get her processed, he could see her. How traumatized was my girl? Not very. She fell asleep waiting to be taken thru to the claim area and didn't bother to wake up until Ken claimed her.

She gets a few hours to relax and them Ken will introduce her to Rapper. Based on the results of the progesterone test from yesterday, it's looking like it's still pretty early in her season so we don't expect anything much to happen until the weekend.

Stay tuned....

She's in the Air!!

I delivered Kelly to the airport at 5:45 this morning and other than that they could not find her reservation!!!!! everything went fine. We got her on the plane which took off on time at 8:05. I waited until I knew she was in the air before heading home.

She should land in Seattle in about 40 minutes. She spends a couple hours in Seattle then gets on a short flight to Redmond, Oregon. She should be settled in at Camp Snowater by mid afternoon.

Ken has already promised to call the minute he has her in custody :)

Monday, August 14, 2006

Leaving on a Jet Plane.....

Kelly has a flight out of Denver tomorrow morning at 8 AM.

I am alternating between feeling nauseaus and weepy.

I would have been much happier had she gotten on a night time flight but the airport in Redmond no longer accepts "live animal shipments" after 7 PM. We actually had a confirmed booking for tonight when Sherry, the very nice Alaska Air Cargo person called me back and said the Redmond airport had refused the shipment. Better to refuse it now than at 11:55 PM tonight when she landed.

So she goes tomorrow.

And instead of feeling sick for the next 12 hours I get to feel this way for the next 24 hours.

I Really Hate This Part....

Well, I don't know if Kelly will be flying out today or not.

Ken, Rapper's owner, is making all the flight arrangements for us. I don't fly and have never made airline reservations. Every time I go online and try to plan for one of my dogs to fly I back out. So Ken said he'd handle it all for me. THANK YOU KEN!!!!

Last I heard was that the airlines cargo shipping department is not open on weekends and since you have to book flights 24 hours in advance.... well tonight is not looking good.

I really would have liked her to fly out in the evening because if she were to get "stuck" somewhere, temps would be heading in a downward direction rather than upward.

Keep your fingers crossed that Ken can work some magic and get her on the flight tonight.

Also... added a picture of Kelly to the sidebar on the right... not the best, but what I had scanned in. I'll have to find a better one soon.

Sunday, August 13, 2006

We're Back!!

Kelly is in season again as of a few days ago so her journey towards motherhood begins anew.

Her timing really stinks.

If all goes as it should her pups will be ready to go to their new homes the week of Christmas.... one of a breeder's worst nightmares.

If Rapper (her intended suitor) were not already 11 I'd wait another 6 months to breed her, but every day we wait is a gamble when the male dog is that age.

The plan (assuming I can go through with it) is that she'll be on a plane to Portland Monday evening at 7 pm. I have always said I'd never fly a dog, but the choices are limited here if I want to get a successful breeding. Kelly is a very special dog, this is not an easy decision for me to make.

Today she gets a bath and gets her nails manicured to get her all beautiful for the trip.

Tomorrow she goes to the vet to get a health certificate so she can fly, a brucellosis test and a progesterone test so we have a baseline idea of where she is a in her season.

The First Time Around

Pre Breeding Exam 34.00
Cytology 1 28.00
Progesterone Test 1 63.50
Progesterone Test 2 63.50
Progesterone Test 3 63.50
Progesterone Test 4 63.50
Semen Collection 1 59.50
Semen Evaluation 1 41.25
Semen Prep 1 37.00
Shipping Box 1 114.25
Shipping Fee 1 42.53
Cytology 2 28.00
Semen Cytology 1 11.00
AI Semen Prep 1 31.00
Transcervical AI 1 131.00
Semen Collection 2 59.50
Semen Evaluation 2 41.25
Semen Prep 2 37.00
Shipping Box 2 114.25
Shipping Fee 2 42.53
Cytology 3 28.00
Semen Cytology 2 11.00
AI Semen Prep 2 31.00
Transcervical AI 2 131.00
Ultrasound 99.00
Total: $1406.06

Result: No puppies :(