Sky's second litter

Our Sky's second litter was born three days ago, on August 19. Congratulations to "Meggie" FC Marguerite Vom Jagerhugel and her owner Susanne Hamilton, a close friend of ours from Maine, on three healthy boys: Archer, Arrow and Ajax. We are looking forward to seeing their work in the field! All the pups are spoken for.

Mielikki and Sky's puppies are finally here

Finally Mielikki has delivered her puppies but it did not go as smoothly as we wished. Let's go back to Thursday night... We did not know how many pups to expect as we did not want to subject her to unnecessary stress caused by a trip to a vet. We knew that she was huge and anticipated at least 7 pups.

She started to have contractions on Thursday evening. This was the 63rd day from the first breeding. First puppy was whelped at 9:20 PM. Then there was a very long break. Mielikki was having contractions, though not very hard, but no puppy emerged. Around midnight I called our vet at Cobleskill Veterinary Clinic, and Dr. Kevin Baldwin agreed to meet us there around 1 AM. So we packed Mielikki and her first puppy and made a 35-minute trip. Twenty minutes into the trip Mielikki delivered another puppy. It was a relief as we really wanted to avoid a C-section. She got hydrated at the clinic, and we drove back home.

The rest of the night was pretty stressful. She would whelp a puppy every two hours or so, but things were proceeding quite slowly. Two pups did not survive delivery as they spent too much time in the birth canal. By 9 AM we had 7 puppies (5 alive and 2 dead), and not much was happening any more. We knew that she still had some pups inside her. After I checked her temperature, which rose to 103, we started to be concerned and placed another call to the vets. We were advised to bring her in.

Mielikki was x-rayed, and as it turned out she was carrying two additional puppies. According to Dr. Montario if there were only one puppy, maybe we could have brought it out by giving her oxytocin and calcium. But with two pups still there, and one of them placed very far from the birth canal, he advised C-section. We agreed to do it. It was a good decision as the two pups were still OK. One of them was stuck very far in the uterine horn, and apparently Mielikki would not have been able to push it out.

So the final outcome is 7 puppies, 5 females and 2 males, ranging at birth from 7.6 oz (215 gr) to 10 oz (283 gr). They all are in a good shape. Mielikki bounced back really quickly, and on Friday afternoon was drinking, eating and cleaning the pups' bottoms. Friday night was completely uneventful, and today (Saturday) things continue to go well. All the puppies put on some weight. We will continue to report about the pups at our puppy journal. This is our U-litter, which means that registered names of the pups will be starting with the letter U. All the pups are spoken for.

A big thank you to everybody at Cobleskill Veterinary Clinic, who helped with Mielikki's litter!

Mielikki and Sky's rendez-vous: a new generation of blood tracking puppies on its way?

Just a short note to those on our waiting list for a puppy that today Mielikki was bred to Sky and we will repeat the mating on Sunday. If everything goes right, Mielikki should be whelping around May 10, and this this is going to be our "U" litter.

The stylized picture above is showing puppies from our T-litter in 2012.

Our plans for two litters of puppies in 2013

In 2011 we had only one litter (Moose by Paika), which produced five "S" puppies. In 2012 we repeated the breeding and had four "T" puppies. It looks like the 2013 spring and summer will be much busier with two litters of puppies we are planning to have.

The above pictures show our FC Mielikki Raptor who came in heat on February 26 and will be bred around March 9. The sire of this litter is going to be our FC Sky von Moosbach-Zuzelek. We are very excited about this breeding as in our opinion these two young dogs are going to be a very good match. This is going to be a complete outcross, and all puppies should be wirehairs as Mielikki carries two copies of the gene for the wirehaired coat.

Our second litter this year - FC Tom vom Linteler-Forst, SchwhK by FC Keena von Moosbach-Zuzelek is also going to be a complete outcross and should produce exclusively wirehaired puppies. This is going to be Keena's last litter (Sky is her grandson).

We don't know how many puppies we are going to have. Both females come from very fertile lines but you never know an outcome in advance. We decided to take "only" 10 deposits (we have them - thank you!), and then have a reserve waiting list in case we have more than 10 puppies. We still have some room on the reserve list. We also know of several litters that other breeders are going to have this spring/summer and will be happy to refer you to them. For more info contact us at info@born-to-track.com .

Sky von Moosbach-Zuzelek becomes a new Field Champion and goes Best in Zuchtschau on the same weekend

It does not get any better! On Thursday, November 1, our 15-month-old Sky von Moosbach-Zuzelek passed a gun-shyness and NATC Small Game Hunting tests. On Friday his conformation was rated "excellent" by a German judge Monika Wittkamp. He was also her pick as Best in Zuchtschau. On Saturday he was 1st in an OAAD stake of 14, went Best of Open, and became a new Field Champion.

At the conclusion of Zuchtschau on November 2: Sky was selected Best in Show by Judge Monika Wittkamp

Sky with his ribbons for 1st in OAAD stake, Best in Open and new Field Champion

Sky is a very charming and full of character dog.

Sky gets to swim and enjoy the pond

Unlike Mielikki, Sky, who is now ten months old, is not interested in following any objects thrown into the pond. He is a natural retriever on land, but in the water he completely loses interest in retrieving. We will have to work on this, but for now we just want him to swim.

Last year when our S-litter was young, our pond was overflowing because of the storm Irene. It was a mess for a long time so Sky and Summer never got to swim when they were young. This summer when we brought Sky to the pond he was curious but quite cautious. Our mild encouragement was all that he needed. He does not jump into the pond like some other dogs do, but he slowly walks into the water. It seems that he is very visual in the pond and gets fascinated by what he can see at the bottom or on the surface. For example, the reflections of light get his attention. Also he puts his nose into the water and blows bubbles of air, which again he watches attentively.

It is interesting how every dog is different. Most of our dogs love to swim, with two exceptions. Tommy is not crazy about it, but with some encouragement and praise he'll do it. Bella, now a year old, does not want to come even near the pond. Yet, her dam Mae is a very good swimmer. I hope that she is just going through adolescence, and with time will get to enjoy the pond. It is a lot of fun for the dogs and us, and in summer swimming provides excellent exercise when it gets too hot to run rabbits.

Last days of winter in the Helderbergs?

Today we had a gorgeous day, very warm (59F) and sunny. Probably all this snow will be gone soon as tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer. I went out multiple times with dogs and snapped some pictures. With so many young dogs and puppies, it is a challenge to give them all exercise and socialization opportunities.

I discovered that our 13-year-old Asko is a good company for Mielikki. So in the morning they are with us while we are having breakfast, and then I take them out for a walk. The first four pictures were taken during our morning walk today.

Sky can play with Mielikki only under supervision because he can be too rough on her, just like Bella is too rough on him. So Mielikki enjoys the company of middle aged and older dogs, who are patient with her. 

Anyway, it was a good days as most dogs got to run and spend some time in the sun. John is back from Trackfest, and we will write about it soon. I received a lot of nice pictures from Randy Vick from his last tracking season and will try to scan them tomorrow.

Asko and Mielikki on their morning walk

Mielikki following the ground scent

Mielikki on the top of the world

This is a portrait of Sky, who just turned seven months old.