Update on Mielikki and Keena as their whelping dates get closer

In the last 24 hours we have  had several e-mails asking about status of Mielikki and Keena. Mielikki was bred to Sky on March 8, 10 and 12, and she is very much pregnant. She gets regular exercise by chasing her favorite blue ball. As I said on Facebook - she lost her waistline and correct topline but she has not lost her love of ball game. We don't know how many pups she carries, probably at least seven. We will check her out when it comes closer to her due date, which should be between May 10 and 14.
 

Mielikki and her favorite blue ball.

Keena is doing well too, but she does not carry as many pups as Mielikki does. She should be whelping between May 18 and 20 so we will know more when it comes closer to the due date. She was bred to Tommy.

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 .

A twelve-year-old hunter Madison gets her liver-shot deer thanks to Dan and Keena

Two years ago Tommy and I found a deer for a young local hunter Dan Hardin. Last year Dan got his tracking license, and started to track with our Keena. Ultimately Keena will go to live with Dan (she is totally in love with him), but in the meantime he comes here to pick her up when there is a deer call that he can take.

This is Dan's report from the call he took several days ago.

By Dan Hardin

I got the call for my second track of the year just before 7 PM as I was on my way out of the woods. This was the first deer for a young hunter Madison (12 years old) who made the 15 yard shot with her compound bow. Her father Jim was in the stand with her and saw the arrow hit the middle of the deer but a little far back, while still being within the rib cage. The arrow, which wasn’t found, was sticking out as the doe took off, but the blood showed an exit wound. There was an easy blood trail visually and Keena took off intently. Heavy fog and a light drizzle previously made scenting conditions good but the stillness of the air seemed to spread the scent over a wider area.

The trail took us through a sparse forest with mixed trees and heavy thorn bush undergrowth. We made the 300 yard track to Madison’s last blood and practice arrow. Keena tried several directions but didn’t seem sure so we went back to last blood where Madison spotted blood on the opposite side of a tree. It showed that the deer had looped around the tree and backtracked. We continued crawling under thorn bushes finding steady dime to pea sized drops when the blood really picked up. Keena in her excitement had cut her ear on a thorn that opened a blood vessel, which bled quite a bit.
 

After the bleeding stopped we were waiting for Jim to return with some tape and paper towel.  Keena would shake her head and reopen the scratch, which was stopped each time by applying moss and light pressure.

 

Madison had gone ahead on the blood trail to confirm that we were still on the right path and advanced the trail an additional 40 feet on her own. Jim returned with the medical supplies and we wrapped Keena’s ear which was a task since she was pulling hard to run down the line again. It was only another 10-20 yards when I saw the doe down by a fallen tree maybe a little over 100 yards from where Madison and Jim had lost the blood trail.

Jim gutted the deer right away, kindly donating the liver and some blood for training purposes, and didn’t think that the meat would be lost. The paunch was intact and the liver starred by the Muzzy 100. Congratulations Madison on your first deer and Keena on her fist find of the season!

 As a side note this was my first track using my 1000lumen Cree headlamp for tracking. It lasted the three hours advertised on full power, which made the blood stand right out. I had attached the battery pack to the headpiece and it was comfortable to wear. One issue that is to be expected with a light of this power is the heat generated, which could cause a burn if you are not careful. (There is no risk of this on low power from my experience.) The other issue is that there isn’t a noticeable dimming of the light before the battery runs out. It just stops working and that is it. They don’t sell replacement batteries, but I was able to find an equivalent online and install the needed socket.

Keena's perfect whelping results in 9 puppies

Yesterday Keena stayed all day in the whelping box, and she was very quiet. The night passed uneventfully. This morning first puppy was whelped at 6:30 am. The last puppy was out at 11 am. It took Keena 4.5 hours to whelp 9 puppies - 5 girls and 4 boys. Pups' size ranges from 8.2 oz to 12.0 oz (230-340 grams), and all of them seem to be doing really well. More information about the whelping will be posted later today at our puppy journal.  This litter is a result of one mating, and the sire is FC Joeri vom Nonnenschlag.

Thanks to all who sent us their best wishes - they worked!

Waiting for puppies - Keena is going to whelp today

I think that Keena is going to whelp today. We bred her to FC Joeri vom Nonnenschlag on March 22, and it looks like she is going to have quite a few puppies. She looks big, and if I were to speculate, I'd say that she probably carries 7 or 8 puppies. All signs show that she is going to whelp today or tonight.

Keena four days ago

She spent yesterday in her bed next to the whelping box.

Last night she threw up several times. Today she is staying in the whelping box, not eating and is breathing heavily. She wants me to be near by. These are all the classical signs that she is the first stage of labor. This is when her cervix is thinning and opening, and the whole process may last up to 24 hours. We hope for safe delivery and healthy puppies!