Joys of Motherhood...

It's been 7 years since our last litter... the Flag Day Litter. Up until Glory's singleton pup, We've never raised a single puppy like this. Here is one thing that I've noted about the experience....

I'm paranoid.

Glory and her single puppy

For instance, if the puppy sneezes, which they sometimes do, my thought... OMG, she's got pneumonia! Or, she sure seems to be sleeping a lot. Wonder if she's 'lethargic' and sick? Or if she's not moving around a lot, "Is she breathing?"

Yesterday, she slept a lot. Since Glory has been taking such good care of her, I've not seen a single stool or pee spot. So, the brain went into overdrive and the thought was, "I wonder if she's constipated?"
Mind you, no one that I know has ever heard of a constipated, 2 wk old puppy but with my luck (Murphy was an optimist when he wrote Murphy's Law)... So, after a long, long conversation with Bonnie in OK, my mind was set at ease.

Went back into the house, picked up the puppy, and sat down to enjoy some puppy in the lap time. Uh oh... here comes Grammy Abbey Lou. With Glory on one of the beds and the puppy in my lap, Abbey decided that the baby needed to be polished. Abbey started buffing & polishing & stimulating the puppy, so much so that the baby deposited a 2" long puppy turd right in the middle of my shirt and then she peed.

Well, I now know that she is defecating & urinating. Those bodily functions are working.

One worry down.

Glory and Stuff...

Well, Glory's season has come and gone.  I so wanted to breed her but Chance stepped in and changed our plans.

For one, she acquired fly parasites, which according to our vet, were probably due to the conditions at our neighbor's place, i.e., too many donkeys on too small acreage; manure; etc.  There's no denying that manure & livestock draw in flies, especially if the manure isn't picked up religiously.  I know I'm out there on a daily basis picking up our dogs' waste to keep the flies at a minimum.  Those fly parasites live under the skin and they are gross & disgusting and she was put on a 2 wk course of cephalexan to prevent secondary infections from the parasites.

For another, the dog we were going to use came up with poor semen and it was doubtful that she could be impregnated.  Sigh....

Ya know, everything happens for a reason and it is always for the best, even if it is disappointing & hard to believe.  So, the search for a new beau for Glory has started.  She's next in season in either February or March 2014.

Glory - Nov 2010 ASFA Greyhound Specialty "Singles Stake" Win

On the positive side, Glory finished her Grand Championship under Mexican judge, Ricardo Forastieri Gonzalez at the Valencia Valley Kennel Club shows held in Los Lunas, NM on Saturday, Oct 12.  There was a good, overall entry of 6 greyhounds.  We are absolutely delighted!  Pictures were taken and they'll be posted when I get them.

Not to be outdone by his littermate, on Thursday, Nampa, took a 5 point major towards his Grand Championship, beating a champion of record, and a couple of points on Friday, when he finished as Select dog.

Ellie went Winners Bitch on three days, picking up another three points.  She needs majors and it looks like we're going to have to travel to get them.  Not looking forward to that.

Overall, it was a very good weekend.

More later....

Glory Puppies?

I'm thinking about breeding our lovely Glory.  However, it won't happen unless I have some solid buyers (more than 1) lined up.

Glory Gaiting at Fun Match

Glory is not your typical AKC greyhound.  She's moderate in angulation, very balanced, and she has a strong topline.  She's not a small girl, as she's tall & leggy and weighs in at around 70 pounds.

We hope to breed her to a dog owned & bred by Carol Curlee - Ch Chaparral Tour de France aka Lance.  The breeding is based upon the dog's pedigree, carrying several crosses of the much admired dog, Ch Solstrand Fine N' Dandy.  The hope is that this will give her pups a better shoulder than she has, as her shoulder is a bit straight and it limits her reach while running which makes her a bit slower than her brothers.

Why were we looking for lines back to Ch Solstrand Fine N' Dandy?  Well, back in 2000, I approached  his breeder, Dagmar Kenis-Pordham, about breeding Glory's granddam, Feather, to him as Feather's damline was directly related to his damline.  Feather's great-granddam (4th dam) was a littermate to his maternal granddam. It was lovely on paper.

(Feather's test mating to Frankie - http://greyhound-data.com/dbtestmating.php?&sireid=329719&damid=322839)

Sadly, I was informed that she did not believe in breeding by way of artificial insemination and there was no way that Feather would be shipped to England to sit in quarantine for 6 months to allow her to be bred.  So...

Ch Chaparral Tour de France (Lance)

Now it's Glory's turn to be bred and I still want to collect (for want of a better term) that Frankie blood.  Lance has it...  Carol is agreeable to the breeding.  However, I really don't want to be raising 7 puppies here after one or two go to their homes.  I'm not set up for it and it also goes against local animal control ordinances.

Here's the proposed pedigree....

http://greyhound-data.com/dbtestmating.php?&sireid=1781820&damid=1384365

Glory is next expected to cycle in either August or September.  So, if you're looking for a well bred greyhound puppy....

Call me....  don't be afraid to just call me....

Litters

We have had two litters here at Dyno-Mutt.  The first one was the Sailing Litter, which was whelped Memorial Day weekend, 26 May 2002.  Those pups exceeded our expectations beyond our wildest dreams with two Eukanuba invitees, Dash & Jib; two dual champions, Javelin & Jib; two top ten conformation hounds, Dash & Jib; two "top ten" lure coursing hounds, Jav & Jib; four breed ring champions: Jib, Dash, Bugsy, and Javelin; and six outstanding pets & companions: Slate, Jetty, Jib, Dash, Bugsy, and Javelin.  The sire of the Sailing Litter was DC & Can Ch Lakilanni Scatpak Barracuda CanFChX LCM SRM ORM SC CGC aka "Cuda" and the dam was Ch El-Aur Summer Breeze SC, FCh aka "Feather".

Mother & Son - Feather & Slate

The pups registered names were...

DC DM Summer Squall at Scatpak FCh - Javelin
DC DM Flying Jib FCh - Jib
Ch DM Dots N' Dashes - Dash
Ch DM Ocean Meets T'Sky - Bugsy
DM Fast Frigate - Jett
DM Snows Legacy on the Wind - Slate

Our 2nd litter was born on 14 June 2007, which is Flag Day here in the USA.  It's so hard to believe that these guys are now 5 years old.  I still see them as young & vibrant.  The sire of the litter was Dash (Ch DM Dots N' Dashes) and their dam was FCh Abbey Lou FCh.  Abbey was a racing bitch that I bought from her owner & breeder.  I saw a picture of her on the internet and just had to have her. Abbey is now 11 years old and still going strong.  She was the best momma dog!  To this day, she still grooms her puppies nightly.

Abbey & Pups - 2-3 wks Old

Abbey's pups are: Banner, Chispa, Banner, Nampa, and Glory. They were big & healthy puppies! What's a "big" greyhound puppy?  Well, the boys in the litter all weighed 24 ounces (1.5 pounds) and the girls were 20 ounces (1.25 pounds)!  They were huge and looked like they were a week old!  Thankfully, they did not turn into 100 pound greyhounds but they are still sizable dogs as Nampa weighs in at around 90 pounds & Banner at around 85 pounds.  Their sister, Glory, usually weighs around 70 to 75 pounds.

The pups registered names are:

DC DM Star Spangled Banner FCh SOR ORC  - Banner
DC DM Flag of Our Fathers FCh JOR - Nampa
DC DM Jolie Noire FCh JOR - Glory
UKC Ch & FCh DM Union Jack FCh - Jack
DM Bonnie Blue Flag - Chispa

Nampa - 7 months of age