Follow Brandy's Progress for her (fingers crossed) first litter..
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Feb 14th 2012 - Brandy has shown her first signs of coming into season. The owners of the sire "Zee" have been notified and all preps are underway for him to have his semen collected once we have Brandy progesterone tested on day 6 - 7.
Feb 17th 2012 - Brandy booked into the vet for progesterone test on Wednesday. That is technically day 6, but just in case she actually started a day earlier and we didn't notice our vet thinks we had better test on the Wednesday. The semen will be collected when the number of hormones in the progesterone test give the vet the correct indication the AI needs to take place. Zee is located in South Australia and the semen will need to be shipped to our vet in NSW once collected.
Feb 14th 2012 - Brandy has shown her first signs of coming into season. The owners of the sire "Zee" have been notified and all preps are underway for him to have his semen collected once we have Brandy progesterone tested on day 6 - 7.
Feb 17th 2012 - Brandy booked into the vet for progesterone test on Wednesday. That is technically day 6, but just in case she actually started a day earlier and we didn't notice our vet thinks we had better test on the Wednesday. The semen will be collected when the number of hormones in the progesterone test give the vet the correct indication the AI needs to take place. Zee is located in South Australia and the semen will need to be shipped to our vet in NSW once collected.
Feb 22nd 2012. Test done - results back - LH level still low, 1.6. Another test booked for Saturday morning.
Feb 25th 2012 - 2nd Test done!!! LH still low (3) another test needed on Tuesday.
Feb 27th 2012 - 3rd lot of blood taken this afternoon for the progesterone tests - let hope this result is where we want it!! I am sure poor Brandy is starting to feel a bit like a pin cushion.
Feb 28th 2012 - LH Level 8.8 another test this afternoon
Feb 29th 2012 - LH Level 11.5 another test tomorrow, looks like the AI will take place on Saturday or Sunday
March 1st 2012 - Progesterone test number 5 at 8.30am this morning - result come back as 20!!!! The time is right. AI booked in for early Saturday morning.
Feb 28th 2012 - LH Level 8.8 another test this afternoon
Feb 29th 2012 - LH Level 11.5 another test tomorrow, looks like the AI will take place on Saturday or Sunday
March 1st 2012 - Progesterone test number 5 at 8.30am this morning - result come back as 20!!!! The time is right. AI booked in for early Saturday morning.
March 2nd 2012 - Zlatan ( Australian Champion Courmayeurs Zlatan pictured right) semen collected early this morning and shipped to Sydney by plane. 5pm Semen arrived and picked up. Already for the up coming AI tomorrow.
(Midnight) Text from the vet to say they want to do the AI via surgery rather than intra-cervical. Better success rate of conception
(Midnight) Text from the vet to say they want to do the AI via surgery rather than intra-cervical. Better success rate of conception
The Next 28 Days.........
3rd March 2012. The big day has arrived! Brandy is off to Heathcote Veterinary Clinic for the highly anticipated artificial insemination.
Brandy has to stay overnight as she needs to be given a general anaesthetic. We get to have a look at a drop of the semen under a microscope - not that I knew what we were looking at but there were a lot of little wrigglers there waiting to make puppies......
This is a pic of Brandy in the car waiting to go to the vet. Sorry she is dirty but with all the rain and mud this week it's not easy keeping a big dog like her clean. The shaved spots on her leg's are from the the progesterone testing over the past 10 days.
Brandy has to stay overnight as she needs to be given a general anaesthetic. We get to have a look at a drop of the semen under a microscope - not that I knew what we were looking at but there were a lot of little wrigglers there waiting to make puppies......
This is a pic of Brandy in the car waiting to go to the vet. Sorry she is dirty but with all the rain and mud this week it's not easy keeping a big dog like her clean. The shaved spots on her leg's are from the the progesterone testing over the past 10 days.
Saying goodbye to Georgia and Harry for before going in for the AI operation
4th March 2012 - Picked Brandy up from the vet at 9am. Rebecca the vet tells us all went well, the next big day will come in 28 days when we have an ultrasound done (31st March). Potential puppy owners will be able to come meet Brandy and us once the pregnancy is confirmed.
13th March 2012 - Brandy had her stitches removed today. Joe our vet had a look at her and is very happy with the wound area from the AI. We also confirmed the ultrasound for the 31st @ 11am. (we will post the results on this page).
18th March 2012 - Somewhat of an increased appetite, is this a sign? One thing about Brandy is that she has never been motivated by food. However the last few days we have not been able to fill her up. Maybe the mating has been successful..Only 11 days until the ultrasound. Brandy also had a big wash and blow dry by Deb our dog groomer from Barkin Beauty and has now moved back inside the house full time.
31st March 2012 - The nervous wait is now over and we trundled off to the vet for the ultrasound this morning and the result is (drum roll please) ....... BRANDY IS IN PUP here some photographs from the ultrasound. Next step is getting ready for the whelping which is due on 5th May.
13th March 2012 - Brandy had her stitches removed today. Joe our vet had a look at her and is very happy with the wound area from the AI. We also confirmed the ultrasound for the 31st @ 11am. (we will post the results on this page).
18th March 2012 - Somewhat of an increased appetite, is this a sign? One thing about Brandy is that she has never been motivated by food. However the last few days we have not been able to fill her up. Maybe the mating has been successful..Only 11 days until the ultrasound. Brandy also had a big wash and blow dry by Deb our dog groomer from Barkin Beauty and has now moved back inside the house full time.
31st March 2012 - The nervous wait is now over and we trundled off to the vet for the ultrasound this morning and the result is (drum roll please) ....... BRANDY IS IN PUP here some photographs from the ultrasound. Next step is getting ready for the whelping which is due on 5th May.
20th April 2012 - Brandy had a vet check today - pregnancy is going perfectly and she has gained 10kg since the insemination. A quick ultrasound showed some well formed healthy little puppies (sorry we couldn't get numbers), nice little heart beats and back bones could be seen.
22nd April 2012 - Whelping room completed!!!!!! Final coat of varnish on the whelping box and we are ready to go. 13 days to go and he count down has began. We also introduced Brandy to the whelping box, she laid in there for about 10 minutes this afternoon and we will start feeding her in there from tonight.
28th April 2012 - 1 WEEK TO GO!!!!! All going to plan this time next week we should either have a litter of puppies or Brandy will be in labor. As of tomorrow we are going into "lock down" mode to allow Brandy time to settle with out distraction and get herself prepared to become a mother.
22nd April 2012 - Whelping room completed!!!!!! Final coat of varnish on the whelping box and we are ready to go. 13 days to go and he count down has began. We also introduced Brandy to the whelping box, she laid in there for about 10 minutes this afternoon and we will start feeding her in there from tonight.
28th April 2012 - 1 WEEK TO GO!!!!! All going to plan this time next week we should either have a litter of puppies or Brandy will be in labor. As of tomorrow we are going into "lock down" mode to allow Brandy time to settle with out distraction and get herself prepared to become a mother.
29th April 2012 - 6 Days and counting down. Pictures above taken tonight to show Brandy in her final week.
1nd May 2012 - A night of "Braxton Hix" contractions. It would appear as every thing is getting ready to happen.
2nd May 2012 - Temperature dropped by 2 degrees and mucus passed from the cervix this morning. That could be the start of the cervical plug being passed. Brandy is still eating and drinking but is lying in the whelping room and regularly keeps shifting position, also panting - not getting our hopes up but tinight might be the night, vet on standby - check! trailer ready to go - check! extra hands ready to come help - check! we will keep you posted...........
3rd May 2012 - Still waiting! Brandy has gone off her food and water and has slept most of the day, this could mean that the puppies have moved into position and are resting also waiting for the contractions to start. Brandy's mood is good and although she is sleeping she is still coming up for lot's of cuddles. We are still 2 days away from her official due date which is Saturday. I have started a blog where we will be online to answer your questions while we wait for the whelping to begin. Click here to enter the blog!
4th May 2012 - 4.46pm at this point we have 3 boys and 2 girls with a couple more in there!! here is a pic of the first 4 (3 boys and 1 girl)
1nd May 2012 - A night of "Braxton Hix" contractions. It would appear as every thing is getting ready to happen.
2nd May 2012 - Temperature dropped by 2 degrees and mucus passed from the cervix this morning. That could be the start of the cervical plug being passed. Brandy is still eating and drinking but is lying in the whelping room and regularly keeps shifting position, also panting - not getting our hopes up but tinight might be the night, vet on standby - check! trailer ready to go - check! extra hands ready to come help - check! we will keep you posted...........
3rd May 2012 - Still waiting! Brandy has gone off her food and water and has slept most of the day, this could mean that the puppies have moved into position and are resting also waiting for the contractions to start. Brandy's mood is good and although she is sleeping she is still coming up for lot's of cuddles. We are still 2 days away from her official due date which is Saturday. I have started a blog where we will be online to answer your questions while we wait for the whelping to begin. Click here to enter the blog!
4th May 2012 - 4.46pm at this point we have 3 boys and 2 girls with a couple more in there!! here is a pic of the first 4 (3 boys and 1 girl)
5th May 2012 - We have 8 healthy puppies. (5 boys and 3 girls) but more importantly we have a happy and very content mum in Brandy. We now enter the next step in this adventure and that is bringing the puppies up for the next 8 weeks until they go to their new homes (that is if we let any of them go - LOL). A new page has been started for the puppies development we will update photographs on a weekly basis. Enter the by clicking here
