Audrey

Audrey relaxing in the hotel while I work

As usual, when it comes to dogs, always expect the unexpected. Last Wednesday, I start doing progesterone testing on Audrey to see when she would be ready to be bred. She was still baseline on Wednesday and I was due to bring her in on Friday for her second test. This would be day 10 and last year, Audrey was bred on days 11 and 13.

As you know, we had a large snowfall on Friday and there was no way I could get the progesterone test done. I couldn’t even get out of my driveway until Saturday evening when the plow finally came. So now my choice was to either wait until Monday to do a progesterone test (which would be day 13) or pack up and drive to Ohio and take a flyer that she would be ready. So Auds and I packed up and left.

Our first breeding was Sunday at noon. Hawk came out and Audrey nearly took his head off! Uh oh! She certainly didn’t look ready to be bred but I could only stay 3 days so we bred her anyway. Then Auds and I hung out at the hotel until Tuesday morning when we bred her once more. I would have liked to stay two more days for another breeding but I couldn’t take that much time away from the magazine and three days in a small town in the Ohio Valley was enough for both Audrey and me. So Tuesday morning we did our second breeding and this time Hawk was much more enthused and Audrey was much less grumpy (although she still wasn’t pleased). She felt much more ready that morning.

So, we did the best we could, given the weather constraints and now we wait. I don’t do ultrasounds or X-rays so I’ll have a real good idea if she’s in whelp in 5 or 6 weeks. Gestation for dogs is 63 days so the estimated due date for the puppies is April 16th.