True Confessions

Mary-Ann Sontag November 13, 2020

This will seem completely insane if it all works but I am actually planning to have both Claire and Daisy bred in the next two weeks.

Someone special wants a Daisy puppy sooner rather than later, we are stuck at home anyway, Dear Husband is an incredible Cooperator, and once this pandemic is done I will not want to spend months at home raising a litter.

I am thrilled with the dogs chosen to be the sires of the two planned litter. I will not share who they are until we have confirmed pregnancies but I will continue to share this process. I want people to understand what it takes to breed Berners well — in a pandemic.

So buckle up, Friends — this could be interesting.

The Plan

Mary-Ann Sontag November 12, 2020

Breeding a dog in a surging pandemic is no easy thing. On top of lining up Mr. Right, which is complicated in itself, how does one navigate putting everything together when getting together is a Bad Idea?

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No thanks. I want to create life — not end it.

This will be a high tech breeding — fresh-chilled semen shipped overnight from a fertile young male using the services of a reputable reproductive clinic to collect, prepare, and ship said semen.

We will use progesterone testing to do two well-timed transcervical implants (TCI) using a veterinarian who does 6 - 8 of these per week, with our own veterinarian on stand-by in case we have to do a surgical implant.

Because that is not complicated enough, I plan to triangulate the progesterone data. This means we will run tests on the same blood using two different labs to help ensure validity of results. The progesterone results are critical to ensure correct timing — I am not taking chances with this breeding.