Poor Peanut

Peanut was here for a purpose, which he achieved....maybe. Only time will tell. He was here to breed Gabi.

The whole breeding process scares me. I have never bred a litter of dogs. Gabi is accomplished on the race track so despite her lack of eye pigmentation, I think she deserves to be bred. I fear something happening to my Girl Goober. Because I believe that waiting too long likely makes pregnancies more difficult, I am breeding her this year (age 4). Now, the breeding of Peanut to the Girl Goober....well, I caught that one. This will be a litter of nuts.

Poor Peanut had to make it through this to do the deed:
The faces of Gabi can be quite interesting during "that time." M-hmmm. Quite interesting.

Peanut pined. He refused to eat for a few days and then would eat only hand fed food for 3 days. I was embarrassed to send him home. He was a shadow of his former self. I think he should bounce back quickly, though.
There are a lot of different reasons for choosing him. Although he hasn't been a runner, all of his littermates who are running have excelled. He is Mati's littermate, and I have lived with 3 from this litter for various periods of time and they all have incredibly similar, sweet personalities. Finally, there are some genetic reasons for going with him rather than his brother Stoli, who has been running.

So, if puppies happen they should be here in November....the nuts, the hurricanes (the first tie occurred on the weekend that Ike blew through our 'hood), the giving of thanks......so many themes. But are there puppies? At this point, if there are puppies, I will be happy. If there aren't puppies, I think I will be relieved (although a little disappointed).

I have never bred a litter before now. I am not liking this process. This is day 35 post breeding, but I still can't tell that Gabi is pregnant. According to this on-line calender that i found two weeks ago, I should have been able to palpate the embryos. Not. I just got a bundle of muscles. There are signs like nipple enlargement that mean little to me as my girls usually have this with their false pregnancies. This week, I am supposed to see waist thickening. I THINK we might have it, which is why I am finally posting. Maybe. But, I am not sure. So if you see a picture of Gabi in two weeks and she looks like she always does: false alarm!