Lynai

As providential as it seems, my lovely dog loving neice has a litter due on the EXACT same day as myself. My neice's bitch, a golden retriever, has a history of producing smaller litters and a history of absconding with other dogs pups (when available) and even kittens to supplement her litter size, lol, she takes any and all babies. This will be the girls last litter, and it is expected to be small again. Now, my question, would you use this girl as a surrogate if you had an exceptionally large litter where you might find yourself supplementing your puppies if you did not use her? If you did use her as a surrogate, would you opt to just go ahead and place/leave a certain number of your puppies with her and leave a certain amount on your own girl? I'm thinking of just placing a few pups on the surrogate and leaving the rest on my bitch. I have never used a surrogate before and because of its availability, I am considering it as an option if we end up having a large litter. My girl comes from a very large litter, and she comes from bitches with histories of large litters..so I am at the moment just comptemplating options and looking for input from surrogate users

Yay!! finally pups on their way, due August 4th via C-sec! :cheer: It has been a long, long time coming and finally after one natural attempt, two ai attempts I took my girl, Selah (girl in avatar) to the vet for a trans-cervical ai, alas, even with the scope they couldn't get the semen where they needed to, so at that point (feeling slightly vindicated on my own feeble attempts) I opted for surgical a.i. My girl wouldnt hold still for the ultra-sound very much, but we could see a spot that looked like a pregnancy and at 5+ weeks pregnant she is definitely starting to show!! Big girl to begin with, now she is starting to look like a house, lol!!

Thank you dg, and by all means Bilbo, no jinx!!!!

Well I'm cautiously excited, we had as successful side by side a.i. Wont be able to confirm until it gets closer (not taking my girl in she hates the vet) and she starts showing. Delivery will be done c-section. Litter Due Sept 20 With my girl Selah (pictured) and Wowsa (dog in my signature) I purchased Selah with this specific breeding in mind. I'm very excited.

LOL, having bred horses in the past I have had a few of those conversations myself, now I also incorporate dogs. Nothing gets a room quieter than for a normally non-cussing woman like myself to say the word "bitch"

Wowsa at 24 months me and me, goofing around with editor and my newest girl Selah at 22 months, just bred to Wowsa!

Thanks Allerzeit for your kind words..she has matured into what I was hoping for when I brought her home :D I see that a love of big dogs stays for generations in your family :D fifi missed your post, awesome to see you too!

oh too funny SwaY your killing me lol. Okay for those of those with big dogs (one of which is a rodeo clown), two people can get it done. 1. One pound of hard salami summer sausage chopped into bite size chuncks 2. Patient person to hold head, preferrabley with really crappy clothes on 3. drool rag for head holder 4. head person feed non stop 5. inseminator learn real quick where everything goes! 6. shots of tequila for the people Selah is oddly shaped compared to my last bitch, but I managed to get the longer catheter in her, so I'm hoping for the best!! Here is a pic of my girl I took today, it was super humid and hot today so the picture turned out bad due to humidity/condensation build up on the lense. This is Selah after we bred her, does she look pregnant? ;)

Today was an excersize, literally! My maiden bitch came into season, and while most Mastiffs are pretty laid back, Selah is the proverbial "class clown" as well as suffering a bit from attention deficit disorder. She is a handful on a good day, when she is in season, I think she may be the devil...lol. Wowsa has an issue with premature ejaculation and with Selah being Selah, I decided our best approach to this was going to be a fresh ai, side by side. So I collected Wowsa this morning and then came Selah. My husband had the front end, I had the insemination duty. This girl is such a goof, getting her to stay still is next to impossible. I ended up using a much shorter catheter than I desired and was only able to get the semen approx halfway to where it really needed to be. In the end, all of us were covered in slobber, Selah polished off a roll of hard salami and I am going to have to repeat this. This is only the third time I have attempted ai on my own and never with such a rowdy not to mention big girl (75kg). Any tips/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

You were so correct to be concerned and ask the questions you did, in the long run it it much better to leave a pup behind in a situation such as this. I don't know how rare the breed is, but I would suggest speaking with as many breeders as you possibley can with a list of questions you wish to have answered prior to even visiting, this way you'll know if they get defensive or be less than forth coming on questions. Also advise to look for a contract that not only protects the seller, but looks out for the pup and the new owner as well. Contracts shouldn't only be one sided, but gives the new owner a course of action if their puppy ends up with hip dysplasia or some other genetic issue. Good luck

All of my dogs howl, it starts with just my older girl when the sirens start, then my others join in and it becomes a Mastiff howlathon..

I am so glad it worked out for you and so many people are truly niave and get taken advantage of by unscrupulous people. It may have been difficult to initiate, but the conversation sounds as if it went as well as it could have. Yay and congrats on the upcoming litter

Yay, the mag could not have picked a better subject, wtg Ralphie!!!

Just from my point of view. A backyard breeder is someone who slaps two dogs together to create a litter, with no regards to bloodlines, health testing or anything else beyong perhaps the immediate love for their pet. They may love their dogs and think that because fido is so great, they want to create more just like him/her to share with others. They may just want their dog to have one litter before being spayed, to let the kids experience the "joy" of creation. A backyard breeder may just want to see if they can make a bit of spare cash without much cash outlay and doing it as cheap as possible. I don't think byb are by any means evil, rather they have never "invested" in their dogs beyond the basics. Many have never researched the breed, their passion is not in the breed they are producing rather just the end result of puppies. Because they dont research the breed and learn the standard, the various bloodlines and health issues that can arrise, most of the animals produced by byb are sub par examples of the breed and many have health issues. Millers, well, that is another animal all together. Bottom line is money. Animals are either making money or they are not...if they are not making money they must make room for those that do..they are lucky if they are euthanized. Money is made by volume, not by quailty. It is a business, it is run with that bottom line and profit margin at the forefront. Most millers have multiple breeds and in the states anyway have to be liscensed by the government.

I like the offer of desexing, that might do the trick..but are you close enough with the buyer to express these concerns directly with them? I mean if they knew they would be party to a fraudulent litter, with falsified documents, they may think twice before letting their dog be used in such a manner. What kind of reprocussions does the Australian KC have when it comes to falisfying documents such as registering a litter falsely? Well the horse is out of the barn as far as a contract goes, but I would still use one, the puppy owners can always use it as a reference and there is more than just her/his word against yours...it may be that is all it takes, is the threat of enforcing that contract to get them to tow the line so to speak.

Just beautiful, love them big and hairy types :laugh:

Thanks all for your kind words. I'm definitely checking out the challenges! :nahnah:

Hi and thanks Krislin, I ended up with a Canon EOS Rebel Xs. I need to research lenses in the worst way. It came with the standard 18-55 mm lens and I also purchased an 50mm 1.8...but I need more!!

Huge congrats and I must say you guys have all inspired me to make the leap to a better camera and try new things..big thank you.

You know, all my life I have used point and clicks and this past year it has boiled down to a cellphone camera..sad sad sad... But, I was inspired a lot by this forum and just such lovely stories out there, waiting be told through a photograph.. I am an amatuer in all regards. You may think it was a leap to go from a cellphone camera to an slr, but you know, I have no regrets, I'm having so much fun. Now I just have to find the time to really experiment and learn how to get different effects. Anyway, one of my first shots of my boy Wowsa: and my puppy girl Selah Thanks for letting me indulge a bit :D I'm just so excited with the new camera

That is just wonderful and an awesome photo..best wishes

Wow you have done wonders with him, completely different dog..he is adorable.

And at 20 months (88 kg) \img]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/Adamsribs/Faithwalk%20Mastiffs/Wowsaanimator.f[/img]

I keep an eye on it, it is a pretty popular dog sport in the northern (great lakes area) States, Canada and Alaska. We have sled dog races and competitions in MN and surrounding states, but of course the Iditarod is the most famous. Lots of cool info at this sight: ISDRA LOL, you'd be the toast of the town, press just loves odd stories about people coming from all over the world to compete in sled races..especially if they come from an area not real famous for the snowfall

dark bloody and next thing ya know, in for an early c-section today. Two born doa, two born alive, we couldn't wait another day to let the pups mature, the remaining two showed signs of distress.. So all in all, we salvaged two beautiful pups and they seem to be doing just fine. Mom isn't too crazy about them but submits to me to let them nurse. One girl, 11 oz and one big, huge@ss brother, 1 pound, 7 ounces! no way Xia would have been able to get that boy out. Necropsy will be performed on one of the doa pups, no sign of infection in the bitch...