[Babe is ABS3 FC Bob's Babe von Knobydox, owned by Tina Knoll of Mississippi.]

The main reason I drove to Georgia in the first place was to get Babe back to her owners. When Stan called a couple of weeks ago to tell me that Babe had come in heat, he asked me how I wanted to handle the mating. I thought about it and told him my first choice would be to meet him halfway between southern Mississippi and southern Ohio to get Babe. Then, because I knew Stan planned to be at the Atlanta field trials, I said that I would go, too, for the timing was likely to be good for him to get Babe back this weekend.

The timing was great. Babe and Owl mated three times. First time was on Wednesday, March 13. Second time was Friday, March 15. And the third time was Sunday, the 17th. I decided to hold off on updating the Puppies page until we know that Babe is pregnant. For the sake of the good people waiting on puppies, we would like to know as soon as possible. The plan is to have an ultrasound done in mid-April.

In the meantime, I realized that I have very few photos of Babe. So this evening after the field trial, Stan took Babe out and I took some photos.

Babe is of correct size, good temperament, excellent conformation, and has a lot of ability on game. She could use more pigment which is one of the reasons why she was bred to Owl who is quite dark. Babe could also use more coat. So could Owl, frankly, but more hair is not so high on our list of priorities. Besides that, all four grandparents have or had more coat and it is entirely possible that the puppies will, too.

Babe wants to track rabbits! But Stan did not want to enter her in the trials and I agreed with him. The first couple of weeks after mating, we want to keep things as stress-free as possible, including good stress. Babe is 6.5 years old and we are focused on maximizing her chances of "settling" and having a litter.

Babe was grinning a lot. She was happy to see Stan and also to be out of her crate in the car.

By the way, the scars on her muzzle are from Babe being bitten by copperheads. This happened more than once. Afterward, Babe's face was very swollen and she was sick for a few days but bounced back nicely.

Let us hope that Babe is expecting!

True to Stan's assertion that their bitches are ready to breed sooner than has been the norm for mine*, Babe accepted Owl last night.  First day of mating, then, is March 13. Due date to be the middle of May. Here's hoping!

I will update the puppy page soon.

(*Even though they are closely related to mine. Any thoughts or conjectures as to why this might be? Much more sunshine in southern Mississippi than in the Ohio Valley? Living many hours closer to the equator? Different food? ??)

Owl himself as an owlet

Late last night, I went into the kennel to scratch Babe's back, say good night, and turn off the light. I had done the first two and was reaching to do the last when some extra blood on the newspaper covering the floor caught my eye.

With Taya having recently been in heat, I was used to seeing spots of blood on the paper. But this blood did not look like that.

Had Babe hurt herself? I went into the room for further inspection.

Babe appeared to be fine. I looked around and saw, too, some "extra" drops of blood on a dog bed I have in there. "This is strange."

Then I noticed some paper bunched up on the other side of Babe's crate that is also in the room for her to sleep in. I lifted the top layer of paper and saw more blood. Lifted all the paper and jumped a foot in surprise. There was a large, dead rat!

Partly, my surprise was that Babe was fast and stealthy enough to catch a rat in a room that it would have no trouble getting out of. In the doorway, there is a metal dog gate with vertical bars through which it must have entered. Babe did not give it a chance to escape.

Rats are smart and they are fast but Babe, obviously, had been smarter and faster. Good girl, Babe!

I was also surprised that there was a rat in there in the first place. I have not seen evidence of rats or mice around since I began feeding Kiki the (formerly stray) cat. Besides that, my dogs do not let "visitors" go unannounced. They are very good at detecting them and telling me about them.

It was midnight (their time) but I called the Knolls. Patt: "Babe caught a rat!" Stan: "Yeah. She's a good dog. I'm going back to bed."

After I took the rat out - OUT! - I took pictures. And measured it. The body was a full eight inches from nose to base of tail. Naturally, being a rat, the tail was nearly that long.

I told the Knolls today that if Babe catches another rat I am keeping her. They can have Kiki instead.

Stan Knoll called me Thursday night at work to tell me that their Babe had come in heat. We have had 2+ years plans to breed Babe to Owl. A mating of the two actually took place last year in May. By the time I'd gotten to Mississippi, though, we were on the tail end of her cycle. Babe did not become pregnant. We decided we'd "repeat the breeding again in the spring" and that time has arrived.

Accordingly, Stan and I decided to meet halfway so that, this time, I could get Babe and bring her to my house.

Yesterday morning, I'd set the alarm for 5 am, left home at 7:20 and drove south through a lot of rain. Five hours later, I was in Louisville and 3.5 hours or so after that, with walking the dogs and a gas stop in between, I met Stan at the Kentucky/Tennessee state line. We had coffee and talked for an hour, then I put Babe in my car and we both headed back the way we had come.

I like to drive but it made for a long, long day. And Stan had actually driven about an hour further than I did.

All four of my own dogs were with me and everybody traveled very nicely, as usual.

By the time I again hit the hilly and twisting country roads between Chillicothe and home, I was tired and it was very dark. More cautious on both counts, the drive north took longer than the trip south. I finally arrived home at 1:15 am. I wanted nothing more than to go straight to bed but of course the dogs all needed some attention and time to exercise. It was nearly 3:30 before I crawled (literally) under the covers.

Is there anyone alive who does not think that dog people are crazy?  ;  )

[Oslo is ABS10 FC Audi Oslo von Dorndorf CA CGC, owned by Stan Knoll of Mississippi.]
[Babe is ABS3 Bob's Babe von Knobydox, owned by Tina Knoll of Mississippi.]

At the field trial of the Mission City Dachshund Club of San Antonio held in Kirbyville, Texas today, Oslo was back High and finished 2nd of 9 Field Champion Dogs. Oslo was handled by his owner Stan Knoll.

And Babe was NBQ of 12 Field Champion Bitches, handled by Laura Knoll for owner Tina Knoll.

Congratulations to all of you!

[Owl is ABS5 FC Alpine Owl von Dorndorf TD JE NA OAJ SchwhK SchwhKF Wa-T BHP-G LH, owned by Patricia Nance.]

Owl had an appointment today with Dr Mark McCloskey, canine reproduction specialist at the Canine Semen Bank of Columbus. The purpose of the visit was twofold. First, Owl, 8.5 years old, is our choice to father Babe's litter this spring.  Second, due to his outstanding individual qualities and his pedigree, I intend to have some of Owl's semen frozen and stored for the possibility of future use. So a good evaluation was the next step.

Taya is in heat so I took her with us. Her presence made collecting Owl very easy. Dr Mark was pleased with the quantity of semen until some blood, too, came with it. He said that Owl has some prostatitis going on and that we should treat the prostate before collecting semen for freezing. Microscopically, Owl's sperm appeared to be about 70% normal and functionally motile. Mark noted that this is quite adequate for natural mating but, ideally, he would like the number of normal sperm to be about 90% before processing for storage. He thinks obtaining this increase is very doable.

Owl will be on 250 mg of Cipro twice a day for 30 days. Then we will reevaluate. I will keep you posted.

Well, the bad news from Stan Knoll is that ultrasound done in Mississippi this morning showed that Babe is not pregnant. No little Owlets for us this summer. Needless to say, this is very disappointing. I very much expected that Babe would be expecting.

The good news is that there have been a couple of standard longhaired litters born overseas this spring that hold a lot of interest for me. I am grateful that there still are a number of breeders who think "dachshund" means much more than "show dog" and remember it in their breeding decisions! (You all know who you are.) In that vein I extend deepest thanks to the Knolls for their willingness to have pups this summer even though it did not work out that way this time.