Well, it’s been a hell of a ride due to COVID, but Shimi is back and healthy (even if she lost all her coat) and has a good weight on her. I’m happy to have my little girl back, even though after three healthy pups joining three happy families, she is entitled to a more dignified prefix, I suppose.
We are planning on breeding her again; there are some interesting sires out there. I’d like something new, an outcross of some kind because I like adventure, but there is something to keeping things closeish with the family if the genes produce generations of dogs with good hips and knees.
I didn’t get as much of a closeup of puppy raising as I would like to have had, thanks COVID, but Susan was so awesome about taking videos and having long Facetime calls, I feel like I got a pretty thorough education on the basics of what Susan does to raise pups.
I am now an expert and am opening my own kennel I now feel better acquainted with ‘Breeding Lite’, since I didn’t do any of the work, and am hoping to take a more active role in the next breeding and raising of puppies.
If Shimi’s up to it, we want to breed sooner rather than later, because she’ll be 4 on March 28th (and Tierce will be 14!). Then she’s entitled to some rest from Mom Stations and whether we breed again will depend on her overall health and how her first litter turns out and what we have available, etc.
It’s a damn good thing I didn’t raise them, actually.
