It was a secret!
I’ve been keeping this under wraps, but I’ll go ahead and announce that Jingle has been bred! She came in season, then looked like she was going back out. I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. She stopped bleeding and didn’t swell very much. Not exactly a silent heat, but close. The stud was not interested at day 10-15, but she was! The stud WAS interested at day 19-20, but she was not! Janelle, Jingle’s awesome mom, rushed her to the vet for a progesterone test to see if we missed her. The reproduction vet outside of San Antonio feels confident she is right on the money. The stud nose knows! After some debate and probability numbers, we opted to go with a transcervical insemination to stack the odds in our favor. This is day 20 of her cycle, which is about 5-10 days later than average for my dogs.
We all need to cross our paws for a litter of sweet Jingle Bells right around Christmas. I’m going to be in Austin picking up Jingle’s nephew from the ladies at Figz Poodles over Thanksgiving week. She ‘should’ be far enough along to ultrasound right before I get there. It’s going to be a CLOSE call. I really do not want to make two trips to Texas within a month, but we will do whatever is necessary. Here is a photo Janelle just sent me of one exhausted girl!
Who’s the sire?
We decided to use Locket’s sire as the stud for Jingle’s litter to both increase diversity and build on retrieving drive. I’m extremely impressed with Locket’s ability to learn, focus, and have great mental stability. She is so smart, but she never uses it against me. If you have owned girls, you know how they can be. Anyway, Gauge is a mid size, blue boy who carries brown. He has a UKC retriever title and Amy plans to get more hunting titles next year. Covid and her daughter’s birth left little room to trial dogs this year and Gauge is only 3 years old, same as Jingle.
OFA Results for Gauge : https://www.ofa.org/advanced-search?f=sr&appnum=2090302
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Pedigree for litter: http://www.poodledata.org/pedigree.asp?ID=551667
We expect Blacks, Blues, Silvers, Brown, Cafe’, and Silver Beige pups from this combination.
Gauge is OFA Excellent. Jingle is OFA Good. We expect some sport prospects with the ability to work without breaking down from these two.
I am not taking applications at this time. I need a confirmed pregnancy before I will even dig back through emails and check interest. These pups will be born right around Christmas, ready for homes early March.
Diversity is the heart of this litter
I am attempting to combine some top hunting / performance lines in the US and increase the diversity in the brown Poodle gene pool at the same time. It is a difficult thing to achieve and let me say I have had decades of setbacks. Here are the projected diversity numbers we can hope for with this combination. Jingle’s litter was bred for diversity. This will be the second generation to focus on that aspect. If you look closely at the pedigree, it will be a line breeding on a well known hunting Poodle bred by Jac Harbour at Tudorose Poodles. I spoke with Jac before doing this breeding to see if there were any red flags as far as health or temperament. She told me Brag hated cold water, that was his worst trait. I can live with that! We hope to retain great Poodle type and drive while decreasing inbreeding and increasing overall health. Check back in a decade to see if it was a success.
