Wow, what a time to be alive.  I wanted to make a quick post to cover a few topics.  Some of you are not on Facebook, so you might not be in the loop about what is happening here.

• Emma had emergency back surgery due to a slipped disc in her back.  She is doing incredible now, but it was a tough few weeks for us.  She will be spayed, so no Miniature Poodle pups will happen for the foreseeable future.

• Jingle is in season now.  Due to Covid-19 we are opting to skip this cycle and breed her this winter.  If she were local to me, I could risk the breeding, but traveling to get her during this pandemic would be inadvisable on so many levels.  Jingle is still on schedule to be bred to Chappie, the blue male Standard Poodle with the hunting titles.  He is local to her, so we are hopeful this will reduce stress and give us the best chance at babies.

• Mabel will be bred to Cody this fall.  This is a pure “Let’s see if we can get Mabel pregnant” ploy.  She was in season last month, so again, winter pups.  The plan is for me to take Cody to her and leave him there for a few weeks.  I can stay at my sisters while Mabel and Cody bond and maybe it will keep Mabel’s stress level low enough for pups to happen.  We will see!

• Newt still hasn’t come into season once!  She is Jingle’s full sister.  This is why you do not put all your pups in one basket!  The plan for Newt has always been to breed her to Cody, as they are genetically unrelated.  However, Kerry (her mom), and I are going to get her bred even if she comes into season soon and travel cannot happen.  We have several stud options we will explore, one of which is Chappie down in San Antonio.  Due to her lack of cycling, if and when she comes in, we will need to breed her then if we hope to get pups from that girly.

•  Duchess is still to young to have babies and her performance show time has been cut off due to this virus.  This will probably set her back at least a year for titles and pups.  That is OK, because we have so many girls who need to have a litter this year anyway.  Do not expect Duchess babies until late 2021.

With no pups last year and possibly no pups until late winter, it is looking like most of our next litters will be ready for homes January-March 2021 time frame, depending on when the girls cycle.  That will put us at 2 years between litters, which is incredible.   Both Jingle and Mabel generally run 6 months between cycles.  If that holds true, we are looking at Sept-Oct breedings, Nov-Dec pups born, Jan-Feb pups leaving for new homes.

This is the current plan and I do not see things changing.  I hope you all take care and stay sane while we all muddle our way through this new world.