No puppies for us in 2026. It was an attempt with frozen semen and that works most of the time — not always. Disappointing, of course. But I am glad we tried 💙

And so we switch gears.

There are shows coming up here in Idaho and those should be so fun. Capella will show in conformation and obedience — can we get that third leg for her CD? 🍀🤞🏼

Starry G will also show in conformation — doesn’t she look all grown up?!

I am also planning to enter Starry in three tracking tests (TDX) in the next two months now that I know we can travel 🚙💨

I wanted those puppies and I am disappointed. But apparently, they were not ready to arrive yet and so the calendar shifts. That’s okay — I know they will be worth the wait ❤️

Have a happy and fun weekend 🎉🍩

A maybe pregnant dog combined with a goal-oriented planner-type human with an inadequate supply of patience is a fraught combination. I manage it — barely — with flow charts for the two possibilities.

If Capella is pregnant, then XYZ can happened.

If Capella is not pregnant, then ABCDEFGHI can happen.

Something that may not be obvious about breeding a working/show dog is that there are significant opportunity costs.

A simple example — there is a local agility trial coming up. Normally I would have been training for it and Capella would be entered. But because I am extra careful with a potentially pregnant dog, we haven’t been training/conditioning for agility and that means even if she is not pregnant, I can’t enter her — she won’t be ready.

If Capella is pregnant, she won’t do any conformation shows for months, pushing goals well into 2027.

If Capella is pregnant, I can’t travel for TDX tests, pushing that goal for Starry into the future.

But if Capella is not pregnant, I need to try again and that means I will lose more time and opportunity in 2027. Adding motherhood into the lives of multi-tasking dogs (and their human) is harder than it looks — for all kinds of reasons.

And it is expensive. I have spent just about $3,000 breeding Capella on this cycle alone.

Consider that I had two failed breeding cycles with Capella due to semen issues that were not known until it was too late 💸

I learned my lesson — a stud dog must have a semen analysis in the month before I will work with him. Good thing — a dog I planned to use for this breeding flunked the required semen test and I made a different plan as a result.