The Professional Supporting the Lucky Socks This Week

Yesterday’s efforts were supported by your good thoughts, Lucky Socks all around, and the Donut Dress.

And all of our best efforts at translating luck into puppies has been supported by an awesome professional.

Cindy H. and I first met Dr. Sharon Vanderlip on Monday when we arrived for Sparkle’s pre-breeding appointment at Intermountain Pet Hospital in Meridian, Idaho; Cindy was along to meet her and ask some questions. I was so struck by the role of grandchildren in bringing the three of us together on that day. Those small humans are mighty powerful!

Dr. Vanderlip has had an adventure-filled life and career, but it was the presence of her three grandchildren (and yes, perhaps also their parents) that caused her to bring her special expertise to the Boise area. She is working with the owner of Intermountain Pet Hospital to develop a reproductive practice, and that owner made a very smart decision to bring her on board.

Dog breeders are a strange kind of human, and not always easy for veterinarians — for all sorts of reasons. It takes a special veterinarian to deal with Dog Breeders, who can be (okay — often are) opinionated, high maintenance, demanding, and who too often come armed with crazy notions derived from their groomer’s cousin’s dog psychic or Dr. Google.

And many Dog Breeders — let’s be honest — are not as responsible as one might like, and therefore may expect veterinarians to participate in what has to be some ethically-challenging stuff.

No — people who want to create more dogs are not always welcomed with open arms at veterinary practices, and I can understand why that is. We should do better — but I digress.

Dr. Vanderlip is one of us! She is a Dog Breeder (collies) and a Veterinarian with a repro specialization — how perfect is that?! Click HERE to read more about her.

But even more, Dr. Vanderlip is skilled, flexible, kind, funny, and more than accommodating.

When the place where the frozen semen was stored did not have an available shipping tank, Dr. Vanderlip spent her day off getting her own personal tank filled with the very cold stuff and shipped off to that clinic so that Frozen could arrive on time. She has come in on her days off twice this week to do the transcervical inseminations. Last week, Dr. Vanderlip was in daily contact as we watched the progesterone do its slow rise.

In other words, she has completely leaned into this breeding — being accessible, answering questions (she is a natural educator), and going the extra ten miles to join the community that has embraced this hope-for litter of Sparklers. We are so grateful to Dr. Vanderlip and recommend her most highly — she is absolutely worth this temporary relocation to Idaho.

I also want to offer a shout out to her tech, Emily, who has been great to work with and is the source of this fun photo of Frozen’s contribution to the party happening here in Idaho.

Today is the last day so put on those extra Lucky Socks — and have a grand Friday.

The Science and Art of Breeding Dogs Well

A friend of mine shared that she thought surgical inseminations were the only option with frozen — I suspect she is not alone in this thinking.

Frozen semen is compromised semen. That whole experience of being flash frozen and kept at almost 300 degrees below zero would put anyone off their game. Sad but true — frozen semen are resurrected to live only 12 - 24 hours.

This means there is no time to waste on long distance travel — semen need to arrive at the party pronto! In other words, they need a lift to the uterus — a sort of Uber for sperm.

One method to transport the semen is to surgically implant it in the uterus. This is a relatively simple procedure but yes, one should not ignore potential anesthesia and surgery risks. Further, you get one shot so the timing better be good — one would not do repeated surgical implants.

Transcervical insemination (TCI) involves using a scope to go through the cervix, depositing the semen in the uterus via a catheter. This is an easy procedure when done by an experienced veterinarian, requiring no sedation and very little risk. Unlike a surgical insemination, multiple TCIs in a cycle are possible.

I have been exploring the professional literature to compare methods and guess what? There is ZERO advantage to doing surgical implants when comparing pregnancy rate. None. In fact, the advantage goes to TCI.

Mason and Rous (2014) compared TCI and surgical implant for frozen semen; pregnancy rates were significantly higher in the TCI group.

Hollinshead and Hanlon (2017) completed an impressive study of various aspects of canine reproduction, including a comparison of pregnancy rates between TCI and surgical implant; they found no difference in pregnancy rates between the two methods.

Send me an email if you want a PDF of this article — it is a good one.

TCI and surgical implant deliver semen to the same place, prompting Hollinshead and Hanlon (2017) to observe, “theoretically there should be no difference in whelping rate between the two techniques, as the site of deposition is the same i.e. intrauterine” (p. 69). Their findings confirmed this.

Therefore, one might ask: If the same results can be achieved using a non-invasive procedure with much less risk (TCI), why are surgical implants being done at all?

Interesting.

What does impact pregnancy rates in both methods of intrauterine deposit is semen quality. That is not really a surprise, is it?

What the professional literature does not address is the potential increase of pregnancy rates when variables such as Lucky Socks and donuts are components of the protocol. Isn’t that shocking?!

I was set for yesterday’s TCI — I had the Lucky Socks…

Thanks, Suzanne! Extra Lucky because they were a gift.

Lincoln had his Lucky Shirt…

To increase the Good Luck, I added more Donuts.

I took this dozen to the vet — she has gone above and beyond for us (more on that tomorrow).

Aren’t they pretty?!

The timing is perfect, the semen quality is excellent, we are using the preferred method of Uber for frozen sperm, our veterinarian is a Super Star, and we have both donuts and Lucky Socks involved — oh, and Unicorns…

Berkeley has a bandage from her blood draw — the genetic tests were approved by insurance and are underway.

I think we are giving Sparklers 2.0 every advantage — but we need all the good thoughts and wishes and luck today as well. Thank you for being part of our team. #sparklers2.0

The Reveal (Sort of)

It is time for the reveal — the mystery of the father we selected for the very wanted and hoped for Sparklers 2.0.

Berkeley, dressed appropriately for the occasion, agreed to help with this.

Note the sparkle shoes!

That moment when the presenter reads the winner to herself — unless the presenter cannot yet read, and then she looks at the pictures.

And the Winner in the Category of Best Dog for Siring Sparklers 2.0 is…

True Story. Frozen.

Very, very Frozen.

LONG Frozen…

See the collection date?

I have planned for some time to use this male — I knew and loved this dog; he is one of Dear Husband’s all-time favorite Berners. The only reason he was not originally Plan A is because I was nervous about using frozen given Sparkle’s age (almost six). I changed my mind because I learned a few things.

Isn’t that usually the reason we change our minds — because we learn to see things in a different way? I am reminded of the importance of an open, curious mind and the need to be a lifelong learner.

Anyway, it went like this…

About three weeks ago Cindy H. said that Kira (her daughter) said that their acupuncture vet said that a hotshot repro vet had recently relocated to Boise and was working at one of their clinics.

Then Plan A for Sparkle fell through and I decided to consider Frozen (the term we shall use for the currently unnamed male whose semen is frozen).

I did a telephone consult with the Boise repro vet — LOVED her. More important — I learned a few things that made me feel comfortable using Frozen.

We set the wheels in motion.

The semen was in another state. A form was needed to release it — and that had to happen within 24 hours in order to get the semen to Boise in time.

YIKES.

The Head of the Costume Department and her spouse win the BFF Award for printing the form I emailed to them (not quite as easy as it sounds), driving over to have said form signed by the owner of the semen, and then more driving to deliver that form to the clinic where the semen was stored!

Much gratitude to them!

The cost of shipping the semen left Elizabethanne wondering if it had been sent on a Lear jet! But regardless of mode of transportation, it arrived safely the next morning in Boise.

Whew.

And then we watched the progesterone rise — slowly — until the timing was such that Sparkle had entered her fertile period.

Because the humans involved with Frozen are generous and want this to work — and because transcervical inseminations (TCI) are effective and not overly invasive — we have enough semen to do repeated TCI breedings to maximize the chances of success.

So much gratitude to Frozen’s people for so many things. As I said yesterday, this has been a community endeavor.

And so because of all that, TCI #1 happened yesterday and #2 is this morning; we will do a total of four!

More on the methodology of all this tomorrow but for today — don’t forget your Lucky Socks!