Those of
you following our website and blog over the past year may remember that we have been
planning to have a winter/early spring litter, likely from Topaz, followed by a
late spring/early summer litter from either Phoenix or possibly Galena.
We
generally find spring/early summer puppies to be the easiest to
place in homes. It’s generally the fall/early winter puppies that take longer
to place and can end up staying with us longer than we’d like. Of course, there
are other variables too, like the general economic outlook, amount of
advertising we do, and so on. But that reality was behind our planning for the
upcoming year.
Well, dogs
being living creatures that don’t always behave as planned (whether purposefully
or inadvertently), those plans have changed. We follow the heat cycles
of our dams so we can predict roughly when they will be ready for breeding and
plan the litters around the rest of our lives (or, sometimes, the rest of our
lives around the litters…).
Topaz had
been on a seven-month cycle so we were expecting her to go into heat in
October, with pups born in December and ready for homes in February. While
February is still winter, spring is on the horizon and by the end of the month
the weather is starting to get a bit nicer, so we figured that would be good
timing. As it turned out, however, Topaz came into heat in September, which
would have advanced everything by one month. Given this, we decided to skip the
fall mating – not so much because sending pups home in January would be
difficult, but more because we have a heavy November schedule and I couldn’t
see fitting November puppies into the rest of our lives – despite the fact that
for the first few weeks it’s the mama who does 90% of the puppy care.
Phoenix was
expected to come into heat after about 6½ months., in late July or early
August, and then next February, so we were planning to use her next spring for
the late spring/early summer litter. Instead she waited eight months and had
her fall heat in September! This puts our spring prediction into question –
could be March, could be May. We’ll see.
As for
Galena, we had expected her to come into heat this past September and then next
April. But instead she was a bit early, with an August heat cycle.
So what
does this mean for spring? The current expectation is for Galena to cycle
first, in February-March. Topaz could be next, sometime in March. Phoenix, depending on whether she reverts to a 6½ month cycle
or sticks to 8 months, could be anywhere between mid-March and mid-May.
Given our
plans for a major summer holiday next year beginning in late July, we need to
plan to be puppy-free in advance of our departure. That means pups need to be
born no later than mid-May, which in turn means breeding needs to take place no
later than mid-March.
So which
dogs will be the ones to have litters in spring? It could be any of the three,
but here’s our best guess. We’re hopeful Galena will cycle first, by late
February. We have a lovely black phantom stud picked out for her, which would
produce pups in black and chocolate, solid or phantom. These pups would, if all
goes as hoped, be born mid- to late April and ready for homes before the end of
June.
The second
spring litter is more iffy. It really depends on which dog cycles next – and
whether either Phoenix or Topaz cycle no later than mid-March. We’re hoping
it’s Topaz, but Phoenix is also a possibility. If it’s Topaz, we plan to breed
her to a red parti male, giving us pups in shades of cream to red, either solid
or parti. If it’s Phoenix, I’m not yet sure which male we’d use, but the
preference would be a black or chocolate phantom to advance our ability to
produce more phantom pups in the future. With this timing we would have some
overlap of litters, which will make it a busy (crazy?) place through late May
and June, but hopefully also fun!
Of course, there is also the possibility that
both Topaz and Phoenix will cycle later, in which case we’d forego the second spring litter
and aim for a winter litter instead.
So, best to
continue to watch this space and our website for more updates as the winter
progresses. Specific news is likely to start coming in February, as we see
whether our current predictions pan out. As usual, if you’re interested in one
of our pups, please contact us at roma@dragonramdoodles.com to express your
interest and get on the reserved list! (We've already got a couple of pups on reserve, so best not to wait to get a better selection of pups.)
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