We hoped it wouldn't come to this... and third time was not a charm... We are very sorry to report that Bristol has not conceived for a third time and therefore this litter has been canceled until further notice. Next up for Bristol, fertility testing...
 

Just like Duchess, Bristol had a couple days of spotting last week. We are very hopeful that this signifies the implantation of embryos confirming a pregnancy.  It's too soon to tell yet, but by middle of next week, we should be able to feel little chicken-egg sized lumps in her belly if she is indeed carrying puppies.  At this point we are still cautiously optimistic.
 

We had several natural matings between Bristol and Splash and are now very hopeful that they will result in a pregnancy. We are waiting anxiously for any tell-tale signs from Bristol and will report upon them as we find out anything new.
 

Bristol was bred to Splash again this morning. He's been an absolute wing nut lately and is totally out of control over Bristol. When he's like this he drives us all CRAZY! Hopefully this will result in a litter of pups, then it will all be worth it.
 

Bristol was bred to Splash naturally today (day 13), however her cycle still seems to be a little lengthy and so she was not bred on day 8, 10 or 12. Splash always tells us when it's her fertile time, so I guess he can tell better than we can. Hopefully his timing is right!
 

We noticed last evening that Bristol has come into heat and it doesn't hurt that Splash does a good job of keeping us informed of these types of things. :0)  We are planning to breed Bristol to Splash starting next Tuesday June 10th. After the last two failed attempts at producing a litter, we are still enthusiastically optimistic that Bristol will conceive. This time we should have natural matings between Bristol and Splash without having to use artifical insemination procedures like we have in the past.
 

We are currently keeping a close eye on Bristol to come into season... we will keep this blog updated as we know more.
 

Disappointing news... We did not get the news we've been hoping and praying for today regarding Bristol's pregnancy. Today's ultrasound served two purposes; 1) it indicated there was no pregnancy, 2) it also showed that there should not be any medical reason why Bristol could not become pregnant in the future (no cysts or tumors, etc). At this point the veterinarian told us not to let this get us down and encouraged us to try again in the spring during her next heat cycle.

Examining the history of Bristol's past two heat cycles has definitely shown a normalizing trend; going from way out of whack timing-wise and using AI procedures, to showing more normal behavior, longevity and even natural matings between her and Splash. We are still optimistic that Bristol will be able to have a litter and are attributing the last two infertile breedings to Bristol's age and sexual immaturity. For comparison, Duchess did not have her first litter until she was three and a half, Bristol will turn three on January 2nd, 2008.

Therefore, after speaking with the vet, we are not going to give up on her just yet and plan to try again in the Spring 2008 and will keep trying until we produce a litter or discover a medical reason why we should not continue. We are very apologetic and empathetic to those who have been really looking forward to this litter and wish there was more we could do. We are keeping our chins up and are remembering the phrase "Third time's a charm"!
 

We have scheduled an ultrasound for Bristol on December 19th.  We hope to receive good news that she is indeed pregnant and also get a good idea of how many puppies she may be carrying as well as an evaluation of their health.  The ultrasound can give us a glimpse at the puppies hearts and we pray they all have strong heartbeats. If we get the news we are hoping for, I will post photos from the procedure shortly afterwards.
 

Splash is finally calming down a little, guess that was a great thing to give thanks for yesterday! Hopefully we are now past the fertile period and the timing was right to produce a pregnancy. We probably won't have many blog entries for a while until we can determine if Bristol is pregnant. An ultrasound will be scheduled around December 18th (28 days post-breeding) to help us with a pregnancy confirmation and check the health of any puppies present. Stay tuned for the ultrasound details and maybe some photos!
 

Splash is still totally NUTS over Bristol and is driving us all CRAZY!  Today we had another natural breeding between the two.
 

Splash is totally going BONKERS over Bristol and today we finally had a natural breeding between the two!! Therefore the AI appointment for tomorrow will be canceled. Since the ice has been broken, so to speak - and no pun intended :0)~, maybe the next natural breeding will come more easily. At this point we are very optimistic that we will have a fertile breeding and produce a pregnancy, but we won't know if we've been successful for about 4 weeks. The next worry will be if Bristol will actually carry a litter to term. Stay tuned...
 

This morning Bristol had blood drawn at the vet for a progesterone / ovulation test. Her progesterone level came back very high, meaning that she has probably already ovulated, most likely over the weekend when her behavior became more aggressive. The vet said today is definitely the day to artificially inseminate, so this afternoon we went ahead with the procedure.

Here is a little science behind breeding... In bitches, after ovulation occurs it takes the egg three days to mature to the point that it can be fertilized, and then is only viable for 24-48 hours. Sperm, after exiting the dog's body, only takes 7 hours to mature so that it can fertilize the egg and can be viable for up to 7 days in the female's reproductive tract. If Bristol had ovulated over the weekend, today would be the prime day for a mating. We do plan to repeat the procedure on Wednesday just to be safe (in case she's late like last cycle, but it's probably not needed. It does appear her cycle is progressing very normally this time.
  

Today Bristol is showing more aggressive signs of mating behavior but is still refusing Splash's romantic advances.  Today is day 10 of her heat cycle and she seems to be progressing much more normally this cycle.
 

Today is Day 9 of Bristol's heat cycle and she is still aggressively refusing Splash by growling and snapping at him when he tries to court her. Since most textbooks indicate day 10 is the "target" breeding time, we decided we needed to intervene again. Therefore, Bristol had a vet visit today and had cytology done to evaluate if she was near her fertility period (estrus). The vet said her cells were nearly 100% cornified (signifying that estrus is very near) but that she wasn't quite ready for breeding yet. We have another appointment on Monday to check her progesterone level. This is a more accurate test that can indicate ovulation and optimal breeding time.
 

Bristol came into heat today! We have updated our planned breeding dates and whelping dates at the top of this page. If this cycle goes anything like the last one, we will be doing cytology to predict the onset of her fertile period and will also be doing the assisted breeding techniques again if needed.
 

We are still keeping a close eye on Bristol hoping she will come into heat soon.  We will keep this page updated with any news we have on the issue as soon as we notice any changes.
 

Bristol is not showing any more behavioral signs of getting near her Fall heat cycle yet, we thought maybe she was starting to, but has since ceased the behavior.  Since she was in TN last year during this time, and her trainer didn't notice any heat cycle, we have no history if she actually will have one in the Fall as well as the Spring or not.

Usually females come into estrus twice per year, however Bristol may not be regulated yet and therefore may skip her fall cycle or have a "silent" cycle. At this point it's really up to Mother Nature and when "she" decides the time is right. It may not come until next May again... We will keep this page posted when we have any news.  We understand our deposit holders have been waiting a long time for this litter and we can sympathize with that.  We will do everything we can to ensure a pregnancy when she does come into estrus.
 

We are very sorry to report that Bristol is not pregnant at this time. All the artificial insemination procedures went well and Bristol's mammary tissue was building up, so she was showing all the appropriate signs in the early stages. But at around 4 to 5 weeks gestation, we would've expected to see some plumping of Bristol's belly due to the growing pups, but it wasn't happening.

This is what prompted the wellness visit at the vet today. We did a pregnancy test that tested for the hormone "Relaxin" which can determine the difference between real and false pregnancy. The Relaxin test was negative indicating that there is no pregnancy. We are not sure what prompted the changes in her, however the vet indicated that Bristol is healthy and the issue is probably due to the fact that she is still young and her heat cycles are not completely regulated yet. We are hoping to try this breeding again in the fall when Bristol comes into season again. We are very sorry and apologize to those who have been excited about this litter and were looking forward to a summer pup.
 

Bristol has been on her special diet for a couple weeks now and is really enjoying her nightly treat.  I'm sure after witnessing Duchess get her special treats during her pregnancy that Bristol thinks that it's about time that it's her turn!

Bristol has a wellness check with the veterinarian tomorrow (5/15/07) to verify if her pregnancy is progressing normally.  This is a precautionary appointment due to her abnormal heat cycle and the breeding difficulties that we encountered with her.
 

Well, it's been almost three weeks since Bristol's last assisted breeding procedure and we are almost certain that she's carrying puppies.  Bristol's mammary glands are building up and are mildly swollen.  She is also acting kind of dumpy due to the hormonal changes.  We will be starting to feed her "special" meals regularly within the next week and will continue to do so throughout the rest of her gestation period.
 

Bristol was artificially inseminated again today.  Splash is absolutely going crazy over her right now telling us "it's time", but Bristol is still refusing his advances so we had to medically intervene. Usually there is a huge rise in the female's progesterone levels in her urine immediately after ovulation, and this is what really sets the males crazy, so we are hoping that Bristol has ovulated in the last couple days and this will be the last assisted breeding procedure we will have to do with her. Based on today's date and all the appropriate signs, new projected whelping date is set at June 7th, 2007.
 

Bristol was artificially inseminated again today and the procedure went great.
 

Bristol was artificially inseminated today and the procedure went great!  Her vaginal cells were 100% cornified signifying her fertile period and Splash produced 3cc of semen which was inserted through the cervix into the uterus via sterile pipette. The vet said that only about 15% of the time you can get the pipette past the cervix, so that is great! Splash's semen was also evaluated under a microscope and it had a good sperm count and high motility. The vet was thrilled with how the procedure went. Bristol and Splash have an appointment for Wednesday to do this again.
 

The third cytology report indicated that breeding should take place very shortly. Bristol and Splash have an AI appointment for Monday March 26th. If it appears that natural breeding will take place on it's own, the appointment will be canceled.
 

The second cytology report revealed that Bristol now has about 50 - 60% cornified cells, (100% cornified means that she would be in full estrus).  We are waiting another 2 days and will then do another cytology.

Bristol should be in full estrus within a couple days and then should be bred any time after that, optimally about 5 days after cells are 100% cornified to coincide with the timing of ovulation. If natural breeding between Bristol and Splash does not occur during this time, artificial insemination (AI) techniques will be used. New breeding target dates are now estimated at March 26th, 28th and 30th.
 

There are four stages within a normal female dog's reproductive cycle.
These stages are:

• anestrus - reproductive inactivity, usually lasting around 3 to 5 months.
• proestrus - before the fertility stage, usually lasting from 3 to 17 days.
• estrus - the fertile stage, usually lasting from 8 to 10 days.
• diestrus - after the fertility period but before returning to anestrus, usually lasting up to 60 days unless a pregnancy occurs.

Since time frames are so variable and Bristol was seemingly "in season", but not readily showing any of the normal breeding behaviors on the breeding dates we had anticipated, we opted to take her to the vet for vaginal cytology to help predict where she was in her cycle.

The vet took a swab of some vaginal cells and smeared them on a slide which was then stained and looked at under a microscope. The vet report determined that Bristol was definitely in proestrus, but the vaginal cells did not yet show any cornification (a sure sign of estrus), and suggested we wait a few days and then do another cytology.