Diary:
It all began with a desire by me (confirmed by good friend Karen Niffenegger) to breed to Snuffy and bring his incredible breeding back into my breeding program. Snuffy is a Grandson to DC Erick Von Enzstrand - a dog who was not only beautiful in conformation but in temperament and hunt as well. Trevor who I co-own with Karen is line bred to Erick on both his top and bottom sides however it is back there a ways but be as it may - Erick really influences Trevor's get. Click on Erick's name to see a picture of this great old dog.
My first thought was to breed Snuffy to Porsche. She is my top bitch although not yet finished. My desire to breed to Snuffy was so strong that I considered breeding him to Porsche before she was finished. Snuffy is quite old (14 to be exact) and although there is frozen semen on him I wanted to do this breeding while he was still living and soon so I could get a puppy to breed back to Trevor (who's not a spring chicken either -- Trevor is nearly 11).
Well not long after deciding to breed to Snuffy I got a call from Phyllis Anderson who owns Annie. Annie was in season. I started to sweat bullets because I really did not want the responsibility of Annie's litter and breeding Porsche as well and Phyllis really wanted Annie bred so she could be spayed (we both wanted one last breeding out of this very lovely dog). It was my intention to breed Annie to Trevor which would have been a repeat breeding. Her first litter produced 10 very nice puppies. However I got to thinking Annie is line bred Hustler on her bottom side and Snuffy is a Hustler Grandson...humm linebred Hustler with Erick to boot? After a quick frantic phone call to Karen (in which she laughed at me because it was so obvious of a choice to breed Snuffy to Annie) the decision was made to breed Annie to Snuffy.
So I called Steve Ries of Top Gun Kennels. Steve was the person who informed me of Snuffy. Steve has semen frozen from Snuffy but he got me in contact with Cindy Stahle who owns Snuffy. Cindy got me in contact with Lee Jones of International Canine Semen Bank - Mobile Delaware. Lee was great, he walked me through (via the telephone -- Thank God for MCI calling cards!) what I needed to prepare Annie for the procedure and how to talk my vet into doing the surgery. Three progesterone tests later Dr. Dick Temple started the insemination process - a procedure in which he just learned how to do (although not complicated {doc T's words not mine!} - just tricky to make sure all the ducks are in a row and in place at the right time) that morning via telephone with Lee.
Can old Docs learn new tricks? You bet they can!
|
March 6th, 2003 Dr. Temple with a sedated Annie with super assistant (she was so super he married her) Karen. |
|
 |
 This hunk of burring love is Snuffy. |
|
Dr. Temple opening Annie up just as if he was to spay her. Here he is exposing the Uterus Horns. Click to see. |
 |
 |
Here Karen is preparing Snuffy's semen. Lucky for us all, right when Karen needed a third hand local farmer and vet Bill Jepson shows up to lend a hand. |
|
Bill and Karen preparing Snuffy's semen. Surprisingly enough it looks a lot like gold tapioca pudding. (If that doesn't make you loose your appetite nothing will!) |
 |
 |
Now Karen inseminates both Horns with Snuffy's semen into a catheter that Dr. Temple already inserted. |
Now we sit and wait. On the 28th day (April 3rd) I'll check for grape size lumps on Annie just below her pelvis.
Update! March 11th 11Phyillis and Glen Anderson (Annie's Mommy and Daddy) called and stated that Annie was licking her stitches excessively. I went up and checked her and sure enough she had signs of infection. The Anderson's took Annie back to Dr. Temple's and she was started on Antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication. It seems that Annie is allergic to the cat gut used to stitch her up. (It's confirmed Annie is allergic to cats!)
Annie has been going in daily for antibiotics and injections and is 100% improved as of yesterday. (March 13, 2003).
UPDATE March 30th, 2003
I went to visit Annie today at the Anderson's home and Glenn
and I were able to fill several puppies 
!
UPDATE! April 24th. I took Annie into be x-rayed. There were 4 visible puppies with a hint of at least two more!
Update! May 5th. Annie
had her puppies. She had 2 very large girls and one darling boy. View
Their photo album. 
