Over the Big Blue Ocean: Barbet Cleo in America is expecting puppies!
In the Netherlands (via Walda Brands Von der Leibrucke):
“It was exciting to do. The time for the collection changed several times because of Cleo.
Then, suddenly the sperm must be in Canada by Friday!! (It was Wednesday afternoon @ 3:30pm when we found out.) Our Quaciendas Chouffe Cristaline had been chosen to father this litter for over a year, and now, the time had finally arrived!
A phone call from Paula, and from the vet. Our appointment was set for Wednesday at 8:30pm for the first collection. We had to take care that the package would get to the airport because the normal courier the vet used couldn’t make it in this time. The vet found another company and flight for the semen to get to Canada on time!
The package had to be at Schiphol Airport Friday morning before 10:00am. Thursday morning at 8:30am the appointment was set for the second collection and the vet made a nice package for the flight, filled with a lot of papers.
The collection was piece of cake. The vet had a female available who was Chouffe’s inspiration. Dr Verhaag looked just like a chef. A little bit of this and a little bit of that and he used some kind of splitter to separate the prostatic fluid from the semen. Then he counted the sperm and their mobility and he let us see on a computer screen. He put some food with the semen and put it all together in a big box with cooling elements who stays cool for 48 hours.
The package was then couriered to Schiphol Airport and arrived Thursday afternoon at 3:00pm. Ready for the flight the next morning.
Friday I saw that the package had left Schiphol and I was relieved. I couldn’t do anything about it anymore. Now it was in Paula’s hands…..”
In Canada (via Paula Ballak Biscay Water Dogs):
After a few days of progesterone testing, it was determined that Cleo was READY! (about 4 days earlier than we anticipated, so it was a little stressful) However, with the expert help of Dr John Verhaag in the Netherlands, and the friendly co-operation of fellow Barbet breeders Henk Hilbrink and Walda Brands they were able to expedite the process and ship the chilled semen to us in Canada. The semen extender “cani-rep ” developed in Sweden by Prof Catharina Linde Forsberg www.canirep.com is what was used for packaging.
(Mainly due to CKC rules and regulations, Cleo was bred and will be whelped in Canada, so that all the puppies can be CKC registered with no issues.) We picked up the package at Pearson International Airport, in Toronto, Ontario on Friday night around 6:30pm…and drove Cleo and the package to Dr. Alison Bell of Graham Animal Hospital in Hillsburgh, Ontario for the procedure.
We chose to do the Transcervical Insemination, based on many factors. (A write up is available on Dr Verhaag’s site – under Transcervical Insemination.)
It was truly a wonderful procedure to witness…and the professionalism and positive attitude of the team at Graham’s was so great! Being a nurse, of course, I was interested in all the facts, and the process. I will spare you that here…for I have been accused of too many graphic details in the past….suffice to say, Cleo was 100% cornified and her progesterone that night was 9 nanograms. She was very accepting and stood for it all like it was real….flagging tail and everything.
We tried hard to go to NL with Cleo – but it was so very difficult. Only 1 direct flight all week, very expensive, and the timing would have been wrong – with a very high fail rate due to her peak in progesterone. Thanks to Henk and Walda for agreeing to send Semen!!
This was a very good experience. I would do it again, and recommend doing it – if with a good reproduction vet on both ends….even if it had not resulted in puppies, because it was done for a reason, and with a purpose.
In the United States (via Stacy Able American Barbet/Ginkgo):
Cleo came home to Indiana a few days after the breeding (and after a dog show where she won WB and Best of Opposite in breed competition…it was a good weekend!!)
I booked her Ultrasound for April 5th as per Dr Jones’ recommendation.
Here is her tiny sonogram photo by Athens our local vet in Columbus, Indiana where you can see at least 5 puppies.
The happy ending to this wonderful story is…Cleo and Chouffe are expecting puppies!!
I will make the journey back up to Canada closer to Cleo’s due date in early May and we will whelp her in her “homeland” to ensure proper registration of these little ones.
Cleo is TeaCleoPatra Biscay’s Sapphire – a pup I got from Paula in 2009 (after Pat Hastings personally evaluated the litter, and chose Cleo as the “pick” female. She is CKC registered and AKC-FSS registered. At 4 years old, this is Cleo’s 2nd litter. Her first litter was an all natural breeding with Nelum Himalis Disque D’or “Disco” (11 pups).
Timing of breeding
The aim is to identify when the progesterone level reaches 2.5 ng/ml so the mating schedule can be set up, or the veterinarian and owner of the male dog can be notified that they should be prepared to collect and ship a semen sample. Depending upon the type of semen used, optimal times for natural or artificial insemination are:
- Natural breeding should occur 3 days after the 2.5 ng/ml mark. Sperm in fresh semen survive 5-7 days after insemination.
- Artificial insemination using fresh chilled semen should be used for a 1-time breeding. Insemination should take place 4 days after the progesterone reaches the 2.5 ng/ml mark or 48 hours after the 5 ng/ml mark. Sperm in chilled semen survive 48-72 hours after insemination. With artificial insemination, the semen should be deposited into the cervix to increase the chance of it being drawn into the uterus.
- Artificial insemination using frozen semen should be performed 5 days following the 2.5 ng/ml mark or 72 hours after the 5 ng/ml mark. Sperm in frozen semen survives less than 24 hours after insemination. Frozen semen is ideally deposited directly into the uterus through surgery to increase the chance of pregnancy.
*ng/ml = nanograms per mililitre
Special thank you to all involved as the breeding took place a month before we had anticipated. Everyone involved was so helpful to make this happen and we are beyond excited to welcome these puppies into the world soon!