News
28th of March 2008: After a trip with the brand new Superspeed, slightly more than three hours of Danish highways and full speed on Autobahn (you’d think the Chevy was built for cruising in 150 kph!) we first had a very nice visit with Isolde in Ottersberg, close to Bremen, to look at a bunch of what we’re hoping to have ourselves – puppies! Then we drove on to Fürstenhagen in Uslar, close to Göttingen, where Dieter met us. We arrived rather late, so not much happened. But we decided to let the (hopefully) lucky couple meet for the first time in this arranged “matiage” tomorrow. On the way down here an animal ran across the road. And not a deer, or anything common like that. I was starting to wonder if I had been driving for too long, because I got this crazy Obelix feeling! But Dieter told me that there’s a lot of wild pigs in the area, so I guess my eyes didn’t fool me. Neat!
29th of March 2008: Today’s attempt was halfhearted, at best. Hobbit snarled Ivo away after a few seconds, so there’s no doubt that she isn’t yet ready. And that should be very much in tune with my calculations, since she started dripping Thursday a week ago. She shouldn’t be ready until after the weekend. I saw several large birds of prey in the area, and after consulting my ornithological brother Geir we decided that they were called “glente” in Norway. There’s a lot of ravens here as well.
30th of March 2008: We have made another attempt with the beasts. It went a lot better! The did a lot of the work without help, and Hobbit held him in a few minutes afterwards. Then the slipped apart, and Ivo stumbled away with three hind legs… So now I have Hobbit on the floor in the Gasthaus room, having a well deserved smoke! According to Dieter she wasn’t 100 % ready, but she was ready enough to accept it. In other words it went well today and it should be even better tomorrow. And probably Tuesday. We’ll see. I’ll stay here as long as Hobbit and Ivo shows serious interest.
31th of March 2008: This morning I went to Göttingen to visit the vet. I need to give her a deworming and have her passport stamped to get her back into Norway. Dieter recommended a great veterinary hospital with the town’s university. It had nice rooms, doctors in white and nurses in green. Animal Planet-style! Today they had two matings. We’ll make another attempt again tomorrow. They work well together, and Hobbit behaves like she’s been doing this before. But Ivo again slipped out to soon, after only 2-3 minutes. Dieter prefers at least 5 minutes, maybe 10. We’ll see what they do tomorrow.
1st of April 2008: Half an hour ago I got back from today’s attempt, and there he blew! First a quick mating where he got out again after a minute, and then the real deal. They where stuck together in 27 minutes!!! Here’s the picture proof. As you can see Hobbit and Ivo are nature lovers…
The man behind them is Dieter. And then a picture of me and Ivo (Ivo’s the guy with no beard).
Hobbit stands still without crying or any attempts at breaking free. If she’s not sterile, there should be enough in her now for a real litter! We’ll try again tomorrow. When we have observed them then, I’ll let Dieter decide if I can go home Thursday, or if I should wait.
2nd of April 2008: Today they were stuck together for 25 minutes, and it only took around five minutes from we arrived and to they connected! If we don’t get a litter from the “tadpoles” yesterday and today, we’re not meant to have one! This of course means that tomorrow we’ll have to make another attempt and see what happens. Today she cried a few times, and this may very well be the last day she’s willing to mate. That would be correct according to the calendar, since day 12 and 13 have been the best. She ate a bit less today, and she’s been very tired all day, but that’s not uncommon in a heat. This morning I discovered that she had soiled her car padding a bit with blood and other stuff after yesterday’s mating, which should also be common. I got a bit of a panic yesterday since she managed to pee when she got back to the motel. But according to the experts that shouldn’t matter since the sperm does their work the first hour, and this happened around an hour after the release.
3rd of April 2008: And that was the end. Like the first day there were a few halfhearted attempts, but Hobbit would not lock him, so he slipped right out. As we suspected, the two previous days were the best. But I’d rather stay an extra day than taking a chance and maybe leave before the job was fully done. Hobbit and Ivo only wanted to run around and play. Turned out to be a bit more running than I expected for me as well, because suddeny they disappeared in the forest! It felt like I ran around and called for an hour, but it was probably 10-15 minutes from they disappeared and until they were found. Grrr… Then I went back to the Gasthaus to pack everything except for the necessary in the car, so I can start driving early tomorrow.
5th of April 2008: Hobbit and I got back 2 A.M. last night after our “hot week” in Germany. 19 hours of traveling, with several stops. Amongst them a short, but very nice visit with Birte and Olav from the Hugedogge kennel in Denmark. So now we’ll have to cross fingers, toes and everything else we can cross and hope for the best!
15th of April 2008: It has been two weeks since the first, real mating. Hobbit seems more tired and relaxed than we're used to. But if that can be interpreted to mean anything... Who knows? With our vet we have decided to do an ultrasound in two weeks.
30th of April 2008: Four weeks have passed. We have done an ultrasound, and there is something in there. We didn't see many pups, so it's not a large litter. My guess is three, and I'm hoping for four. Anything more would be a welcome bonus. The lady has put on two kilos since the last check before the mating, from 75 to 77 kilos. And the belly is visibly rounder. So we're crossing everything we have and hoping for the best!
15. mai 2008: Six weeks, and we have the welping box up. The ad is in the Norwegian Kennel Club's magazine Hundesport. And we're battling a pregnant dog who's not eating as much as we wanted to, but hot dogs help! Or rather cold barbeque dogs. Luckily we have a brand here called First Price that costs only 20 kroner per kilo, around four dollars, so we won't go bankrupt. She hasn't put on as much weight as I had expected, but we'll see in the next weeks. Her teets are starting to hanga bit more, which should be a good sign. There's three weeks left until she's due. Here are some pictures from the welping box. The bottom right one was taken today and shows a bit of belly, the two others are one week old.
25. mai 2008: The lady has grown bigger, but not as big as we had hoped and thought by now. S-L thinks she's just about the same size Kira was at this stage, and she had three pups in her. We'll just have to wait ten more days and see. Here's a curled up Hobbit in one of her favourite places. And something that most of all looks like the result of a bad accident on the gravel road to our house, but as all mastiff owners know, they like to sleep like that!
