Welsh Corgi News - Milou's American Adventure Part III

Milou's Adventures in the U.S. - Part III
By Pat Seifert, Caamora Corgis, California

Milou's U.S. adventure continued. In fact she became a star of her own melodrama: Life After Sheep - Secrets of the Whelping Box. After her impressive performances in several American Kennel Club herding trials, Milou returned to me in Tehachapi for a very important and, unfortunately, eventful breeding. I say unfortunate because while Milou loves center stage and high drama, I do not. Here in the U.S. we would call Milou a "Drama Queen". Implied in that term is a sense of entitlement and a tendency to over react.

US CH Tallyrand No Greater Love ROMX

For this breeding I chose a very special stud dog, CH Tallyrand No Greater Love ROMX. Because 'Gabe' died in 2010, this was a frozen semen breeding. Milou's normal regularly-as-clockwork 4 month heat cycle was delayed which threw the breeding into the U.S. holiday season. Before shipping the frozen semen to a reproduction veterinarian I made sure someone would be available in a worst case scenario to do the breeding should it fall on Christmas or Christmas Eve. Most of the reproductive specialists would not commit to Christmas day thus when I found a vet who would commit regardless of the holiday, I didn't care that the drive was 3 hours each way.

Milou - French/Belgium/Intern. CH Shamquin Emei Shan

Milou stretched out her delay even further once she came in season. We did multiple progesterone tests, waiting for the "rise" to take place. Christmas came and went. Finally the rise started! After 3.0 she needed daily progesterone levels. On the Monday before New Year's it was 7.5. I consulted with the veterinarian to confirm they would be able to do the breeding on New Year's day if necessary. While the vet had agreed to Christmas, New Year's Day was a 'no go' because she would be at a dog show. I had a total melt down! We had skipped Milou's previous 3 seasons for various reasons (including our Pembroke Welsh Corgi National Specialty), but this breeding needed to happen. She needed to get back to Bea Quinio, her breeder and co-owner, in France. Milou was getting older. I had just spent a lot of money on progesterone testing up to this point and after much pleading and shedding of a few tears, the vet relented and agreed to do the insemination should it fall on New Year's Day! What day was Milou ready? Of course, New Year's Day!

Of the three remaining breeding units of Gabe's semen available, we had exactly one for Milou's surgical insemination. If the breeding was not successful there are no repeats given to Milou, no refund of the stud fee, no way to recoup the substantial expense of this breeding.

With frozen semen there are two options available ... surgical insemination or transcervical insemination. The advances made in transcervical procedure have made it very successful and preferred by many. In my case, the one breeding unit with no repeated breedings required surgical insemination. Semen is placed directly in each of the uterine horns at the precise time after ovulation. Be it a holiday, dog show, winter storms or long distant driving, when Milou was ready she had to be bred.

After the surgical insemination (uneventful except for the long hours driving) we entered the "waiting" phase to see if all our efforts had been successful. For the first four weeks Milou continued to be her "happy, happy, happy" self. From that point on her demeanor changed, tail drooped, every step seemed a chore, she lost interest in food (a definitive indication of pregnancy in a typical corgi) and I breathed a sigh of relief: my girl was pregnant.

Be warned: there was more drama in store at the end of Milou's pregnancy!

I live in a small high mountain community at the boundary between Central and Southern California. The more populated Los Angeles area is a 2 to 3 hour drive for us. We have exactly one small animal veterinary clinic in Tehachapi and the hours are limited. There is no emergency veterinary service and the closest is an hour away. Most Emergency clinics don't consider "stuck puppies" as a true emergency. I say this because I had to wait 7 hours for a C-section to assist with a stuck puppy recently. And yes the x-ray confirmed the status of the puppy and that didn't seem to move my dog up the list for attention.

Based on the frequent progesterone levels prior to breeding we knew when Milou had ovulated and you guessed it: she was due on the weekend. The importance of every puppy in this litter rested heavily upon me. I had to come up with a plan for an elective caesarian section (c/s) to maximize puppy survival rates.

While it would have made sense to have the c/s where the surgical insemination had taken place, the Reproductive Specialist was not available that weekend. The other option -- another reproductive center in the Los Angeles area - had a change in ownership and reputation. Through other corgi breeders I learned of a veterinary practice about 2 ½ hours from our house that routinely performs many c/s a day. The issue with this veterinary practice is it closed at 5 pm on Saturday and would re-open on Monday. Milou is unpredictable but this I knew: she would not make it until Monday. What gave me concern with my training in neonatal intensive care nursing were the puppies: Was Saturday vs Sunday too soon to schedule a C-section?

The week before Milou was due to whelp I followed her temperature closely, every 12 hours. A significant drop of the temperature below baseline is seen and associated with the dropping of progesterone levels in preparation for delivery. Fortunately we knew when Milou's puppies SHOULD be ready to whelp. It was a great relief on Saturday at 4 a.m. when Milou's temperature dropped and I knew the puppies were lining up and fully developed.

I loaded Milou along with a huge array of supplies into the car. I was driving by myself. I not only had everything necessary to deliver the puppies but I had everything on hand to care for them on the long drive home. It was a great relief when I finally arrived at my destination. The expert team went to work and I was told it was 2 girls and six boys: we had 8 healthy, vigorous puppies within a short time. Once Milou was stabilized we were back on the road. By the time we were home she was awake and eager to take over the care of her puppies. Milou's little gift to me? Milou was a great mom -- patient, attentive and very healthy herself. A welcome surprise came when I discovered the vet had miscounted and there were 3 girls, 5 boys!

Boy 1	Boy 2
Boy 3	Boy 4
Boy 5	Girl 1
Girl 2	Girl 3
Puppy Photos by Cindy Traylor

As I have mentioned before, Milou is definitely a "drama queen" and really likes attention. Nothing seems "easy" with her but she usually comes through in the end. She produced a lovely litter of 8 puppies with a nice mixture of red/white, red headed and black headed tris.

Introduction to Ducks

At 10 weeks of age we held a puppy party to introduce Milou's charming children to some of the prospective owners. A Puppy Aptitude Test (P.A.T.) was administered to assist in selecting the right puppy for the right home. Later that afternoon the puppies had an "Introduction to Ducks" to see how they might respond to 'livestock' -- some puppies were going to herding homes. Some of the puppies appear to be bound for the stage like momma. If they are, I hope they share Milou's other talents and attributes: good structure, confident temperament and solid health clearances.

To be honest, this litter aged me ...the roller coaster ride of emotions associated with the breeding and whelping and the long hours of puppy chores (feeding, cleaning, training) wore me out. I am, however, very, very grateful that my French starlet brought down the curtain for a happy ending!

Milous' Adventure Part I
Milous' Adventure Part II

www.welshcorgi-news.ch

09.07.2015