Bella's Been Bred!

The long-awaited event occurred today somewhere around 1PM at Veterinary Village in Lomira, assisted by Dr. Marty Greer, the woman who literally wrote the book, Canine Reproduction and Neonatology.  A long-ish ride to get the deed done.

Our breeding program over the last 30 years has been limited to acquiring a pup [somewhat] on a schedule to continue competing in field trials, my husband's passion.  We've always kept an eye toward improving our breed, and we've successfully bred some strong competitors.

Bella has a fine pedigree and we added her to our household from a breeder in the Carolinas about six years ago. Her first breeding to our Rowdy dog resulted in a couple of pretty spectacular pups, winning and placing in futurity competitions at a regional level. My husband Sam is on the left, with Ryder (Samhill's One Wild Ride) and daughter Kim on the right with Rylie (KJ's All Riled Up).  

Here are a couple more photos of the wins last season, including the Dual Dog presentation at the Brittany Central Futurity:

Unfortunately our old guy passed away last fall, eliminating the possibility of a repeat breeding.

So... through Sam's field trial connections, we went searching for a Bella-worthy candidate to sire her next (and most likely her last) litter.  Who better than  FC/AFC Rimarda's Trademark?  I've joked about breeding Bella to a dog that's been dead for thirty years, but I'm obviously at least a decade off the mark on that.  Both Trademark and his owners, Jim and Janet Chase, are deceased, but thanks to inheritors Ed and Donna Janulis, our Bella was deemed "Trademark-worthy" and were able to acquire some of the good stuff.  That good stuff was part of original breeding program.  Our dog Jack was Trademark's grandson, our Rowdy his great-great grandson, and our Ryder his great-great-grandson.  Here's his cover photo and his Hall of Fame portrait:

Bella's next litter is expected on June 17th.  And by the way... she finished her field championship just a day before she went into heat. Here's her glam shot - on top of our dining room table, since it was too windy outside to get a decent photo.  Pretty girl.