ATB: Past & Present

A bit of history for ATB:  Our own journal of 200 handwritten pages
brought up to date, and a 1962 journal of one year in the life of my
parents Boston Terrier breeding program.

Throughout my life I have been surrounded by animals, animals that I have loved deeply and profoundly.  Not much has changed in my adult years.  When John and I were first married we tried homesteading for a few years at our home in Eliot. We raised pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, cows, geese, ducks and also owned a couple of small ponies.  When an animal was due to give birth a call was made to the elementary school requesting early dismisal for our son and daughter so they could come home and witness the miracle of life.  As surely as there may be days of anxiously waiting the arrival of a litter of Brittany pups, so too did I spend early springtime nights in between our house and our small barn as lambing drew closer.  All of our animals had names and most of those animals were raised knowing full well they were NOT to be considered pets.  One year I received a pair of beautiful purebred milking goats as my Mother's Day gift from John.  Let me just say I was thrilled! In time (after kidding occurred of course) I learned to make goat cheese and butter and daily milked my goats.  Fresh eggs, whether from geese, ducks, or chickens were always available. We had the broodiest turkey hen who accomodated the needs of all her feathered friends, you never knew where you would find her sitting. John and I frequently UNH with another couple to further our education regarding turkey reproduction.  Sorry, no detail there is suitable for public consumption LOL!  But we were successful.  And so on and so forth.  Another memorable gift from my husband was a beautiful wooden pony carriage.  I have great memories of driving through our small town of Eliot with my father in law and my mother in the carriage with "Danny Boy" hitched up.  I also have embarassing moments to remember when he once ran away with the wagon, directly into the bank parking lot, and jammed the front wheel of the wagon under a parked vehicle there.  Small town humor, they still talk about it. Just like they talk about Maryann being hooked up to our Brittany "Hunter"who pulled her down the main street on rollerblades. This after succesfully teaching him to heel nicely. To further enhance your understanding of our mindset, it's also important to include the story of how, when I was 7 months pregnant with our son John, we transported a baby calf in the cab of our pickup truck.  And yes, I do have the pictures to support most if not all of these tales - they are not the subject of my imagination.  Oh yeah, one more which I've written about before.  A group of friends bought several pigs together, and John and I were to raise them with everyone splitting food/grain costs and helping out.  It made sense, there were 11 acres where we lived.  I loved summer mornings (yes I did once love mornings) getting up before the kids and doing our homesteading chores.  One morning however I was surprised to find the pigs were not in their 'pasture'... and before too long I heard the sound of car horns blowing.  I ran up the hill just in time to see our herd of pigs walking down the middle of the road.  I ran back down the hill to get a bucket of grain to entice the little piggies to come follow me.   And the police were there only to happy to help me do just that.  Color me RED, dying of embarassment. The pig project eventually came to an end... and so on and so forth. 

This Saturday morning I was enjoying a cup of coffee on the couch and chatting with John.  As usual, several of our canine crew were resting nearby, catching some of the suns rays.  Molly was draped across my lap, very content and happy to be there.  Just about 4 and a half weeks ago she was bred to Scooby. Experience has taught me to remain cautious about announcing a pregnancy and that each one is different. As a side note, Molly is a finicky eater at times, and other times she is a chow hound.  She either nibbles at her food delicately, even picking petite morsels out and dropping them on the floor to eat that way, or - nearly inhaling as if she were starving.  Lately she has been more finicky than usual.  The last thing I want to do is cater to her finickiness though because of the importance of a dog in whelp eating a well balanced nutritious meal.  We always introduce a dog food specifically formulated for puppies as the 5th week approaches. Anyway, other than initial morning sickness I don't like to base a confirmation of pregnancy upon eating habits alone.  I also don't like to excessively palpate for puppies.  I am reminded of a vet palpating one of our girls a few years ago, and confirming her pregnancy, saying he felt at least 6 when in reality it was not a viable pregnancy.  We will only go the route of x-rays or ultra sound in certain situations, certainly not routinely. So... for the time being - it still is not possible to confirm whether or not Molly is pregnant.  But if she is - we can look for puppies @April 22.  I would be confident enough to share that her rib cage is definitely widening, at that is what I look for at the 5 weeks point.  So remember - we look for vomit (morning sickness) at @ 3 weeks - and John said she did that last weekend when I was away.  At @ 5 weeks, it is the widening in the rib cage, not significant but enough to notice the different.  At @6 weeks we can tell a little more by what is going on with nipples i.e. deepening of color and hair loss.  Any Brittany girls will undergo changes to her nipples during estrus and/or proestrus so I don't read anything into that until later on.  Sometimes it is just very difficult to pinpoint!

It is still very early to even look for signs of pregnancy in Pippin who was recently bred for the first time, to Chevy.  I will remain even more cautious with monitoring her and sharing those results.  But I am so happy to have her home again. 

Speaking of home again - Piper returns next weekend!  We had another great report about how well she's doing in South Carolina, I'm thrilled. We also keep getting wonderful updates about 'the Nova litter' and it does look as if 4 of those pups will be attending NAVHDA training clinics and working towards their tests for Natural Ability.  Jersie, of Molly/Jack '10 will test for her NA this spring as well, and Brandi, of Treasure/Gibson '09 will be going on to her next test for UT!  John and I have a keen interest in NAVHDA due to their philosophy regarding the versatile hunting dog.  Even so, we're hopeful that a few more Brittanys we have bred will finish their remaining legs for a Junior Hunter title - and last but not least, John is thinking about testing Jack at the Senior level.  Sam and John have gotten together this week and have plans to continue to do so for the purpose of readying them all including Miss Paris for the upcoming tests in the New England area.  And me?  I am chomping at the bits to get True back into the ring - that handsome boy has matured into more than we could have ever hoped for. 

As always thank you for your interest in All Things Brittany. Stay tuned, take care and God Bless you always, John, Ann & our entire canine crew, those both near and far.