We have a tie! (Or two)

When we decided to breed, we knew it would be a lot of work.  Training, showing, health testing. Researching, planning, building.  Advertising, whelping, cleaning.

The easy part was going to be the actual breeding.  We get a dog (Dourado), bring him to Zuzu, and they do their thing.

Well, some things are not so easy.

A month later, lots of coercing, some head holding, some "Good Boy's!" and a lot patience, and we FINALLY had a tie.

The first tie was inside, which is not recommended!  It was really hot outside, so we thought it would be a good idea.  MESSY doesn't begin to cover it.  

The second night was outside.  Much better!

If Zuzu is pregnant, the due date will be sometime the first full week in November.  Next on our list - a whelping box!

New Website!

It's up and running and will have information about potential future litters!

Visit us at

https://sites.google.com/site/necasperaestrela/home

Later I'll start to work on puppy questionnaires and contracts and I'll add those to the site as well.  :)

Updates

It's been a while!

There is no way to tell everything without boring you completely, so I am just going to throw up a couple pictures and a couple bullets.

• Zuzu is a Champion!
• We finally did it.  Through many shows, she got her wins.  Mostly agains Zee, but she also beat a Champion Bernese Mountain Dog in group.  Congrats to CH Ditto by Trailsend!!
• We went to Kalamazoo!
• Our first Parade of Portugal and UKC Premier.  It was so much fun!  Both Zu and Zee competed.  We didn't win anything, but they behaved in the ring and had a great time.  
• I spent lots of money shopping and they both got ice cream.  And I got ice cream.  We forgot to buy Jim ice cream and he was not happy.
• Zuzu had her OFA x-rays and passed!
• That means that we can breed her.  
• In August we'll have Dourado come to visit and, God-willing, we'll have puppies in our home sometime this fall.
• Zee visited NC again to see McCoy!
• We're not sure if this time was successful though.  Rumor has it a turkey-baster was involved, but we won't go into details for fear of humiliating Dogzilla.
• We made another trip to Florida
• The dogs still love the ocean
• Zuzu fell in the pool.  Mom, yes my MOM, screamed like a little girl and LIFTED my 92 lb dog straight out of the deep end!!!!
• We came up with a Kennel name
• Nec Aspera Estrela
• It means "No Fear".  It kind of goes hand-in-hand with the "Guardian" aspect of the breed, plus it speaks to us going ahead with the very scary adventure of breeding.
• We are building our Kennel website.  Stay Tuned!

And now, for pictures:

McCoy, with Zee's babies from last winter

Our "camp" at Premier, in Kalamazoo

Zee, Zuzu, and Pash at Premier

Zuzu's Hips

Zuzu's elbow

Current Listing of Top Ten dogs on the UKC web page!

Another trip to Florida

Rainy Day Wrestling

The Patheticness of Males

Here we go again. I may have said this before, but if the males of the human race behaved liked dogs do, our race would not have continued. Done. Finished before it began. No woman would ever put up with the whining and crying and overall sissiness, let alone be attracted to it.

Zee is pathetic.

Zuzu is not impressed.

This is the first time that Jim has been around to see it too. It's bothering him a lot more than it's bothering me. Haha! I've seen it all before. She'll be out of standing heat in a few days. Zee will only cry for a few days. Whatever. It will end. But Jim hasn't been through it, so he's all, "Zee! Quiet!" "Zee! Knock it off!" "Zee, man UP!" "ZEE!!!!"

It won't help; trust me.

Some things that help a little though are keeping them separated so that he can't see her, scented candles, bleach, original pine sol (and WOW do I hate that smell), and letting him stay near me.

That last point is important. If she's near me and he's not, a full blown panic attack can occur!

With that in mind, we'll just hang on for a day or two more.

Now, WHY did I schedule my telephonic job interview for this morning? I hope my interviewer is a dog lover!

SNOW!!!

In this "tale of two dogs", you must read the captions with Zee having Mufasa's voice and Zuzu having Simba's.

I am KING of the Snow!

I will stand here and guard the snowflakes all day.

Hey - TOY!

Bored now.

I rule the snow.  I protect the snow.

Dad!  Dad!  Play with me!  You're IT!!

You can't catch me!

Zuzu:  Oh Crap!  Sorry Dad - you CAN catch me!
Zee:  Leave me alone, Zuzu.  How can I be "King-of-All-that-I-See", if I have to play?

Play more!  Play More!!

Baby-Daddy

Lucky man, Zee, got to spend Thanksgiving down in NC with his girlfriend.  It was a super-fun slumber party!

This is McCoy, Zee's girlfriend.  The top picture is her at a dog show this year.  The second picture is what she looked like several weeks after the 'party'.

And on Sunday, January 20th, McCoy gave birth to four puppies!  Zee is now the proud papa of three girls and one boy, and Zuzu has some half-siblings.