Third Time's the Charm

I think I mentioned in a previous post that Nala had gone into heat, and that I intended to breed her.  Well, that ended up being nowhere near as simple as I expected, LOL!

So a female dog's heat usually lasts about three weeks, but generally they are only receptive to male attention somewhere between 9-14 days into the cycle.  I faithfully counted days and scheduled Nala's first visit to her beau, Hunter, on her 10th day.  Well, HE thought she was ready, and did his absolute best to do his job... but she rejected him completely, lol.  Hunter's owner and I figured she needed another day or two, so I brought her back Saturday. 

On Saturday, she seemed marginally more interested, but Hunter's level of interest had dropped to almost zero.

I brought her home, quite disappointed that there were going to be no Butterscotch Farm Collie puppies this spring... and as soon as I got home, Nala started flirting like crazy with Thane.

I wasn't sure what to make of that, but figured she was winding down, so I just let the two of them flirt for the next few days... Thane was definitely interested, but quite half-hearted in his attempts to do anything about it.

But then yesterday, Thane's level of interest suddenly skyrocketed, and he came pretty close to becoming a daddy, LOL!  It was Nala's 16th day, so a bit outside the norm... but that just goes to show that animals don't always do things the way the books say!

I decided to see if we could visit Hunter one more time, just in case.  Hunter's owner was willing to let us come, and my work was gracious enough to let me off early.  So we drove the hour and a half to New Gloucester, Maine... and this time we had success!!  

As long as the breeding was successful, puppies should be arriving in early April.   💕💞💕 See the tabs at the top of the blog for more information on Nala and Hunter.

Lol, the real heroes in this story are behind the scenes, though - my family is watching Thane for a couple days... and apparently he is feeling quite sad and lovelorn and howled all...night...long...  😬