Mrs. Donnelly was nearly seventy and lived alone so she didn't look forward to the work of raising two litters of up to ten pups in each. I let her go on and on with her complaints of the situation not wanting to be insensitive but hoping she would accept the it and make the best of her Mastiff and Vizla both going into heat at the same time.
Not only did Mrs. Donnelly have to arrange frozen semen to be shipped in from the states for both dogs but she needed to coordinate timing of ovulation and breeding of each dog with us using progesterone hormone testing and artificial insemination. Mrs. Donnelly's little sports car was not quite the best one for her to use but it brought me amusement to see her pull up on her daily visits with the Mastiff crammed in the back seat and the Vizla sitting proudly up front.
Mastiff's are prone to uterine inertia where the uterus will just tire out during labour and result in puppies left in the uterus requiring a caesarian section surgery to deliver them.
When the progesterone hormone levels were right and we needed to have them bred, Mrs. Donnelly arranged for semen to be shipped in from prize males in the states. As each pipette arrived we carefully infused the precious liquid in each of the female dogs. Mrs. Donnelly talked on and on about all of her woes including the trips to the vets and the associated costs. Rather than make it all a happy occasion it seemed like her world was falling apart and I decided to inject a bit of humour into the situation when she asked how much all the blood tests, artificial inseminations and the possible caesarian section might cost. I gave her a ball park figure and then said she shouldn't worry so much because we accept Vizla and Mastiff-card for payment!
