Pattigators! (Puppies)

The new family

Patti and Gator's puppies, whom I will be referring to as "Pattigators", were born on Wednesday, June 8th. I arrived at Tom's house on Tuesday evening, and Patti was clearly in the early stages of pre-labor. She was restless and panting heavily all night, I felt so bad for her! Finally, around 6:30 the next morning, I was awakened by the sound of her shredding some of the blankets in her whelping box. I looked over at her belly and sure enough she was having contractions.

The first puppy was born a few minutes later, a dark brindle particolor bitch with high white markings. She delivered the pup easily, and after I cleaned her up I put her on a nipple and she latched right away. Patti mothered up instantly, like a good girl; washing her puppy and taking care of the afterbirth.

Red Girl

The second puppy came about an hour later, a dark brindle (although not as dark as the first) particolor dog with heavy markings. He was bigger than his sister before him, but still delivered very easily and took to nursing on his mom like a champ. At that point since we had two puppies, I decided it would be prudent to put colored puppy collars on them in case any subsequent puppies were dead ringers for the first two. The first born female got a red collar, and the boy got a blue collar.

Blue Boy

The third puppy took a little longer to make an appearance - about an hour and a half to two hours after the blue boy, and Patti actually had a rather difficult time passing the puppy through the birth canal. I could see the tip of the puppy's nose, but it didn't seem to be making much progress with each successive push. Finally the puppy's head got all the way out, but at that point things sort of stopped. Patti pushed and pushed with every contraction, but the puppy would not budge. I started to panic, as the puppy's little face and tongue were turning blue, so I stuck my fingers as far into her vulva as I could to try and see if I could grab the puppy. Of course, with the puppy all wet and slimy it was almost impossible to get a firm grip on anything, but I was finally able to pull out a little arm, which relieved the tension in the canal and allowed the rest of the puppy to pass through. The puppy was another beautiful particolor bitch, high wight markings, and she was definitely the biggest of the three at birth. We decided to put a yellow collar on her.

Yellow Girl

The fourth puppy took about two hours to make an appearance, and when it came there wasn't much labor involved at all. Almost as soon as I saw the tip of the puppy's muzzle the rest of him just fell out. A quick birth can be problematic in that the process of labor is what kickstarts the puppy's reflex to latch and nurse. As such, puppies born in this manner can have a hard time eating and gaining weight. I had experienced this problem once before with a Dachshund litter that a friend of mine had bred, and sure enough this little puppy did not want to latch right away. He was a beautiful light brindle particolor with heavy markings, but he looked almost half the size of his brother and sisters. Adding the fact that he wasn't eating well, I was pretty concerned, so while we waited for the next puppy to arrive I had Tom go out and buy a bottle and some puppy formula.

Green Boy

As soon as I got the little runt puppy on the bottle he ate very vigorously, so I was pleased to see that he at least had a healthy appetite. We decided to put a green collar on him, and since he brought us up to 2 boys and 2 girls even, we dubbed him "Even Steven Green."

Green Boy learning how to latch

As far as the x-ray indicated, we had at least one more puppy coming, so after the birth of the little green puppy I eagerly awaited the next set of contractions. I waited, and waited, and waited, but they never came. Patti would seem to get restless at times, like she was about to start having contractions again, but nothing ever progressed beyond that. I started to get worried, so I called the vet and asked about it. The doctor said that it can take 3 to 4 hours for the last puppy to work its way down the uterus and into the birth canal, so she told me to just wait and see.

We hit the 4 hour mark and there were still no contractions. At that point it was decided that we needed to take Patti down to the vet to investigate. So, we loaded her and the puppies up into the car and off we went down the mountain to the vet's office.

Concerned daddy, Gator, watches from the screen door

The first order of business upon arrival was to take an x-ray. The first film, taken from the top looking down at her belly showed nothing, so we flipped her over on her side and took a second image. At the very bottom, high up into her rib cage was a very faint outline of a puppy. It was so faint, that we thought it might be a mummy, or at least partially resorbed fetus. At that point, Patti had already received 3 cc's of calcium injections, and it had been over 4 hours since the birth of the previous puppy. So with those factors in mind, the vet decided it would be best to do a c-section.

Poor Patti was very distressed about being separated from her puppies, which made it difficult for them to get her sedated. We waited for what felt like forever, until one of the techs came to tell us that the last little puppy didn't survive. While we were very disappointed to say the least, we were not surprised by the outcome and were very happy to have the four healthy puppies we already got.

Once Patti was awake enough to stand up, we loaded her back into the car and headed home. It was a relief for her, and me, to not be in active labor anymore, which allowed her to relax a little bit and just enjoy her puppies. So, all in all it was an exhausting whelp, but we ended up with four beautiful new Agars!

Patti's X-Ray

The arrow points towards each puppy's head

Patti went in to the vet today for her prenatal x-ray. I always like to do x-rays before a whelping so that I have a more accurate estimate of how many puppies to expect. I've heard too many stories from friends about "surprise" puppies, so I don't want to take that gamble.

Anyway, while the ultrasound originally showed 6 to 8 fetuses, the x-ray confirmed only 5. The doctor says that a sixth one may be hidden somewhere, but she wasn't sure. In any event, five puppies is a good number as far as I'm concerned! Now all we have to do is wait patiently for their arrival next week.

Big News!

It was confirmed on May 10th via ultrasound that Patti is in whelp! Tom and I have been working on this breeding for quite some time now, so we didn't want to make any announcements about it until we were certain that there are buns in the oven. The doctor counted between 6 and 8 puppies, but truthfully any number would have been fine with us. We are over-the-moon excited about this litter and can't wait for these little Agars to make their appearance. Patti (as you will know if you've been reading this blog) is from the first litter of American-born Magyar Agars, so this litter will mark a new milestone for the breed in North America. The proud papa is none other than Mr. Al E. Gator, or just Gator. Gator was born and bred in Germany, but grew up here in the states and has been our most competitive Agar on the amateur race track and lure coursing field. He's also just about the sweetest boy you'll ever meet. Here's hoping for an uncomplicated pregnancy and an uneventful whelping!

2015 NAMAA Nationals

I apologize for the tardiness of this post. We had our third annual NAMAA Specialty back in October (Halloween weekend), and it was a blast. I'm pretty sure 2015 saw the largest gathering of MAs in North America and it was a real treat to get all the dogs together and enjoy each other's company.

Our traditional group photo. From left: Luna, Dude, Gator, Patti, Gypsy, Jussi, Gil, Rietsu, Fecni, and Yumi

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Saturday was punctuated with a special Hungarian lunch prepared by Ruthye and the Yates'. We enjoyed home made goulash with a side of spaetzle and sour cream, and a hearty bean soup with warm dinner rolls for dipping. Delicious!

We had three hounds present for whom this was their very first time in the show ring, and all three did great. Young Jussi was the only puppy, but showed like a champ.

Jussi getting the go-over

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Our Saturday show was judged by Audrey Sutton, who selected Patti as her Best of Breed Winner, and Yumi as her Best of Opposite Sex Winner.

Patti, BOB under Judge Audrey Sutton

Photo by Iola Stetson

Yumi, BOS under Judge Audrey Sutton

Photo by Iola Stetson

Saturday was also noteworthy for it's warm and sunny weather, which made for good show conditions but less than ideal running conditions. The drought had left the field quite dry and hard, and after our preliminary lure coursing runs several of the dogs came off with minor injuries. So we decided to call the trial on prelim scores and cancelled the LGRA meet for the following day.

Luna burning rubber

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Gypsy running in Singles

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Dude running a close second in Singles

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

We had four dogs running in the Open Stake, and three dogs running in Singles. The scores were close on all counts, but Gil emerged victorious as the winner of the Open Stake and Rietsu as the winner of the Singles Stake.

 

Gil winning BOB and Rietsu winning 1st in Singles

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Our Sunday show was judged by Arlene Grimes, who selected Pi as her Best of Breed Winner, and Patti as her Best of Opposite Sex Winner. Although we had cancelled the LGRA meet, we were relieved to be met with steady rainfall throughout the day, which proved to be the beginning of the end of our drought.

Pi, BOB under Judge Arlene Grimes

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Fecni, winning Best Veteran under Judge Arlene Grimes

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Since this event, California has seen record amounts of rain and snowfall all across the state. The landscape is green again, giving us much to look forward to this coming spring. Hopefully, by October of this year we will have much better field conditions for our next NAMAA Nationals.

Gator running hard

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Long-Awaited Update

I am so sorry to my readers (if there are any, lol) for not keeping this blog up to date lately. A LOT of crazy things have happened since the last time I wrote, and as a result I lost the motivation (and time) to keep up. But, things have settled down somewhat now and I'm feeling the itch to blog again.

I don't want to leave anything out, but at the same time I don't want to write several posts for each individual event, so I think it's best if I just give one big brief summary of everything that's happened since last winter.

Racing: The two big announcements are that Pi finished his GRC in March, and Rietsu earned her first GRC points by going High Score at her first ever race meet! We can't wait to see how she does as she gets older and more experienced.

Photos by Nolan Cromwell

Lure Coursing: Unfortunately we don't get around to doing much lure coursing, but we did have two trial weekends back in March and May with the RACE AOK9 program. In March, Rietsu ran for her certification and passed with flying colors, allowing her to enter the trials in May. The first day of the May trials, we had three MAs and one Saluki running in a stake. The scores were very close in the prelim runs, but I don't like doing run-offs with my dogs so I forfeited. That left the final results for the day being Rietsu in 1st, Bukra in 2nd, Pi in 3rd, and Gil in 4th. Gil was a little lame after the first day so I scratched him from Sunday's trial. Sunday we had four MAs and one Saluki in the same stake. Again, the runs were very competitive and close. Final placements for the day were Bukra in 1st, Pi in 2nd, Rietsu in 3rd, Gator in 4th, and Patti was NBQ.

 Photos by Ruthye Cole

Conformation: At the end of March, Rietsu competed in a UKC show down in Fresno. With no other sighthound competition we weren't expecting much, but she thrilled us all with an awesome Best in Show win under Judge Gary Andersen! That gives her one competition win towards her UKC Conformation Championship.

 Photo by Jairi Rai

Dock Diving: Pi has competed in a few dock diving events this year, but hasn't really done anything noteworthy, lol. Still, he enjoys it and when temperatures get really high it's one of the few dog sports we can partake in.

Well, I think that's mostly it (except for one other thing which I will make a separate post for). I promise to make a concerted effort to keep the blog up to date, especially as we head into the fall and winter months when sighthound sports really get going.

Rietsu's Coursing Debut

I'm going to jump out of chronological order, just for a minute, since I'm so behind on posts. I'm just so excited and pleased with Rietsu's first competitive coursing results that I had to share sooner rather than later.

Photo by Jairi Rai

So, the CRA (California Rarebreed Association) had its second-to-last coursing meeting of the 2014/2015 season this past Sunday (1/18). The field that we used for this hunt had recently been drained of several feet of water that had been brought in following a big rain storm earlier this season. As such, the ground was still quite damp and muddy, but we managed to walk through it, and clearly some of the hare population had moved back in.

Waiting for the fog to lift

The biggest hang-up we had was the fog. We set roll call for 7am, but the fog was so thick we weren't able to enter the field until almost noon, and even then the visibility was bad. Still, we had to get going at some point or we wouldn't have any chance of getting done.

We had a decent sized entry for the day; 5 Silken Windhounds, 4 Magyar Agars, 1 Afghan Hound, and 1 Pharaoh Hound. Gil, Pi and Patti drew the last course all together, and Rietsu drew the third course along with the Afghan and the Pharaoh.

Photo by Jairi Rai

We got the first hare up pretty quickly upon entering the field, and the three Silkens that were running it had a nice decent-length course. We got a second hare up pretty quickly after the first, but it jumped from behind us and the dogs could not get sighted on it. Nevertheless, it was very encouraging to get so many hares up so quickly given that we got such a late start.

Photo by Jairi Rai

We finally got a third hare up for the second prelim course, but the rabbit jumped right at the base of the levee and immediately went up, down, and under a fence. Not much of a course, but enough for us to move on. At that point it was Rietsu's turn, and we suddenly had a hard time finding hares.

In slips and ready to go!

We had decided to cross from one side of the field to the other when we got the fourth hare up. It was a long call and the dogs became unsighted almost immediately, but to their great luck they popped another hare and took off after it! I could not see most of the course, but Rietsu was right up where the action was and running like she had been doing it her whole life. They ran for quite a ways, but she found her way back to the gallery without a hitch, and happy as a clam!

Rietsu after her run

She was tired!

As it turns out, that's where the excitement for the day ended. We put the last course up, and walked for hours without even seeing another hare. With the weather being so foggy, the day was getting darker at a much faster pace, and in the interest of finishing the hunt I decided to scratch my three and call it a day.

It was definitely disappointing that Gil/Pi/Patti didn't get to run, but Rietsu ended up with a 4th place overall, which definitely made up for it! So far, every one of our American Magyar Agars has earned points and placements at their very first hunts. We can't wait to run again next weekend!

A Double Pi Day

Pi, Patti, and Hattie in the gallery

Photo by Herb Wells

So, back in November, during Thanksgiving weekend, I took Pi, Patti, and Hattie down south for a weekend of coursing. Saturday was a CGCA Greyhound breed hunt for Hattie, and Sunday was the CGCA mixed hunt for the two Agars.

Saturday's Greyhound hunt was very productive. We had a hard time finding the first couple of rabbits, but then we hit the jackrabbit pocket and were popping more than one at a time. It was a warm, sunny day, and we finished on finals in the early afternoon. Hattie placed 5th overall, and the Agar twins had a good time working the gallery for us.

Hattie with her 5th Place medallion

The next day, the weather got much cooler with a lot of cloud cover. Our stake was sent to a field which I personally dislike hunting in, because it tends to be unproductive whenever I go there. But, I remained hopeful, and with the weather being on the cool side I was happy.

Jairi walking Chudak the Borzoi, Bukra, and Rietsu

She was not happy about the weather, lol

There were five prelim courses; Pi drew course three, and Patti drew course five. To my great surprise, we started finding rabbits almost immediately upon entering the field, and got one up about every hour.

Pi's rabbit came up on his side, the far right, and bolted through a patch of open where he could see it very clearly. He ran with two Salukis, including Rietsu's kennel-mate Bukra. I could not see most of the course, but Pi led for as long as I could see him and put at least one turn and a few wrenches on it before he got out of sight. He came back to the gallery, tired but very happy.

Pi hanging out with Glenn, Bukra, and Hattie

We got the fourth course off shortly after, but after that our luck completely dried up. We walked for several hours without seeing another rabbit before we decided to move to another field. It was getting dark, and Patti was getting frustrated being on-line for so long.

We packed up as quickly as possible and headed to another field nearby. We got one rabbit up as soon as we arrived, but it was so hidden by the surrounding bushes that neither dog was sighted. We walked a little ways further and finally got the last rabbit we needed. Patti had no trouble getting sighted, but she took a misstep and tripped a little bit, which effectively kept her out of the course. Oh well. It was very anti-climactic, but it was all we needed to finish on prelims.

Pi and his 2nd Place ribbon

After all the scores were added up, the two top placing dogs in the hunt were Pi the Saluki (1st), and Baby Pi (2nd)! I was very surprised that Pi did so well, but it really made up for the disappointment of having Patti get such a crappy run.

Nevada Coursing

Patti, Gil, and Pi: Ready for Action

This blog entry is long overdo, and I hope my memory of it isn't too foggy.

On the weekend of November 22nd and 23rd, Tom and I packed up his pickup truck with Patti, Pi, and Gil, and drove out to northern Nevada for some open field coursing. It was our first rarebreed hunt of the season, and the first coursing outing for any of my dogs since the Grand Course back in February.

The weather was predicted to be quite chilly, and to avoid any possibility of getting stuck in the snow while going over the pass, we decided to leave Friday night. We arrived around 8:00, checked into our hotel and went to bed early in preparation for an early roll call the next morning.

 Frank, our judge, sitting atop his giant van in the beautiful Nevada desert

As predicted, it was very cold the next morning, and by the time we rolled into the valley we were to hunt in the wind had picked up quite a bit, making the chill all the more sharp. I wasn't phased by it at all; in fact I prefer to be cold rather than warm, and with all the t-shirt weather coursing we had the year before I welcomed the sub-40 degree temperatures.

 Fadiahr the Afghan

We had a good entry of 11 hounds the first day (1 Galgo, 3 Magyars, 4 Afghans, and 3 Silkens), but not enough of any one breed to split the stake. I can't remember exactly which course numbers my dogs drew, except that Pi and Patti wound up in the same course, which I was glad about. Patti is the least experienced of the three Magyars when it comes to coursing, and I hoped that by running with her brother she would have the good sense to follow him back to the gallery when the course was over, rather than wandering off on her own.

 Diego the Galgo

Overall, the rabbits were pretty scarce and very good at evading the hounds, which is typical of my experiences with Nevada coursing. The few times I've hunted there, the rabbits always seemed to have an uncanny ability to seemingly disappear into thin air just as the dogs begin to gain on it. The landscape is deceptively uneven (it looks flat when viewed from a distance, but is actually scattered with low and high spots), and with the brush being as thick as it can be in some spots, it's easy for the rabbits to duck into a hiding spot. In sum, it's a very challenging place to hunt, but the beauty of the landscape itself more than makes up for it.

 Tom soothing Patti, who got a little impatient for her turn to run

We got the first couple of rabbits up, fairly early in the day. Gil's rabbit came up at about 10 'o-clock, and took the dogs over a rise and down into a much lower area of the field, almost completely out of our sight. All three hounds were pretty well-matched on the run up, but by the time we could see them again Gil was quite a bit ahead of the others. It wasn't much of a course from a spectator point of view, but the dogs clearly had fun, and I think they got their money's worth.

Pi, taking a break from slips, but always on the look-out for rabbits

Pi and Patti's hare got up at about 3 'o-clock, right as we were coming over a small rise (he must have been sitting on the edge of the gully). Pi and Patti took off like a light, up and over the rise and out of my sight again. From what we and the judge could tell, there wasn't as much to that course as there had been with Gil's, but I was happy that Patti got sighted and had a good slip, and that she came back safely and quickly.

We struggled to find our last prelim of the day, and had to settle for a very long call that amounted to even less than a tail-chase. With that, we decided to call it a day, and hoped for better runs the next day. Final results had Gil placing 2nd, Pi 3rd, and Patti 5th.

 Kepi the Afghan

We got out of the field just as the sun was disappearing over the horizon. Too tired and cold to leave the hotel for dinner, we had a pizza delivered right to our room. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, and I did not wake up at all until my alarm went off the next morning.

 A hunter and his hound

Sunday's weather was much milder by comparison. It was still cold, but without the wind and occasionally rain showers it didn't feel nearly as bone-chilling. We decided to drive further into the field than we had the day before, hoping for more rabbits. As it turned out, we got to take in lots of new and beautiful scenery, but there wasn't a single rabbit to be had until we headed back down the valley to where we had been the day before.

 Karly the Silken Windhound

We had the same number of dogs entered, and somehow Pi and Patti managed to draw the same course again. Gil drew the last course, a brace, which we ultimately had to scratch in order to finish the day on prelims. Although I felt bad that Gil didn't get a chance to run that day, he kind of deserved it for acting like a complete fool all day long. I don't know if the lack of rabbits mixed with adrenaline caused him to go into some kind of delirium, but he would not stop barking all day long, and he would get particularly crazy at the sight of some dirt bikers and ATVers who were driving around in the distance.

 Patti says, "I WANT THE BUNNIES!"

Despite not having a lot of rabbits, Pi and Patti had probably the best run of the day, not because there was any really brilliant moves on their part, but because of how long and far the course went on. Pi isn't the best courser who ever lived, but he has a knack for staying on a hare's ass, even when it starts pulling out all kinds of evasive maneuvers. He stayed on this particular rabbit all the way past the road that we had come into the field on, and up the base of the mountains that created the walls of the valley itself. I don't know exactly how far he ran, but it was quite far. The only reason he lost it was because he couldn't run vertically and stay sighted at the same time, although he tried very hard. Patti wasn't a factor in the course from what I could see, but she stayed right behind her brother, and followed him back to the gallery pleased as punch.

 Patti returning from her run

For all that effort, Pi ended up with a 1st place (his very first 1st place!), and Patti ended up in 4th place.
Overall, I consider the weekend to have been a success. We may not have had as many rabbits as we would have liked, but the weather was to my liking, the scenery was AWESOME, and my dogs had a great time. What more could I ask for?

 We got one of each placement!

The one and only thing that dampened my day was losing my Garmin Astro in the field :-(  The hand-held unit detached from the clip holding it to my belt, which I did not notice until we got back to the cars. I have since bought a replacement hand-held unit, but man did it make me sad to drive away from that valley knowing it was sitting out there with no way for me to find it (sob).