It's that time again

I knew that when I decided to breed dogs that the female comes into heat about twice a year. And I knew that when you let a male dog near a female dog when she is in heat, it can get a little rowdy. And loud. And rambuctious. And messy. And did I mention rowdy?

And, while I knew back then, that if you don't want to let your male and female dog join together to bring a litter of puppies into this world, you have to keep them apart. And what I've learned is that this is not an easy thing.

In fact, it's downright torturous. It takes incredible creativity and ingenuity and diligence. Seriously, it does!

And now...well, that time is upon us once again.

And because it is really important to let the female "rest" between litters in order for her to bring forth into this world a good, strong, healthy litter, (in my opinion anyway, others will disagree) I have decided to rest the girl dog. Much to her chagrin. And mine. Oh, and boy dog too. He's ready, willing and able. And about to be incredibly pissed off and frustrated!

As will she.

I won't deny that I gave some serious consideration to letting her mate back to back.

I did.

But the thought of having a back to back breeding and what it would do to her was giving me a fair bit of grief. Oh, and not to mention the fact that having anywhere from 4 - 9 puppies living in my house for the two coldest months of the year and not being able to let them outside so they could learn and explore and crap and pee out there, rather than inside my house, well, I'm just not up to that! But then I thought about the possibilty of a a winter vacation if I did let her have another litter, you know, a nice escape to warmer climates, maybe around my birthday.

Then, I thought about the crap and pee inside my house.

Sorry, a winter reprieve in Cuba or Mexico just ain't worth all that crap (pardon the pun)!

So, the dance begins once again.

As for the little girl Nikki? she'll probably just cock her head to one side and think "WTF????" And then, she'll be ready. You know, for the mating thing. It'll probably be three to four months of complete and total hell..

I think I might want to be moving out.