I'm a bit upset...
Submitted by BellaStellaBulldog on October 23, 2010 - 1:59amI know it wasn't said to hurt my feelings and I know that the poster who said it must not have had a chance to read all of my posts... But I would like to clear something up...
I DID DO PROGESTERONE TESTING. I did progesterone testing and swabs every other day for over a week. We just didn't do post AI testing because I was told by both my mentor and vet that it wasn't necessary. That the rise was there so ovulation was determined based on that. My mentor bred for many years and her mentor is in the BCA Hall of Fame for breeding champion Bulldogs. I was not under poor mentoring. I researched breeding before doing it... I over researched it, probably so much that I caused myself more worry than I should have.
I did not go into my "adventure" without guidance and knowledge. Maybe not first hand knowledge but I really resent the idea that I was going in ignorant and blind. I wa days no.Everyone starts somewhere and to be honest, I think I started out better than most. The only reason we were guessing dates is because my mentor had counted 62 days and was counting wrong or something because I counted several times and her 62 were 60 for me... Also, my vet would NOT do the c-section unless my bitch was in full blown active labor. I went in on the day she was "due" and they sent me home. I went in the next day... sent home again. Guess what... 2 am a day and a half later I had to go in for an emergency c-section. - This wasn't due to poor dating, matter of fact, it was right on the money by my count, but none the less, the vet wanted full active labor. Maybe an experienced breeder would have pushed the vet and I'll tell you my mentor wasn't happy with me for not insisting on doing it on her "due date" but my vet said if her cervix wasn't open then she'd get pyometra and eithe need spayed or die.. That's scary as hell to hear so I was not going to push. This vet delivers over 100 litters a year, I trusted his judgement. They have an on call 24/7 service and I guess it's for that very reason... for 2 am c-sections I guess.
I'm pretty upset that anyone here considered me uneducated on the subject, unprepared or irresponsible. Between all of the money I spent for stud fee, vet visits, c-section, puppy supplies, incubator and take/send home supplies... not to mention cleaning supplies, plus keeping one.. I'm going to be lucky if I break even. I did not do this to make money. I did this to get a show dog. I did it right, I did it responsibly. I've started taking part in my local Bulldog club and I own more Bulldog books than my local library. Just because I am not a professional breeder does not mean I am irresponsible or ignorant. I would have never gone into this blindly and risked my dogs life. It was a risk enough knowing what I did/do. She's more important to me then any of this.
P.S.
I'd also like to mention that the stud was one of the top dogs in the country, I seriously doubt his owner would have let me use him if she didn't think I was improving the breed by doing so.- Again, I did no go about this irresponsibly or blindly. Yes, I had a lot of questions. I asked a ton before going into this, I researched for a long time too. For the first 2 months prior to doing it I asked my mentor a million questions and drove the poor lady nuts. I
crud
somehow I published my post mid-post...
Anyway... I did my research and asked questions before hand but I am one of those that never quits asking questions and I always want second and third opinions. Everyone does things differently. And even after getting opinions sometimes I still go my own way. Please don't think that because I came here and asked a bunch of questions that I wasn't educated on the subject already.
Gosh, I really don't know if this is the right place for me. I came here to ask about raw and then figured it was a good place to get those second and third opinions... and to give my mentor a break from having to answer all of my questions. But now I see that asking them made me look stupid and irresponsible and because the delivery didn't go smooth as silk it's somehow thought that it's my fault because I didn't do progesterone testing (which I did) andwasn't educated enough (which, I was quite well read up and mentored)...
Are you refering to my post below?
If so, I was not refering to anyone in particular. You have to understand that I have been posting on this board for over 7 years and have seen many, many poor choices made by people when deciding to breed bulldogs. I have not read all your posts or hardly any posts on this board lately.
I simply decided to express my opinion on the subject of breeding. My opinion is that most people shouldn't be breeders.
no, not you.
Not it wasn't about your post. further down.
Don't feed into it
It's better off just letting it be, your good now and who cares what some other forum member thinks. At the end of the day you know the situation and what happened etc. It was your first litter, it's understandable at times to be nervous towards the end and have things be a bit haywire. Now on in the future, you know better and can do things differently etc.
No
your posts were deleted before I read most of them. And I would think with all our private messages that you know I was only concerned about your bitch because I know how stressful it is.
My comment was not directed to you at all but that without progestrone testing and knowing when the bitch ovulates you are taking a chance on determining the date for csection. It is by far the preferred method.
In my case my bitch did go into very early labor a day before we had scheduled the csection...BUT my vet knew we were going to need him AND we called him at 7 am and he met us at 8:00am to do the section. It does help to have a vet that will come in pretty much anytime and his clinic is 15 minutes from me.
I would never use an er vet, unless there was no other option. In my case we have another vet at my clinic that I would be comfortable doing a section. It's unfortunate all the stress you went through and that the only vet on call at the er was a livestock vet. I'm glad it all ended up well and you were able to bring the puppies around.
I understand
I know you were concerned with her but after that post I felt like maybe you were saying it was my fault. I didn't like the idea of using an ER vet.. I didn't feel I had much choice taking them when I did. I mean I went in on Saturday and my vet said another day or two and to use their on-call vet if she went into labor before Monday and if she didn't then they'd go ahead and let me take them on Monday. I guess I should have really pushed it on Saturday but this was my first time and I didn't want to do anything to hurt her or the puppies.