Very disappointing news for everyone, no puppies. Ivy had Ultrasound today and she's not pregnant.

We decided against Ulstrasound. Last year when I took Ivy to the vet, the office wasn't very clean. I'd hate for Ivy to pick up something there while pregnant. So we will wait 2-3 weeks more to see if she 'shows'. She does act a little :) pregnant - she acts a bit different and she wasn't eating well the last few days.

Well, good news. We're safely back from a very long and tiring trip. I drove 1400 km yesterday. Ivy was bred and we hope it takes. We will know in 4 weeks if we do Ultrasound or a bit later if we just wait for her belly to show. More details later.

Ivy's blood was tested for Progesterone level today for the second time. It's 4.2 ng/ml and it means that she ovulates today or tomorrow. We're heading to Iowa tomorrow and hope to try breeding in the evening.

Ivy came into 'season' today. We will travel to Iowa in about 10 days for the breeding.
Exciting news :)

Unfortunately, the news are not good. Ultrasound didn't show any puppies - Ivy is not pregnant. We will consider breeding again in one year - early 2014.

I scheduled US for Ivy on Feb 13 with reproduction vet. We will know if she's got any puppies then.

Since it's unclear what are the chances Ivy will get pregnant (clearly not the same as with natural breeding) I will hold off with the deposits until we know if there are any pups (February 11).

This is frustrating and disappointing for everyone. We were planning this for 2 years

I was asked if we will breed in case this one doesn't work. Not in the summer, as we do not want to lose the hunting season. Perhaps next winter.

Unfortunately, the dogs didn't do it. We put them together twice every day for 3 days, but no go. We artificially inseminated Ivy today with fresh semen (vet did). She did vaginal cytology at the same time and said she's almost done with the heat. So we can only hope now she gets pregnant. We have to wait about one month to see if she's pregnant.

Ivy's progesterone from 9 am today is 15.3 nmol/L (4.8 ng/ml). That means she ovulates today. We wanted to wait for the ovulation to take place at home, because it can be delayed by stress/travel. We plan to travel to Iowa (1300 km) tomorrow and breed over the next couple days.
BTW, we can now figure out the whelp date of the litter (cross your fingers, so the breeding 'takes'). 63 days from the ovulation date - March 13 should be the whelp date.