I have something to share with all of you and before I begin, I just want to say that I DO fully expect to get flamed for it by some of you and rightfully so.
I had returned home from seeing Aaron off for his mission in Iraq and was going to stay with our mom who was dying when I noticed blood around the house on the floor and realized that Taffy was in her first heat. Because I had been away, it was difficult to pinpoint when she actually had started. We guessed maybe a couple of days before I noticed it.
I talked with my husband and we did everything that Dianne told us to do to prevent pregnancy as I have the stud dog as well. We kept Taffy crated or Billy crated depending on who need time to get out throughout this time.
Everything went very well.
Toward the end of her cycle, as we had calculated it, I watched them very closely. For an entire afternoon and for nearly the whole next day they were together with me supervising and never paid any attention to each other at all. Not even when I went outside with them to relieve themselves.
It appeared to me that she was past her standing heat and so I was comfortable with leaving the room that night to put my supper in the microwave. I no sooner got the plate into the microwave when I heard some rustling coming from the living room. I thought that the dogs were wrestling; which is not allowed in the house, so I went in to correct them. To my horror, they were standing quietly, back to back, tied. I screamed no in a reflex moment and then my mind kind of went everywhere. I was in denial, fear, bewilderment, you name it, I was feeling it. I cried. I was ashamed of having failed at my first handling of a heat cycle.
I let Dianne know immediately of course. She was upset of course, as was I. Dianne called our vet immediately to see if there was anything that could be done to terminate possible pregnancy like they do with women. She had heard of a pill that could be administered within the first 24 hours. They told her no. The only sure way was to neuter her and that was not a choice for us.
We have been monitoring her closely since. Dianne has palpated her a few times but had a very hard time finding anything. She thinks it might be possible that she felt one or two possible puppies. But, it may also be possible that she is going through a false pregnancy. We just don’t know yet and we do not want her x-rayed. We are treating it as the real thing and caring for her appropriately.
If she does produce any pups, they will not be registered and they will be neutered before being homed.
I fully realize that this is my mistake and I take full responsibility for it. Please don’t flame Dianne for what happened. If you feel you need to kick butt, kick mine!
I felt it only proper to be upfront and honest with everyone. I don’t believing in trying to hide my mistakes. I am very upset with myself over what happened and I know some of you are going to be upset with me too. I won’t repeat this mistake again.