Seppalas are pretty perverse sleddogs, in that the females largely insist on coming in season in late autumn or early winter, thus having pups at the height of the dogsledding season. Many pure Seppala bitches do not even have a springtime oestrus season.
It's a heavy responsibility, trying to raise winter litters and train three or four dog teams at the same time. Especially when the bitches all came in season at the same time (yea, female solidarity) and therefore those that are bred whelp their litters within days of one another. Maybe I'm just getting too old for the whole thing, but it wears my energy away trying to care for two or three nursing mothers, stay up all night doing whelpings, then train teams as though that were the only thing I had to do . . .
But it's at breeding time when the beautiful Seppala nature comes to the fore. Especially their co-operative nature!
(We oversee all breedings at Seppala Kennels. Others may just throw them in a yard and go away and forget the whole thing. SOME others even play pin-the-sire-on-the-litter-after-the-fact because they haven't the slightest idea who bred that bitch! This is called running a serious racing kennel. It's called being more serious about performance than about pedigrees -- by those who do it, that is!)
We oversee each mating. And believe it or not, the stud dogs appreciate this greatly. Take Pyotr, for example. Pyotr knows a bitch can take a dislike to him and try to take a piece out of his face when he gets close. He knows that some bitches, when "tied" by the stud, may not only go off their feet, but might even turn over on their backs and start ripping with their claws! So Pyotr comes to the breeding pen, runs around checking the place out, sniffs everything, pees on whatever's standing still, and just boogies around -- until he sees me squat down with a leash on the bitch, holding her by the collar. THEN he runs over and immediately mounts her! Pyotr is truly an artist in the mating pen. He doesn't flog blindly around like most studs. He mounts and carefully feels around until he has found the exact right spot -- only then does he thrust hard, and invariably he has got her in one or two tries.
Nyura the red-sable bitch is an extreme feminist. We're breeding her to Pyotr, who's an utter gentleman. But Nyura just plain hates males! Left unguarded for even a few seconds, she will lunge at him and try for a chunk of fur out of the ruff or a piece of ear! She trembles when brought to the mating pen, because intellectually she hates the whole idea. However, once she has been restrained with my hands on her collar, and her tail pulled to one side (she keeps it firmly clamped down over the goodies no matter what the stage of her cycle), she stands quietly and gets bred. Once she has been tied, it's like "Oh, well. Too late now to do anything about this," she isn't trembling, she doesn't struggle, she's relaxed as can be. Her body is pretty positive about this mating thing, I think. Once the tie has broken, though -- once again she's willing to try for a chunk of fur. Go figure!
Sire Zaki is ten years old. Little Lara is two. They are being mated; it's the first time for Lara. She has fallen head over heels in LOVE with Zaki. She jumps on him with her forepaws, kisses him, wriggles all over and wags her tail, romps, plays, and follows him everywhere. Each time I pass her stakeout in the morning, she shrieks, "TAKE ME TO MY LOVER BOY!!!" and nearly pulls me flat on my face going to the mating pen. Zaki is dignified, affable but reticent. Very willing, though. Would you believe, these two have been "doing it" for eight successive days??? Today we finally called it quits -- her discharge is dark brown, she has to be finished. Zaki is still willing. She's still in love, and would probably let him do it if I restrained her a bit. But I just turned them loose in the yard to run and play and rejoice, which they did. (BTW, Seppala bitches often "celebrate" the mating once the tie has broken, by running in small circles barking and hooting, wagging their tails at the stud dog and the helpful people.)
Every single day for eight days, at each mating, Zaki gently laid his head across little Lara's withers and closed his eyes while we all waited out the tie. Here's a snapshot of the loving couple, a closeup I took while Isa knelt with them on a sunny Yukon afternoon.
Posted by jjeffrey at November 18, 2004 08:05 PM