[TatumsMom]

Can I tell you a funny story about my first and only breeding experience?

It's funny looking back on now but what a mess! When my poodle was about 3 or 4 years old, I put an ad for stud service in my local paper. In our small town, I had never seen another red toy poodle and thought others with females in the surrounding areas might be having a hard time finding studs so I put the word out. Well, a couple from Houston (about an hour or so away from us) called me up and said they had seen the ad (or heard about it) and were interested. They happened to be going on vacation at the time their female, Penny, would be "ready" so they asked if they could leave her with me for a week. I can hear it now - "They DIDN'T suggest that!!". Oh yes, and I fell for it! My poor Dax was a nutcase the entire week that girl in heat was in our house! I had to put her in the bathroom with a baby gate up because I didn't want to completely close her up and he cried and scratched at the carpet. It was so pitiful!

Well, I did all the research I possibly could (this was before internet - at least where I was concerned) and talked to a lady I worked with that was experienced with breeding and when that "magic day" for Penny came, I thought I was prepared. Dax was about two inches or so shorter than Penny so I was told that I may have to "help them out". I got a couple fat phone books for him to stand up on and held him steady. He was quite the man I must say and took care of most of it himself but I was nervous about the tie. Did I mention that this was Penny's first time too??? So, anyway, after they tied, I had to help Dax put his leg over her body and turn around (yep, that was a new one to me - I didn't know they did that) and make sure both of them laid quietly until the tie was over so they wouldn't get hurt. I think that lasted about 30 minutes. After all was over, I separated them again and left them resting while I went out to the garage and told my husband what I had just done. He got such a kick out of it! Well, it worked on that one and only try and we were blessed with a healthy litter of little copper penny colored beautiful poodle pups and I got pick of the litter but don't think I would ever do it quite like that again! Looking back on it, I can't believe these people trusted me with their little girl during a time like that - I know I wouldn't just hand Tatum over to someone to breed if they weren't an experienced highly qualified breeder.


Anyway, if you've ever experienced the breeding thing, you might understand how funny it was. Wouldn't have missed it for the world though!