Fritz and Lulu

Our black standard poodle Fritz got to go visit Lulu tonight. Lulu is a F1b (which is a the offspring of a 50/50 labradoodle bred back to a poodle) labradoodle. Lulu is cream with apricot markings and looks alot like our Gretchen, though I think that her coat is better, and weighs only 40 pounds and is about 18 inches from the floor to the top of her back. I met Lulu's family earlier this summer at the local feed store in town and we struck up a conversation about poodles and labradoodles and Amy talked about how they hadn't fixed their girl and were considering breeding her. Handsome boy Fritz was with us and Amy really liked how Fritz looked and behaved. So I handed Amy one of my business cards and told her to give it some serious thought and read up about online. We emailed back in forth a few times and at the end of August Lulu went into heat. I calculated the best time for breeding and made up a stud service contract. The first night Lulu just wasn't ready. They did alot of flirting and several attempts, but after two hours they were wore out and no longer interested. Not a big deal, after all if Lulu isn't ready she wouldn't allow breeding to happen. So Fritz and I returned two days later and after a little more play and flirtation, they got stuck. Okay, I say stuck because they are really stuck. Officially it's called a "tie". Amy and her husband asked how long will they be stuck and I told them anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes, sometimes 40. So we visit and chat about dogs and puppies and getting prepared for puppies and time goes by and by and by. They stayed stuck for more then a hour and a half! A record for us. I check the calender and tell them we can expect puppies November 2nd. We, Fritz and I will return tomorrow to breed again. Breeding twice should insure a successful breeding. I'll post as Lulu progresses. Right now I am not expecting any of our girls to go into heat for a while. I am also mentoring Amy and will be present at the birth and available to answer any question that the family thinks up. Amy and her husband have four young kids and they are home schooled. This is going to give them lots of information that the kids can use as learning tools.