Taking a trip out East for "just" a breeding to a fantastic male is not the easiest thing to decide on. Even with progesterone testing, its still nerve wrecking. The cost is over the top too, and luckily I had already paid the owner of the stud over a year and a half ago, and used my free united air miles for my trip. For Uschi I had to pay MORE than it would have been in actual dollars than for myself! The airlines sure know how to suck you dry. They consider dogs traveling as a 'luxury' item, thus when you do, they take you for all they can! I remember paying for Zuni in August of 2000 when he flew from in from Amsterdam including his crate $280 one way. Which included his crate! That price is now $1200!!! (excluding the crate) for one way! 911 sure did a job on that. I suspect that they figured that luxury items would be 'taxed' heavily under the premise, IF you can afford it (a dog) then you get to pay dearly for it... It may be all nice and dandy but it has put a serious dent in people importing (great) and needed dogs for breeding programs as, after all, we want to improve our breed.
I would not have done it had it not been for the free airline miles and the already paid stud fee that long ago. Sure, I could have sent her on her own, but I was right that Uschi was not a happy camper with me there, and she would have been worse had I not been with her. Had we driven, she would have been just fine, as she loves the car. But, unbeknown to me, she HATES flying! So, no more of that for her.
She is pregnant, and now we get to concentrate on those babies :)
Hence the ultra sound images we took on January 6th.
