As I got in know and love Magyar agár is a healthy, athletic and natural dog breed. I would like to preserve the breed as is moreover even improve it. Since the goal of the breeding is the improvement of the breed and the whole population.
I am upset about a few dog breeds that can not even mate without humans and can not happen “a la nature”. One of my goals is to prevent this in case of Magyar agár. Practical steps of the planned mating in my side:
The bitch, that has normal periods, starts heating and if she “stops” to the male, the mating will take place. So we does not mate a bitch with a male with violence if the bitch does not let the male get close to herself. Why is that? The reason is that a healthy, independently capable to mate breed’s individual will “stop” and let the male gets closer only if she is fertile. If a bitch “stops” to a male when she is not fertile, then this individual should not be reproduced. According to this principal we do not check hormone level in order to determine the ideal time for mating. We observe only the behavior and signs of the bitch. (It is a fact we did not travel to abroad to have a litter. It is obvious that the breeder wants to estimate the optimal mating time before a several days trip, also before a 1000 kms trip. But fortunately I am breeding a Hungarian breed in Hungary.)
We perform only one mating. Why is that? Because I am an undercovered Buddhist. 😀 In my opinion healthy dogs with their instincts and the mating that happens according to the hormones will result in offsprings. And here comes the real Buddhist part: if the breed needs a litter, this litter will be born in one mating. Since 1995 all matings were successful and all my litters came off from a single mating in a naturally selected time.
It is a fact that in Hungary in the 90s the frozen semen was not widely known or available in dog breeding. Today it is almost a routine in the specialised clinics. This is an enormous support and option for the breeders to preserve and keep the genome diverse, therefore it is an option that I will try this in the future. In this case, of course, veterinary intervention will be necessary to have a new litter. It remains to be seen. 🙂