A breeder’s world is full of surprises – you never stop learning

A breeder’s world is full of surprises – you never stop learning

Over the last two to three years, I – like a few breeder friends of mine – have worked with double mating on several occasions. This means that the bitch is first mated with dog A and then, the following day, with dog B.

So far, the result has always been clear: all the puppies have come from the first mating. That is exactly what Maarten Kappen from Cryolab had explained to me. In his experience, this is almost always the case. Only when semen is mixed can a litter with different sires result.

But apparently, things can turn out differently. Why this is so remains a mystery to me to this day.

Our ‘Uschi’ had a progesterone level of 12.6 on Tuesday, 17 February 2026. So on Wednesday morning, I set off for France to meet Nelleke, Sjaak, and Robbie.

On Wednesday afternoon at around 3 pm, ‘Uschi’ was mated with Robbie, and the mating was repeated on Thursday morning.

However, her  other own male dog, ‘Dembe’, was looking very sad. On a joking note, we said: ‘Oh come on, let him mate with her too – then he won’t have to suffer so much.’ No sooner said than done. So, on Thursday afternoon, there was a third mating – this time with Dembe.

“Uschi” became pregnant without any problems, gave birth to her puppies, and I had absolutely no doubt: all the puppies had to be Robbie’s.

That’s why I didn’t mention the double mating to the puppy buyers either.

A mistake!

When I rang the Progenius laboratory last Friday – the puppies were now almost ten weeks old – to ask why the DNA results weren’t in yet, I received an answer I’d never have expected.

With six puppies, Robbie couldn’t be the father. The laboratory asked me if I had DNA from another male dog.

I nearly fell off my office chair. My blood pressure shot up, and I could hardly believe what I’d just read.

I contacted Nelleke straight away, and she immediately sent me Dembe’s pedigree and DNA profile. I forwarded everything directly to the laboratory.

I spent the following night wide awake. Five of the puppies had already been sold to breeders or exhibitors. What would the result mean?

The next morning, the truth came out.

The three males that had gone to breeders and exhibitors were indeed sired by Robbie.

All the remaining six puppies were sired by Dembe.

Now I had to inform all the buyers. Fortunately, everyone (except for our Danish buyer, who wanted a new family dog) was very understanding. However, my two buyers of the bitches were understandably less relaxed, as they already had specific breeding plans for their puppies. These plans are now on hold for the time being.

Naturally, I offered both of them the option of returning the puppies in exchange for a full refund of the purchase price.

Above all, one big question remains for me:

How is this possible?

Without Dembe’s late mating, ‘Uschi’ would apparently have had only three puppies by Robbie.

Nature never ceases to surprise us – and remains a big bag of surprises.

You really never stop learning.

The fact is: once again, I was the first – the first OES breeder to have a litter sired by two different sires