Puppies!

State Government Shut Down Day ? - When Will This End?

Peekaboo - a pup peeks out from under mom's leg

In the meantime, we have pups to tend!  It was a very good thing I got the Reebox finished on Saturday, since I was anticipating pups on Monday.  Reebok had other ideas and the pups were born early Sunday morning.  We had done only one progesterone test to be sure Reebok was "about ready" for breeding, but it takes a series of tests to be able to pinpoint the days - necessary only if you are doing chilled or frozen semen breedings.  We did just one and "guesstimated" the arrival date - and were off by a day.

We all guessed wrong on number of puppies, thinking Reebok would have at least ten. I was the closest at eight. Although she hung low, Reebok was never "coffee-table wide" like Josie or Peaches or Perdie (hey, I didn't pick the name!) when they had litters of twelve.  The whelping went very smoothly, as if Reebok had read the whelping book, with pups coming every twenty minutes or so.  The last pup arrived at 6:00 AM, but I was sure she still had at least one pup left, just based on her bulk.  However there were no contractions and Reebok was very relaxed, so we waited it out - hoping that perhaps we would get that one last pup born hours later.  Many breeders fall asleep thinking the litter is complete, and wake up to one additional pup, clean, dry and nursing.  Didn't happen.

The down side of the litter was two stillborn pups, #s five & six.  Absolutely normal in every way, just as long but thinner than their littermates.  7-8 oz pups as opposed to 11-14 oz pups.  Perhaps they had poor placental sites, or the placentas detached prematurely.  There are dozens of possibilities.  I'll call the Vet School this morning and see if I can take the pups in for necropsy.  Because this is Reebok's first litter, it is particularly important to do this, and something that every breeder should consider.  Probably nothing will show up, stillborn pups are not at all unusual, but it's best to check things out.  The two pups were wrapped in paper towels, placed in a plastic bag, and stored in the refrigerator.  No, Oh Yucks, please.  Sometimes you have to have a strong stomach to do things right.

The five survivors are three boys and two girls, all black-spotted (I'm disappointed but that's what we expected), and no patches.  I keep checking them, hoping I was wrong on color, but I guess not.  We were hoping for more pups, but five is a nice litter and from a breeder's point of view it only takes one special puppy to make a successful litter.

For the first two weeks I will tend these pups but not get attached to any of them.  Because deafness exists in the breed, until I know everyone hears I won't get attached to any of them.  Argus was from an all hearing litter and has done very good hearing numbers except for one litter.  Reebok is from a litter that contained a deaf pups, so it could happen.  We'll do lots of finger crossing here for a few weeks!

In the meantime, we'll get dewclaws removed.  Dewclaws are the small thumb-like toes on the front legs.  Most breeders have them removed during the first few days, although it is not required.  Penny & Charlie have their dewclaws and it certainly did not hurt their show careers.  They were such tiny pups I did not want to add any stress, so left theirs on.  These five are all robust vigorous pups, so will pay a visit to the vet for check ups and dew claw removal.  I have done them myself, but absolutely hate doing it, so we will pay for veterinary service.

Now, time to get ready for a walk around Lake Como and breakfast at White Castle.  That was planned for yesterday, but the arrival of the pups changed our plans!