Puppies!

The PaLouies (Pauli/Louie Pups) are here. NOT an uneventful whelping as it included stillborns, cords cut too short, and a nighttime visit to see Dr. Jim who had to extract a very dead puppy lodged crosswise (actually transverse, he called it). Jim worked an hour to get that puppy out and save me a Cesarean. (Pauli was fabulous, and even gave him a few kisses during the process.) The pup trapped behind it was whelped naturally at home an hour later.
 
So we have 6 puppies, all blacks, 3 boys (1 patched) & 3 girls. Medium-sized pups born several days earlier than anticipated, all nursing strongly, with open marked bodies and ears, clean faces, and lots of trim on most.  We can see some of the body spotting when the pups are still wet, and we can tell color by the nose color (livers always have brown noses).

Although I love raising puppies, I do NOT enjoy whelpings as so much can go wrong and it can be emotionally exhausting.  Pauli is doing just fine, I am totally wiped out.  I'll take a quick shower and head into work for a few hours, then come home and collapse.  Ron is on Puppy Watch today, to be sure that everything continues to go well.

So now we have healthy pups.  Dewclaws will be removed on Monday and the pups will get their first check ups.  Then we just handle them daily, make sure everyone is gaining normally, and keep things neat and tidy.  Pauli will do most of the work at first.  Starting at 14 days I'll be home-testing for hearing, and by 21 days (often by 17-18 days) I will know if we have any deaf pups (please keep your fingers crossed that everyone hears).   Then we start watching for show potential pups.  Hopefully we'll have a few, but you never know as so many things have to be just right.  The only pup I know can be promised to a pet home is the ear patched boy - we can't show patches.  I'll be touching base with the people on my list this weekend and letting them know who might get a puppy, but it's all a waiting game now.