Ellie’s Puppies
The excitement of whelping day has been building since Sunday when Ellie’s whelping window week began. Everything is prepared in advance. The whelping box is cleaned and set up in our bedroom and all the tools needed are ready and waiting for the arrival of the puppies.
Ellie had started digging the past couple of days – on the carpet, on the couch and in her whelping box.; a sign that labor would begin any day. Ellie was following us everywhere we would go but, that is not different than usual – she is my “velcro” dog.
Tuesday afternoon she started digging again on our corner sectional and my husband Tom informed me she was panting. I decided to take her upstairs to my bedroom and sat with her in the Whelping Box so she could labor their in peace, away from our other dogs. It wasn’t long before her first baby came into the world.
After a puppy is born the mother dog removes the puppy from its sac, severs the umbilical cord and begins the cleaning process. This is when the puppy begins taking their first breath. The pups stay with their mom for awhile after birth to keep warm.
After the newborn puppy has nursed, we then towel dry them, examine them, weigh them, and record their birth weight. Finally we put collars on – a different colour for each puppy – to keep track of their progress in the coming days and weeks.
When Ellie whelped her final puppy, number eleven, she settled in and began caring for her new tiny babies. Well done Ellie!
The miracle of a new life is so precious and I never tire of watching these helpless tiny puppies come into the world. Again I am in awe at the instincts God has given animals; they just know what to do!
Ruska’s Puppies
Ruska’s puppies are almost seven weeks old and have an abundance of energy. My summer litters of puppies start getting the run of our yard at this age. With the melting snow and rain that spring brings, my yard is too muddy to let the puppies play in. So, when it is time for outdoor play, Ruska leads her puppies out the door and into the fenced enclosure on our deck. This doesn’t always work because Ruska wants her puppies to run in the yard with her. Sometimes instead of going into the enclosure she tries to lead them off the deck and into the yard. I have to call her back and reminder her to take the puppies into the fenced enclosure on our deck. Most of the puppies go in but we always get one or two that try to run and discover what’s beyond the deck. Our other dogs run after them barking and the explorers quickly come to me and join the rest of their littermates.
I have tried to challenge our puppies by introducing something new every few days. When I add new toys to our indoor play area, the puppies notice right away and suddenly they all have a new favourite toy – what smart puppies to have such good observation skills!
The past couple days during outside play we introduced a tunnel for the puppies. They were so curious and took to it right away. The puppies have so much fun running through the tunnel, playing hide-n-seek in it and chasing each other through it. It is so much fun to watch them!
One more sleep until the puppies meet their forever families!
