Puppies Are On Their Way

A 3:40 AM call from Tom to tell me that Boji has started pacing and whining and digging and panting. Because her temperature has dropped Boji could be getting serious about whelping, but she is not yet having contractions. Boji is staying with Tom and Dawn who will be raising the litter, so I explain to Tom what it will look like when/if she starts having contractions, and I go back to sleep. Tom has read all the whelping books and knows them by heart, and he has watched pups being born, but those weren't HIS pups. I know Tom will get no sleep for the next few nights. Because we do not like bitches to whelp without supervision, in case of problems, Tom & Dawn will start trading 4 hour shifts so someone will always be with her.

Tom had wanted to raise a litter of quality pups, and keep a pup to show. He has been active in the Dal club, helps with the training classes at Animal Inn, and shows Dals for others, but does not have a Dal of his own to show. Because his Dal family includes two older neutered males, a spayed female, and Dawn's Mini Wire Doxie, Tom was hoping to lease a quality bitch so that he could raise a litter. We'd all been trying to work something out for him, but Tom had pretty much resigned himself to buying his show puppy.

I had been talking to Boji's owner Bonnie Rose, as I wanted to breed Boji to my handsome young liver dog Argus. Boji is a wonderfully sound, very well-bred Dalmatian with a excellent disposition, and was just the style that I thought would match up well with Argie. When Bonnie called to offer me the option of leasing Boji for her 4th and last litter, it caught me off guard. Josie had produced a lovely litter of 9 pups that spring, and I was pretty much "puppied out". I put a lot of time and effort into doing a litter of pups, and was not really ready to give up three more months of my life this year, but did not want to miss the opportunity. Was Tom interested? Would Bonnie be willing to let us do this as a team? Could we get Boji from Washington State to Minnesota before she came in season? Could I get her hips x-rayed before then, and would her x-rays pass OFA? The answers were all yes, and Boji came to Minnesota the following week.

Boji settled in easily and was very happy at Tom's. She was bred to Argus (his first "wife") and the breeding was successful. And now if was almost time for puppies!