The Puppies' Big Day

On Saturday the puppies were 3 days old and had their dewclaws removed. Tom & Dawn packed them up in a cozy box and drove to the Vet Clinc, leaving Boji behind. Most bitches handle this quite well, but Boji was pretty stressed by the time they returned. Had she gone along and listened to the pups yelling, "Mother, mother, mother" (or is it "Help, help, help"?) she would probably have been even more stressed, so leaving her behind was the safest.

The minor surgery went well, and the pups will only have the tiniest of scars to show where their dewclaws had been. If dewclaws are not removed they sometimes get caught and torn on adult dogs, requiring far more extensive, and far more expensive surgery. The dewclaw removal also gives the Vet a chance to check the pups and see how they are doing. And it means each pup has two fewer nails to cut - a big consideration when you are cutting the nails on 8 puppies several times a week!

Tom says the smallest boy has gained the least amount of weigh, and the Vet agreed that he looked a bit dehydrated. Because the pup seems to be nursing strongly, Tom and Dawn will work to be sure that he gets on a good nipple and is not pushed off by his larger brothers and sisters. As expected, the ear patched boy that I revived is actually one of the biggest and strongest pups now - it never fails. The smallest girl, who was revived with acupuncture appears to be doing well!

Pups look very nice & Boji is being a good mother other than being amazingly clumsy. Hopefully she does not flop down on or step on any of the pups! I checked to be sure all the pups were black spotted, hoping that a couple of the boys were livers. No such luck, all black spotted, as with Boji's previous litters. Because liver is a simple recessive, Boji would have to carry a copy of the liver gene to produce liver pups when bred to a liver dog. She obviously is what we call "pure for black", but each of the pups is a liver-factored black. Although they have blacks spots, they can produce livers.

Before visiting Boji and Crew I drove to Rochester to take a look at the Simon/Tess kids who were up from the Cedar Rapids area for BAER testing at Rick's. Had a nice visit with the litter owner Paula, her friend Kim, and Simon's owner Cheryl and got a chance to see Rick's handsome 5-month old liver pup. The Tess kids are linebred on Coral, with Tess being a Watson daughter and Simon being a Coral son, so I wanted to take a look at them. What a pretty litter, with wonderful faces, dark eyes and some very pretty markings! I thought three of them looked extra nice - the only liver boy, one of the black boys, and one of the girls. All were very attractive. The hearing test results were good, with 5 bilateral and 1 uni (5 pups heard in both ears, 1 pup hears in only one ear - which is common in Dals and does not affect the dog's ability function well as a companion or even a show dog).

Boji's litter will be BAER tested (Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response) when they are about 6 weeks old, although I will have identified any deafs (hopefully none) or possible unis by then.

Boji now has a rug in her pen and we are keeping our fingers crossed that she does not insist on hiding the pups UNDER it like some bitches do. The pups need a good surface when they are nursing, so they can get a grip with their back feet rather than sliding on slippery papers.

Not A Textbook Whelping

The pups did not arrive on Tuesday but waited another day to enter the world. Another 3:00 AM phone call from Tom to tell me that Boji was having contractions, and the first pup arrived several hours later. Although Boji's previous litters had been whelped uneventfully, with pups every 20 minutes or so, that was not to be the case this time. Only two pups were born that night, and another finally followed several hours later. Tom and I stayed in touch by phone, and he talked to the Vet as well, but I was very concerned and after getting a few things done at the office, I drove to Tom's to lend a hand. I got there in time to save a boy puppy who was not breathing when he was born, but the next pup could not be revived, and we decided it was time for a trip to the Vet. Boji was not having good contractions, and we were at risk of losing any remaining pups. Tom stayed behind with Boji's 5 pups - all males (the dead pup was the only female so far), while Dawn and I went with Boji.

We were fortunate that the the Winsor's clinic was only 15 minutes away, and that they are actually reproductive specialists, with all the finest equipment and a well trained staff. When the ultra sound showed multiple puppies and at least two beating hearts we opted to go with a caesarian, in hopes of saving the puppies. I was quite convinced that the puppy who was trapped in the birth canal was dead, but had hopes that the other two would be OK. Dawn and I were allowed to watch through a viewing window, and to take pictures of the whole process. Dr. Jim performed the surgery, with several assistants, and Dr. Anne and her team revived the pups. It was especially interesting to watch an acupuncture needle used to simulate the limp pup to breath - and it worked. All three pups survived, and all were females.

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!

It Won't Be Long Now!

Ten days to go, and I didn't even have a blog for Boji's Babies. It was so much fun doing the blog for Josie's litter, and it worked so well to keep in touch with the puppy buyers, that I want to do it again. However, to do a new Yahoo blog, I would have to delete Josie's Blog, and I just couldn't do it. Too many memories are posted there, plus lots of wonderful pictures. We'll give this Google Blog a try, and have enough time to change my mind if this doesn't work the way I hope it will.