Yesterday afternoon (3/25) Dory started delivering her puppies sired by Chase. The first four were born about 20 minutes apart, but then came the great slowdown. Three more puppies took about 5 hours to make it to terra firma. Then we were waiting for Numero Ocho. Dory couldn’t deliver him. So at 1:15 this morning I was at the Los Lunas Animal Clinic. Dr. Thompson and Katie met me there to take charge of Dory. The seven puppies that were already bouncing around were in a warming box that we plugged in at the Clinic. We x-rayed Dory, and sure enough, that 8th puppy was deep in her tummy with its feet in the air. It had not even begun a trip toward the birth canal. So, we decided to do a C-Section, hoping the last baby was still alive.
The little brindle boy had a heartbeat. We worked on him for an hour and a half — oxygen, vigorous rubbing, a medication to speed up his heart rate. AND HE MADE IT!!! I always give the puppies “litter names” as they are born. The little man is “Joiner” because he decided to stay with us.
Puppies in order of birth:
Cameron — a big brindle girl with pretty markings
Dally – a little red girl with few white markings
Emir – a big red boy with lots of frosting
Faust – a dark brindle boy, also with plenty of chrome
Gandolf – a dark brindle boy with a wide collar
Hillary – a red girl with exquisite markings (similar to Naughty Nola’s)
Intrigue – a brindle girl so dark that she appears black – with a pretty even white ruff
Joiner – a little brindle boy with a split collar — he got off to a rocky start, but is staying with us so far
Dory is a superb mom. The baybeez are clean and well fed. I couldn’t ask for a more attentive mother. They all gained during their first 24 hours at the home of the baddogs. The puppy cam will go up tomorrow. There will be a password so send me a post from “Contact Penni” above and I’ll share it with you as well as the “rules”. The rules are designed to prevent me from using so much bandwidth that my internet provider pulls my plug.
I find it interesting that the puppies have segregated themselves. All the brindles but Joiner are at Dory’s front, the three reds are at the back. Joiner is napping under her tail. You know life in the whelping box is good when the sound emanating from the room is a soft hum. Great job, Dory!
