The Puppies Arrive!

     Since Emme's due date was February 11 (today), we had several weeks to get ready. We needed lots of old towels, a small scale, some colored collars to identify each pup, and, of course, a whelping box. The whelping box was fairly simple in construction; one sheet of 3/4" plywood, a 2 x 4, two hinges, and some 2" PVC pipe to form a puppy guard against the wall.

 



 

Emme tries out the whelping box

 

 





"This is going to be a breeze....."

    Last night at 7:30 the puppies started to arrive, right on schedule. Emme spent 5 hours in labor because it was such a large litter; 12 puppies! We were up until the wee hours of the morning cleaning and drying the new arrivals and helping them get started with nursing. They all appear to be healthy, and they were definitely hungry.

 

 

 

 

 

     They look so helpless and vulnerable right now, but I know they will grow up in the blink of an eye. Fortunately Emme is a great mother, making sure they are well fed and clean, and catering to their every whim. Eight of the puppies have Emme's coloring (she was black when born then turned silver) and four are chocolate-colored, which are the first ones we have seen that are that color because it is rather rare.

 

     The first order of business with each newborn was to make sure the had no liquid in their lungs and to stimulate them. Some were a little more lethargic than others but they all responded normally. Next, we put colored collars on each pup to identify each one. There were exactly twelve in the package!

 

     We are keeping track of weight gain for each one to make sure they are feeding adequately. We had trouble weighing them at first, because they would not stay put long enough to get a good reading. The answer was to put them into a small cereal bowl to confine them long enough for the scale to stabilize. This worked great.

 

 





Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand!

 





Nighty-night for now!