UPDATE: Miss Bailey gave her father Jack an unexpected birthday present! She qualified today for her 3rd leg towards her AKC Junior Hunter title! Congratulations Paul, Dawn, Bailey and family!
Because it is customary to bring the girl to the boy, and as I was not quite ready to leave Jack's mother, Wish, with her 'intended' John and I were prepared to spend a week on the road with her. The girl typically travels to the boy because he is more confident and likely to be dominant in his own surroundings and in his territory. Having the necessary Brucellosis testing done prior to breeding, and then working closely with our vet,we knew exactly what the best dates were for breeding Wish based on the results of her progesterone essays. And we were not disappointed when the intended couple came together. It is always best to introduce a maiden to an experienced stud or vice versa. It lays a positive foundation for both animals. And so it was when our pretty little liver and white Wish was bred to "Butch" son of Hall of Fame Brittany NFC/NAFC/AFC/FC Aux Arc Mark.
Her pregnancy advanced into that high expectancy mode where one day you are certain there are puppies, and the next day you are certain there are none! I had the benefit of my father's whelping journal from the '60s when he and my mom raised Boston Terriers. Wish enjoyed a nutritionally enhanced diet when it was appropriate to do so. It's not good to add a lot of nutrients but it is beneficial to focus on increasing particular ones. Our old standby includes specific proportions of yogurt, liver, cottage cheese and a recipe for 'nursing mother's pudding'. These are added in rotation to the meals, which must become increasingly smaller and frequent as pregnancy advances. Our vet also frowns on added vitamins at this time and instead advises us to begin feeding a high quality puppy food to the mother to be.
10 Days before the anticipated due date we faithfully started to take our girls' temperature - first every 24 hours, and then at intervals of 8 hours. The first temperature drop signifies approaching labor. The second temperature drop usually helps indicate pups will arrive within 24 hours. We do not leave a laboring animal alone at all, nor do we leave her alone with her puppies for the first few days. At all. Anyone who is preparing to whelp a litter of pups needs to be available 24/7. With this litter John was working fulltime and I was home with ATB. We burned the telephone lines calling each other! John and I had had been watching for all the other obvious signs of being in whelp and knew that she was with puppies. Her whelping area was well prepared, and she'd been introduced to where she would give birth a couple of weeks in advance. It is critical for a bitch in whelp to have a sense of privacy and to respect that about her.
Wish is always an affectionate girl and especially so during her pregnancy. She also finds way to 'communicate' just how close she wants me to be - or not. I love her to pieces, and she loves us and trusts us too. I especially have enjoyed being with Wish the times she had pups, massaging her rotund belly, stroking her muzzle softly while she snuggles ever close to me, offering her everything and anything I can to let her know I'm right there. We keep the lights low when there are pups on the way, we play music, and we even have a scented candle. I know it sounds ridiculous, like I'm doing the humanization thing with the dogs - but I believe it makes a different in mom and in the pups. I have found it is better to stay nearby but not in her face or in her space. Sometimes it is hard to know when to assist and when to let well enough alone. But if we interefere too much - whether it be with the actual breeding itself, whelping, or care of the pups - the mother will not be so apt to react instinctively and we are training her to rely on us when she should be tapping deep into that reservoir of natural instinct. Which in itself is beautiful to behold.
I think one of the most beautiful things I've ever witnessed was Wish gently nudging a wet, wiggly, newborn puppy towards her nipple to nurse - still with the umbilical cord attached. I have a photo of that somewhere that I took under the infra-red heat lamp. Another beautiful memory of this litter was watching little tri-color "Annie", just hours old, climb way up into the tufts of her mother's hair, with just her wee little head poking out. These are pure gifts and glimpses into the beautiful and mysterious reality of life bringing forth life.
I may be wierd but I take all of this very seriously. I take into consideration the amount of love and respect I feel for our dogs and that must carry right into the whelping pen. There are details that are private for the animals that give birth. We do take a lot of photographs to document the arrival of pups, the time and the size are often better recalled when looking at the photos after the event itself. And very often, we do not announce too many details until after the first crucial 72 hours.
Even so, I can remember each and every detail of the arrival of the litter that brought us Jack who was destined to become a very special part of our lives on June 13, 2005. The entire litter was spoken for so we were happy to share the good news with all those who were waiting. And mostly we wondered about which puppy would be ours. There were 5 pups born, 2 of them liver and white, 1 tri-color, and 2 white and orange - 3 girls and 2 boys.
We strive to bring our newborn pups and mom to our vets within the first 24 hours. This way we know for sure that there are no retained placentas or worse, the vet can check to be sure milk is coming in, suckling strength of the pups, and more. Also we believe that the sooner the tails are docked and dewclaws removed the less stressful it is for the babies. Our vet is great that way and always is on standby when we have pups due. It was with this litter that we instituted the 'dime' method of measuring the tails before cropping. I am a strong supporter of docking Brit tails and removing dewclaws but I always hate that visit to the vets though... John goes in with the pups and I take mom for a nice long walk around the grounds to keep her mind off of her pups being out of site.
The ride over to the vets is always planned well in advance. Hot water bottles are wrapped in soft towels and laid in the bottom of the puppy basket. (A gift from Steve and Stephanie when my other basket was not returned. I'll never forget the day they showed up with the basket chock full to overflowing with gifts of all kind for dogs and for us!) We did not have our beautiful crochet puppy blankets from Julie when Jack was born, but now they do line the basket. (That first puppy blanket was actually a full size afghan Julie made for John and I, that matched the smaller one she'd made for Sassy when she came home from ATB in 2006! Since then she has blessed us with puppy blankets for every litter.) Mom is crated as we don't want her to get nervous while we're driving and try to sit on top of her babies or something. When at the vets we make sure that pups and mom stay far away from any other animals. The pups are extremely vulnerable and we don't mom picking up something strange from where another dog may have eliminated.
I'm enjoying this reflection of the past... 5 years ago today... all these things were on our mind, and we were living the reality of this wonderful day - the day Jack was born. I look out the window and see him faithfully following John every where he goes. They ride in the truck together, lay on the couch together, train and hunt and you name it. John will sit in his recliner and ask Jack to come give him a hug - Jack jumps right up and presses into John's chest. It is so cute. I remember the first time we went hunting with Jack by our side. John nearly filled up as he said softly to me "I've always wanted this kind of a hunting dog... he's just what I dreamed of."
John picked Jack because of his mellow attitude. When his littermates were all scrambling for attention, Jack would sit back and watch quietly. Then when the initial excitement was over, he'd just walk over and look up with those eyes of his... and make hearts melt. He's still like that. One look from the boy and it's all over.
So JackDog - we're very happy you are in our life! We love you and you are really more than we could have hoped for. With you it truly is all about the love of the dog both given and received. And unlike Hunter, we are happy to see your strengths and abilities carried on in your children too as they bring the same pride and joy to their owners. Even yesterday - we had a call from Dawn that Bailey had qualified for her second leg in Junior Hunter, and today another test.
Happy Birthday Shogun, Annie, Toffee, MollyDew, and of course Jack!
I've rambled... but I hope it's been a good ramble. It sure feels like it to me.
Take care and God bless, John, Ann and All Things Brittany
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