ATB: Piper Day 44

Transformation
The past two days John has been very busy transforming our small and cozy multipurpose grooming area into a whelping area. Carpet tiles are re-installed on the floor in the back where the well worn whelping box is nestled.  Freshly laundered bedding lines within it. The heat lamp has been brought out of storage and now hangs safely above the box, firmly secured and attached to an arm that allows us to raise and lower the lamp as needed. The wood stove is running and the whelping supply list is being checked.

Piper, John, and I have been spending a lot of time together out in the area I sometimes call the puppy cave.  We know that she is beginning to feel restless and is unsure of the changes in her body.  I often consult our well worn whelping journal for reminders of what to expect when. Blank pages are quickly being filled in as we chronicle Pipers pregnancy.

I love having a winter litter of puppies. It gives me a good reason to simply hibernate. We put a cot in where Piper will whelp and I will sleep in the room with her for several days.  We keep the lights low and play soothing music. There is a t.v. and lots of books to read as well. I do a lot of writing there.

It's important to me that Piper knows and understands she has her own place to call her own.  She's never had pups before.  I believe it's important for the mother to be to have peace, quiet, and privacy. Soon her instincts are going to tell her to seek places out that will meet those needs. In the puppy cave area she can dig papers, seek a dark corner, build a nest of blankets and do whatever she wants.

Although I have blogged about similar stories  before each one is unique. We are hobby breeders. We average 2 litters of puppies a year. We are All things Brittanys and not All Things Puppy, that is unless we are expecting.  We take our responsibility as breeders very seriously in every aspect of the word. From the time we bring two animals together for breeding until their puppies begin the first day of the rest of their life in the arms of their new owners we remain mindful of their needs. And life as we know it, goes on hold.

Piper - 44 Days Post Breeding
Piper and True were brought together the first time for breeding 44 days ago.  They were together for three successful matings which we supervised and documented. We always take a photograph of the actual tie itself for our own records and also to show that a breeding actually occurred between the intended. This is the first litter for either of these two beautiful Brittanys.  The average gestation period for dogs is 63 days.  John and I can fairly estimate pups will arrive the week of February 9th, just in time for Valentine's Day!!

We have hoped for the reality of this pairing of True and Piper since she first came to us as our pick puppy out of a lovely litter sired by Jack born in New Jersey.  Both of these Brittany dogs were born in October 2009, just a couple of weeks apart.  They have literally grown up together, and have always been very close.  For 3 years they have played together, teased each other, taken naps together, been trained together, hunted together and more. It has been very enjoyable to observe their development. They each have their own page at our own J&A's Maine Brittany website

Wish Upon A Star - Frequently!
True and Piper are full cousins, sharing the same grandmother and that is our beautiful senior liver and white girl, Wish (Birch Spring Wish Upon A Star, breeders Phillip and Sherri Thayer.) True and Piper pups will make her a great-grandmother, now for the third time. We have always said if cloning were possible that it would be Wish we'd most like to clone. Even so, Wish has been true to consistently pass on attributes which John and I highly value in our breeding program here, attributes we want to remain strong in our line.

Over time and primarily through the progeny of Wish a gene pool has developed. A lot of genetic information is readily available to us regarding sound health, temperament, natural instincts, hunting ability, structure and more. We have enough confidence in our breeding program to safely breed back into it.  The first time we did this was in 2012 when Treasure was bred to Bullet. We could not be more pleased!  And we expect no less this time breeding True to Piper.

Likewise, there are times we look to a complete out cross to bring in additional strengths and improve upon what we have. We have done this a few times with wonderful results and will continue to do so when needed. I do not pretend to be an expert on genetics but I enjoy every learning opportunity I am afforded. Our own canine crew has been the very best of teachers!

Now It Begins
I look forward to faithfully sharing the journey of these next few weeks of waiting for pups with you. Especially those families who will bring one of these precious pups into your homes. We know there is some uncertainty as to availability but we will work all of that out as I have already shared. By follow along in the book "Art of Raising a Puppy" by Monks of New Skete you will understand what is going on here. That book will be so helpful and enjoyable as Piper approaches her own time of laboring and as the puppies develop and grow.

As always thank you so much for your interest.  I do love writing about all of these things.  It is a blessing each time we have a litter of puppies for so many reasons. One of them is due to the very special friendships that often develop with those who are waiting with us. And so it begins... take care and God bless, John, Ann & All Things Brittany

PUPPY AVAILABILITY
It is fair to say this entire litter is spoken for. As we maintain an ongoing waiting list however we will still be happy to accept inquiries because a wait is usually involved for our Brittanys.