All of my pregnant girls girls sleeping bed with me so that I can be awoken by the signs of an impending whelp.  Barbie is so textbook that the nesting and/or panting is a sure fire way to wake me. Oddly enough I woke to a huge wet spot in the bed that made me initially think someone had the audacity to pee in the bed. Like, “empty the bladder” pee in the bed! And that’s what I thought had happened for the next 40 minutes.

Barbie Whelping 7-31We went downstairs to feed the dogs their breakfast. When I realized that Barbie wasn’t eating – a major sign of an impending whelp – I reach down to pick her to get a temp check and realized that her entire rear end was sopping wet. I found the source to the wet bed!

The next 45 minutes were spent watching Barbie move her babies down towards the birth canal. Once they moved down, in true classic Barbie style, it all moved pretty fast. Her first puppy, a black and tan boy, arrived weighing in at 3.3 ozs. As with all Barbie litters, her second puppy was right behind the first, arriving minutes later. Our second black and tan boy weighed 3.4 ozs. but he has a lot more white markings.

 

For the next hour, Barbie worked on getting the placenta’s out.  That is one thing that is beyond nerve wracking during her whelping – the pups come out but the placentas stay in for an unnerving length of time. The first came out with ease but the second took some work but was immediately followed with her third puppy. It was delivered with the placenta all in one! Yahoo! Our first girl is the largest in the litter, weighing in at 4.2 ozs and is marked with the most amazingly placed spots!

For the next 20 minute she worked on betting out puppy number 4. I knew immediately something was wrong when I saw the green discharge. It was a 2.3 oz TINY spotted male that arrived out of the sack. While I worked on him, Barbie worked on cleaning herself and then pushing out the fifth puppy. There are several techniques used on struggling newborn pups to help clear the lungs and airways. We did them all on her tiny one but with no heartbeat, it was finally called at 2:50 pm.

Returning to whelping box we welcomed Barbie’s next puppy, a third black and tan boy, weighing 3.3 oz. and this guy has a tiny sliver of white on his head. 10 minutes later her final puppy arrived. Another black and tan but this one is her second girl! the second largest on the litter, she weighed in at 3.6 oz.

Welcome Harry and Barbie babies! Mom and babies are down great! They are warm and dry, cuddled up and ready take on the world!

 

 

They Have Been Claimed!
Great First Day