But when we woke this morning to Milly panting up a storm so I knew they were coming today! To the whelping box we went AGAIN and Milly panted and paced and dug and then…. she whined.

She NEVER whines! Ever! She’s a silent whelper!!! And this was not her first time. We were waiting over 4 hours and still no puppy – Totally unlike her. I knew we had a problem! Off to Dr. Rodgers in Lakeland we were headed!!!!

The drive was rather uneventful – My co-pilot was a real trooper. Keeping herself calm and staying focused the the task at hand. I swear she knew I was on a mission helper – I could see it in her eyes!

Dr. Rodgers was amazing, AS ALWAYS and got her right into surgery. We had 6 puppies in there but the boy that was stuck didn’t make it. He was positioned across the birth canal, blocking the way for all of the others, hence…. no progress on the whelping and lots of whining!!!

We had five happy and healthy puppies in shades of black to blue. Two girls and three boys. Milly took right to them, even while coming to from her anesthesia! Man oh man is she an amazing mother!!! And we have ourselves a stunning litter of puppies!

As we drove home and I got them all settled I thought long and hard about this whole whelp watch. Two fulls days waiting for their dramatic arrival -Same way I come into the world! An entire week early for me though! So with that said, these puppies were being named after birthday cocktails! Decision made!!!

A natural mommy, Milly has this whole whelping thing down but dang is she ready to go! She like popped over night it seems! Any day now!!!

I mean in a BREEDING YAHOOOOO!!!

February Milly-Tino Bey Beys!

First, this would be Margie’s last breeding and then she will retire with us permanently. I’m very excited to see what she produces. She’ll be going back to Rayna next week for her breeding.

Millie will be bred to Tino! This will be his first breeding and potentially her last! This will be a line breeding her paternal side and I am excited to see what the results are. Fingers crossed everyone!!!!!

She started to show signs of going into labor around 5:00pm. I figured I had a few hours before the pushing would start. She had eaten her food at 1:00pm so I assumed it would be an early morning arrival. I had a 6:00pm appointment so I left her in the peace and quite of the whelping room. To my surprise, when I returned at 8:00pm I was greeted by her first puppy already having been born, cleaned and she was nursing! (a girl weighing 4 ozs.) Milly was actually pushing out the next puppy as I walked into the room. It was from that point forward that I got to watch my very first “ALL BY HERSELF” whelping. I mean, she did EVERYTHING without my help! She was amazing!

Her second puppy was a boy, weighing in at 3.7 ozs.. She took a 45 minute break and then whelped the next two at the same time! Another boy (3.2 ozs.) and another girl! (2.6 ozs.) 36 minutes later her fifth puppy and third boy arrived – the biggest in the litter, he weighed in at 4.5 ozs. All five puppies here in just over an hour and a half. She’s was amazing!! And all of he puppies are doing fantastic. I assume she will be like her mom and grandma and grow them the outside. They always had uber-milk – Let’s see if she follows suit!

We caught it just in the nick and time that’s for sure. Once we got in there it was apparent that the breeding did in fact take. There were seven embryo sacks but two were seconds from rupturing. It appeared as though two of the sacks had already tried to self-heal, with what looked to be scar tissue attached to them. Once ruptured to get a sample for testing it was clear she was filled with infection. If they had ruptured she would’ve died for sure.

I cannot tell you how happy I am that we caught this I have followed my gut. Barbie has lived to tell the tale and live from this day forward as a spayed, happy and healthy girl.

62 days past the first day we noticed her flagging, Milly birthed and cleaned up all on her own, a single 5 3/4 oz black and tan boy that we have actually decided to name “Oops!”

He is healthy as ever and clearly was way up in his mommy’s ribs yesterday, slowly working his way down early this morning. And it turns out that Milly is an amazing mother!!! Seriously! She is rather calm and affectionate but also very attentive. Boy did I have it all wrong. Pleasantly surprised but willing to admit my failure I am thrilled to see we have such an amazing outcome.

She did have me for a moment – I even brought the whelping box upstairs, and put her in the guest bedroom. I felt her abdomen, palpating to see if I could feel anything. Not only was there no puppy bumps or movement but never once did I feel her contract or push. Her teats are swollen but there is no milk production – This poor baby is going through a major false pregnancy!

I have wondered about her hormone levels since we did try to breed her last year and it didn’t take. Also, she’s a chunky one, like her grandmother POST spay and unlike her grandmother and mother who are total fertile myrtles never producing less than three puppies – most commonly five – in a litter.

Since a false pregnancy is all about the hormones, this further confirms my thoughts. I see a well deserved spay in her future.

We 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!