As promised, here are photos of Miss Jersey's puppies.
She was acting like she was in labor for the week preceding the births. I would stay up most nights until well into the early morning as she snuggled up with me. Between her restlessness, panting and leaking, I thought for sure tonight was the night, each and every single night for a week!
Friday night, I stayed up with her until about 1:30 AM. I put her back outdoors in her dog house (just outside the slider doors) and went to bed. Imagine my surprise when I woke up at 5:00 AM to see not one but two little puppies nursing. Before I left at 7:00 AM, she had four pups. When I called home a few hours later, she was at six. By the time I came home, she had delivered nine! She was inside, resting in her whelping box when I came home from class. We spent Saturday night watching her care for her new babies.
This morning, I was sitting next to her box watching as the puppies nursed and wiggled all over. All of a sudden, she shifted her leg, lifted her tail and delivered her tenth puppy nearly 21 hours after she had delivered her ninth. This precious baby was born still and appeared to be the runt of the litter. We allowed her to clean and care for the pup before removing it from the whelping box. My heart broke! I happened to have a little white box that had a pretty bow attached to it. We let the kids sign the box and this evening, the sweet baby was buried. Some of the kids took it harder than others. My heart broke for them as well. It's such a difficult thing for them to go through and accept. Even though it's part of life, it doesn't make it any easier to deal with.
The nine remaining pups are just adorable. They have the most unique markings that I've ever seen on a dog. Jersey is Great Dane and Black Lab. She mated with a Golden Retriever! The puppies are nearly 1/2 the size (at birth) as what our six week old beagles are. They are going to be very-big-dogs! If they have their Momma's disposition, they will be wonderful pets! I hate to admit it but I'm already attached to them. *sigh*
What do you think? Have you ever seen such interesting puppies before?
See our Flickr account for some close-up photos of the pups. I'll try to take more photos tomorrow too!
Have a great day!
1 comment:
AW! They are all SO darn cute! That's A LOT of puppies! So sad about the last one =(
The kids and I have taken to the one that looks like Mom. The grey and black spotted one. If we lived anywhere near you we'd take him!
So what are your plans...are you going to give them away or sell them? Keep some?
Congrats to the new mommy!
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