Newborns

Okay the final count is:

12. 3 black girls, 2 chocolate girls, 1 black boy, 6 chocolate boys. No wonder Gretchen was so big. The first two are the biggest, about the normal for what we usually get and the rest are very small. I gave her a shot when she was finished. This morning I gave her a small dish yogurt and a bowl of canned/dry food with an egg. I told Wes that she is going to need to eat all day long. She was already losing body fat before the babies came. Gretchen is all cleaned up and back with the babies, they are muttering to her. They woke me up a few times last night and I had to get up and make sure no one was under mom. She is really good about scooting everyone over so she can lay down and nurse.

Puppies!!

Puppies are finally arriving.

July 25th, 2009 morning

Good morning, the wait continues. After going out to pee, Gretchen is now back in her box, laying on her side with a leg resting up on the box wall. Most be more comfortable to have the leg up. We are watching the country music count down on TV, down to number 4. I got to get up and get started on my Saturday morning cleaning. Gretchen is back to pretending to sleep.

July 25th, 2009

So this is my first entry. It used to be that this would start out as "Dear Diary" funny how times have changed. Now everything we do and say is on the net. Since this is the end of the day for me, I am waiting for sleep to hit me. I don't know if I can sleep. You see I am waiting for puppies. I have been waiting for puppies all week. Gretchen is apparently on her own schedule not on my schedule which says that she should have had puppies five days ago. So now I watch her for any signs and she just stares back at me. Gretchen is a labradoodle. She is a third generation with a flatter coat, she does shed a little. Gretchen is my only shedding dog. I only really notice it when I'm sweeping the stairs. For some reason going up and down stairs is enough to jar loose hair off to collect in the corners of the steps.

Okay we just had another staring contest. She looks sleepy. I'll probably fall asleep and then she will try to sneak them out. She did this with her last litter. I had gotten off work and was settled in for the night, fell asleep and woke up two or three hours later to the sound of babies. She managed to have two before I caught her in the act. Good thing too that I woke up, one of the puppies didn't start breathing right away and we spent what felt like a lifetime rubbing him and squeezing his belly to discharge birthing fluid and blowing into his nose. He made it.

Gretchen's belly looks like a pig's belly. I cut the hair off her belly to make it easier for her babies to nurse and to keep her and them as clean as possible. So she is all pink and swollen belly and full titties. She just moved, so I paused to watch her settle back down again. Gretchen's babies will be chocolate or black. That's all that daddy Fritz will father, he has strong DNA and black is a dominate color. Fritz is a standard poodle. He is so smart. Every morning when I get up he fetches my shoes for me, I didn't teach him to do this, he just started doing it on his own. Mornings are special time for Fritz, it's when he gets extra attention and petting. He has such a nice soft coat.

Well nothing's on TV but infomercials and Gretchen is pretending to sleep, so I think that I'm going to go to sleep also.