Day 12...

Sabrina had me up and down all night long... this is going to be some day. :(
Of course now she is sleeping... brat!

Day 11 and Just Adorable...

Puppies are toddling around and trying to get up on their feet. They are howling a bit, when they want their Momma or maybe if they want me. Shoot, I may have them spoiled already! LOL When cleaning their quarters I can't help but pick them up and hug and cuddle them close and tell them I love them! They are just so precious right now. We have some ears opening up today, a bit early, but they generally start scratching their ear when they hear a noise... like "OH! That bugs my ear, what in the heck is that noise?"

Pigment is coming in well on all except for Boy One. He has a big pink nose! That is a first in 24 years! I never have missing pigment! Ha ha think again... a wise breeder never says never! LOL. If you stick with it long enough, things can happen once in awhile. Surprise! I am hoping some color will come in but I usually have nose and eyes almost all in at birth, so we shall see. While a pink nose can be cute on a pet, it is a major fault for showing. Boo Hiss, he is a pretty open marked pup with nice bone and strong rear and a straight crawler.

All is well. They are going to be up and crawling out of their pool soon... oh my! Eyes and ears should be opening soon. Then the fun really begins. Well... I take that back, the real "fun" begins when they start on weaning and eat their first puppy gruel and then puppy food. You know what happens when they eat... what goes in must come out. And unfortunately Momma dogs don't help keep it clean at that point.

10 Days old...

Sabrina had me a bit worried with soft stinky stools and not wanting to drink as much for a day and a half, no temperature and we are back on track, so that is very good. Puppies are chubby, happy and healthy. All is good. :)

These guys are so cuddly I can hardly stand it! I took this video yesterday. They are so CUTE and loveable! Oh my! Sabrina is such a happy mom, but that tail is dangerous.

I get some sleep some nights and some not so much. Can't blame Sabrina, she has to go out and potty alot since she is drinking buckets of water to keep her milk coming in good. She is a very good Momma Dog! I just can't always go right back to sleep.

1 Week Old Yesterday...

I had a really busy day yesterday. I meant to post this last night before I drifted off the sleep, but it was not a drift into sleep. It was like lay my head down and out like a light!

Pups are doing well. Getting cuter and cuter and fatter and fatter every day. Here are their weights from last night.

Six Days Old Today...

I started to take puppy head shots yesterday, but they didn't turn out so great in the lighting I had. Here are some head shots from today, Day 6!

Puppies 6 days old in the warming basket as I clean their quarters.

Everyone is chubby and happy and doing great. I started doing the puppy Early Neurological Stimulation exercises as outlined in this article: http://breedingbetterdogs.com/pdfFiles/articles/early_neurological_stimulation_en.pdf

Puppies are gaining by leaps and bounds...

Dew Claw Day...

Momma Julia got some sleep last night! TRIUMPH! I love ya Sabrina, but you just work me to the bone. So I decided to go sleep on the couch. Sabrina only got me up once during the night to potty so I did get a few consecutive hours of much needed rest. I was groggy this morning, but actually felt human again. vs... feeling like a zombie.

Sabrina watching over babies as I drive.

This morning we made a trip to the Vet to have our dew claws removed. Momma Sabrina took it all in stride and came along for the ride. Pups did well and it was all done quickly. Thank you to my vet!

We were a bit fussy and just wanted to nurse all the way there.

Babies sleeping in warming basket as we wait for the vet.

Black Boy 2.

In my zombie haze I missed the nightly weighing on Day 2 but weighed them first thing in the morning, so that was 2.5. I did not weigh them that evening, so no Day 3. That was my BIG ZOMBIE day. Sorry. 

Where did Yesterday Go?

I was truly a zombie yesterday. Lack of sleep is so hard. The good news is Sabrina and pups are doing Fantastic! Still all gaining weight and lots of milk available. Sabrina is an excellent mother. Here's a story on how tired I was... I was letting Sabrina out in the early hours of the morning. I had closed the back door and was leaning on it watching her though the window in the door. All of a sudden I am jolted awake by a pain in my arm. I had nodded off standing there and scraped my arm on the door somehow! Gee that is TIRED! LOL.

I did update the puppy weight chart this morning.

All pups are black except for Pup #3 is a Liver Boy.

Above is a video of the puppies trying to find Sabrina so they could nurse. They had been sleeping and she had been outside the whelping box and then she got in and was getting a drink of water. I found it cool that although their ear canals have not opened yet, nor their eyes, they KNEW she was there somewhere. We are HUNGRY... they are always hungry or sleeping.

It's going to be a LONG.... day!

Everything is going great, except for sleep. Sabrina was restless ALL night long. She had to go potty alot, was panting and up and down. I am so tired from lack of sleep and running up and down the stairs all day and all night. Part of the problem is Newt kept on standing by the baby gate on the entrance to the stairs and moofing and then barking at me. He wanted to come up to bed! This made Sabrina run to see Newt. She ADORES Newt. And then they both would go outside to potty together. She probably wouldn't have minded if he came up and slept in bed but it is a bit soon, IMO. I did take Sabrina's temperature again at 2:40 a.m. to see if perhaps she was running a fever to make her so restless. She was 102.0. A tad high, but it is normal for a new nursing mother to run just little hotter. Anything over 102 would need veterinary attention.

It is very important that pups get weighed every day for at least the first two weeks. The first two weeks are a very fragile and critical time. It would be very difficult for even the most astute breeder to notice a weight loss in newborn puppies until it was significant and possibly too late to save them. I use a digital kitchen scale. It is common for puppies to drop slightly from their birth weight the first day, but should start gaining every day after that. By a week of age puppies should have just about doubled their birth weight. Puppies that are not thriving and gaining weight will need some special attention. They may to be supplemented, or maybe just an extra hand at nursing where the breeder makes sure that pup gets on a nice full teat every time until he/she catches up. With only 5 puppies and all being strong with good nursing ability, the Sabreagle's all gained weight on Day 1! Good job puppers and Momma Sabrina for having lots of milk!

Video of puppies 2 days old.

We Have PUPPIES!!! YAHOO!

I would have posted last night but just too exhausted and kept dozing off while keeping an eye on pups. Sabrina did a great job, no complications, and delivered 5 healthy puppies! She delivered the first one at 2:50 p.m. and the last one at 5:12 p.m. on Thursday, June 18! That makes it sound so quick and easy. Well she and I were up all night and day with her nesting, and panting, and restlessness and wanting in and out. The pups moving around and moving into the birth canal puts pressure on the Momma Dog's bladder and makes them have to potty and poo alot before whelping. This means up and down the stairs a bajillion times.

Okay the count is 5 pups: 4 boys and 1 girl. No patches. I am not positive on the color yet, but thinking I have a liver boy. Will look closer when I weigh them today. All are healthy and nursing well immediately. It is important that they nurse within the first 2 hours of being born so they get the benefit of mother's colostrum (her 1st milk full of protection for the babies)! I am sorry mother nature pulled that fast one on some of those on my puppy list who wanted girls, but I am so glad Sabrina did so well, so thankful!

Sabrina with newborn puppies. All healthy and strong nursing reflex. 

Birth weights and in birth order:
#1 Boy - 14 oz
#2 Boy - 11 7/8 oz
#3 Boy - 14 1/2 oz
#4 Boy - 12 3/4 oz
#5 Girl - 13 3/8 oz

Yes, boy after boy... and I kept on saying you got to be kidding me... LOL. And then a GIRL! I was hoping for a couple more girls, but be thankful for what you get! Amen!

Progress... just a little at a time...

Whelping puppies is like trying to watch water boil... it just doesn't happen and doesn't happen and then small bubbles, and then all of a sudden it boils. We are just at the small bubble stages. Sabrina went outside to potty and discharged a mucous stringer... part of the mucous plug. YES!  I was getting worried. One book says 24 hours 'til delivery of 1st puppy after mucous plug. I have had it be 24 hours or within an hour or two. I am hoping/praying it is sooner than later. This keeps one on pins and needles until all are delivered safely.

Sabrina in warming basket.

I have the warming basket ready. I use a laundry basket with a heating pad in the bottom, soft towel or blanket on top and will use another small towel to cover the top. This is a safe warm place for puppies to go while she is delivering another puppy, while I am cleaning up or changing blankets during the whelping process, during weighing, or if a pup needs to warm up after being towel dried. Sabrina knows this is where the puppies go sometimes. She got excited when I set it down. She ran and looked into it. I told her "They are not in there yet. You have to have them first, sweetheart!" She went back into her whelping box, but then I turn around she she decided to just nest in the warming basket! That won't get them here any faster Sabrina! LOL

Nesting and 1st Stage Labor has begun... and begun... and begun..

Well last night around 10:30 p.m. Sabrina started following me all over the house and was very restless. Out to potty and then she ran upstairs to the whelping box and started the long nesting procedure of pawing and tearing at the blanket, moving it around, panting, looking at her rear, cleaning herself, resting, outside to potty and then repeat. ALL NIGHT LONG... I am so exhausted and no puppies yet. This can go on for 24 - 36 hours in normal conditions. I will keep you all posted... Send prayers. :)

A very happy nesting Sabrina... ALL night LONG! 

One Week to go....

This should have been posted on Sunday... sorry. Day 59 post is today!

Here is a photo of Sabrina on Sunday. No signs of impending delivery as of yet. Just a big stomach and one very happy Momma dog! The extended JLS family (owners and co-owners of JLS dogs) have started making guesses on number, colors and sexes of pups. Will be fun to see who is the closest!

 

Eagle is also happy as a lark out playing in "Newt's Yard"

Day 59 and on Puppy Whelping Watch...

Whelping box (I am actually using a kiddie pool for ease of use and cleanliness) is set up in my bedroom. Right next to my bed. That makes it convenient to try to catch a few minutes of z's here and there both until the pups arrive and after they arrive. Sabrina has gotten into the whelping box, sniffed the nice plush blanket, and then laid down on the cooler floor for a rest.

She is not showing any signs of whelping yet. Usually they start getting milk in their back teats about a week prior to delivery. As of this morning she did not have any milk yet. Hmmm.... Since her expected due date is this Sunday, I am wondering if she will come later than that. Sabrina is an excellent mother and always has tons of milk. She has come a day early in the past. They don't always follow the book on whelping, nor do they always follow the same pattern that they have previously.

She is looking pretty big to me. I did not do an ultrasound nor an xray. As tempting as it is to have a better idea as to how many, most of the time the counts are inaccurate. The repro place that does the ultra sound around here won't even try to do a count... they just confirm pregnancy. Well um... I do believe I can tell she is PG! LOL. A friend who reads many research papers read about xrays possibly causing dyslexia in human children. I sure don't want to mess up my puppies reading capabilities (joking) so I decided a few years ago to not do xrays. They only do xrays as an extreme emergency in humans so that is what I do for MY spotted children. :) I know dogs can't read, but what else could it possibly do? I would do one if medically necessary of course.

I have whelping supplies ready and setup: thermometer, scale to weigh newborns, blunt-edged scissors to cut umbilical cords if necessary, alcohol to sterilize scissors, small towels to rub puppies dry, ear syringe to help suck out any fluid let in nasal or throat, vaseline and surgical gloves in case I need to feel for a stuck puppy or assist in turning and easing a puppy out, rags to wipe up fluids, and lots of extra blankets to change out during whelping. (just to name the basics).

Is is important to take Sabrina's temperature at least three times a day, in hopes of catching the temperature drop. Sometimes it is obvious but many times it is easy to miss, if not taking it often. Temperature is supposed to drop 2 degrees about 24 hours before delivery is to begin. This can help you get a feel for possible dystocia (long delay in delivery) which could cause a loss of puppies and/or even the dam. Good breeders watch their dams closely and monitor everything so we know when it is necessary to get to the vet. Her temperature this morning is 99.7. The drop is usually 98 or below. It is also common for my girls to have a lower temperature in the morning. Just my experience over the years.