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| Fat tummies - Juli has lots of milk |
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| The pups have outgrown their hairband collars and are now identified with dabs of nontoxic paint. |
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| Green and Light Blue boys |
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| Red boy on top of Dark Blue boy |
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Day 4 puppy pics
Saturday, September 29, 2012
More Puppy Pics
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| Close up of puppies in the holding tub |
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| The girls |
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| The boys |
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| Black boy |
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| Cream colored Light Blue boy and Black boy, the darkest pup, showing off the color range in this litter |
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| Another view of the color spectrum |
Day 3
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Day 1
We had a quiet night, and Juli and the pups are doing marvelously. Once again, Juli is being an exceptional mama and has lots of milk. All the pups gained weight over night, at least 1/2 oz each. Yellow boy gained 1.5 oz. Seven of the pups already weigh over 1 lb, and the two smaller pups (Green boy and Pink girl) both gained 1 oz each. Juliette's body temperature was normal (it is very common for the dam to have a low grade fever after whelping) and she eagerly ate breakfast. She is currently in speed toileting mode - dash outside, take care of business, and then dash back inside to the pups.
Collar Sex/color Time Birthweight 9/27/12
Dark blue M 6:25 pm 18.4 oz 19.2 oz
Black M 7:20 pm 17.4 oz 18.2 oz
Red M 7:25 pm 16 oz 16.8 oz
Pink F 8:00 pm 13.4 oz 14.6 oz
Orange M 8:25 pm 15.6 oz 16.6 oz
Green M 8:36 pm 12.2 oz 13.2 oz
Light blue M 8:49 pm 15.8 oz 16.8 oz
Yellow M 9:18 pm 17.6 oz 19 oz
Purple F 9:23 pm 16 oz 16.8 oz
Day 1 puppy pics
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| Immediately after the whelp, I had just tucked Juli and the pups into the small puppy pool in my bedroom. The other two pups were out of view between Juli's front legs. |
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| Green boy poking his nose out |
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| First morning after weigh in. In the holding tub while I changed the puppy pool bedding. |
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| Green boy in the holding tub after weighing |
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| Green boy curled up in Juli's tail. This little guy seems to like to be in all the pictures. |
Speedy Delivery
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First born pup, shortly after birth. We later changed his collar color to Dark Blue.
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| A tired Juliette with her new brood, tucked into the bedroom puppy pool for their first night together. |
The ADI conference was Mon-Wed, and Juliette was due Tues or Wed. I had made arrangements for two vet tech friends with lots of breeding/whelping experience to be on call. Monday and Tuesday were uneventful - Juliette ate and had no indications of pre-whelp anxiety. Skipping a meal is one of the best indications of an imminent whelp, usually within 12-24 hours. Nancy kindly checked in frequently on Juliette, and I was able to stay all day at the conference. Tuesday night, Juliette left a bit of her dinner, but Wed she ate breakfast. However, about an hour after breakfast, Juli started showing some early signs of Stage I labor (anxious, panting, nesting in plastic crate bedded with sheets). I called Nancy and the vet tech available during the day, and made arrangements for someone to be with Juli the rest of the day. I was guessing we were still at least 12 hours away from whelping, and that I should at least be able to give my morning presentations and chair the session at the ADI conference. I checked in at breaks, and all was well, with Juli showing some progression and Nancy not needing to call either of the vet techs. From past experience, we knew that Juli gives very little warning before starting to whelp. I ended up staying for the entire day of talks and finally got on my way home around 5:15 pm. I stopped off at the gas station near my house figuring it would be a good idea to have a full tank of gas should we need to make a dash to the emergency clinic. While pumping gas, a call came in on my work Blackberry (which was the back up number to contact me) - I had left my cell phone was on the seat in the car. It was Nancy, and her first question was "Where are you?", followed by "Juliette is having contractions". I was 5 minutes from home, so I sped home and was met at the door by a much relieved Nancy. She said that Juli was continuing to have contractions. It was 6 pm. I quickly changed clothes, we got Juliette out of the crate and into the large whelping pool, and moved the beloved den aka crate out of sight. At 6:10 pm Juliette's water broke and at 6:25 pm, Dark Blue boy entered the world, just 25 minutes after I got home. That was cutting it a bit close!! In true Juli fashion, she whelped at warp speed and delivered 9 puppies in 3 hours, 7 boys and 2 girls - a very easy whelp. The last pup out, Purple girl, was born at 9:23 pm. Juliette didn't even miss a meal, and she eagerly consumed a can of dog food after the whelp. Pups' birthweights ranged from 12.2 oz (Green boy) to 18.4 oz (Dark Blue boy). These pups are Golden Retrievers with a nice mix of light to dark gold. Juli's breeder caretaker was still at the conference when I called her with the update, but she managed to make it over for the birth of the last 5 pups.
More puppies on the way
End of July, Juliette and I made a trip out to Colorado to meet her latest beau, U-CH, U-CD,URO3 Star Crowned Brule Of Ocotilla CDX, RAE, CCA aka "Brule". Brule is a certified therapy dog and the sire of ICAN's Avalanche and Alpine. Juli was confirmed pregnant 4 weeks later and her due date was 9/25. Being her third litter and I thought a smaller litter, I was guessing that she would be one day late, thus 9/26 was the likely day of whelp. To complicate things, I was planning to attend the annual Assistance Dogs International Trainers Conference that was being hosted by ICAN in Indy, and was chairing part of the Wednesday session which was likely going to be around the time of the whelp.
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| Handsome Brule |
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