This site was last updated 31-12-2003 ©The Sounding Burrows
Sunday 28-07-2002
So far so good: July 28 2002 at 00:25 she started labour and by 00:55 the first pup is born. Exactly what I was hoping for: a little black girl!!! But she is tiny, only 138 grams. Luckily she is very lively. She came out backlegs first, very quietly. Not like Rune in Fescue's litter. Ashop has eaten the placenta and I removed the fleece, because she started at the hindlegs and I feared it might take too long. It was very though. By the way Ashop did exactly what I suspected she would do: she gave birth on my bed and used me as a crate. I was curled up in a extended foetalposition with her close to my belly, just like we normally sleep. She used my hands to push her feet against. My mom came to assist, but no other pup would come. I could feel at least one other pup and finally got the bright idea to send my mom pakking. That did the trick. As soon as we lay down again to go to sleep a second pup appeared. It came out easily with a very small placenta, that Ashop ate so fast I thought she would eat the pup along with it. But it went alright. At 03:12 she was born, this second black female, but she is tiny, oh ... tiny. Only 96 grams. Her fleece was even thougher than the one on puppy one. I had to use both my hands to be sure I got it off. At 03:19 both pups are looking for a tit and doing fine. Ashop is not showing any sighs of labour, so we doze off. Works perfectly. No other pups appear and at 06:30 the two already look more firm than at birth. Let's keep our fingers crossed all stays this well.
July 27.
One spindly legged little girl is born. Lively and sweet, she didn't give Ashop any trouble.
I am the living wall that supports her :-)
The second girl has joined us.
Dried up a bit and keeping me waiting for another - silly me, there is no other.
Can you see them?
All cleaned up, she has tucked them safely away and goes to sleep.
For me it is time to get up and take care of everybody else. But I have a trick up my sleeve: I have brought Fescue, Tryfan and Bailey and Rune to my mom's house. Only Ashop, the pups, Larousse and me remain. Round about noon I will go to my mom's and walk the dogs, but for now it is very nice and quiet here. You wonder why Larousse stays? Ashop loves him and he is the one that will stay with us, so I want to break his bond with Fescue. It is no good to make a mommy's boy out of him. (And he is still too small to get onto the bed, so he doesn't bother Ashop at all)
Tuesday 30-07-2002
We have been struck by a heatwave that makes it impossible for me to stay at my place with the pups. It would be a certain death sentence. So in the late afternoon of Sunday 28-07 Ashop and the pups also moved to my mom's house. Little Glee with her 96 grams is so small she can barely get to her mom's tits and takes a tumble everytime she has eaten. This results in coughing and a mouthful of bubbling milk, scaring the hell out of me. But we found a way round it: I lift her up a little when she has gotten hold of a tit, making it easier for her to drink and when she is done I gently place her back on the bedding and she has coughed no more! I have kept it up for the past two days and she has increased to 110 grams and she doesn't look like a little bird that has fallen out of the nest anymore. She looks like Henbane when she was born. Henbane on the other hand with a 168 grams starts looking like a normal Lakelandpup. No spindly legs anymore, but round and strong. And they both have a very strong will to live, Glee surprisingly strong. We are not out of the woods yet, but we have survived the first two days and it is my holiday so I can spent all my time on them. My mom is so wonderful: she takes care of all the others. Only Fescue and Tryfan I walk myself, but they need very little in this heat. Even in the house it is 24 to 26 degrees, even though we have taken every precaution to keep out the sun and the hot air. It is very scary leaving Ashop alone that half hour or so and at first my mom took my place, but she doesn't like that. She hovers over the pups and might even lie on them to keep them out of sight. So now I just leave her on her own. Trouble is with the heat she tends to want to 'make up her bed', that is dig a hole into the bedding, piling the lot into a corner. I'm afraid she might pile it on top of a pup ... In every other respect she is a wonderful mother, very patient and caring. She is protective, but trusts me enough to let me handle the pups in any way I see fit. This enables me to lift them up when she makes up her bed and keeping hold of Glee when she feeds.
Two spindly little girls, with heads on stilts, a couple of hours after birth.
Ashop and girls.
I don't have the exact timing to go with these photo's, because, in those 6 days staying at my mom's spare room, I lost track of time.
A bit hard to see, but this is Ashop's face with Glee just under her chin.
In the meantime, the three rascals are destroying my mom's garden and generally have a lot of fun.
(If my mom is still laughing I can't tell ...)
Anyway, Bailey has been sold and so only two remain. Rune is still waiting for someone appropriate and Larousse will stay with me.
Ashop is taking care of her family and they are growing!
Here and on the next photo's you can see they start to look like normal lakeypups.
The difference between them can now clearly be seen. Glee is here about 120 gram, Henbane 240.
Typically Ashop.
Here it goes on
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