Dogs give birth two at a time but generally five minutes apart in order to give mom time to clean up baby and have them breathing on their own before the next one arrives. Then about half an hour after that the next two appear and the process begins all over. Emma had given birth to both babies at the same time (assuming because she had already passed the afterbirth) and the one was still lying in her sack unattended. I quickly moved the baby up to Emma for immediate care and she worked on it but it was too late. There was barely any life in the little thing. I performed CPR as per instructions in our breeding book and though the tiny creature made a few gasps of air, it had no life in it and far from able to feed. I layed it next to Emma and watched as she cleaned it up some more, rolled it around until it was tucked under her cheek.
The best New Year's gift of all...new year babies! Our goldens, Emma and Ryder, gave birth to 10 beautiful puppies. For her first time, Emma did extraordinary! The birth went without incident on Emma's part and after she expelled the afterbirth after the eigth baby, we thought that was it and left her alone with her babies and went to make supper. I decided to pop in for a quick peak to make sure everything was fine and found two more babies! Dogs give birth two at a time but generally five minutes apart in order to give mom time to clean up baby and have them breathing on their own before the next one arrives. Then about half an hour after that the next two appear and the process begins all over. Emma had given birth to both babies at the same time (assuming because she had already passed the afterbirth) and the one was still lying in her sack unattended. I quickly moved the baby up to Emma for immediate care and she worked on it but it was too late. There was barely any life in the little thing. I performed CPR as per instructions in our breeding book and though the tiny creature made a few gasps of air, it had no life in it and far from able to feed. I layed it next to Emma and watched as she cleaned it up some more, rolled it around until it was tucked under her cheek. I started to cry as I realized that Emma was comforting the baby until it eventually slipped away. They stayed in that position for a long time, while I sat and cried. Then remarkably, I noticed the baby's belly rise and fall and knew it was still alive. Then it cried...and moved. It had lived! Somehow Emma had saved it's life. Not sure if she did it intentionally or not, but she had placed the puppy over her arm and pressed down on it with her cheek, forcing the fluid out of it's lungs. It still had no interest in feeding but it was rolling around and crying as the others and this morning it still lives and has been eating up a storm. We are so thrilled and extremely happy that Emma got through the birth without any trouble or health issues. She is by far our most favourite dog and it would have been devastating to loose her. But now, we are able to enjoy miniature versions of her. Ten little versions!
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Just looked at my last blog entry and it was dated a week ago! Hadn't even realized I've been gone so long. Anyway, wasn't a whole lot busy but it was a satisfying week. We babysat my sister's little dog which was great fun for Dodge and Maggie. My son learned how to ride his bike without training wheels. My baby apple tree produced one great big juicy apple. My wonderful hen has been doing a great job of filling my fridge. So I thanked her by finally building her and her girlfriends some nesting boxes and be done with the recycling box she had been using. And yesterday we celebrating Not Going Back to School day with a field trip to the Toronto Zoo. Summer has finally left our part of the world (hence my son's sweartshirt) which has me breathing a sigh of relief. I need to spend some time indoors and fixing up the place. I had really wanted to be done redecorating by Christmas and that time will fly by if I don't get started soon.
I couldn't resist bringing this little girl home. She reminded me so much of Dodge. We've named her Maggie. She's an angel of a dog and is happy as all can be outside. But has an utter fear of being inside our house, obviously there is a troubled past here. We discovered Dodge too had some issues but after living with us for the past couple weeks, he is starting to come around and is a happy little dog now. It seems I always find the puppies with a troubled past or not from the best of condition homes. Or maybe they find me.
Yesterday was vet day. We took Dodge in to get neutered and while there we brought the goldens in to get some shots and a check up. I was slightly concerned for Emma as she started limping for no reason, but thankfully the vet checked her all over and couldn't find anything wrong with her. When looking for a dog for my boy, I knew I wanted an older dog but not too old, just enough to have passed the puppy stage and training stage. Yet, young enough if not trained properly I could correct. If he were already neutered that would have been a bonus. At the age of two, Dodge turned out to be everything I envisioned my boy's dog to be. Unfortunately, however, he did not come neutered. Perhaps I should have waited a bit to make sure he had no behavour problems or get a physical before getting him neutered, but with Emma being unspayed and Ryder not neutered, that was not an option. Any dog that comes onto our property must be fixed. And if things really didn't work out, at least I feel better knowing I'm keeping unwanted puppy pregnacies down. Anyway, he came out of the surgery fine, but won't stop licking the wound. That is obviously a no-no but the vet's don't put those cone collars on them anymore. The stitches are on the inside so no fear of the dog opening up the incision, but by licking it they can cause infection and delay healing. So I made him a cone myself out of cardboard from a case of pop. But it wasn't sturdy enough and kept blocking his view causing him to walk into things and hence damaging the cone. Listening to him lick his wound all night long I knew I had to come up with a better plan. Hey, at least it works! Much to Dodge's frustration. In other news from around the farm, rooster #2 has revealed himself. That would be my chantecler whom I had suspected was a rooster when he challenged the turkies when noone else did. I'd say my odds are pretty good considering he is the only rooster out of my six chanteclers.
For never having seen a horse before, Dodge fell in love with Chase at first sight and attached himself to his heel like a suckerfish to a shark. Farm Girl couldn't even ditch the pup when she went off riding. Oh well, it's a good thing they both enjoy the company of dogs.
My boy has been wanting a dog of his own for a while now. He even had his name already picked out. But his number one choice in breeds had me hesitating in getting him one. About a year ago when my daughter was volunteering at the humane society, we popped in to visit the animals while waiting for her to finish up. There was a Jack Russell there that literally bounced up and down in his cage which tickled my boy's funny bone and had him wanting a Jack Russell ever since. I did my research on Jack Russell's and new they weren't a good match for me, the primary caretaker. Beagles on the other hand, were more my style. Of course they were a little low-keyed for a hyper boy like mine so new we had to meet in the middle somewhere. Enter this little fellow. A jack russell/beagle cross. Not only did he win my boy over, but he melted all our hearts on first meet. And if you are wondering what my boy named him, here's a hint (and yes we had the kerchief bought long ago).
Anyone recognize this bug? There was a gazillion on our trees. I looked them up but wasn't able to really pinpoint what bug they are. But I can tell you that these are actually not the bugs themselves, as creepy as they are, they are actually just the shells left behind. I do believe they are part of the tree beetle family. Can you guess what these kitties are doing? If you guessed nursing, you are absolutely correct. But I bet you didn't guess that it was with her. No, she's not lactating, but the kitties don't care and Emma loves to comfort them. And what's making Ryder so happy? His new dog run, of course! This also makes his owner very happy as well since we've lost him to the swamp once too many times. And finally, who's this little critter with his eyes already open?! Why that's one of Odette's babies! She is a great mother and has only lost the one baby but that was entirely our fault as we did not secure her cage properly. She has since been moved to the rabbit brooder where no barn predators (aka cats) can get at her babies. All remaining six are doing great, bouncing around the brooder and getting nice and plump! That's my girl! Way to go Odette!
I'm a self-proclaimed scavanger hunter. I don't recall buying something brand new from a store in a long time. I'm on Kijiji hourly scowering for deals. Thanks to that site, my finances have improved dramatically. I can now have things without going into debt for them. Some deals are better than others. Some are downright steals. As in this purchase. An oversized dog run for $50.00! And if that deal wasn't sweet enough, I actually got TWO of these identical dog runs for that price! I had to drive an hour's away to the SPCA (the pound) who was selling them to pick them up, spent nearly two hours taking them apart, but for that price it was so worth it! And he took my telephone number because he may be selling more as they are renovating! Now that is one sweet deal!
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