Last night the kids stayed with Grandma because there wasn’t any school today, so Jeanne and I had the night together alone. Then the power went out at 9pm and stayed off till midnight. Got up this morning and went to work, I only had half day. Put new tires on the van and cost a small fortune.
Anyway, came home and took the pups out to potty and play with mom. Put the birds away and such. Let the pups in the house and Mom followed them in and ran around some. Had to replace one of the bulbs in the chicken brooders. Then Gavin yelled that Yaco was out. Sure enough, there she was on the back of one of the kitchen chairs. So we started looking around and the door to her feed dish was open. Then we found some chewed things. Seems she came over to where my slip on shoes were and made a meal of them. Chewed the side out of one and most of the padding in the bottom. Over by the front door she chewed the top of one of my boots. Can’t see where she got into the chicks or any of the things under them. Good thing she didn’t chew on some of the electrical cords that were near the shoes. So looks like she had a great day just roaming around the house all day.
Guess we just kind of looked at the cage and didn't register that Yaco wasn't there. And she must really love me, because she only chewed on my things and not any one elses.
Marshmallow getting trimmed before she has her pups.
As we stated in a previous post, our new dog is definitely pregnant. And probably due any day now. So we have been wracking our brains trying to figure out how we are going to deal with this. I mean, let’s face it. There will be plenty of time to deal with finding homes for pups some where down the road. Right now, we need to be thinking about the pups getting here.
So we have both been doing some cramming and reading about pups and how long pregnancy lasts and what the signs of impending delivery are. Or “Whelping” as the proper term goes. One of the things almost every article tells you to do is start taking their temperature. And since dogs don’t hold thermometers under tongues very well, you have to take a rectal temp. And you can’t re-use the thermometer on humans, so that is kind of out. We haven’t got a digital doggie thermometer. It is supposed to drop a few degrees a day or so before delivery. The other thing is says is they stop eating, may even regurgitate the previous meal.
So came home tonight and she hadn’t eaten, hadn’t even touched the bowl of food I put out for her this morning. So gave it to the chickens and got a fresh bowl. She didn’t touch it. Put some turkey broth on it and she ate it. OK, some of it.
And when she walks her belly hangs down, way down. Like she’s gonna give birth any time now. And the thought that keeps going through my mind is a woman that is 9 months pregnant and was due yesterday, the way it hangs down and way out. And when you look at the timing of it, things look like this. We got her on or about 5 November; today is 19 December, which is about 45 days. The average is 59-63 days. And if she still had 2 weeks or so to go, no way she would be looking as pregnant as she does right now. Which means she got pregnant before we got her, but how many days we aren’t sure.
The weather today got up into the upper 40s, and tonight is should get down to just below freezing. So if we leave her outside and she goes into labor, we might not know and the temps would surely get the pups. So we made the decision to bring her inside. Re-arranged the laundry room, took the shelves out and put the stuff on it all over the house. Brought in 2 wooden frames from the garden and put her bed spread over it. That will make the whelping box for her. Will keep the puppies in and she can get in and out if she needs to. Got the clippers out and shaved her belly and nipples. While I was doing that I felt a puppy move and later Jeanne felt one move also.
So… Now I have a dog back in my laundry room, and this one is pregnant! And she could have puppies tonight. Or tomorrow. Or guess she could just wait another week or so. But so far she hasn’t chewed anything. LOL!!
Then after we got Marshmallow clipped and were getting ready to give her a bath, I got this bright idea for a picture. So I got Yaco out of her cage and tried to put her on Marshmallow’s back. But Marshmallow sat down and Yaco wouldn’t sit on the sloped back. The dog wouldn’t stand up so we got her to lay down. Of course, the dog turns her head around to check out the bird and Yaco bites her lip. Smart bird. But it wasn’t much and she let go right away. Marshmallow just laid there and let her sit in her back and I took a couple pictures. I think she is going to be a great dog. Other than being pregnant, so far what I’ve seen is everything I’ve wanted in a dog for the farm. Now maybe I’ll get to have a couple of them.
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