Full of babies!
We should have known the puppies were on their way a few days early. In the wee hours of the morning on July 31, I could hear Freddie licking her pack – human and canine. She was also panting.
By 8:00 a.m. I started sending emails that I wouldn’t be able to attend some meetings that day and I began wondering if we would even make our pre-scheduled vet appointment for an x-ray. Our vet is Dr. Doug Heffelfinger at Crestwood Vet Clinic, which is just a few minutes away from our house so we took a chance and off we went.
Doug laughed at the x-ray. Freddie was full of puppies. We had hoped to get a good head count but it was just not clear enough. We could see 8 skulls for sure – maybe more.
We arrived home at 11:00 a.m. and Freddie seemed ready to lie down in the whelping pen. She shivered and panted which is perfectly normal. Then at 11:53 a.m. with a couple of easy contractions, out came a sack. Freddie went right to work, licking and cleaning – we had our first chocolate boy.
The rest of the puppies came every 15 or 20 minutes and Freddie did an amazing job for a first time mama. It’s so interesting how the instincts kick in and she knew exactly what to do.
Final count – 8 vigorous puppies. Two gold – a boy and girl; two cream partis – a boy and a girl; and 4 chocolates – 3 girls and a boy. So 5 girls and 3 boys. All of them are a good size between 214 and 283 grams.
Mama and babies are well. Stay up to date by visiting our Facebook page.