Breeding and raising puppies comes with so many highs and (hopefully) only a few lows. Today we had both. First the tragic news: When Dale went to check on the puppies first thing this morning, he found that Girl #4 had passed in the night. We had no indication that anything was wrong with her. She was eating, crawling and acting as a normal 6 day old pup would. There were no signs of trauma. The only sign was that she had not gained weight when I weighed the puppies on day 6. This is not unusual since the previous days weight could have been right after nursing so puppy has a full belly and todays weight is before nursing. Dale and I quietly buried her next to her sister. Now for some happy news: The pups are 1 week old. I cant believe the week went by so fast. The pups are all gaining weight. Boy #2 has made it to 2 pounds. Girl #2 and Boy #1 are only 1 ounce behind. Girl #1 and Girl #3 are just a few ounces behind them. Girl #2 was the first one to get up off her belly and take a few steps walking today. She was not happy with me disturbing her and was motivated to get back to her littermates as quickly as she could. Boy #2 is starting to show signs as the noisiest of the bunch. He makes noise almost constantly, whether nursing, sleeping, or especially when he is upset or uncomfortable. Boy #1 is still my laid back puppy. He is motivated to find Destiny, but is then content to snooze wherever he ends up. Girl #1 is my laid back girl. She seems to be very deliberate in her actions. Im guessing she is my thinker. Girl #3 continues to be fiesty. Still the one of the first to find Destiny. Looking at her now, you would have never thought she started out so far behind the rest. I am thankful that the highs normally outweigh the lows. But the lows always seem to make me re-think the choice to become a breeder. I take each loss so hard and even feel guilt as it was my choice to allow the mating to happen. I have to remind myself that nature has her own set of rules and I dont always get to understand. Make sure you love on your family (both 2-legged and 4) as we never know what could happen.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 04:59:59 +0000
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