Hopefully we are pregnant

Our Cocker Spaniel C.C. came home a week ago. I am only now getting around to this entry because the day after she came home my son and daughter-in-law went on vacation. That left me home with 9 dogs, 2 cats, a ferret, a bearded dragon, several fish and my finches. The family got home last night and I was really glad to see them. By Wednesday I was ready to start adopting out dogs and releasing the cats in the front yard. Luckily the madness passed. Plus one of my son’s friends came over to stay with me on Thursday and took over much of the work.

We only know of one time that C.C. tied with her stud. Hopefully there were other ties that were not witnessed. I think it will be very exciting to have three pregnant dogs. Someone needs to develop a pregnancy test for dogs. Believe it or not I actually tried an EPT stick when Raina urinated on the bathroom rug. It did not work. We can only guess and hope at this point. Raina is behaving differently. She usually is aggressive with the other dogs thinking she is the boss. I just watched her roll over on her back and allow them to sniff her belly and “stuff”. It may be only that she hasn’t been spending much time with the others. It’s easier for me to keep the two Yorkies together. I still have to keep Ray away from Penny and Hamburger until I am sure they are no longer in heat. We should be able to feel puppies in a couple of weeks.

The "heat" goes on!

Our Penny is home! She was away from home for almost two weeks for breeding. Now comes the hard part; waiting to see if she is pregnant. Her full name is Monster Shiny New Penny. She arrived in our home about a year ago, a tiny, flea-ridden puppy. Now she is a beautiful young lady. Penny is very attached to my daughter-in-law and Shannon feels the same about Penny. When we arrived to pick Penny up, the dog began whining and straining at the leash the moment she saw Shannon.

I forgot to take my camera along to get a picture of the stud dog. He was also brindle color. His name is Bugs and he is just a little smaller than our Penny. She was away for so long because she was not ready for breeding yet. Bugs’ owner called after Bugs and Penny had managed to do the deed a couple of times. Shannon and I left the next morning to pick up our dog. When we got hung up in construction traffic, Shannon got so agitated I thought she might just park the car and start walking. She really missed that dog!

It looks like Sean and I will be going to pick up our third prospective mother on Sunday. Shannon got an email yesterday that C.C. and the cocker spaniel stud had successfully tied for the first time. By Sunday they will have had a few more opportunities. The stud is a beautiful parti-color. They should make some really pretty puppies. His picture is above.

I feel certain that Raina is pregnant. Her belly looks larger and her teats are swollen. By the end of June, we should be able to feel the little puppy fetuses. We are so optimistic that we have set up separate birthing areas for each of the dogs. We also have puppy food, formula and feeding bottles in case we have to hand feed puppies. I bought two books several months ago in preparation for this entire process. One of them is “Breeding Dogs For Dummies”. It seems that there is a “Dummy” book for everything and I felt it would be just about the right speed for me. I’ve had books on other subjects in the “Dummy” series and found them very useful. I’ve seen a calf born and tended to a friend’s cat while it gave birth, but I’ve never had a pregnant pet. I don’t think that having been pregnant and giving birth myself is going to help prepare me for this.

The way things have timed out, the births should be staggered, but the puppies should be ready to go to new homes in mid-September.