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.