Happy / Sad

Happy / Sad was Originally Posted on June 21, 2012 by lavarock

I use quotes from the movie “Oh God” for discussions where I mention that “you cannot have good without bad or hot without cold”.

O`Lena gave birth to 11 pouppies within just a 3 hour period. Those of you who have attended canine births can attest that is very fast! In fact, there can be three hours between just two puppies being born.

Although the first 10 pups were delivered healthy, the 11th, a chocolate female Labrador was not. The happy event was tainted slightly bcause of the last pup, but suffice it to say, I am very happy that the 10 and Mom are very healthy and doing fine. Because of the breeding that took place, there could only have been 4 varieties of pups out of 6. There could not be yellow Labs but I expected both black and chocolates and that is what I got.

So when the dust settled, there are 4 black females, 1 black male, 2 chocolate females and 3 chocolate males. In other words, 5 black pups and 5 chocolate. Also that works out to 6 females and 4 males. So it is a fairly even distribution.

I think I mentioned once that O`Lena is a liker. She licks people, dogs, the carpet, the bed, well you get the idea. She has licked these puppies so much I’m afraid their fur will come off. She has done an exceptional job caring for the pups and since the delivery she has only beed out of the whelping box for bathroom and food breaks. Even those she has limited to about 5 minutes each.

It seems that the pups are nursing and nobody is having any problems.

She missed Fathers Day by a day, but the Mom has little to do with the delivery day. As understand it, the puppies cause the birth process when they are ready.

Mom and pups will head to the farm on Friday, where I have a perfect spot set aside for the whelping box. It will be a complicated procedure I have over the next few weeks. Besides settg up a kennel for the growing pups and starting their feeding of real meat after weaning, I will need to update the website with their photos, take deposits and prepare lots of paperwork for the eventual sale.

There will also need to be shots and tests to ensure the buyers are well informed and get a healthy dog that will become a partof the family for well over a decade.

Photos will be posted here when I get them out of the cameras and can get them ready for the internet.