I have been trying to write about my health care journey for weeks, but it is too depressing. So I watch Great Dane puppies on a live cam to keep from going crazy or worse. Watching puppies brings me a lot of peace.
Tonite there is going to be a litter of Great Dane service dog pups born on a live cam. I have been looking forward to this for weeks.
The cam is hosted by explore.org and the pups are being born on the farm of the Service Dog Project in Ipswich, Mass.
SDP is run by a salt of the earth, 75 year old New England woman by the name of Carlene White. She has been raising Great Danes as service dogs for 10 years but before that she was an animal wrangler and trainer for advertising, tv and movies for 30 years. Carlene is quite the character, blending her immense knowledge with the wit of a wise, take no prisoners, suffer no fools, wonder woman.
She spends a lot of time trying not to curse like a sailor, if you know what I mean.
This program runs on volunteers and donations and she donates her dogs for free to their service partner humans. Great Danes happen to be perfect animals for people with balance issues, like veterans with brain injuries and people with MS or Ataxia. If you know the breed, you know they are smart but laid back couch potatoes. Perfect for people who don't get around real quick. Her success stories are inspiring.
So tonite the new puppies will be born. Perhaps you can check in and maybe it will brighten your day like it has mine. SDP Great Dane Live Cam
http://explore.org/...
This is a final update and summary that was posted on the SDP Explore.org site;
"to the best of my recollection (2 hours sleep since
monday) this is a summary of todays blessed event;
noel spent the night sleeping and digging. she had
stopped eating and seemed to be going from restless
to peaceful slumber. megan got a good nights sleep
at home while maria (with the amazing purple hair
and the 5 kids at home) and carlene were with her
all night. this morning megan got back and noel
went out to pee a few times. sometime early we saw
noel expel some dark fluid. she really didnt look
to be in labor. the windstorm was really blowing
outside and there was some concern about the trees
and the electricity. around 10am (i think) they
went to the vet for xrays. soon after that the
electric and the camera went out, making us all a
little cra cra. the vet saw 2 and possibly a third
puppy and sent them back home. on the way home a
puppy was born in the van and his pic was posted to
facebook. that was at about noon. shortly after
that the camera came back on. first puppy is a
male, black and merle kind of mantleey with a nice
black patch over one eye. he latched on right away
and his name is magnus. around 3ish pm we saw what
carlene thinks is a part of placenta pass. the next
pup came out about 30 minutes later and although a
valiant effort was made to revive it, it was
stillborn. soon after, about 4:30pm, megan pulled
out, feet first, a very large mantle pup. he had a
slow start but they got him going and he dove right
into nursing. his name is murphy and he is huge.
carlene gave noel a pitocin shot at around 6pm and,
barring a late surprise, i believe we are finished.
addendum. carlene delivered a bunch of afterbirth
and then SURPRISE!!!!! at 6:45 a beautiful
harlequin female pup was born. and they
call.....that girl......mariah."
THERE WILL BE ANOTHER LITTER IN ABOUT 2 WEEKS.
Thanks for the comments and recs. I should be back in a few weeks with my first Healthcare Diary.
Read More