My baby puppy Delight has become a mama.
Last night my puppy Delight gave birth to her first, and hopefully only, litter of puppies. She had four little fierce beasts. None of them look like her, as she is brown and white, and the puppies are all black and white. They take after their daddy, who is the dog next door.
I had not intended to breed Delight, but a windstorm with gusts of 50 MPH plus a few months ago blew down all three fences in my yard. I discovered the back neighbor had a pit bull dog. They put their fence up that day because I suppose they know the danger of having an unfenced-in pit bull.
One of my next-door neighbors had an unfixed male dog. It took several weeks to get the fence permanently fixed, and the temporary re-erection of the fence left unseen holes that the dogs kept going back and forth through, and so it resulted in last night’s births.
I live alone and I had been afraid Delight would give birth while I was not home, or be in labor at a time when I would need to leave for work. The timing could not have been better as it started on Saturday and I am off today, Sunday.
Had I not been there to calm her and keep her in her box, I am sure she would have lost at least one and perhaps all of the puppies. The first birth was the hardest, and it took so long that I had looked up an emergency vet on my computer. Just as I was about to call, the first baby came out. During the labor and birth process, Delight kept trying to jump out of the box and run away, and once jumped off the bed with puppy one dangling by the umbilical with the afterbirth still inside. Fortunately, I grabbed her before she could run off and put her back in the box.
Delight had the second puppy relatively easily, at lease compared to number one. Then she seemed to relax for awhile and the two new girls got comfortable. I changed the bloody bedding. I had sat with her for several hours by this point and I took a break. When I came back a little while later, she had jumped out of the box, and given birth to two more puppies on my bed. My blanket is soaked with blood and other biological fluids, and I need to go to a laundromat as my washer is not big enough to wash that big blanket.
The box Delight gave birth in is produce box I got from Costco several weeks ago just for this purpose. After taking my blanket away for washing, I pulled out a sleeping bag and used that for a blanket. I put the box on my bed and laid down next to her and fell asleep.
When I awoke, I found my kittah Apophis sitting next to the box. The night before, Apophis had been right beside me and Delight and seemed alternately unconcerned and fascinated at what was going on.
My current plans for the four are to keep one of them, let the next door neighbor have one, if they want one, and find homes for the other two.
I’m considering naming one of the females “Dorcus”, because Dork.
Delight has become a significant part of my life. She came to me last year when I came home from about two weeks in hospital following having a piece of my right foot cut off due to infection. As I walked up to the porch from the Taxi bringing me home from the hospital, she was on my front porch. She was then about four months old, as showed by her teeth. She did not have a chip and nobody in the neighborhood knew who she belonged to. After debating with myself whether I was going to keep her, I kept her.
My previous dog, Norman York Tzu, had recently died at age 18, about three months after the death of my father at age 88. For a time, it was a real question who would die first, Norman or Dad. I think it’s better that Dad went first because Dad would not have reacted well to losing Norman during what was pretty obviously his last days. In addition, the death of Norman began the only period of my life where I did not have a dog.
I was in a very deep depression when Delight had come to me. I had lost both Dad and Norman, had my foot chopped upon, and I was having a hard time finding employment and was fearing homelessness. My immediate family had abandoned me (which is a story for another time), and I was feeling completely alone. Delight, along with my cats, was the only thing I felt gave me any meaning or purpose to live and they kept me from giving up in those dark days, which I now consider the worst days of my life.Then Delight came down with a case of parvo and was well on her way to death when I set up a GoFundMe which raised enough for her treatments. I was literally at the vet and within a few minutes of giving the approval to have her put down when I got a notice that enough had been contributed to starting her treatment. She literally would not be alive now without those of you who helped me and Delight then, and these puppies are a result of you.
And now you know more than you ever thought possible.
#jtg
Sunday, May 21, 2017 · 6:36:54 PM +00:00
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jtg
The first puppy’s delivery was difficult and took a long time. Even then, the puppy came out, but the afterbirth took a long time. The puppy was starting to turn purple-blue and I was afraid it might die, not to mention Delight. Then Delight jumped out of the box and off the bed dangling the puppy. I prepared to cut the umbilical cord myself with some medical scissors from the days of Dad. I had just washed the scissors with alcohol with the afterbirth came out.
#jtg
Sunday, May 21, 2017 · 6:41:44 PM +00:00
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jtg
I video recorded much of the birth of the first puppy, took many pictures of the birth of #2, and although I missed #3 and #4, I have and will continue to take more pictures and videos. I plan to post the video of the birth soon.
#jtg