Time Litter

The Time Litter

time began........

Jan 29, 2004

Much to my surprise I think Promise is in heat. I was expecting
Promise to come into heat late March or April. Since I’m concerned
about the earlier timing of this heat (while a normal interval) 7
month since her last heat, I make an appointment with my vet to
do some timing testing. Yes she is in fact in heat. I email
Kathy Greenwood, owner of Pasha who I hope to breed to Promise
and see if she is still willing to send him out to me. She is!

Jan 31, 2004

Pasha arrives!

I felt since I had missed with other breedings with Promise, I would
rather have him here early than too late! Pasha settled in great, he
was so easy to have around and enjoyed playing with Promise.
One of the reasons I chose Pasha was his easy going attitude.
He LOVES to play fetch but he is a very nice hang around the
house dog. I'm anxious to see how this
cross works, I can't wait to meet the puppies!

Feb 6, 2004

We have our first breeding but I don’t think Pasha was that interested?
I think Promise talked him into it (sigh). Timing testing suggested
she is still at baseline. However I will now limit their access and
they will just get to see each other every other day.

Feb 8, 2004

Pasha’s behavior has changed a lot toward Promise. He is
much more interested and we have our 2nd breeding, but I really
consider this a first breeding based on the behavior of Pasha.
I look fwd to seeing what the results are of the timing test on Monday.

Feb 9, 2004

Timing tests show that Promise has ovulated since the test on the 6th.
I figure that our timing is perfect and will continue breeding every
36 to 48 hours until the dogs are no longer interested.

March 4, 2004

Nervously I take Promise in to be checked, we should know by now
if she has pups on the way. My vet was unsure on palpation, so we
opted to do an ultrasound. And yup! There they were! I ask my vet
NOT to count, things can change, a fetus might not be viable and
be reabsorbed. Below is a picture from the ultrasound it shows
2 of the pups the small black circles with the grey squiggle inside
and a 3rd pup can also be seen but fainter - there were more pups
but these are what we captured in the picture!

March 10, 2004

Today is one of the first days I have watched promise run around the yard
and thought, hummmm she is starting to fill out!
The next month will go fast.

March 20, 2004

In 3 weeks I figure we should be very close to pups.
With Promise’s first litter she was not this BIG the day she
gave birth! I’m getting really excited to see the pups, I have waited a
long time to meet more Promise babies! Promise like Rave is also
eating a mostly raw home prepared diet. These last 3 weeks her diet
will continue to change – less meaty bones, more muscle meat,
organ meat and eggs. It is important to help prepare her body for lactation,
this reduction of meaty bones this last part of her pregnancy will send
signals to her own body to be start gearing up to produce calcium.
With out these signals the high bone ratio diet could set her up for
eclamsia – this is a life threatening condition that can effect lactating
bitches. Once her pups are born her diet will again change to
a high percent of raw meaty bones.

April 8, 2004

Promise gave birth th 10 beautiful puppies!
5 girls and 5 boys.

April 10, 2004

Puppies at 2 days old.