Puppies Galore

Besita had her puppies yesterday!!! It was a really long day. Around 8 AM we noticed that she was shaking and panting - entering Stage 1 of labor. She also would not leave my side - even more than usual (except when she would try to hide under the bed to nest!). We got all excited/nervous and hurried and gathered our whelping kit, etc. And then we waited. And waited. And waited. The first stage can take up to 24 hrs. Here is a picture of me, Oliver and Besi taking a nap while we waited and a picture of Besi with some of the whelping gear. There's also a picture of Besi's ginormous pregnant belly!!! Around 4 PM she started having contractions. She wouldn't get in her whelping box, so we ended up having to throw down some plastic, towels, and puppy pads between the foot of my bed and my hope chest. And that's where she delivered. I was so scared. I've grown up breeding dogs, but mostly just watching. And I've seen what happens when things don't go as planned. I love our little Besi and would die if something happened to her! I had my mom there to help me, of course, but it was still pretty nerve wracking at first. But everything went SO WELL. We didn't have any complications at all. I am so thankful! Besita now has five beautiful, healthy pups: 3 boys and 2 girls! Below are some pictures and general details about them! The picture quality is pretty crappy because our nice camera broke. =( So these were just taken with our camcorder - but, eh, it works.

The first puppy was born at 4:57. This is the only one that Besi cried with. He was the first and the biggest so it probably hurt pretty bad. He weighed 6.3 oz and is white with some really light peach patches (like Bes). They may fade, though.

The second boy was born at 5:29 PM. He was 5 oz (the second smallest) as is also white, with a cute brown patch by his right ear. He also a little small star-shaped black patch on the top of his head (can't see them in the pictures, though).

The third was a really cute little girl that I delivered all by myself! Woohoo! She was born at 6:07 PM and weighed 5.5 oz. She is brown, black and white. We have been talking about the possiblity of keeping her because she is so cute! The daddy was black and white, so I'm surprised this is the only puppy that has some color...

The fourth - another little girl - was born breach. But Besi just pushed her on out and it ended up not being even a little bit of a problem! She is a tiny little thing - 4.5 oz. By far the smallest. She was born at 6:25 and is solid white. You'll notice the purple mark on the tip of her tail. We had to color code them with Sharpees in order to tell who's who!

The last puppy, another boy, was also born breach. But Bes got him out just fine, too. He was born at 6:46 PM and is also solid white.

Besita didn't pass all of her placentas (kinda gross, sorry!), so I was up most of the night watching her. And I was so nervous that one of the puppies would get smothered or too cold. So we're all pretty tired today, but we have some cute new puppies to make up for it!!!! Woohoo!!! Here are some shots of the happy family. It is so neat to see how naturally animals take to motherhood. I wish nursing would have been that easy for me! It's also really touching to see how loving and tender Besita is towards her puppies already. As you can see, Oliver is totally intrigued! LOL!