Guess how many puppies... And the WINNER is...!!

First, we can add to the guesses:

Carole        6      28 Nov, 14:00

Second, the x-ray was taken at about 16:45 pm on Friday Nov 25. The technician, Sarah, thought she saw six. The vet, Dr. Gumley, said no, just five.

I didn’t get a chance to look at the x-ray at the vet’s office, but when I got home I took a look. I could clearly see five, and was searching for signs of #6. Then I noticed that the date on the x-ray was 20.05.2011 – they gave me the x-ray from Garnet’s May litter, when she indeed had only five puppies!! So if that’s the one the vet was looking at, no wonder he said five. I’ve asked them to e-mail me the correct x-ray. I will likely get it tomorrow and I’ll post it then.

But for now I can say that:

THE WINNER IS….

Heather!!!

Who correctly guessed six puppies and had the closest date/time guess of Saturday Nov 26, 22:15. She was a full 17 hours and 8 minutes out, but everyone else guessed the 27^th or 28^th!

So here’s the scoop:

The x-ray, as I said , was taken at about 16:45pm. We were waiting in the lobby for the vet to finish what he was doing and take a look at it with us. Mo (who had had her teeth cleaned that day) & Garnet seemed to need to go out to pee, so we took them out to the little grass patch. Mo pooped, Garnet did a little pee. I was waiting outside for one of the kids to bring me a poop bag while the other took Garnet in. When I got back inside, Garnet was shaking and seemed to be pushing – and lo and behold, there was evidently a puppy on the way!

The vet staff quickly got some blankets and a doggie bed and put us into one of the exam rooms with the lights on dim. Garnet panted and pushed, squealed and – at 17:07 out popped a little red girl!!

So what do we do now? The vet’s office closed officially at 17:00 but they weren’t going to kick us out. But birthing five (or six) puppies could take a few hours. Seeing as we live a good 30-60 minutes drive from the vet’s office (depending on traffic and route), I wasn’t about to get in the car and head home right then. With it still being the height of rush hour, our trip would be closer to 60 minutes and anything could happen in that time!

So we waited. And waited. And waited some more. My son went next door to the Indian take-out place and got us some supper. I called various people to tell them the exciting news. One of the people I called was Linda of Canadian Doodle Puppies. She called back a few minutes later to suggest we come to her place, which is much closer to the vet’s than we are. I decided to wait until after the next puppy – as then there would likely be another break – and come over after that.

But by 18:30 there still was no second puppy. We had our food, the vet staff were wanting to go home (nobody said so but I knew they would like to go, heck I would want to get home on a Friday evening!) and Garnet didn’t seem to be pushing. So, with rush hour more or less over, I decided to make a break for Linda’s house. The vet gave us a basket to put the pups in, along with some blankets and a hot spot, and we piled into the car and got on the highway. We were almost at Linda’s when my son said “there’s another puppy coming!” It was born in the basket in the backseat of the car, and a minute later we pulled into Linda’s driveway and carried mother and pups into one of the bedrooms where Linda had set up the whelping box for Garnet to use.

Puppy #2 was – a red parti girl !!!!!!! What a SURPRISE!! I knew there was a chance that Garnet carried parti, since her grandfather is parti, but I didn't really expect she did. But I had no idea that Idol did! This girl was born at 18:50. We got her comfy, tucked into our supper, and waited some more…

An hour later, at 19:51, #3 arrived – another parti girl, this one black!

From this point on, they started coming faster. As the puppies nurse, that promotes the formation of oxytocin which stimulates the uterus to contract some more, so with three pups out, #s 4 and 5 followed quickly. At that point, since Dr. Gumley had said five pups I went to the living room to relax and have a cup of tea. But barely had I settled in than my daughter, who’d nipped in to check on Garnet & pups, called out “there’s another puppy coming!” Puppy #6, yet another black parti girl, arrived at precisely 21:00, a mere 12 minutes after #5.

So in summary: 

17:07 – red girl, 238g, Scarlett

18:50 – red parti girl, 256g, Cardinal

19:51 – black parti girl, 253g, Daisy (lots of black in a saddle pattern over back, head, & legs)

20:20 – black girl, 244g, Nightingale

20:48 – black parti boy, 218g, Leo (lots of black but a bit more white around neck & hips than Daisy)

21:00 – black parti girl, 225g, Ariel (mostly white; black head & a couple black spots)

We may change the names yet, but that’s what we’re using for the time being. (Daisy started out being “Saddle,” then the kids called her “Cowy” as her pattern looks a bit like a Cow, but we figured that wasn’t such a great name. Lots of cows are called Daisy, so that’s what we’re using for now.)

We left Linda’s very shortly after Ariel was born. Mom & babes are now sleeping in the puppy corner with kids sleeping beside them. I’ll be heading to bed very shortly too!

We took a few pictures after we got home but camera batteries died before we got too many. Here are a few shots, more to come tomorrow.

 Ariel is the black parti closest to the foreground. Leo is behind her, then Cardinal, with Daisy in the back. Scarlett to the left and Nightingale to the right.

Guess how many puppies - 2nd instalment!

Can it really be over two weeks since my last post? Time has flown, and here we are expecting puppies any day now!!

Garnet arrived at our house this morning from her guardian home and will go for her x-ray late this afternoon. Then we will know (pretty well) how many puppies to expect! For the record, here is the current status of guesses as to date and time of arrival of the first puppy (for those who guessed 5, 6, or 7):

Teya           5

Melese        5

Roma          5       27 Nov, 16:15

Mary           5       27 Nov, 22:30

Beth D        5       25 Nov 12:00

Wendy        5               

Francesca    5       28 Nov, 12:00

Tristan        6       27 Nov, 18:45

Mathom       6       27 Nov, 15:00

Carole         6               

Heather       6       26 Nov, 22:15

Haragwan    6               

Barbara       7       26 Nov, 02:00

Zirci (Yolande)  7               

Linda A       7       27 Nov, 06 :00

As you can see, we still have a few blank spots… Watch for a post later tonight with the results of the x-ray. Then those of you procrastinators who figured you weren’t going to win but guessed the right number can get your guess in before midnight tonight to make the official (and final) deadline!! So far everyone except Barbara has been very kind and guessed times that will mean I won’t miss any (or much) sleep… Though if Heather is right and the FIRST puppy comes at 22:15 tomorrow I may be up the better part of the night waiting for the others to follow. And if Linda A. is right, I may have been up for half the night waiting for #1 to arrive… though in May, Garnet obliged by just waking us at about 2am for a first delivery within less than an hour. We shall see!!

(Sorry, Beth, you didn’t win for sure – past noon on the 25^th and no puppies yet… or if there are, nobody’s called me to tell me to get home now!!)

Guess how many puppies!

We had an ultrasound done on Garnet on Monday afternoon. Before revealing the results, I invited our puppies’ families to guess how many pups will be in this litter. The guesses are noted below:

Linda R           3

Sandi              3

Scott              4

Kim                4

Tes                4

Martin L          4

Erin                4

Teya              5

Melese           5

Roma             5

Mary              5

Beth D           5

Wendy           5

Tristan           6

Mathom          6

Carole            6

Heather          6

Haragwan       6

Barbara           7

Zirci (Yolande) 7

David Q          8

Martin M         8

Monica           8

And the result?

Our vet clearly saw 5 foetuses and was pretty certain there was a 6^th too!!

Before those of you who guessed 5 or 6 get too excited, note that ultrasounds are not always accurate and there may be pups that were not seen – and sometimes pups get reabsorbed for various reasons. For example, with Amore’s 2^nd litter, the vet also said 5, maybe 6, and we had just 4 puppies born. However, that ultrasound was done at around 30 days gestation, when the foetuses were still quite small (about 1.5cm long). This time we waited until about day 42 and those extra 12 days mean the pups are a lot bigger – around 6-7cm long! This both makes them  a lot easier to see and also means they are not as likely to be reabsorbed.

Indeed, we saw little beating hearts and little waving legs. At this stage – the sixth week of gestation – their nervous system is already formed, their sexual characteristics are present (though not easily seen!), the eyes are covered by eyelids, the leg buds are lengthening and developing toes, their fur is forming along with pigmentation. As of now they will begin to grow very fast, almost tripling their length over the final 3 weeks. Their bones will calcify around the middle of next week, after which they will be visible on x-ray. Garnet has so far gained about 2.3kg (5 lbs) over her usual petite size and will no doubt gain more over the next 3 weeks. She ate a lot while she was with us – repeated small helpings as there is not much stomach room left!

Full gestation is 63 days (9 weeks) post-ovulation, which puts Garnet’s due date at about November 28^th (best estimate). Some dogs deliver earlier, closer to 58 days and some deliver as late as 67 days, so we can expect puppies anywhere between November 23^rd and December 2^nd.  Last time, Garnet whelped at 61 days, which would be November 26^th.

We have an x-ray scheduled for November 25^th – with the expectation she won’t yet have whelped!! That should give us a firm puppy count (though there too, for Amore’s 3^rd litter the x-ray clearly showed 2 puppies but I thought I saw a 3^rd and in effect, a third was born, though she had some deformities and did not survive).

Since so many people guessed 5 or 6, to narrow down the winner’s field, I invite everyone who guessed 4, 5, 6, or 7 puppies to also guess when Garnet will deliver. Specify the date and time you think the FIRST puppy will be born, and whoever has correctly guessed the number of puppies actually born and is closest to the date and time of birth will win the prize.

(For the record, my guess is Sunday 27 Nov at 4:15pm.)

Some nice pix

Here are a few pictures I didn’t get around to posting earlier. These are from our gorgeous Thanksgiving Saturday back in early October. It was 26 above (Celsius) and just like a summer day!!

Visit with Galena

After the Doodle Romp on October 23^rd, Galena and her family, including brother Carni, came to our house for an extended visit. Since Galena will be one of our breeding girls once she matures and will come to our house to have her puppies, it is important that she remain familiar and comfortable with us and our home. This is especially true as she only spent 9 weeks with us after birth, unlike Garnet who was with us 3½ months (or Lyra & Cassi who have been here 5 months, though they won’t be breeding girls).

She certainly displayed no anxiety about coming into our house and playing with the kids and the dogs we currently had around – Amore, Cassi, Lyra, & Aspen. But then she has always been a very friendly girl, happy to go to virtually anyone – guess all that early socialization paid off! Though on the other hand, her recall (i.e. “come when called”) isn’t great, so she doesn’t get to run off-leash unless there’s limited opportunity for her to run off. That’s something her parents are working on.

We humans enjoyed supper together (thanks Martin!) and a pleasant visit while the dogs got some quality time visiting each other.

Galena is a happy, healthy, well-adjusted and very beautiful dark chocolate girl of 7½ months old. We’ll start her health testing in early 2012 and – assuming she passes all her tests – you can look for her puppies in a year’s time. The daddy will be one of our local boys.

Carni says bye!

Autumn leaves

Every autumn we carry a rake out to the small urban forest near our home and pile up the leaves for some autumn fun. With Thanksgiving weekend so lusciously warm, we headed out on Sunday afternoon (yes, back three weeks ago!) for our annual celebration of fall colours.

The pups had a grand time romping through the woods and fields, and once they learned that a pile of leaves makes a soft landing, they jumped and frolicked in it with abandon.

The kids also buried me in leaves, which took a passing couple rather by surprise when I greeted them from under the pile!!