sur-priise!

Last night was full of surprises. In the end we managed to get ourselves ready for the arrival of the puppies ... because we suddenly realised the puppies were arriving. Oh, quick, yep, hot water bottle - check! - sterilise stuff - check! - clean, dry towels - check! - tins of chicken soup - check! And so the puppies came a day before I was expecting them.




During her 22 hours of stage 1 panting, digging & ripping up paper - very happy in her den








And the fact that the puppies came Monday night into Tuesday instead of Tuesday night into Wednesday was just the first, not very surprising, surprise.

You know I said we were expecting 5 puppies? Yes, well, we got a couple more than that. No, not nine - behave! Seven, like Keksi's own litter.

As with all things in her life (except eating), she took her time with the birth. There was about an hour between most puppies, as I recall without referring to my notes, and the whole event from the start of contractions to last pup started 7:30 pm and finished 2 am. A very far cry from her mother who squirted them out every 15-20 minutes for her 2 litters - we barely got one dry before the next one arrived. I can't decide if I prefer the leisurely pace or not - it's a little worrying when it takes so long, even though The Book (as opposed to the "Good Book") says it's perfectly normal.

Apart from the rests between births, there wasn't a moment of concern through the whole thing. What a relief, let me tell you. With each birth thus far I've had a middling-to-major problem to contend with, whether it's a puppy who doesn't breathe spontaneously or who can't suckle or the caesarian, of course.

Keksi is a model mum (again, phew) and like her mother before her, she did everything for every puppy. I didn't have to break a bag and I didn't even see a placenta. Every puppy breathed easily and it was all just great. I guess I was due for a bit of good luck, long may it continue.

When the first puppy arrived I had a moment of flashback to when Keksi's litter was born. Imagine my surprise that time when I mated black tricolour Neka to black tricolour Kimmi and the first puppies who arrived were distinctly brown. At that time I had known about the brown relation on Neka's side of the pedigree, but had no idea about the brown one that was on Kimmi's side. So it was a shock.

Remember what I said about Elias and his colour pattern, domino? Remember how I said it is recessive and must be carried by both parents to produce the colour in offspring (much the same as brown, in fact)? Well, to my knowledge there was certainly no domino in Keksi's line and yet... and yet... you've guessed already, haven't you? The very first puppy born was a silvery domino boy, absolutely just like his dad. Gobsmacked.

Then out trundled the requisite black tricolours that I expected. But no brown ones, not even one. That was a surprise, since Elias has brown and brown domino siblings. And I distinctly remember passing on to Keksi the orders for one or two brown ones. But she had other ideas.

Not one but two - two! - cream girls. It's lucky we got photos of them last night when they were born, though, because today they are both green. True fact.

But that's a story for another day.

For now: 4 dogs, 3 bitches; 3 black tri dogs, 1 black tri bitch, 1 domino dog, 2 cream bitches (one of which might also be domino, but I need to get a look at her in daylight and back to her natural colour... if I ever get the green off.)

Amazing that Keksi produced no brown puppies at all but has given us the very first domino in the UK. And what does the KC insist we register his colour as? Grizzle. Isn't that horrible? And ridiculous. Everywhere else in the world the pattern is called domino, but here we have to call it grizzle. Nice. Not.

Individual pics & stats later.




Mum & babies doing great