The Stages of Canine Pregnancy
Canine pregnancy lasts nine weeks and then you have approximately 8 weeks of
rearing to do. I have identified and defined the several stages we go through in
this process:
Week One: Was he the right one? Typified by agonizing over whether you
chose the right stud
Week Two: Was she fertile? Indicated by mildly threatening thoughts
directed at your bitch and concern about wasted $$$
Week Three: Oh lord, we missed her...stupid sterile stud dog
Week Four: Vet appointments fix everything. You schedule a vet visit for
a sonogram and wake up the morning of the planned test to discover she looks
like she ate a watermelon!
Week Five: Not enough food in the world to feed this bitch...
Week Six: Oh lord she's lost some babies...when really she has just moved
them around a bit and now she is hanging down more than spread out like a
watermelon!
Week Seven: Dreams of glory featuring puppies with the best parts of both
parents
Week Eight: Nightmares of disaster featuring puppies that look like the
neighbor's dog
Week Nine: Maximum guilt...how could you do this to this sweet little
girl, she can't eat or sleep and neither can you.
Stage One labor: Now, is it now? No she is just rehearsing AND she has
picked out one fake place for puppies, one real place and just rolls her eyes at
the lovely new whelping facility you built for her.
Stage Two: Well the fake place (the closet) has been passed up for the
bushes in the front yard and you cannot convince her that her humongous butt is
clearly visible to all passers-by...her head is hidden, she thinks she is in a
den and to h*** with you, you have no idea what you are doing. Your job is to
get her into the whelping box without stressing this delicate little dog mom to
be or calling ! in the crane or forklift.
Actual delivery of babies: A t this point Time is not on your side...it
races, then crawls, races then crawls. Do you call the vet, do you wait. You
have lighter moments ...the bitch trying to crawl into the laundry basket with
the babies.
Puppies Day One: Hubby comes in to view the litter, points at one and
says "Wow is he cute". He is half the size of the other babies.
Puppies Week One: Looking for heads in all the wrong places...now you
KNOW better than
to look for heads when they have smushed up muzzles from nursing
Puppies Weeks Two and Three: You do their stress activities, monitor
weights and every day hubby comes in to check on his boy...yes he is cute...
fast, too. Easy to be fast when you are long as a freight train with long legs
to match. You've picked out the best rears and tails from watching them nurse.
During week three you discuss devotion to motherhood with your bitch when she
announces the darn things have sharp teeth.
Week Four and Five: They really are cute and you are caught thinking they
are cute, because they are now on solid food and you are fast running out of
clean paper. Hubby plays with his boy child and begs you to stack him up and
tell him what you think .. you develop really good diversionary strategies.
Week six: You are starting serious evaluation and start taking pictures
... you notice while doing the photographs that hubby's pick is now the same
size as his littermates. The litter looks really good...aren't you glad you got
that generic sperm and they all look like your
bitch, who is perfect in every way
Week seven: While analyzing the photos you keep coming back to one
striking male who is very balanced and very proportioned...this cannot be
happening, Could this be the "little " male your hubby liked.. THAT
can't be...
Week eight: The puppy party where all ! your friends and some of your
enemies come over to pick your littl e darlings apart in great detail and make
rude remarks about the faults that nasty stud produced. Their decision is
unanimous ...pick of the litter is a strong handsome boy who trots wonderfully,
comes when called and thinks your hubby hung the moon.
Author Unknown
