Thursday, May 03, 2007

Eight is Enough

Whew! Starting around 6:30 PM, Bromley gave birth to eight wonderful yellow puppies -- three boys and five girls. Honestly, we were expecting a few more, given her extreme girth prior to birthing. Size is deceiving until you realize that each of the pups of this litter were about 10 percent larger than our previous litters at birth. Each pup weighed between 17 and 19 ounces--pretty hefty when we reflect on some litters where a few of the pups tipped the scales at a scant 9-1/2 ounces! Looking at it another way, Bromley added about 30% of her pre-pregnancy weight.

Fortunately, all went well for Bromley, despite the loss of her last birthed pup -- a nearly four hour labor for that one! Altogether, two puppies were stillborn. It's always a mystery as to why but it's probably one reason why dogs have such large litters--the law of averages perhaps.

Sometimes a puppy is whelped (born) and seems to lack any sign of life. It's tempting to give up on 'em. We had an extreme occurence this time. One of the puppies appeared lifeless... no sound, no sign of breathing, no movement at all. However, leaving the placenta attached, Stasia worked nearly 30 minutes to bring forth the familiar cry of life that a puppy gives when the airway is cleared and it is able to vocalize his/her disagreement with all the rubbing/massaging from its human attendant. We affectionately dubbed this one "Lord's Prayer", as you'll learn more, below. Fortunately, puppies are resilient and he's doing well.

The theme of this litter is 'Ski Trails of Bromley', after the Vermont mountain for which 'mom' is named. As such we have given temporary names to the puppies: There's 'Pig Dog', 'Run-Around", 'Yodeler', 'Spring Trail', 'Sunset', 'Twister', 'Chase-It', and of course, 'Lord's Prayer'. Come to think of it, some of these would make nice dog names, don't you think?!

No comments: