Happy Birth Day!

Callie was acting a bit peculiar from about midnight on, so we suspected that it might be puppy-time. At 3:30 AM she chased our resident dog, Vegas, out of the area and proceeded to begin to whelp her first pup next to/under our bed. I hopped up and tried to discourage this choice, which resulted in her hopping ON TO our bed having the first whelp (Cole) there!! She immediately picked him up and tried to relocate him under the bed, but I took him and moved him to the whelping area. She followed him in but picked him up and tried to move him again! But I shut the bathroom door with all of us in there and she relented to whelping box and had whelp #2 (Cassie) promptly at 3:35 AM.

After that initial excitement, things settled into a calm rhythm. I had plenty of time to take pictures and to weigh & assess each puppy in between arrivals. Callie was extremely efficient at removing their sacs, stimulating, & drying the puppies. The third puppy (Choo-Choo) was born at 4:17 AM. The fourth (Chip) came at 4:31 AM. Callie was able to get some rest between #4 and #5. Cara was whelped at 6:09 AM. Then there was a Long Wait.

Callie rested, we rested. She was not in distress and we were not worried, just surprised at the delay and grateful for the xray... we might have thought she was done at this point otherwise! She was relaxed looking, the pups were cleaned and nursing. Everyone was settled in.

Then, nearly two and half hours later, our big Caboose arrive! Once he was weighed, assessed, loved, licked, and had a chance to nurse, we congratulated Callie on her job Well Done. Six beautiful, vigorous puppies: 3 girls & 3 boys. We took Callie outside for a quick potty break (though it took much coaxing to get her to leave her family!), changed their bedding, and let the new family settle in. And her human guardians all took a nap!!!

We've posted many more photos in the Whelping Day album!