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2017 Litter Journal - Ironhide x Obelix

9K views 49 replies 13 participants last post by  Deb 
#1 ·
I have tried this before, but with two litters at the same time the first time I ever had puppies, I had NO hope of keeping an online journal up lol. So I thought I would give it another shot now that I am doing what sane people do, and just having 1 litter HAHA!

We arrived in Alaska on day 8 of her heat and got our first tie the following day, April 29. My guess is she ovulated on day 8, so likely "took" on the 30th/May 1st. So that would make puppies due July 1st, give or take a few days on each side.

Our ultrasound was May 29th and showed 6 for sure, possibly a 7th. As ultrasounds are so unreliable, we do have our xray scheduled for June 26th. I don't usually use ultrasound to count at all, just ask the vet to confirm pregnancy and make sure there is more than 1 in there - just so I can start to plan for a cesarean if necessary. This time a brand new vet did our appt, and asked for the practice, so I let her try her hand at counting.

This is Ironhide's third, and final, litter. Her previous litters were at 4.5 years old (7) and 5.5 years old (10). She is now 7.5 and I have noticed several differences with this litter that I didn't see with the first two - 1) she is SUPER affectionate. While Ironhide is hyper social and literally will climb in any friendly strangers lap for a quick greeting, she isn't "affectionate", preferring to share space than be pet or rubbed. Well imagine my surprise when this dog is now sleeping ON me, it was my first clue, and 2) she is slowing HERSELF down. With her first two litters we were having to slow her down for her own good, right up to the last week of pregnancy, before she finally would keep herself in check. This time, I noticed by 21-23 days she was already slowing herself down and she sleeps A LOT - much like a normal pregnancy I would see with one of my Pomeranians.

I will do my best to post at least once a week through pregnancy, whelping and puppy rearing - I beyond excited for this litter, just keeping fingers and toes crossed a lovely female will be able to stay back to carry forward her dams torch <3

Once my post count is up to 3, I will post some pictures :)
 
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#2 ·
This is the time in the pregnancy when I start to worry that the ultrasound was wrong, or maybe the litter was absorbed. I KNOW there are puppies in there, but she just doesn't seem to be as big as I *think* she should be lol. She also always keeps them up high, in her ribs, so it does take a bit longer for her bump to appear.

I have increased her food slightly - adding 1 cup of kibble in the morning, and about a 1/2 lb or raw food to her evening meal, 2 lbs total in the evening. I can still easily feel ribs, but her skin is starting to stretch. Following her previous 2 litters, her skin never did go back to its original "fit". She is one of those girls who packs on weight when pregnant (her mom was this way too), so its a balancing act of allowing her body to do what it needs to do, without getting out of control. She has previously produced TONNES of milk (her litter of 10 never needed any supplementation) and she has 10 functioning nipples, another plus.

Her regular weight is 58/60 lbs, when she delivered her puppies in 2015 (10 of them), she weighed an amazing 86 lbs!
 
#11 ·
She is very sensitive to energy and can't handle the overload when she is trying to keep herself calm. She does not have a genetic off switch, we had to condition it from when she was young.

When we train, I do not touch her much, just give her verbal praise. She has always been a dog who is about her work - I never even saw her sleep the first 6 weeks I had her. And required SEVERAL hours of exercise and training each day from 8 weeks to 5 years old - think like 6 hours a day. She was a full time job!
 
#14 ·
It was warm here today, got up to 31C. She was given a cold bone to chew in the shade. She decided to take her bone "swimming" lol. There is generally a "no bones in the pool" rule, but I wasn't about to argue with her ?

And a photo of her when I accidentally disturbed her sleep... lol
 

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#17 ·
These photos are from day 53 and 55.

Her milk came in on day 52 and he belly has dropped drastically as of yesterday. I will get some new pics today.

She is absolutely ravenous - I feed her 3 cups of kibble in the morning (1600 calories), another cup at lunch (525 calories), and about 3 lbs of raw in the evening (at least another 1200 calories). She is now consuming as many calories as my big male who is 94 lbs!

She only walks for very short stints now. She went from 45 minutes of walking last week (along with regular training), to only 15 minutes at a time this week. So we do three 15 minute walks a day, and then just allow her to decide her activity around the house. We did a little bit of training on Wednesday, maybe 15 minutes, and she was done. She spends most of her time around the house sleeping. She grunts when trying to get up, and lets out a HUGE sigh when she lays down.

As of this morning, she can no longer scratch herself effectively. She can't bend sideways nearly at all anymore or get her legs around her belly without great effort.

We have a quiet weekend planned, getting the final touches on the whelping room, giving her a pre-puppy bath, and setting up the new sleeping quarters (As of Sunday, I will sleep in the whelping room with her)

We also have her xray scheduled for Monday, so I will get a picture and post here. Everyone can try their hand at counting!
 

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#18 ·
So the last post I messed up, those pics are day 53/54, by the time I noticed, I couldn't edit.

These pictures are from this morning, day 55 - she has almost completely lost her waist at this point and her ribs now stick out past her shoulders.
 

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#19 ·
Ironsides looks good but I imagine the heat and last stages of pregnancy make her pretty tired. I have enjoyed following your thread. Love the picture with Ironsides in the pool with her bone. Good luck with whelping
 
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#20 ·
Yes, she doesn't much like the heat! Today was the first day she refused a meal; her lunch, which was kibble.

She did however clean off 3 raw lamb shanks, followed by a large raw Turkey neck, 1lb of chunk Goat, and 1.5 lbs of ground horse for dinner.

I am making her a bone broth for during and post whelp, when she can be reluctant to leave her puppies for something to eat. I will also use it to bait her water, so she stays well hydrated.

Picture is day 57
 

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#21 ·
Its amazing the difference a day or two makes. Ironsides looks wonderful and getting ready to feed those pups. The bone broth sounds like a great thing to help her with everything she will be giving to the pups.
 
#28 ·
What an exhausting week!

Last Wednesday morning Ironhide's temperature dropped to 98.3. I had taken her temperature first thing in the morning, I took it again throughout the day, her temp went back up to normal by the afternoon, so I thought I had missed her temperature drop overnight. So we prepared for puppies! At 9:30pm she started acting restless, panting, circling - I stayed up all night! At 5am, everything stopped and she went to sleep. Like WTH!!?? So I watched her Thursday, Friday, Saturday, SUNDAY, AND MONDAY... every night she kept me up, then she slept all day.

She was so large at this point, she couldn't walk much and you could tell her legs weren't able to move properly without hitting her belly - how much longer could she go!? July 1st was her first due date, July 4th was the absolute last.

On Sunday July 2nd, her temperature dropped yet again, 97.9 this time - all of my mentors told me if the first drop was false, usually the second one is the real thing. So I checked her throughout the day, her temperature slowly crept up back to normal. I checked her again before bed, and it dropped AGAIN!!! 97.3! Ok this MUST be the real drop right?

IT WAS! Lol

Born Tuesday July 4th, between 5:15am and 7:54pm, 9 GORGEOUS, FAT puppies - 5 Males (All Sable) and 4 Females (2 Black, 2 Sable). Puppies weighed between 1 lb 3 oz and 1 lb 5 oz. So far everyone is doing good. Ironhide is on antibiotics, she spiked a fever, likely from her retained placentas. Hopefully it will resolve soon. She is such a good mom and being her 3rd litter, she doesn't need my help much. I make sure she is fed/watered and pottied, she pretty much does the rest.

Very much looking forward to these guys growing up! I will post more pics once I have rested a bit more.

Our 4th of July Litter - Our theme names are TBA
 

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#31 ·
Thank you everyone :) I am still very tired, but the last two nights have been very restful. A couple more good nights and I should be caught back up. I am still off work to stay home with the puppies next week, there may be time for a photo shoot lol!

Puppies are steadily gaining and I've had to change their collars twice since their original ones. They are all between 1.5 and 2 lbs at just 5 days old!

Following delivery, and likely due to a few retained placentas, Ironhide began running a fever. 9am we were in the vet clinic getting some xrays to make sure no puppies were missing, and getting some antibiotics. The entire day she was restless and just not herself. I am friends with my vet, in fact she is taking a puppy from this litter, so I messaged her at 9:30pm to get her in. At the time Ironhide's temp had made a crazy jump from 103 to 104.6 despite having had 2 doses of antibiotics already, so I needed her to be seen ASAP. We both live less than 15 minutes from the clinic, so we were able to get her in quickly. We ran a slew of bloodwork and nothing looked concerning, except her fever. So the decision was made to give a single dose of Metacam. It definitely did the trick, within an hour her fever was down and by the next morning her temp was back to normal.

She is now doing great and is such a great mom! She is very different from her first litter - much more independent.

They are definitely a VERY spunky litter. Clipping nails yesterday was like wrangling baby Octopuses! I was definitely happy to have my litter theme narrowed down, just had to make sure it was "unique" too ;)

Here they are - Ironhide Kennel's "Firework" litter

Red Rhino vom Ironhide - Female


Zombie Slayer vom Ironhide - Male


Hardcore Pyro vom Ironhide - Male


Show Time vom Ironhide - Female


Mad Ox vom Ironhide - Male


Widow Maker vom Ironhide - Male


Amp'd Up vom Ironhide - Female


Shogun vom Ironhide - Male


Boom Time vom Ironhide - Female
 
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