The Beautiful Babies Arrive!

I both fear and enjoy the birth of a litter of puppies. There is something amazing about watching new life come into the world. You watch the mother work diligently to bring forth her babies. You watch instinct guide a first-time mom to chew a cord, break open a sack, eat a placenta, dry and stimulate a puppy, and nurse a baby. She never read a book or watched another bitch go through this. It's completely God-given instinct. It's beautiful. Late Friday night, February 3, 2012, we watched Ellie, one of our Australian Shepherds, give birth to her first litter.

Thursday was day 60 for Ellie. (Gestation period for a dog is 59-65 days) She didn't eat her dinner that night and I knew her time was drawing near. I went to bed with the video monitor near my bed and woke several times during the night to check the monitor. She slept peacefully most of the night, but woke twice to scratch at the floor near the back door. Around 8 am she began shivering. By 10am, she began panting and became very restless. She wanted to go out to potty and then right back to the whelping box. A few times she again dug near the back door and tried to lay down in a small spot near the utility sink. At noon, she threw up, mostly water and bile.
Soon after this, she settled down and took a nap. Eventually I got tired of waiting and worried that she might be avoiding labor. I took her outside for a walk and potty break. She ran around, feeling pretty good. She pottied several times, but not the repetitive squatting that is triggered by pressure. She came back in and labor seemed to be going again. She went back to the whelping box and continued digging and panting. We continued this pattern over the next several hours. She was being a typical first-time mom, taking her sweet time.

Finally at 10:30 pm, her water broke (back end is wet and dripping) and she became much more animated. She dug and pulled at the towels and asked to go out several times. Just before 11pm, I finally began to see hard contractions. She would stop panting, squint her eyes, and wait for it to pass. She stayed very calm, preferring to lay down. Soon she began to push, stiffening and grunting with each push/contraction.

At 11:06pm, the first puppy arrives and Ellie stands and turns to it. There is a gush and a mess at the puppy delivers with the placenta and quite a bit of amniotic fluid and blood. The first puppy is often the messiest. Ellie, like all moms, goes directly for the cord. The moms are obsessed with the cord, and will continue to fuss and trim it until they are satisfied with the length. They cut and chew the cord with their side teeth, as far back in the mouth as they can get. These teeth work to crush and clamp the cord, cutting down on blood loss. The act of pulling at the cord actually stimulates the puppy, particularly the breathing. While Ellie was fussing with the cord and trying to eat the placenta, I moved it and cut the sack over the puppy's face, giving him a chance at his first breath. I could have waited for Ellie to get to this, but it's very nerve-racking to watch and wait, especially when a puppy starts to gasp. This first puppy is a blue merle male, weighing in at 15.5 oz.
11:18pm, Ellie quickly delivers another puppy, jumping up to clean this pup. This is another blue merle male, weighing in at 12.6 oz. He was born already out of the sack, and without much fluid. Just a puppy that dropped out. He starts breathing immediately.
Ellie takes a short break and then starts contractions around 20 minutes later. This is pretty normal for puppies to come in pairs, and then the bitch rests as two more puppies move down the uterine horns.
As each puppy is born, they instinctively work their way to mom to nurse. They can neither see nor hear, but they can smell and feel the warmth of mom. The act of nursing helps release oxytocin in the uterus, stimulating contractions and helping the remaining puppies come down the uterine horns and into the birth canal.
At 11:45pm, puppy #3 is born. This is another blue merle male, weighing in at 13.1oz.
She's still working on #3 when #4 arrives just five minutes later at 11:50pm. This is another blue merle male, 14.4 oz. He is born breech but this doesn't seem to give Ellie any trouble. I watch her give an extra push or two and he comes out. Sometimes breech puppies need extra stimulation to breath or must have amniotic fluid cleared from the airway. This puppy doesn't need either.
At this point we are seeing a theme. Every puppy is blue merle, and they are all BOYS! Poor Emma is anxiously waiting for a girl or two! She gets our pick pup from this litter and is desperate for a female. She doesn't care about color, just needs a girl.
At 12:12am, Emma finally gets her wish. Another blue merle is born and as soon as I get the chance to check, I find we finally have a girl! I can feel and hear a rattle in this puppy. She has fluid in her airway. I rub her vigorously, clear out her mouth/nose, and swing her. Holding the puppy carefully, I hold her head down and give her some strong swings to push the fluid down and out the mouth and nose. I repeat this is a few times and she is cleared out and breathing fine. Emma is thrilled and helps rub the puppy dry. She weighs 13.4 oz.
At this point the box is getting a bit crowded. Ellie is trying to satisfy the puppies that want to nurse as well as dry the most recent puppy and check the cords for any bleeding. In the meantime, she must stop now and then to deliver another puppy. Busy girl! She has delivered 5 puppies in just over an hour! This usually signals that it is a good-sized litter, the uterus is in a rush to push them out.
Finally the contractions stop and she settles in to care for her babies. An hour passes and Madie and Emma have wandered off to watch a movie. I finally send them to bed. I've palpated Ellie's sides and I don't think she's done. She still feels and looks pregnant. (flank hair is turning out, and I can feel a lump on each side) After two hours, I decide she's rested long enough. I tried giving her cottage cheese, but she's not interested. This is another sign that she's not done. I take her out for a walk. She potties several times, squatting repeatedly, again showing me that she still feels pressure. Not long after we get inside, the contractions start up again. Poor Ellie looks up from where she is laying and nursing puppies with a look on her face like "not again!" The contractions increase and she begins to half-heartedly push. I can tell she is tired. Her pushes and grunts are soft and short. I made her get up to let gravity help a little.
At 2:15am, she delivers puppy #6. It's another blue merle female! She comes still in the sack, which I again cut open. I notice the puppy is a bit limp. When you rub a live, but limp pup, they will stiffen, stick out a leg, or open the mouth. As long as you know what you are doing, you can easily stimulate these puppies and get them going quickly. If you rub a limp puppy and get no reaction, you may have already lost the pup. There is still a chance, but often these already passed during labor or delivery.
Again I have to swing, rub, and stimulate this puppy. Due to the delay in labor, she's lethargic and it takes a while to get her going. I pick at her and irritate her until she is squealing and growling. I like them a bit mad at this point, they will fight to live. She quickly perks up and starts crawling and nursing. She's 14. 6 oz.
At 2:27am, Ellie delivers her last puppy. It's a blue merle male. He weighs 13.2 oz. He comes easily and cleanly and starts breathing and crawling right away.

At this point Ellie visibly relaxes. She lays with her babies and cleans and fusses over them. Her sides are now sunken and soft. The panting stops. I change the towels in the box, take Ellie out to potty, and give her some meat and cottage cheese, which she gobbles. After observing the happy family for a while, I wander off to bed around 4:30am, my face right near the video monitor. I love the soft sound of the happy puppies squeaking.

I'm thrilled and blessed to have a healthy litter of puppies and a perfectly healthy mother dog. We didn't loose any puppies. They all came without much fuss, the bitch was not harmed and handled the delivery perfectly. Their weights are good, are all nursing. They are beautiful puppies, destined to become the loving companions, performance competitors, and show dogs that they were bred and born to be.