Our First Litter

Hugo, George and Meg at 8 weeks

My first show dog, Lilli, has been mated to a Blenheim dog, Gowheath Timidus.  He is a very sound dog, and with particolours well back in Lilli's pedigree, it's possible she may have Blenheims or Tricolours.  A nice Tricolour bitch would be perfect!  

January 29 1992

Lilli's waters have broken, and we have set up her whelping box in the kitchen, as our house is under renovation!  Lilli has already shown early signs of eclampsia, probably brought on by stress - she is getting plenty of calcium.  She's hiding in dark places, and panting.

8:10pm: A RUBY BITCH.  Our very first puppy has arrived!  She seems a tiny little bundle at 8oz.  Lilli is not happy to feed her yet, and in my inexperience, I don't understand that this is normal until the bitch has finished whelping.  So we keep her nice and warm, until Lilli is more comfortable.  She is mismarked, so won't be a show dog.

9:55pm: A RUBY DOG.  A little smaller at 7oz, and mismarked almost identically to his sister.  The stud dog's owners have arrived, and help get this puppy started.  Lilli is still not ready to suckle the pups.

11:20pm: A BLACK & TAN DOG.  Weight 6oz.  Oh dear - Lilli seems to be embarrassed by the messes she has made in the kitchen, and hasn't given any indication that she has whelped a puppy!  I find him while rolling her over to put the first two onto her teats.  He is cold and blue, and still in his sac.  He could have been there for at least 20 minutes!  We are all panicking.  The stud dog owners jump in and resuscitate him - it takes a while for him to let out his first squeak, and is hard to keep him warm and lively.

Week one: It's been a tough week!  The little BT boy really struggled in his first few days, and so I've had next to no sleep.  I'm completely exhausted, and I'm sure Lilli is sick of me checking her pups every few minutes.  I don't feel I can leave them unattended.  Who said breeding was fun???  The other two pups are fine, but Lilli is panting heavily, which I know is an early sign of eclampsia.

Week two: Lilli shows other signs of eclampsia, and we have several trips to the vet.  The pups are getting busy!

Weeks three/four: I've nearly lost Lilli to eclampsia!  Being summer, I thought she was flicking her ears because of a grass seed.  We've got her to the vet, and now realise what is really wrong - she has collapsed and can't walk.  She is near to a coma when the vet sees her and administers intravenous calcium.  The pups must be weaned immediately, while she takes high doses of oral calcium.  We later have a midnight trip to the emergency vet, for another intravenous shot of calcium.

The pups take to weaning quite well, and are developing their personalities.  The little BT boy, whom I've named George, is quite captivating.  Being a little behind the others in all of his developmental benchmarks, I'm worried that he is brain damaged.  He looks at me and says "I'm staying".  I'm hooked!

Weeks five/eight: My goodness, no wonder breeders call puppies "time wasters"!  They are so much fun, and so entertaining!  At eight weeks, Meg goes off to her new home.  Hugo (Ruby) and George (BT) have bonded beautifully, and play tag all day long.  Hugo is to be my brother's pet, and George my new show dog.  My very special George (Ch Chelport Mr Natural) is featured on the Foundations and Achievements pages, and in the pedigrees of nearly all of my current show team.

George and Hugo's 10th birthday party