Most of you know we have moms due with more puppies this month. Gracie was to be our first, then Hazel, (about a week apart), then the last two would be close together about a week after Hazel was due (Rosie and Glory). So we’d be expecting another bunch of puppies (thankfully not as big as the last batch! And they should be spread out enough to make things easier.)

The average gestation for a dog is 63 days. But the normal can be as soon as 58 days clear to 70 days. There are factors that play into the scenario; when she is bred, when she actually ovulates, etc.

So I always count out nine weeks from the first time a girl is bred with the male (they are usually bred two to three times during the time they are receptive to the male, or if we pinpoint it with testing and know when they are ovulating) in my planner and write the girl’s name and “63 days”. Of course, they don’t always go clear to day sixty-three and I’ve some go past that mark.

So I have Gracie penciled in on March 6th, Hazel on the 9th (okay, I guess that’s not a week 😛 It’s just the next line in my planner so my brain says, “next week”), Rosie on the 18th and Glory on the 19th.

Hazel has always been one to push the boundaries and do her own thing! She does not read textbooks or follow the crowd so to speak.

I had given Gracie her beauty treatments, started monitoring her temperature and waiting for something to happen. And before I could bathe and groom Hazel she decided that she would just pop her puppies out! I hadn’t even started monitoring her temperature, which doesn’t usually drop with her anyway! Yep, she beat Gracie to the punch!

We have three girls (1 tricolor, 2 black & white) and one boy (black & white).

(This all happened last Thursday. I’m sorry, I haven’t shared sooner. But we had puppy exams on Friday, puppy prep Saturday night and puppy deliveries Sunday. And things just got crazier after Hazel’s early delivery.)

Here I was with puppy delivery day fast approaching and Gracie big and ready. By Friday her temp was going down, but I hadn’t seen the big drop which usually happens before whelping. Once the temperature drops it’s 12-24 hours later when whelping usually occurs. So if she didn’t drop until Saturday morning, that would put her whelping fairly close to Sunday morning when I had to be gone. *sigh

I could only hope and pray that something would happen sooner. I even thought about sending out an email to Sunday’s families to give them a “heads up” that my husband may have to meet them and give them the puppies instead of me if I was busy at home with Gracie. He has been in the delivery room when puppies were born before but it’s not his favorite activity.

Thankfully, later Friday night she started nesting in her crate which gave me hope we might have puppies on Saturday after all. Well, we did, although she didn’t want to wait until daylight. I got about three hours sleep before I awakened by the first cry! And then caught little cat naps in between puppies.

And once again, we have a beautiful litter of four, three apricots, one red (three girls, one boy).

Do you realize we have three litters here; Joy’s, Hazel’s and Gracie’s and each one is four puppies; three girls and one boy! Now, that’s a first! I’m happy we have so many girls (since more people pick females over males…poor boys ).

So thankfully, things worked out to go Sunday (my previous post) to deliver pups and hubby only had to babysit the newborns.

Since Hazel and Gracie’s pups are close in age we will do their puppy matching day together on Sunday, April 19th (the week before is Easter). Their delivery day to go home will be Sunday, May 3rd (the week before Mother’s Day).