As suspected the other day, Smudgie was in pre-labor. Dogs will sometimes go into nesting mode before they go into actual labor. Smudgie was nesting on and off for about 24 hours, digging in her bed and after I switched it out for some newspaper she went to town ripping and shredding that.
I had hoped Tuesday, as the day progressed, that she would go into active labor and have the babies. But no, instead we had a restless night of waiting. Finally in the wee hours of the morning things started happening.
The first pup arrived with no issues, fat and sassy. Unfortunately, the next two did not fair so well. Both were bigger than the first puppy (they were all 8+ ounces), came out breech and got stuck. I had the unpleasant job of pulling them as mom tried to deliver. I’m sure it was very painful and uncomfortable for poor Smudgie, but I had to get the pups out.
Sadly, the first one was already gone by the time I got it out and the last one I was not able to revive even with considerable effort. I felt so bad for poor Smudige.
Sometimes this job is hard.
At least she has one healthy puppy to mother. I’m grateful for that. <3
