Puppies Have Arrived!

I'm excited that once again I get to raise a litter of Sheltie puppies and document the experience here on this blog! 

It all began Saturday morning when Spryte's temperature dropped to 98.4 and she refused her breakfast.  Both strong indications that puppies where on their way soon.  By 11:00am Spryte was going into labour with the first puppy arriving somewhere around noon (although with all the excitement I could be off on my timeline). 


It never ceases to amaze me how innate motherhood is for Spryte.  As the puppy was being born she
immediately began to clean the puppy and care for it right away.   She pushed blankets around her to keep her warm and dry her off.  She was attentive to her from the moment she appeared in this world.  Two more puppies followed, a girl and then a boy, and it was the same for each one. Spryte stayed with them non stop for the first day.  She refused to leave their side.  When we could finally coax her away for a bathroom break she would do her stuff quickly and then run to the door barking and whining to get back
 to her babies as quickly as possible.  Spryte is an excellent mom and she seems to love motherhood.

Our excitement for our new litter began to turn to anxiety early Sunday morning when it became clear that the small female wasn't doing well.  She was weak, was having trouble eating and wasn't behaving like a normal puppy. She seemed to lack that rooting/orienting behaviour that helps a puppy find mom.  Mostly she would just roll on her side and cry.  It was horrifying to watch the puppy decline so quickly.  We did all that you can do with a newborn puppy. We kept her warm, tried to help her eat, gave her subcutaneous fluids, even some corn syrup for energy.  Nothing helped.  She got limper, and started to gasp for breath.  She rapidly got worse until about 2pm she passed away.  Paul and I were heartbroken.  A life so young that never had a chance to live.  It just didn't seem fair.  We are both aware that this happens, often with no apparent cause (in fact something like 30% of puppies don't  make it through their first week of life) but it doesn't make it any easier.  In the end we buried her in the agility field. It seemed fitting for a Sheltie puppy.

It is now Monday afternoon and Spryte and the two remaining puppies are doing great. The two
puppies are strong and healthy, they eat often and behave like happy normal puppies.  The girl today weighed in at 8.1 oz and the boy at 7.1oz.  They are a good size and growing.  So despite our tragic Sunday, Monday is full of joy and hope.  The puppies bring smiles to our faces each time we watch them feed or nestle into Spryte. It truly is an amazing thing to raise a litter of puppies, and I feel very blessed with our little family.

Below are some videos from today.  In the second and third photo above, the puppy closest to Spryte is the boy.  The picture above, Spryte is nudging the girl.