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| Mamma Topa with Six healthy puppies |
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| A puppy! That's Lucky Seven |
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| Another puppy! |
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| Topa resting comfortably in the extended cab of the pick up! |
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| Mamma and two babies |
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| Back home with 4 more to come! |
Happy Birthday!
Day 61 of 63 and no signs from Topa that she would be having
those babies any time soon; or so I thought. Within a half an hour after
announcing this “no news”, Topa lost her mucus plug and began heavily panting.
I recalled the birth of Sasha’s puppies back in January. She had lost her plug
early in the morning and didn’t have the puppies until 24+ hours afterwards.
Our litters never tend to be text book so the anticipation and excitement
began.
Within a few short hours of Topa’s telltale and signature
vocalizations, I saw her lightly push. This was 11:21PM on Thursday. Oh!
Pushing! Alright then. It won’t be long now before we see the first beautiful baby.
Having a litter of puppies is like a box of chocolates. You never know what’s
inside!
Time went by and no more pushing. Huh. So I pop online to
facebook to post my experience on the page of an educational and life-saving
group about Canine Reproduction. They have over 9,000 members from the person
having had only one litter all the way up to reproductive specialists. I have
used them for information on litters past and found what they have to offer to
be invaluable.
Ok, so she is now in Stage 2 labor once she begins to push even
the slightest. Good to know. This is my 10th litter in 16 years of
having these magnificent dogs in my life and each one is like the first; there
is always something I didn’t anticipate or didn’t know and always something new
to learn. Just before Topa began to push, I printed off all of the important
documents from this reproduction site and I began to read them (again) and had
our new dog handler do the same. Ok! Along with all of the items I had set
aside in a box marked for “whelping”, we should be prepared.
Now, it’s 1:38AM on Friday morning and Topa begins to actively
push. We’re all tired now and, if I recall, I am the only one up, until the
pushing begins, then you bet everyone else will be up if I have to go and
physically get them up myself. This is serious business and it’s only the
second time that Neil has been here during this process. It was nice to have
extra hands on board. The rush of excitement soon waned, and I found myself,
again, the only one awake as we waited for the puppy to make her presence
known. After about an hour, I, again, reached out to my reproductive group, so
glad that someone was still awake, and the response was to feel inside to see
if a puppy was stuck. In my 10 litters, I’ve never had to do this so was
hesitant but knew that it must be done.
Alright then, the little guy wasn’t stuck and was clearly
interested in making its way outta there. Another hour went by and still no
puppy! I had read in my literature that after 2 hours of pushing, an emergency
vet visit was the next step. Again, I am online pleading for expert advice. After
being reassured that the situation didn’t sound dire just yet, I felt better
but the roller coaster of emotion was starting to take a toll. I was advised to
try the “wheelbarrow method” with her; again, something I have never done or
even witnessed. This would apparently help to move the pup into a more
appropriate position for birth. So, here we go. I was told to elevate her back legs onto the
couch with her front legs firmly placed on the floor and have her stay put for
at least 10 minutes. 10 minutes?! Can you imagine trying to keep a dog in that
position for even a minute and much less a dog that is giving birth, hopefully,
any minute? I had, again, awakened my two drowsy helpers and they assisted
placing Topa in the “wheelbarrow” position.
When that traumatic (for the people mostly) experience was
done, I was instructed to feel for the puppy again. In doing so, she was in the
same position but, only, this time, she wasn’t moving. My heart sank and it
still does just typing this. I had managed to keep it together until this
moment of the process. I felt tears welling up and I felt like curling up into the
fetal position and bawling my eyes out for a second but you can’t do that now,
can you? I snatched the phone out of the cradle and called our emergency vet in
Canada, an hour and a half drive away. I explained the situation while holding
back the tears. We discussed when I would be there and when I hung up the
phone, we all agreed that Parker, our new handler that had only been here for 3
days would come with me and Topa to Canada and Neil will remain back with the
other dogs.
Parker held her cupped hands underneath Topa to catch a pup that may decide to make an appearance, as if waiting to
catch a low-flying football pass, as we rushed to the truck. I had already grabbed water, passports, rabies
certificates and other miscellaneous for the journey. Topa readily jumped into
the truck which was amazing in of itself because she really dislikes car rides.
She will typically be very agitated and drool herself sloppy wet the entire
way. Thankfully, there was already a “dog” blanket in the back for our various
doggie trips to town.
Fearing encountering a deer in the dark at roughly 3:30AM, my
eyes were glued to the road and I instructed Parker to do the same thing, but
to also keep glancing back to check on Topa. We bumped and bustled down the
gravel road and when meeting the pavement I immediately felt a bit of relief for
Topa and sped up. Ah, the highway! Thank goodness. I picked up the pace just as
I was reminded by what felt like a mini roller coaster ride (quick arms-up-in-the-air
type drop) and then an abrupt “WHOMP” as I was compressed into my chair and
then my head nearly hit the roof of the truck once back up on pavement, that
there was road construction! I’m sure I uttered something not quite appropriate
for this post, but can’t recall what it was and I quickly glanced back at Topa.
I was not able to see a thing from my vantage point so quickly instructed
Parker to take a look. A PUPPY! That bump (to put it lightly) must have
dislodged the puppy. THERE SHE WAS! Was she alive? YES!!!!
We have no cell coverage at this point in the road and were
closer to the Canadian border now than to home so we kept going, thinking I
would give the vet a call once in Grand Portage when we could pick up a signal
again. At this point, I had fully intended to continue on to our emergency vet
in Canada but remembered that contractions are so much more productive when
calcium is given. I had left the calcium at home so thought we could quickly
pick up some in Grand Portage while I called the vet to see what he thought we
should do next.
Turns out that the Trading Post in Grand Portage was closed so
we parked in the parking lot (across from the Casino) anyway so that I could
make the call to the vet. 4:15AM - ANOTHER PUPPY! It’s a BOY! She seemed to be on
a roll now.
The vet indicated that it would be best for her to have them
in a place with which she was familiar so we should drive back home. He assured
me that he would be there if we needed to drive back. So, back home we drove,
taking special care to avoid the road construction hazards this time.
The sun was beginning to rise and daylight came upon us. The post
office was on the way home so I decided to stop in to check the mail. Seems
rather nonchalant, doesn’t it? Well, I guess that all of my years working on the
life lesson of “letting go” really did work after all. I figured that she
comfortable, she was having puppies and she didn’t appear the last bit distressed
so it wouldn’t matter one bit to her if I checked the mail or not.
We returned home around 5:30AM or so, I really can’t recall. I
opened up the extended cab door of my Toyota Tacoma to find mamma Topa and two
babies comfortably resting. I picked up the still slightly wet puppies and Topa
readily follow me and puppies into the house and right into the whelping box as
if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. She effortlessly delivered
another male puppy at 6AM and then continued in an uneventful manner until the
last puppy was delivered at 8:24AM.
I finally got myself to bed at around 9AM and was relieved by
my, still very groggy, husband. All I remember was a knock on the door at 9:24AM
– There’s another puppy! We were expecting 4-5 and got #6 unexpectedly. When
puzzling over the puppy theme names we agreed that The Grand Portage Casino
litter made the most sense. It was local and very fitting. And our #6 puppy was
our Jackpot.
Lucky Seven (first thought to have passed but was born
alive!), Ace of Spades, Deuce, Queen of Hearts, Wild Card and Jackpot - all
healthy active puppies. Mamma Topa is the perfect mom and is finally to the
point where, after a week on the planet, she thinks it’s alright for her to go
out and get some “me” time away from the puppies, a few times a day for short
periods of time. And me, well, I am thoroughly enjoying the last litter we will
have for a while. We’ve got lots of youngsters to train, a few older retired
dogs to pamper and lots of other young and middle-aged dogs to spend time with,
care for, love and work.
Just a day in the life of a
lover of dogs.
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If you would like to follow the growth of these puppies, we post photos regularly on our facebook page. Click HERE for that link.
