The pregnancy is confirmed.
The mother dog is started on a high quality diet with daily probiotics and a b vitamin complex. This aids in fetal development. She will gradually eat more as her pregnancy progresses, though her appetite may decrease as she prepares to give birth.
Dogs are pregnant for 9 weeks. An ultrasound can be performed around 30 days in to roughly estimate the litter size and check fetal heartbeats.
Mom's activity level stays about the same until her belly begins to grow. Past this point, walks are short and slow. Stress is kept to a minimum, as bad experiences during pregnancy can manifest as trauma in the puppies themselves later on.
10 days before whelping, Mom is dewormed to help prevent intestinal parasites in the puppies.
The final week of pregnancy, a x-ray is performed for a more accurate puppy count. At this stage, Mom has gained nearly twenty pounds. Her scan shows 6 clear skull-and-spine combos and a couple more questionable shapes that may be puppies, or maybe not. If the litter is abnormally large or small, the breeder will book a c-section to deliver the puppies, but in this case, a natural birth is expected.
Two days before her estimated due date, the breeder announces a drop in Mom's temperature. This signals that labor is about to begin.
That night is sleepless. Mom spends the night nesting, just not where the breeder wants her (in the whelping box). Instead, she tries to burrow in the breeder's bed and requires on-leash bathroom breaks to prevent her from disappearing under the deck.
Around noon the next day, the breeder says she expects puppies to arrive late in the night or early the next morning. She is going to take a nap to prepare.
The nap never happens. An hour later, we have our first puppy. Over the next four hours, she delivers six more.
I watch each announcement with the fear that there won't be a puppy for me. It isn't until the 6th puppy emerges that my fear is replaced with a flood of calm. I am certain that my puppy exists now. I won't know which puppy is mine for another 8 weeks, but my heart wants it to be this one.
The next morning, their first official photos are posted. For identification, each puppy now sports a colored collar. I'm keeping my eye on Yellow.
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