The Waiting Game ...

It seems to have been a long time coming, this Jubilee weekend. Much for us to look forward to ... none of which to do with the Jubilee!

We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Cafe Latte Girl and New Boy’s puppies. It isn’t the greatest of timing, having a projected whelping on the Golden Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend, but I can’t change the forces of nature. As a result though, I have taken the big decision to upsticks and leave home for the whelping. Living on the edge of a small town isn’t the ideal location for such an event when such a big National event is taking place at the same time. Noise. I don’t like noise, I get quite stressed by it ... CLG is fine, but she wouldn’t be fine if I was stressed. So we have moved to a friend’s place. Much quieter with few neighbours. Much better for me, therefore much better for CLG and the rest of The Sensational Six. We will return home after the weekend, when everything has quietened down ... excellent experience for the pups - an early vehicle outing.

There was confirmation of a pregnancy back in May.

By end of May the Mum to be had definitely filled out.

CLG has been wormed on a daily basis since day 40 of her pregnancy. In the last two weeks her daily food ration has been gradually increased, mainly increasing the levels of proteins, with the aim of raising feeding volume by something like 50% by the day of whelping. 

Her temperature has been monitored twice daily for the last week ... I’ve been waiting for a drop below 37ºC. This is a good indicator that whelping will occur within 12-24 hours. Not fool-proof granted and the method doesn’t work for everyone, but certainly in my line of dogs it’s a pretty good indicator. So, the waiting game begins.

At 3.30am CLGs temperature dropped to 36.7ºC. Food last night was refused. There’s been some ‘nesting’ activity going on in her very lovely whelping box ... she’s made a right mess in there!

She, nor I, have slept well for some nights.

She has eaten two small meals today, she’s been for a walk to check on her sheep and she’s been wanting to play football. Whelping doesn’t seem to be too high in her list of priorities.

So, when will Cafe Latte Girl deliver her puppies? You’ll just have to be patient and wait and see, just like me ...