Ella & Tigger's puppies

I am extremely proud to announce the arrival of some incredibly beautiful little puppies - not that I'm biased in any way you understand ;) 

The little darlings themselves, along with when they arrived in the world and how much they weighed

There are three recognised stages in the whelping process, so my bible "Book of the Bitch" explains! When the bitch is going through stage one she "will be restless, usually refusing food for as much as 18 - 24 hours, and she may vomit". Ella's first sign was the fact that she didn't initially want her tea on Thursday evening, although she did in the end. That was a bit weird only that she's been so hungry of late, she's been gobbling it down! She was very restless, panting a lot, and wasn't able to settle down. Plus she was following me around rather than just chilling out - the generally picture was one of unease.

Kai keeping her company, not really
understanding what all the fuss was about!

So I duly stayed downstairs with her to keep her company in case we were looking at the pups a day or two early. I don't think either of us slept much, she really wasn't very comfortable. On Friday morning she wasn't interested in her breakfast at all so we didn't push it and made plans for the dogs & children to be taken care of for the day. Even then I wasn't really expecting them all that soon.

Next thing I know there's a pool of liquid on the floor near her rear and I realised that her waters had broken! At this point she was on the duvet that I'd brought down to sleep with, and whilst I wanted her to be comfortable I was a bit worried that I couldn't see exactly what was going on where she was. So I asked her to move into the whelping box and she lay on her side, still looking pretty uncomfortable. We could then see her muscles moving in a contraction, and a small white bag like a water balloon appeared from her vulva. I could see a little bit of something that looked like it might be puppy related (!), but really wasn't sure - I was expecting a nose or a foot! This was at 8.35am so the vets weren't quite there to ask, but I left a message with the receptionist for Andy the vet to call back.

Meanwhile I made the decision that it really wasn't the "black, fluid filled bag" of water - this was likely a bag with a puppy in it, so I held her tummy just in front of her hind legs (as it had described in the book) to help her contractions focus on getting the 'bag' out. At the same time I tried to provide the "gentle traction" downwards to persuade the bag to come out, but it was all slippy and not very easy to grip at all! Whilst I was trying to do that it popped, so then I'm thinking "Eek, need to get puppy out now it hasn't got its protective bag round it", grabbed the little body and out the first little pup popped! The little bit of something that I'd seen in the bag had been a tail (feet first - breech birth), hence the difficulties in being born. Our first puppy - a gorgeous red & white boy! Since both parents have to be carriers of the red gene to produce red puppies (as the gene is recessive), I was delighted to find out she was a carrier :)

Welcome to the world baby boy!

After that I'd have to describe the process as something approaching shelling peas! I don't recall it being so easy when I was having my boys, that's for sure! 1st pup was born at 8.50am, then 2nd pup at 9.00am, 3rd pup at 9.20am, 4th pup at 9.40am, and 5th at 10.00am. Like clockwork, as I say Ella made it look remarkably easy - a couple of pushes and pop - puppy! At that point we thought we were pretty much set, but then my Ella has always known how to surprise me. After a little rest the 6th puppy arrived at 11.30am, then the 7th and final puppy at 11.50am.

The Borderspirit boys :)

Andy our vet was very helpful at the end of the phone, and just to be sure that we were all done I also had him pop out to check on Ella to make sure we shouldn't be waiting for anybody else! He had a feel but thought not, and she was also much more settled by then and her waistline (astonishingly!) was looking a lot more like its old self. I wish my tummy could bounce back like that! ;)

Ella has given me some incredible experiences already so far, taking me out of my nemesis of Grade 1 KC Agility and showing me that actually that was nothing, why not push for Grade 6 whilst we're about it. Our last show of this season was Prestbury Park where we had an amazing run to win G6 Agility, our first towards G7. That was a pretty cool day, but it pales into insignificance when compared to watching her give birth to her special litter of puppies.

My wonderful, irreplaceable girl with her precious puppies :)

We had the most amazing day welcoming Ella & Tigger's precious puppies into the world. I was in the privileged position of midwife throughout and I was so thrilled to be alongside her as she met each of her puppies, and touched that she was happy for me to handle them and be involved in the whole process. Our bond was pretty strong before, but I think it may have even shifted up a few more gears from there.

So the first Borderspirit litter has arrived! So far it would seem that we have been blessed with strong, healthy little puppies that appear to be thriving with the love and attention their wonderful mother is bestowing on them. The agility community has embraced and rejoiced at their entrance into the world, in the way that any family does. New friendships have been forged between those involved, with links that will no doubt remain in place for a lifetime. Many good homes have been found for these precious little ones, and preparations for their homecomings are being lovingly planned. Life is good :)

Today I am grateful that not only do we have some amazing puppies, but most importantly, their extraordinary mother is thriving and well. Whilst the pups will be fabulous, their mother is one of a kind and I couldn't be without her :)

Towards the end of the pregnancy

We're coming towards the end of Ella's pregnancy and her waistline has long since disappeared! Since day 40 of her gestation she's been wormed daily with liquid wormer that has seen me adding a little wet food to disguise the taste - that seems to have gone down well ;)

We also had to start feeding her 3 meals a day not long after that as the poor girl seems to be forever hungry. However now she can't eat a lot in one go and she's really good at regulating herself so she doesn't make herself so full that she's sick.

The whelping box has been up for a couple of weeks now and at the beginning of this week we picked up a head pad for the puppies from the wholesalers. Ella has been sleeping in her box at night to give her respite from the naughty sheltie puppy she currently mothers, as I remember how precious sleep was from my own pregnancy! She seems more comfortable than I was, perhaps because of all the great treatment she receives from the SMART clinic. She had her last visit before the puppies on Monday where Lowri gave her some acupuncture, but no treadmill for the expectant mother. Lowri commented on how strong her stomach muscles must be because they're doing a great job of keeping all those puppies in there - her tummy is like a drum now!

My beautiful girl :)

Last weekend we met another prospective puppy owner who made the journey from Cheltenham down to see Tigger in Honiton, before seeing us in Yatton on their way back.  It was great to see such effort made, makes you realise people are really serious about finding  'the one'! Definitely another forever home found for one of these precious puppies, and some new good friends made too :)

On Tuesday we popped in for our first appointment at the new vets we've registered with, Watkins & Tasker. We loved being clients of Sue Yeo, but as her out of hours care has been transferred to a surgery over 45 minutes away from us, we knew it wouldn't be sensible for Ella if she needed any help with labour. The appointments were for Kai & Tinker (one of our cats) and were just for routine vaccinations, but it was good to have been in and seen the surgery. If we need any help now it'll only be 5 or 15 minutes away and that's much better for my peace of mind :)

On a less practical note we found ourselves wandering around Comet yesterday for Mike's birthday present of a new camera - okay so I might enjoy using it too ;) His old camera was bought for his trip to Hawaii in his days as a single, carefree man many moons ago - it's showing signs of wear and tear now, and it needed replacing so we had a reliable way of recording the puppies lives as newborns and as they grow :)

So at Thursday now and could be expecting the arrival of these puppies from Saturday onwards. We're pretty confident about the date as Ella was blood tested during her season so we know exactly when she ovulated. But then of course Mother Nature could always throw us a curved ball, so we're watching Ella closely just to be sure! We're really lucky to have many people offering to help with whelping advice, child care, dog care (for Kai & Diva), and lots of wonderful good wishes. It brings home to me how much the agility community is a family and how we're all excitedly awaiting these puppies as new members to it.

So today we're doing our normal thing of taking my Grandma to the Post Office/ shopping/ lunch extravaganza - another exhausting day, but it's lovely to see the children spending time with their Great-grandmother. This evening will have to be devoted to getting everything together for Daybreak's tax return so that the decks are clear for the weekend. There's nothing like working to a deadline for getting things done ;)

Today I'm grateful for husband who has supported me this week by taking some time off work to ease the load. Don't know what I'd do without him :)