I have been waiting for Doozie to plump out in these last few weeks of her pregnancy. But, it wasn’t happening. At the end of last week I realized that I better get an x-ray to confirm whether she was carrying puppies, or not.
This afternoon, the radiograph provided the answer. Doozie is not pregnant.
I have never bred a bitch that didn’t get pregnant. I bred her to Boon five times in six days. Her first due date would have been October 27th (63 days from the first breeding). That is just two weeks from now. But, she has not gained weight.
I have been very fortunate, really. I have heard horror stories of breeders who loose puppies and even their dams. I have produced 12 litters of puppies that resulted in 93 total puppies. That’s an average of 7.75 pups per litter.
I had one puppy die at 6 weeks old. It was the puppy I chose to retain from Lexie’s first litter. I called her ”Stitch” because she required stitches before she was 24 hours old due to a tear at her umbilical cord. I believe the the antibiotics the puppy received at such an early age weakened her, perhaps destroyed her kidneys or liver. She was born the largest puppy, but grew very slowly and at six weeks old was very small compared to her siblings. I had already received deposits on the other two female puppies. Lexie was eight years old and it was her first litter - and perhaps her last. Lexie is Sham’s daughter. Sham was my first Border Collie, and a very special guy. I wanted terribly to “steal back” one of the puppies that I had promised. But, I chose to retain a male, instead. It was a great choice. Boon is a great dog. I was able to breed Lexie one more time, producing Moxie. Lexie turns 14 years old this November!
I also lost two puppies at birth in different litters (both which were the 9th puppies in the litter), and another died at around a week old; a pup that I named “little bit” because she was so very tiny compared to her siblings. But, in that’s just four puppies in almost 100 born, that did not make it. I feel very fortunate. I am even more grateful that I have never had a mother get ill or require a c-section. It’s a healthy breed, in that regard. Border Collies are not extreme in size and are still designed to perform a challenging, athletic job.
So, I guess, the fact that Doozie is not in whelp is certainly not the worst thing that a breeder can encounter on this journey to try to create wonderful puppies and place them in loving homes. But, there is a very nice family in Colorado that is sad to hear the news. Diane contacted me back in March, and while I had Shimmer x Switch puppies available, she wanted to wait until her youngest child attended school in the autumn so that she could dedicate all the time necessary to their new puppy. Doozie was due in season in the summer and pups should have been available in September - perfect timing for them. When I chose (sort of as a last minute decision) to breed Yoli to Switch (as a final litter for her and to figure out where Shimmer acquired her “red” color gene), I let Diane know. But, she wanted to wait for a pup out of Boon that would be born in the fall. Then, Doozie did not come into season as planned (which is not unusual - not every dog is on a perfect six month schedule). Finally, the breeding took place, but the autumn puppy became a Christmas pup. When I saw the x-ray, today, I was not surprised. I have never taken a bitch to get an x-ray before because I have always been able to tell they were pregnant by this time. But, I was very sad for Diane and her family who have been planning for their new puppy for what seems to be forever. I guess this is sort of like those “adoption” shows on TV - where the folks wait and wait for their new baby, then it falls through, but in the end they get their baby.
No Christmas puppies this year - and I love so much to make the puppy videos with a Christmas theme. Here’s one I remember:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOBaTz-B1wY
October 16th, 2009 at 3:09 pm I remember Stitch…she was our Asta’s sister. Sad. But happy that parents Sage and Lexie and brother Boon are well!
October 17th, 2009 at 7:56 am Sorry to hear the news about your planned litter, but glad everyone is OK. Enjoyed the Christmas puppy video! Pearl (from the video) is in the same training class as Dax. Fun to see her cute puppy pictures!
October 27th, 2009 at 1:48 pm Do you make your living online? I work online also but havn’t got enough to live off it yet was just wondering if you do and what its like.
February 16th, 2010 at 2:15 pm What Rahm said was bad. What Rush said was not bad, because it was satire. Family Guy is satire and what they said was bad. My head hurts.