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This was my very first go at breeding and a
very special time it turned out to be.
Lulu gave birth
to a large litter of 10 blue puppies, 6 Dogs, 4 Bitches,
only one had a white flash on his chest, so I was extremely
thrilled.
The birth was not straightforward and after
delivering a boy, Lulu had to have a Caesarean which caused
pandemonium at the Vets on the Saturday morning. Unfortunately, 3 of the puppies did not survive which was
heartbreaking but we still had the healthy 7 to care for.
It was the most wonderful experience watching Lulu's babies
developing and I was totally engrossed in their activities,
I hadn't seen a newborn Dane puppy before and
couldn't quite believe their small size and then just how
rapidly they grew, watching them all laying on top of each
other, their little tongues perfectly shaped to suck on
their mum's teats, their pink feet, roman noses, wrinkly
heads and thick set tails, the chevron stripes that they
were born with gradually disappearing, the darker ring
around their tail that grew out as they grew, the positions
they all clambered into attaching themselves to the teats
burrowing under one another.
Then the eyes opened and
they were the bluest of blue, up on their feet, tumbling
around with each other, barking of a sort and play fighting,
bounding along the whelping box. Giving them their
first meat balls to wean them on to solids, then the fun
really began when they were feeding out of their own bowls,
standing in it, rolling in it, tipping the milk out, you
name it and they were up for it.
Mum had done her job,
wonderfully as well and now when you entered the room all
these little pups came bounding to the end of the whelping
box to see you, then there was the one that made it over the
top and you had to find him or her curled up somewhere where
it shouldn't be. It wasn't long before they couldn't
be contained in the whelping box any longer and had to be
moved to my conservatory, well I tried the dining room for
one day and that was enough thank you, chaos pursued,
adventurous, playful and mucky little beggars, I stuck at
that for a while and then it was out into my kennels.
Life became a lot easier for me then, cleaning up didn't
seem to take anywhere near so long and they soon got into
their routine. At bedtime after drinking their milk,
they all came up for their cuddle on my lap, although Jade
managed to be everyother one so she got more than her fair
share, went into their beds, ate their treat then lights
out.
New owners had chosen their puppy and gradually
they left us, one by one, tears were shed in bucket fulls, I
was left with Oliver, Sassie and Shad, a big boy who had
been experiencing growing problems so he had spent a
lot of time indoors with me, and was he a sweetie or what -
he played just enough and then took himself off to rest, a
large boy who became very special to me.
He finally
left to live with Lizzie and John on a 200 acre farm in
Sussex and he weighs in excess of 13 stone, you can read
more about "Albert " on my pet page.
Unfortunately, both Jade and Tatum were taken back by me,
both had suffered in some way or another at their new homes,
they were not only underweight but were now very submissive
and Tatum was terrified of men - my babies had had a bad
experience despite all the vetting and the home checks
that I did!
These girls had been badly treated
and were unwanted - not quite, I have always loved them
and always will.
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