Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Skarlet x Rock Puppies Born

Obviously Skarlet did not hear the vet say that we should expect puppies next week.  Skar started having a change in behavior, wouldn't eat and then her temp dropped.  Uhhhh moment of  panic as I was not in any rush, before that time, to set up her whelping area.  Well, I started cleaning the floor, laying the tarp out, putting up the pen, filling it with sheets etc.  Skarlet was showing signs that she was uncomfortable, but no labor signs.  We sat down to eat dinner and she would come see us and then go back to my closet, where she had chosen to spend the day relaxing.  I put Connor to sleep around 8:00 and then let the other dogs in the house.  The immediately ran over to the closet.  I went to tell them to get out when to my SHOCK there was Skarlet with 2 puppies.  That girl is quiet as a church mouse when it comes to giving birth. I moved her to the whelping pen along with her puppies and Murray pulled every piece of loose clothing out to check for more puppies. 
A couple hours later she had another one and then they came at a pretty even pace with the "last" one (so I thought) coming at 1:00 am.  I gave her a shot of Oxytocin to make sure there wasn't a last one and she never had a contraction after that.  I took her potty and put her back with her puppies where she fell asleep with them.  It was now 2:30 am and she was sleeping and I was tired, so off to bed I went.
I went to show Connor the puppies this morning at 6:30 am.  To my surprise Skarlet was just starting to clean the sack off of another puppy.  WTF!!!!
Our final count is 3 boys (2 red and white and 1 red merle) and 4 girls (2 red and white and 2 black and white). I will take pictures of all of the puppies, but here are some from last night.  I know that I am missing the 4 girl in the picture, but she looks very similar to her sister.


Skarlet being a good mommy



The Boys



The Girls