Well, OK, maybe that's a little misleading but I do have some pre-birth puppy pics to share with you. This first one was taken by somebody other than me . We Xrayed Cassidy last Thursday and this is a part of that Xray. If you look real closely, you can see some circular light areas which are actually skulls. We counted 8 puppies in her ever-expanding belly. Last litter was 9 so that should be about right and there might be one or two hiding behind the ones we were able to count.



With the delivery date projected for this Wednesday, we converted part of my studio/office into a whelping/puppy room and put together the whelping box. Here are a couple of photos of it and where it sits in the room.





And here's a shot of Cassidy checking it out to make sure it's set up the way she wants it. She did approve of everything so now it's just a matter of waiting for the blessed event.



Because the box is in the studio, it'll be fairly easy to get some decent puppy shots as they're being born and afterwards. So stay tuned to this channel as they say.

Jim

Looking good. Only a couple days to go. We'll be anxiously awaiting pictures of little fuzzy puppies.

Very cool Jim. Brings me back to my Black Lab we had as part of our family for 18 years, her name was Blue. She had one litter when young. My setup was no where near as elaborate as yours, our was a refrigerator box. She would never enter the box until that night. She went in and started the process. She ended up having 10 pups, 5 male & 5 female. She took a break after exactly 5, went out to do her business (which we kept a close eye on of course) then came back and had the other 5. When she passed away at 18, we buried her ashes under a new Nellie Stevens Holly tree and because she loved Christmas so much, we decorate the tree every year with blue lights. Her stocking gets hung every year still also. A long story but this is exactly how I got into Pet Photography. We never had a real nice portrait of her.

Anyway, can't wait to see the pups!

Bob,
great story! This will be Cassidy's second (and last) litter and she's not quite that great at the birthing thingy. Last time she had 9 and was pretty reasonable about it starting at 2:30 in the afternoon. But she got pretty tired at the end and we had to help the last ones come down the tube.

But she nurses well and is really buttoned down when it comes to cleaning the little devils -- of course, we don't really leave that to chance either. Instinct is one thing but mandatory work assignments are much more effective .

I look at Sundance and can't believe he was the size of my hand 16 months ago. He's now 130 lbs. and can't wait to have puppies to play with. I think we'll wait until there is no fear of him stepping on them.

We'll send photos once the blessed event is over.

Jim

wow, that box is huge i was wondering when those puppies were coming!! can't wait to watch them grow.

good luck cassidy!

liz

Jim -- just great. I've looked at a lot of pre-whelp x-rays, so it's easy for me to see those skulls. Can't wait to see pups. You're absolutely right. When I look at my kids, I can't hardly believe when they were born they were essentially the size of their muzzles. In my last litter, I had 4 that weighed 1.5# and 2 that weighed 1.25#. Can't believe that 6 months later, Canon weighs over 100#.

I love your whelping box. I've got to build a new box and I like your construction and materials. What are the dimensions? Do you have some type of door that goes across the front for when the little scrapers decide to escape the box? What is the flooring material inside the box? How do you connect the corners? And, I love the colored squares. Great idea. Do you have a tarp under them? What's Cassidy's due date?

Julie,
the box is just sides with the flooring being a complex arrangement of various materials. It screws together and unscrews so it's easy to store. The pegboard is nice because it ventilates the space. We put pipe insulation sleeves over the edges to make them soft. The door slides open and closed.

It's 7.5 feet by 5.5 feet. We felt the standard large dog whelping boxes weren't big enough for the puppies especially since we tend to have large litters and large bitches. So this one was custom-designed by Linda. It sits on a platform which we built because since the last litter, we put down a walnut-stained maple floor in the studio so we have to protect it. First there's a rubber-backed carpet turned upside down. Then there is an 8' by 8' platform built from 3/4 inch plywood on 1X3s. On top of that is plastic wrap, the rubber puzzle pieces, a layer of baby underpads, and a piece of indoor/outdoor carpeting. We have 3 pieces of that carpeting and we change it and the underpads at least 2X a day.

For whelping, we'll put down newspaper as well 'cuz that's the easiest way to clean things up. The box is in the studio because that's the easiest place to regulate temps and to close off to the rest of the house. Plus it has a large window at the opposite end of the room through which we pass the puppies when it's time for them to go outside. Plus, I can get some work done when I'm on "puppy duty".

Cassidy was showing some signs yesterday of being ready but she slept on the bed last night and was pretty quiet. The kids are still moving around a lot so I think it'll be tomorrow night. That's my guess anyway. But we're not leaving her alone just to be safe.

Sundance is trying to get some mommy's milk in a classic de ja vu effort to go back to his beginnings . Mom is being very patient with the oversized butthead! His head grew more over the last few weeks so I need to post some updates.

I'll post baby pics for real when Cassidy has delivered her puppy pile.

Jim

Well, Cassidy was nice enough to start the whelping process at 7:30 this morning. Now, some 5.5 hours later, she's produced 8 puppies, 6 boys and 2 girls. All are between 14 and 17 oz but one girl who is 9 oz but eats like a valociraptor.

Cassidy is doing well but we're going to give her a shot of Oxytocin in a few minutes to get her to expel the one retained placenta. And, if there are any more puppies in there, that should get them going as well.

Here's a shot of the brave boy who first made the journey into this strange new world: Red Boy who weighed in at 16.3 oz. He has a huge head and we've nicknamed him Sundance Jr.



And here are two pics of the entire litter. Please note, they are feeding on two tiers so some are under the others .





I'll do individual photos later after everyone has had some food -- including the puppies again.

Jim

OH how precious! The moment we've all been waiting for. Congrats

Awesome! They look great and congratulations Jim and Cassidy!

Good thing I have a grandson or I would have been scratching my head wondering what the heck a velociraptor is.........