Yesterday Summer was nesting a lot. She was extra calm, yet also restless. She had a little bit of clear discharge. We figured that she was in early labor.
As the day went on, she looked more and more uncomfortable. She dug a huge hole!
Before going to bed I checked on her, and she seemed like she may have been pushing slightly, but nothing like the straining I had seen in the whelping videos I watched. She also never had visible contractions.
I checked on her at midnight, and it was the same.
At two o’clock, I checked the whelping cam. She looked fine. She was licking herself, but that is pretty normal. I then turned the sound on and heard lots of high pitched whining. I hurried to the garage (where Summer is) and found six puppies! One had passed away though. What about everything I had read about 30 minutes to 4 hours between puppies? I was only gone for 2 hours. Her pushing was very subtle, so that’s why I didn’t catch her labor earlier.
After that she had two more puppies. They all seemed to struggle nursing, but they got the hang of it eventually.
Later, another puppy was born.
Several hours passed, and then Summer was straining hard for a few contractions. Finally, she had a stillborn and a live pup at the same time. My theory is that the stillborn got stuck, and that’s why there was so much time in between and straining. I would guess that the other puppy helped push him out.
As of writing this post, it has been three and a half hours since the last puppy, so I would guess that she is done, but we shall see. So that leaves us with nine puppies!
I will post more pictures, names, and training updates as they grow.
If you are interested in a puppy, they are pure Great Pyrenees with two working parents. Comment if you’re interested.
