Less Than One Week To Go!

Although she doesn't look like she has changed very much when you look at her from above, you can certainly tell that puppies are on the way when Midge sits or lays down! She definitely has the "I swallowed a watermelon" look to her. Midge's puppy raisers visited her on Sunday, and they say that if you put your hand on her side when she's relaxed, you can feel the puppies.

Diane, Midge's breeder caretaker, and her family still take Midge on short walks, but these walks have become much slower.

We took the whelping supplies to Diane's house on Monday - whelping box, blankets and towels, medicine, syringes, gloves, a kit for taking care of the umbilical cords, warming box for the puppies, rick rack for puppy collars, puppy scale and boxes of toys. These supplies took up all of the space in the van!

We make sure to have the whelping supplies at the breeder caretaker's home at least a week before the puppies are due. That gives the mother plenty of time to get used to the whelping box, where she'll be delivering her puppies. Diane has set up the whelping box on her sun porch. It's a cozy, quiet room that stays at approximately 78 degrees - the perfect place to have puppies!


In addition to these whelping supplies, Diane has stocked up on trash bags, newspaper and ... vanilla ice cream! The ice cream is for Midge during labor. She'll need lots of calcium and glucose so she can keep up the hard work of giving birth to all those puppies!

Diane has started taking Midge's temperature four times a day. Her temperature will indicate when she's going to go into labor. A dog's temperature usually stays around 101-102 degrees. When Midge's drops below 99 degrees, we'll know that she'll go into labor within 12-24 hours. When Diane notices this temperature drop, she'll notify the other members of the whelping team - our head trainer and another volunteer.

Diane will also be watching Midge's behavior. If she starts panting, nesting or refusing food, she may be going into labor soon.

Because this is Midge's first time, Diane plans to take lots of notes so that the next litter may be more predictable.

Starting on Friday, Midge will have constant supervision as it gets closer to her due date. We'll keep you posted!