She just couldn't wait

Bella was due on 21.01.11 assuming she took on her 1st mating but yesterday she was a bit huffy puffy in the morning. I wasn't too concerned as when the girls are close things get a bit uncomfortable and they can have periods where they pant a bit. However by the evening, despite eating a large meal, she was definitely in labour. She was very fidgety and was panting quite hard, but no signs of contractions or pushing. Graham and I did shifts sitting with her until 5.30am at which point she was no further advanced and was not unduly stressed so we both fell into bed. When I got up to check her at 7.30am she had produced and cleaned 1 tiny, but healthy, black and tan bitch pup. By 10.00am she had obviously decided she was 'too posh to push' so off we went to the vets. There the fantastic team there delivered 5 chunky healthy pups and then spayed Bella. Mum and babies are doing well.

The final tally is, one black boy with white bib & toes, one black girl with white bib & toes, one black/tan girl with white bib and the surprises were three white/black/tan girls who I suspect will be roans. These pups will not be docked. There are photos of each pup on my flickr account (link on top right) There is also a link on the right-hand side of the blog for live web cam pictures, although this will not always be on.