Birth Watch
It has been 61 days since the naughty Calvin, Dog of Love (a well deserved name, mind you...) snuck under Talia's protective undergarment and knocked up the girl. Average gestation time for Chinese Cresteds is 63 days. Which, of course, would be 4th of July weekend. And, of course, all veterinarians with sense are off on holiday of some sort, leaving me to fend with this brand new experience of whelping. "I don't know nuthin' bout birthin' no puppies"
Poor Talia is big as a house and is totally miserable, spending most of her time as "velcro dog" (stuck to the side of me) letting out little sighs. Moving around is difficult for her, being as large as she is (almost 20 lbs, up from 14). The ultrasound showed 6 to 7 pups, which was confirmed by X ray last Friday, and the normal litter for a Crested is 1 or 2 pups, so this poor little girl is a total wreck. She doesn't seem to like her whelping box much, and prefers to spend all her time on our bed. I'm expecting she's going to find a way to have the puppies there, so it's time to go get plastic sheeting and all the fixings, and hope we catch her before she starts spewing forth pups.
None of us were quite ready for this. We DID want to breed Calvin and Talia, but not for her first heat. We planned on letting her grow up a little more first. But Calvin got himself under the diaper, and here we are today. As puppy countdown progresses, and poor Talia tries to hold out just a few more days.