Gracie is being a terrific mom

Yes, Gracie is definitely a very caring and smart mother. She has been staying in the whelping area with her puppies almost all the time. No need (yet anyway) to worry about her abandoning her puppies. I'm very concerned about eclampsia. She had it last year and almost died. We caught it later than I would have liked to. This year I started out giving her calcium right away. However, she had diarrhea and I thought the calcium probably wasn't helping any, so I stopped giving it to her. Instead, I've been giving her all the raw meat and bones she wants. She loves chicken necks and lamb steak and riblets. Maybe I should start giving her calcium again. The second week seems to be the time when eclampsia usually hits. So far she's frisky and strong. Her babies are growing like weeds. Truly. The largest (Purple) is now one pound. Already!! Other than changing the bedding and weighing the puppies, there is nothing much for me to do except to keep Gracie happy. She's actually an amazing mother. One day Gracie was coming through the house to go outside and Punky met her half way. Gracie broadsided her so she couldn't get any closer to the pups. Quite a move by Gracie to stop a dog who is totally fixated on her babies on the computer monitor.

Gracie in waiting

Gracie is in waiting. Yep, all she does is wait. She waits in the whelping box, she waits under the chair in the kitchen, and she waits on the bathroom floor when it gets too hot. She seems to know what the whelping box is for and chooses to go in there now. Her belly is HUGE. The picture shows her from the top and that's pretty big. She looks even more huge in the other direction. Friday is Day 63, which is the average time for canine babies to go from insemination to birth. Smaller dogs often do not go that long. Gracie didn't go that long with her first litter. Her breathing is affected. Her mobility is affected. Should that be effected? I was only trained to be an English teacher but I never could remember which was which except maybe for a few days before a test.

My granddaughter Remi came over for two days to wait for puppies. Now her social life calls so she's gone forever, or at least for awhile. I told her to bring a friend next time. More fun going to the beach and walking through the forest when you have a friend with you. Oh, maybe except when you're a mom and are seeking solitude. You get that in these woods. But you can't rely on that too much because in addition to the deer and racoons and chipmunks, squirrels and such, there is at least one bear. He was sighted recently. Before that he visited my son's place. At night and behind the fence. He thought it was a bear and I told him I didn't think there were any bears around here. I hadn't heard of any. A couple of days later the local paper came around and guess what - there was a report of a bear sighting right in our neighbourhood. Brad's place backs on to the forest, so my guess is he really did hear the bear at his place. Better not let the little white dogs out at night!

At any rate, we are all waiting for the pups. I think Gracie and Punky are the only dogs who know what's happening. Punky is totally convinced. She is still interested in the dog video and dog pictures. However, now she will watch anything. Videos, pictures. Let's face it - she will watch anything that moves. She will follow my cursor. Right now she is up at the monitors and staring at the baby bolognese in the picture on one screen while she turns and noses this message as I type it. I've decided just to give it up and put a dog bed on my desk. Right in front of the monitors. Watching the still pictures - no movement necessary, turns out. Beats listening to all that whining.