Struggle in the Whelping Room

There is a struggle going on in the whelping room. These 10 spirited tiny canines may be blind and deaf, but they are certainly not helpless!

Newborn puppies are born functionally deaf and blind with their ear canals and eyelids sealed shut.  They are essentially mostly mouth and programmed instinctively to do one thing: eat. At all costs.

Cinder and her family resting on day two

The gestation period for dogs is short: just 63 days on average. Dogs are hunters by nature, and part of the reason they are born deaf and blind can be explained by their hunting instinct. Simply put, getting the pups out of the mother's belly and onto the ground as quickly as possible aids in mom's ability to hunt and feed herself and her offspring. When pups are born, their eyes, ears and critical parts of their brain are still forming. Despite their birth, the eyes, brain and hearing still needs about another 10 days to two weeks to develop. Even when the eyes and ears do open, they're not perfectly formed yet and will require another few weeks to fully develop.

Newborn puppies are born deaf and blind. Pictured here is Halo, center gray pup

Cinder's pregnancy lasted exactly 63 days from the first breeding. But her kids are hardwired for survival, as this video will show. Right now, 10 pups are competing for eight nipples, and sometimes things get tense. Even while nursing, the puppies growl and push each other off the nipple, each jockeying for the lion's share of Cinder's milk.

from the whelping room. Kinda...grrr!


YOU CAN WATCH VIDEOS FROM THE WHELPING ROOM! CLICK HERE!

Happy Birth Day to Cinder!

Please help me welcome Cinder's babies who were very long-awaited!

Cinder, tired after whelping NINE little ones! 

Cinder wasn't hugely pregnant. I thought there were maybe four or five pups. 

After the fifth was born, I could still feel a puppy lump inside of Cinder's belly. Okay, I thought. Six is a good number. 

But they kept coming. And coming! 

By this afternoon, Cinder finished with nine new babies - six boys and three girls. They all seem to be about the same size and are doing well, as is mama. 

There are three who are a very different shade of silverish-gray who look very unique. One already has a name: Mirage. 

Mirage resting peacefully in Cinder's bunch of puppy love

All is well, and good night...shhh, puppies are sleeping. 

 from the whelping room. 

CORRECTION: there are now 10 puppies! 4 girls and 6 boys 

What's up with whelping: we're itching for puppies!

With puppies due in a little over two weeks, Cinder has been readying herself for motherhood. Mother Nature does a fantastic job of equipping animals with all they need to take care of themselves and their offspring when they have babies. But there's nothing wrong with a little help, so I have also been preparing for Cinder's babies. When the Reggae Litter made its debut at the Ranch in July of 2011, Tak welcomed our assistance.

Mama Tak nursing her litter, the Reggae pups

Some have asked what is needed to prepare for a litter of puppies. So I thought I would prepare a list of supplies I use to prepare for tiny furry canines to make their entrance into the world.

My 10 year old, Elise, and I recently finished building a whelping box that is simple in design, affordable (about $50), and made from one sheet of plywood. Here's what you need:

• One 4x8 sheet of plywood (you can use any variety and grade of wood; I chose a mid-grade for durability). $25 
• 16 feet of 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe $6.50
• 8 Metal "L" shaped brackets to connect the pieces of the whelping box $8
• 8 Plastic "J" shaped brackets to fasten PVC to the sides of the whelping box $8
• 1/2 inch decking or wood screws $5
• Circular saw
• Jigsaw
• Drill

You can cut the plywood, or have your local hardware store make the cuts for you when you purchase  it; they have the ability to make more precise cuts than I can, so I usually have the hardware store cut it for me. Cut the plywood in half, and then cut one of the halves in thirds. Now you have a 4x4 piece for the bottom (if you choose to have a bottom; I prefer not having a floor for easy cleaning) and three 1x4 pieces for the sides. You can purchase the extra 1x4 piece or do what I did, which was to cut it from the bottom...which I didn't use for a bottom. Ultimately you need four sides of 1x4 pieces. Attach these pieces together with the "L" brackets.

I borrowed a friend's whelping box when Tak had her pups three years ago. It had pig rails made the old fashioned way out of slats of wood. I chose to make pig rails from PVC pipe. Pig rails are important because, should a pup get between mama and the side of the whelping box, the rail prevents the pup from being accidentally squished.

When Elise and I were all done piecing our whelping box together, this is what it looked like. My office has now been transformed into a whelping room.

My tiny office, which is now back to being a whelping room. This is where two litters have previously whelped, as well as numerous baby chickens

Some sites suggest a huge laundry list of supplies needed to assist mama during labor. I like to keep it simple. After all, animals are keenly aware of what needs done during labor and delivery.

Here is my simple list of supplies I have on hand during labor

• Thermometer & Petroleum jelly - when mama is getting close to her due date of 63 days from the day of the first breeding, I begin taking her temperature rectally. A dog's normal temperature is around 101 degrees; just before the onset of labor, mom's temp will drop sharply to around 98. When this happens, labor is about to begin. 
• During the actual birth, I prefer to have puppy pads, the disposable pads normally used for puppy potty training, on the floor. No mess! Just toss them in the trash when mom is done giving birth.
• Clean blankets and/or towels for after the pups are born, and also for rubbing newborn pups to help stimulate breathing. I purchase the ones we use for whelping at local Goodwill or thrift stores. 
• Unwaxed dental floss - this is for tying the umbilical cord in case, for some reason, mom is not chewing it. Normally, the mother will instinctively chew the umbilical cord in half releasing the pup from its placenta. BUT if mom isn't gentle, the chewing can pull on the belly of the pup causing an umbilical hernia. Our own leader, Ruffian, had this when she was a yearling and had surgery to correct it. I like to assist mom with this part of labor when at all possible to prevent the risk of umbilical hernia. If nothing else, I like to hold each pup close to mom's mouth as she chews the umbilical to prevent too much pulling. 
• Sterile surgical scissors - for cutting the umbilical cord. These are also used later to remove dew claws. 
• Bulb syringe - Mama dog knows to lick each pup and chew the sack of membranes from its face. If, for some reason, she isn't, I like to have a bulb syringe handy to suction the mucus from each pup's nose and help stimulate breathing.
• Nutrical - this optional dietary supplement is loaded with calories and nutrients to help mom maintain strength during the hours of laboring. 
• Calsorb - like Nutrical, Calsorb contains extra calcium. When a dog whelps, if they don't have enough calcium, several things can go wrong, including postpartum eclampsia.  As a precaution, I like to give mom a little bit of Calsorb between the birth of each pup. Some substitute vanilla ice cream as well. 

Optional Whelping Items

• Digital scale for weighing puppies
• Different colored ribbon or yarn for distinguishing puppies from each other. Usually Alaskan husky pups are a wide variety of colors so this isn't necessary. 

The average gestation for a dog is 63 days from the time of breeding. Cinder was first bred on May 26, making her due date July 28.

Sled dog litters are traditionally named in themes. For example, the Reggae litter were all named after Reggae musicians, another litter born here, the Jazz litter, were all named after Jazz musicians. We have a handful of name themes rolling around, but would love suggestions! If you have a theme suggestion for Cinder's litter, please let us know in the comments section on this blog! I look forward to reading them!

Two weeks and counting...

 from the whelping room!

A tale of two dogs: "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans"

I recently added to the kennel with a couple of great dogs who have been a perfect fit here at the Ranch.

Tak, half-sister to our beloved Big Brown and Ruffian out of Joann Fortier's kennel, has been such a wonderful addition! She's beautiful, a good loper and a very hard worker.


Miss Tak in her kennel run

With her came Aspen, a very sweet, leggy yearling who I considered sort of a "rescue." She has great bloodlines, but the person I got her from was in over his head in dogs and needed to get rid of some dogs fast. So he offered Aspen for free, and I agreed.


Aspen in her kennel run yesterday. She has gorgeous, unusual eyes with bright blue on the inside and brown on the outside

Around the same time, my good friend and fellow musher, Amanda, bought several dogs from up north to add to her growing kennel. Several had been far up north working on an Alaskan glacier all summer and early fall. One of them was sweet-faced Linney.


Linney, who I brought back from the Upper Peninsula for Amanda a few weeks ago

About two weeks ago, I began noticing that Aspen was growing wide despite our regular 10 mile runs and a strict diet. I began to look at her more closely...



I began to realize, slowly, that Aspen was expecting! She had come to me in heat, and was quarantined for three weeks immediately upon coming to the Ranch in the "girl confine" of kennels, made from hog panel. But she had come from a kennel where she was tied out in the open with other sled dogs around. It became clear to me that she had come to me pregnant.


This photo, taken on November 12, shows Aspen's bulging middle

I wrote my friend Amanda an email telling her my suspicions. I guesstimated Aspen's due date of November 26 based on the first day I'd gotten her, which was from September 23. She could whelp any time, however, given that I don't know when she was bred.

Surprisingly, Amanda wrote me back saying how odd it was that I would voice concerns that Aspen was "with child" because she was beginning to suspect the same about Linney!

She offered these "before" and "after" photos as proof:


Linney before (left) and after (right): clearly pregnant

On Monday, November 15, x-rays confirmed that Linney had at least five to six pups and would give birth within five to 14 days!


Linney on November 15, enjoying life inside the Hoof & Howl Kennel home and growing fat

I often quote the famous John Lennon line, "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans." Quite literally, life happened when I was planning otherwise.

No sooner than I added two great dogs to my race team, I was down one because of pregnancy. I intended to run in 8-dog classes all season, but already my race plans are compromised back to the 6-dog classes.

What can I do but make the best of it, and welcome puppies into the world any day now? And puppies are always cute, especially Christmas puppies!

Amanda, on the other hand, is very excited about Linney's coming litter! But she, too, feels torn about this unexpected gift.

"Right smack dab in the middle of race season, I will be caring for puppies and missing races and training time," Amanda says.

"But, I do feel that I'll learn extremely valuable skills that I'll carry with me for many years, so it is a fair trade-off," she continues. She admits feeling a very special bond forming with Linney helping her through her pregnancy and is looking forward to meeting her surprise pups!

Amanda and I are talking about naming Aspen and Linney's pups co-themed names. Aspen and Linney are both due within the next week or so!

Stay tuned for puppy updates! Mush Love!

Exceptional dogs

This is my favorite time with them: when all is quiet, late at night, after everyone else has fallen asleep. They wake up, make some feeble attempt at play or practice walking on their wobbly little legs before nursing and stumbling over, drunk on their mother's love. They sleep wherever they land.


Pile o' puppies

They twitch in their sleep, tiny feet, ears, eyes, whole bodies spazzing out. They huddle together - one twitching, sleeping mass of sweetness. Occasionally, one looks up at me with a cloudy purple blue eye. Someone growls. They dream.


Ginsberg is the hub of the mass of puppies tonight

Gwennie also twitches outside of the whelping pen, opting to sleep on the cold concrete than on the soft straw with her brood. Her eyes roll back in her head as she sleep, high on oxytocin delivered to her brain during nursing. Oxytocin, it's been found, is the feel good chemical of the century. It is excreted during lactation (of humans and animals) and helps us to relax; during nursing, oxytocin is the chemical that stimulates the "let down" response in the breasts that encourages milk to flow. As I watch Gwennie, I remember feeling that oxytocin rush. Though relaxed, she still rests with both paws guarding the beef shin I bought her today at the butcher.

Sometimes Gwennie tires of motherhood.


Gwennie looking a little stir crazy

After all, the pups are already cutting tiny teeth through the tops of their little mouths. In a frenzy that can only be described as having the same fervor as fish spawning in shallow water, the pups rush toward their mother's nourishment, little feet scrambling clumsily, mouths tenaciously hanging on, only to have her stand abruptly and walk away.

She is not indifferent, however; she is simply teaching little future sleddogs to eat when the window opens, and eat heartily.


Kerouac howling at only two weeks

Even little Lucy has found her way to the warm mass of puppies, hugging her sister, Maggie, in sleep for warmth. And she has found her way to Gwennie to nurse too, finally.


Little Lucy (rear, with the diamond shape on the back of her neck) rests with her litter mates

This experience - or any experience with baby animals - softens you. At least it has me. We all seem to be feeding off the oxytocin and feelin' the puppy love.


Elise in puppy Heaven: here at the Lazy Husky Ranch, we visit puppies in our nightgowns!

Gwennie and I have grown so close through the birth and whelping of her puppies; I know we won't ever part. She is an exceptional dog in all ways.

Let sleeping puppies lie

Outside, snow piles up, no longer measured in inches here but feet. Sound waves slow. (to find out scientifically how, click here). The ground sparkles. It's 21 degrees out.

But in the whelping room, it's a balmy 75 degrees and cozy. Tiny bodies sleep haphazardly, however they land: across each other, upside down, twitching quietly in their sleep.

There's lots of activity in the whelping room tonight. Kerouac barked in his sleep, at 5 days old. Annie managed to climb out of the whelping crate already! And Lucy has been nursing like a champ next to the others consistently all day long.


Lucy sacked out with her siblings, Annie and Emma after a vigorous nursing session. Notice her size compared to the others

I am hoping all remains peaceful in the whelping room tonight - that I may finally get some sleep.



Sleep in Heavenly peace, from the Lazy Husky Nursery.