Let’s just say that our Braya is a very vocal dog. I think if I had the talent for dog training, I could teach her to talk. Late Thursday night, she woke me up to tell me her story of how something was just “not right” with her. We stayed up all night until around 6 a.m. She panted, whined, and just wouldn’t settle. Then, around the time the sun came up, she settled and fell asleep. In dogs, we check their temperature for the week prior to whelping to watch for the telltale dip of about 4 degrees Fahrenheit, which signifies the imminent birth of the puppies. I checked her temperature multiple times on Friday, and she seemed fairly consistent around 99°F, which wasn’t quite low enough yet.
Friday night, I was getting ready for bed—glasses off, just settling in—when here she came again, whining and panting in my face. So, I took her downstairs to where we have the whelping box set up, expecting another night of her drama, only to be surprised an hour later by the arrival of our first puppy: a beautiful little boy. By 6 a.m., we had six beautiful puppies, and we were able to snatch a couple of hours of sleep.
We were surprised by the arrival of not just the last expected puppy (we had seen seven on the ultrasound) but by four more puppies between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. This made a grand total of 10 puppies! The final count was seven boys and three girls. Braya is being an absolutely amazing and attentive mother. We are so blessed.
