The Great Pumpkin Brought Us Presents!

I had a new friend over for lunch Nov. 30. After we took the dogs for a walk in the forest, we noticed Jazzy didn’t feel very well. As in her main food of choice, after skipping breakfast, was grass. Though her breeding this year had been successful, she wasn’t due for another week.

Good manners insisted I wait until after my pal left to take Jazzy’s temperature. Not such a great thing to do in front of company. Note: we’re being extremely careful not to mix up that thermometer with the ones we use!

Her temp had fallen below the norm of 100 degrees and puppies were imminent. And we had no place for them! I called Kevin in a semi-panic and told him we needed to put together a whelping box the second he got home. Crafty guy that he is, he rigged together a bunch of cardboard wheelchair boxes into a good-sized area that could keep puppies in, allow Jasmine room to move, and not cost anything.

We finished the nesting area around 4. When night fell, we put Jazzy in the garage, inside the box, while her sister, Shadow, still had to sleep out in the cold dog house. I checked on Jazzy before I went to bed at midnight. Panting, she huddled in one corner. Ducking inside, I headed to get more towels to dry the puppies. Maybe five minutes later, I opened the garage door to find Jazzy on the doormat with a puppy hanging halfway out of her.

The body wasn’t moving. I’d prepared myself for a stillborn or complications, but I surely didn’t want to start the night that way! Jazzy wasn’t doing much of anything, so I tugged the body free, tore its umbilical cord and roughed it with a towel. Nothing.

Remembering what the vet had shown me, I held it belly-down in my palm, with its head between my fingers and flung it in a downward arc. Bubbles came from its nose. I repeated the motion twice more before the little thing squirmed and mewed. Jazzy began licking then, and I used the puppy as bait to make her climb back into the box. As soon as I was sure the baby was doing alright, I ran into the house to wake Kevin, the kids, and Mom, who all wanted to see the births. It was 12:30 AM by this time. Andrea had only been asleep a half-hour because of watching Jazz all evening.

Joshua came out, saw the pup, petted Jazz, and went straight back to bed. Andrea dressed in warm clothes and settled in for the wait, as did Mom. Kevin, who had work the next day and didn’t think my-dog-was-having-puppies seemed like a good enough excuse to call in, went back to bed at 2 AM. Of course, Jazz had the next, a girl, at 2:30.

We named her Louisa because she was nursing before she was even fully born. Andrea came up with the name for a pup who liked milk because of Louis Pasteur and his contribution to the dairy industry. Not kidding. She’s one smart fourth grader!

The first, a boy, we named Nicodemus because he kept trying to crawl back into the spot from which he came instead of heading for the milk. His namesake in the New Testament also struggled with the idea of being born again. 🙂

Mom gave up at 4. Then three more girls followed at 5, 5:45, and 9. A final boy arrived at 9:20. All perfectly black. The early births actually are great timing. The puppies can go to their new homes right before Christmas! (If you know of anyone looking for purebred black Labradors for gifts, send them my way. Our prices are very reasonable.)

I snuck some winks throughout the night. Curled on the garage floor, I kept one hand over Jazz when I closed my eyes so I could feel when she started to have the next puppy. It was a pretty crazy way to start Halloween. Being up all night, showering and heading over to a “Let Your Light Shine” party, transporting Angel to her visitation, going to the neighbor’s for a yummy craft/treat, and haunting the old neighborhood for a few treats.

Our bed has never felt so good as it did that night!