Where is Raven Having Her Puppies?

noon temp: 99.5 (thank goodness!!)

5 years ago when Kachina was pregnant with Aliy and Raven I woke up one morning to find her temperature had dropped. As I said in my post the other day, that means pups are on the way, usually in about 24 hours.

In Kachina's case her co-owner was convinced (and managed to convince me) that pups would not arrive before nightfall. So although the whelping box was built, it had no bedding in it. I was waiting until someone was here to help me lift it so I could put the bedding in. I had plenty of time, right?

From the time Kachina's temp dropped to the time of her first contraction it was about 8 hours. Then it was another 20 minutes before her first water sac broke. At that time I still had no bedding in the whelping box. Can you say "panic time"? And within 40 minutes I had three puppies. So I've learned it pays to be prepared.

The little temperature drop scare this morning convinced me that I needed to get the whelping box built today. Details on how the whelping box is constructed can be found in this post I made to Aliy's World last summer.

Here is where Raven will have her puppies:


Whelping box under construction.


Whelping Box completed.
Here is where Raven THINKS she is having her puppies:


Raven's hole under the steps, view one.


Raven's "den", view two.

That was yesterday, today it is covered in snow.

Hmmmm...mmm....mmm.m.m.m.m......

7 am temp: 98.7

I've never had a girl's temperature go that low without it even going lower and whelping beginning. I REALLY REALLY don't think Raven will have these puppies until next week.

BUT. It is within the realm of possibility for it to be sooner. Today is only 53 days after the last breeding, but it is 59 days after the first breeding. Her mother had her puppies at 60 days after the first breeding.

We bought the piece of vinyl flooring to go under the whelping box yesterday. The plan was to build the whelping box and have it all set up by the weekend. I think I will make sure it is set up TODAY. Like as soon as I can get my husband to bring the pieces up from the basement.....

Just in case.

Raven's BIG Day

7 am temp: 99.2
7 pm temp: 99.7


Raven's day started off pretty much like any other day. Up at 5:30, breakfast at 5:35, out at 5:45, in at 5:50 etc...

At around noon I realized she was missing.... I thought I had a good idea where she was and I was right.

She was in a hole in the yard. Not just any hole but the one she has picked out as The Spot where she thinks she's going to have her puppies.

WRONG!

I'll put up pictures of Raven's "den" tomorrow.

In the meantime here's how Raven spent her afternoon.

First she got a bath. That is her on the table at the dog wash at The Natural Pet Market in town.

Then she got a chiropractic adjustment....


Raven and Dr. Johnson.
Then she got an x-ray!


Raven on the x-ray table.

What did the x-ray show?

When the tech first put it up on the viewer she said "One. I see one." I'm thinking "One? ONE? She's gained EIGHT POUNDS. Oh. My. God. What is it, a 4 pound puppy??? How will she ever get it out?!?!?" Then the vet said he though he saw "Maybe two".

Becuase the x-ray was so light, they decided to take a second film.

Here it is :)


Raven's babies!!
I numbered the heads. And you can clearly see, even in this picture, two spines. In "real life" you can easily see 3 spines with a 4th being a good possibility. The vet said he was SURE there were 3 and almost positive there were 4 and quite possibly 5!!

My bet has been on 5 all along. My husband says 4.

Raven Has a Vet Appointment

7 pm temp: 99.7

It would seem that, like her sister Aliy, Raven tends to have a lower-than-normal temperature as her normal.

Raven has a vet appointment scheduled for 7:10 tomorrow night to get an x-ray so we can count puppies! I will report back here as soon as I get home.

Raven's Temperature

7 am temp: 99.6

Actually it's probably a little early. Poor Aliy endured having her temperature taken several times daily for almost 2 weeks. But... Raven's earliest due date is actually tomorrow.... so *I* will feel better if I start getting a base line now.

So what's the deal with taking her temperture? That is how I will have an idea of when the pups are due to arrive. A normal temperature for a dog is around 101-102 degrees. But every dog is different and so I need to establish what is "normal" for Raven. I'll do that over the next few days by taking her temperature several times during the day.

At somepoint in the next few weeks there will be a dramatic temperature drop. It may go as low as 96 degrees. Most dogs experience this temperature drop and it usually means pups are due within 24 hours. In some cases it may mean just a few hours! Sister Aliy's temp dropped 24 hours before the pups came, when GrandMa Kachina's temperature dropped I had puppies in less than 10 hours.

Aside from using the temperature drop as an indicator that pups are due soon, it's important to monitor so that you know if there is a potential problem. If the temperature drops and stays down for a long period of time and there are no signs of labor, it may be an indication that there is a problem and that a Cesarian Section may be needed, or at the very least, a trip to the vet for check up.

I'll be positng Ravens's temperature on the sidebar over to the right regularly.

New Stuff

I added links in the sidebar to vertical pedigrees for Raven and Riggs.

When Is A Dog Not A Dog?

Raven is glad she and her babies are Samoyeds not Greyhounds and that they live in Colorado not Kansas.

How stupid is this?

Very Active Babies

When I posted the other night I said I thought maybe I felt a puppy rolling around inside Raven. But I was not 100% sure.

Then last night I checked again, and again I thought I felt something but still wasn't sure.

This morning for sure I felt a puppy rolling around and readjusting itself. HOW COOL IS THAT?????

Poor Raven - she really must wonder what is going on in there...

The Milk Bar Is Getting Ready For Customers!

This evening I was checking to see if I could feel any puppies kicking around in Raven's tummy.... maybe I felt something or maybe it was wishful thinking.... but I did notice her milk has come in.

The Waiting Game....

Yup. She's still pregnant. Getting bigger and bigger every day.

Nothing to do now but wait.

In the meantime I created a new blog button for Raven:



And a button for the Raven-Cam, which will go live starting sometime the first week of April:



And I added links to pictures of Raven and Riggs to the sidebar over there on the right.

They look just like these only they are bigger:


Ch WhiteStar's Fjallraven Polar WS HIC


CH T-Snow Star's Tak'n It Beyond BISS

I've been working on cleaning up the nursery/my office the past few days, the whelping box gets built next week!

First Pictures

Yup. She's pregnant!


The picture is dark but the blob at the top is one of two pups that the vet saw for sure. When Aliy had her ultrasound done, they also saw two pups, she ended up with four beautiful girls.

The vet says right now the pups are about 3 centimeters long, about the size of a walnut. Hard to believe in just about a month they will be ready to be born.

Miss March

Raven is a pin-up girl!

Raven is the March Samoyed on the Browntrout Samoyed calender this year. Here's a really bad picture of the back of the calendar taken from the Browntrout site.


That's Raven, third picture over on the top row.

The photo was taken in Cortez, Colorado after Raven took her 14th championship point. The photographer was Kent Dannen.

And she is not the only WhiteStar sammie that is pictured this year... sharing the spotlight for August are Icer, his litter sister Nikki (owned by Kent and Donna Dannen) and their half sister Boom'r. This was taken in Durango Colorado the weekend Icer finished his championship. Again the photographer was Kent Dannen.

And now... Babe, Ilsa and I are off to Arizona for the big 5 day Scottsdale dog show. Raven already has an appointment to get ultrasounded the day after we get back!