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I adopted a dog from the shelter last month. They were not sure if she was spayed but scheduled her to be...her appt was for December 6th. This last week my husband and I have been noticing what we thought might be pregnancy symtoms. I asked around on here and finally got her into the vet today.
Sure enough she is pregnant, and is only about 3 weeks away from delivering!!!!!!
The vet said through Xray, they could see at least 2 puppies...but there could be more.
I need ANY and ALL help/advice on what I need to do to get ready!!!!
I was told not to give the puppies cow's milk... I asked the vet about the homemade formula before I fed it to the puppies & he said it was good. I know that making the formula saved me a lot of money from buying store bought formula, but I also needed it b/c Sasha wasn't producing enough milk for 11 pups!!
I can't believe how big they've gotten!!! They are beautiful!! They look like they are VERY healthy!! You've done an AMAZING JOB & should be PROUD OF YOURSELF!!!
Have you found homes for any of them yet??
My favorite pup is the gray & white one!! Many of your pups have a lot more hair than mine did!! It's soooo cute though!!
Yeah, Ava had 9 puppies but only 8 nipples...but she does a great job feeding them all, as you can see from the pictures they are fat
The gray puppy with the white stripe has found a home with my friend...of course all the puppies will be here until they are at least 8 weeks old. But she has chosen him A few more friends are interested. We just never imagined there were going to be 9...so we didn't worry about spreading the word too much when she was pregnant, trying to find homes.
But once they get of age I will advertise to find homes for them.
I think they are going to be pretty big dogs...I mean we rescued Lennox when he was about 4-6 weeks old and these puppies at 2 1/2 weeks are already bigger than he was when we brought him home...and Lennox is 25lbs now.
But they couldn't have been born in a better place. Since we live kind of out in the country, you don't see many small dogs around here...they are all bigger breeds....so hopefully it won't be too hard to find them homes.
It is extremely important puppies have a wide variety of experience before they are 12 weeks old. Undoing the damage of poor early socialization is very difficult if even possible. ALL the careful, controlled studies agree on this, or at most extend the time to 16 weeks. I answer more dog questions on another site than here. Almost every day somebody has bought a 3-4 month old puppy that wants nothing to do with them. It is just one more way the puppy mills and backyard breeders, that are no better, ruin puppies.
So far you have done an excellent job on a difficult task you never expected. Any puppies you don't get into a new home soon after 8 weeks, need to spend time with men, women, kids, etc.
Yeah I have read up on the importance of socialization, and have re-read things you have posted on it to me and others
I recently bought The Ultimate Puppy Toolkit which gives a lot of helpful advice and games etc.
I'm a stay at home mom...so luckily it is easy for me to interact with the puppies often. What I usually do I about once every few hours I go in and sit in their room and they start waking up to eat. I picked each one up and hold it different ways, pet it, etc. I give each one their own individual attention.
When my 5 year old daughter gets home from school, she joins the routine with me She is very gentle with the puppies, but I want to get them used to unsteady hands.
Then when my husband gets home he joins in too...so we all get to sit in there and let them approach us and make sure to handle each one.
Ava is still very very attentive and protective, so we can't take the puppies anywhere away from her unless we take them all.
I have read that I will need to start walking with each one around the house so they are introduced to new sights, sounds, smells etc. So I plan to be doing that soon.
Any suggestions you have with your experience raising, training, and socializing would be great.
I know it is going to be tough with 9, but I want to work really hard with each one so they become great companions and don't regress.
I am willing to keep them until I place them in a home. I refuse to take them to a shelter or pet store where just any joe blow can "buy" them. So I want to make sure I do all I can to get them well socialized and trained.
Invite you friends and family to come see the puppies. They need to see more than just the 3 of you. There is always some danger of other people carrying in disease, but it is a risk you have to take. Introduce them to terrors like the vacuum cleaner.
Yeah I have my family coming over for Christmas, so that will be a good time to interact.
I have started last week turning on the dustbuster in their room, cleaning up shreds of newspaper. It's not quite as loud as a vaccum cleaner, but close...figure they can work their way up
MM, you are doing an absolutely wonderful job! Good on ya girl!
This might be premature, but I am going to put it out there anyway. If you decide to create flyers to help find homes for the ones you can't place, put the flyers up in all the local veterinarians offices, and the rescue you got Ava from. Just those few places should allow you to place the rest of the pups. I can help you with the wording of a flyer when you are ready, if you want me to. At that time, we can also discuss creating a contract that they must sign. Part of the contract will ensure for whatever reason if it doesn't work out, they will return the puppy to you. This will avoid them dumping the pup in a shelter or on the road.
Macksmom If I were you I would have them fill out a questionaire, as to how they think a dog should be corrected, what forms of punishment they would use, if they have a fenced yard, how long the dog would be alone during the day, if they ever had other pets & if they still have them or what happened to them if they no longer have them. If you go on some of these rescues sites or call one in your area they may be able to provide you with a sample copy of theirs that you can tweak to your satisfaction. Not to say that they have to treat them exactly as you would yours...but there are some answers that would make me say no way.
I have found even friends and family views on how a dog should be treated and how I think they should be treated really varies.
Btw I have really enjoyed looking at these puppies thanks for posting the pictures.
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