Birth Day for Eleven Puppies

On Thanksgiving morning (11/28/24) around 1am, Jane started delivering her puppies. When a mom is laboring, I’m simply there to monitor. If anything starts to go wrong, I can get them all to the vet. My other job is to keep Jane as comfortable as possible. We had the luxury of getting to know Jane for 2 weeks before the puppies decided it was time. By then, she was very comfortable with us. But I’m still cautious and I let her take the lead.

As soon as one puppy is born, Jane has 2 jobs – keep the pups close to her for warmth and to start nursing, and to continue birthing more puppies. It can get hectic. Jane was most comfortable on a thick dog bed, and that’s where she wanted to be with her pups. But after 7 pups were born, it got a little crowded. How do you get a mama-in-labor to move to the baby pool? You move her puppies. Again, with great caution, we started transferring puppies to the blanket-lined baby pool. We wanted to do this as quickly as possible so that Jane wasn’t frantic or pacing between the 2 groups.

With more space, Jane could stretch out, allowing the pups easy access to nurse.

By 9am, we had 11 puppies. Jane was exhausted. She finally ate a little and drank some water, before taking a well deserved nap.