Joan of Arc

Sorry guys, no wigglebum news yet - she is the most stubborn of princesses. I can tell you that if you let her out the door without a lead on she makes a beline for the kennel adn when you call her out of the kennel to take her for a wee, she tries to hide under the fir tree in the garden. So I have put the 'drapes' around the whelping box and made it more a 'den'. Being a maiden I have no guide on her real behaviour, for two days her temp has been hovering around 37.4, last night and again this morning it was 37.1 so it is going down. Just took her temp again and its still 37.1. I have been at work all day and OH has been here to midwife - she has done a small amount of nesting - just scratched up a couple of sheets of paper - and has a slight dark discharge. Have been giving her three smaller meals instead of two for the last couple of days - she just had her second meal and ate the meat but left the biscuits. She usually shovels the food in. But there is some panting and that continuous 'looking back', so perhaps slight contractions have started. But she is still wiggly and happy so who knows.

How beautiful - what sound temperaments your girls must have. Do the puppies do the mum change?

Try 'Heaven Scent'

Monteba I have no clues or advice to offer you except to tell you that we are sorry you have lost another little baby and we hope and pray for the rest of your babies. RIP Beautiful boy

There are an awful lot of registered breeders that will not do all or any of these things. They do not pass out halos with a prefix. Being registered to breed KC dogs does not mean the breeder is is doing all the right things. In a recent post all breeders of a large breed known for HD ED PRA and heart were not doing any health testing and no gaurantees. Maybe we should worry more about cleaning up our own house? If we do don't clean it up, it will be done for us by the governement and animal rights people and the Uni. Anyway back on topic, unregistered breeders are bad bad bad. Now lets see, what did the uni of syd say about breeding dogs outside of the ANKC?? Oh yea they are selling semen from a dog from the pound (just for you J). I know several very reputable breeders that will not take puppies back or attempt to rehome them for the original adopting parents. I have taken puppies back, asked here for advice or comment on whether or not the original puppy buyer should get a refund in DOLers' opinions and got flamed for not understanding what I was doing. I have also approached one of the east coasts supposedly more reputable breeders with a puppy enquiry and was told they were expecting a litter of pups in the near future. Was also told the dad was black and mum was gold - note they didnt say yellow. No breeder should give a 100% guarantee against genetic problems such as hips because as you will all most certainly know - because you are such amazingly expert and know EVERYTHING - environment and nurture can affect these things. All we can do is breed for the best possible outcome and hope for the best. Regardless of whether this woman was a BYB or just uneducated we have lost the opportunity to educate her to 'more appropriate' approach and if you believe for one moment that bullying and insulting just one Lab BYB is going to make such a huge difference, pick up my local paper from yesterday. I just feel that you catch more flies with honey and I have read some rather insulting and rude comments on here posted by people I have thougth to be polite and well mannered - and who I might add I had included among my list of friends. Obviously I need to re-assess that list.

We went for our vet check today - Tina has gained a total of 7 kg. She is fit and healthy, there is a small discharge which indicates the cervical seal is breaking down and the vet tells me she is slightly dilated. Her temp was 37.4 at lunchtime and I will take it again tonight. The believes she will last till her due date but given her shape and size would not be surprised if we have puppies earlier. So we are now most certainly on puppy watch.

Oh Monteba so sorry for you but glad your boys are doing well. RIP little lady

Well Miss Proud - Congratulations - and Congratulations also to Miss Paige.

Thinking of you both today Monteba and hoping all is well.

CONGRATULATIONS

Any news from Hesapandabear?

Congratulations Shelby on the safe arrival and glad your girl is a good mum. Sorry you lost one little boy but sometimes its just not meant to be. RIP little one

Congratulations guys - sleep while you can today. Shelby we will be watching for news. My girl had a very uncomfortable night but not heavy panting etc. Still a maiden with 5 days to go we are on watch now.

Well congrats to you both. We might hear from Hes' before the night is out.

Congratulations How many are you expecting? and Monteba, how many are you expecting?

Distance and work mean that sometimes people dont really have an option but to send thier girls away. I flew my girl to the stud dog this time and she was gone one week exactly. Very very reputable breeder, I trust that person and doubt they would do anything to damage thier own reputation. After all they have signed a service certificate to state who the sire is so its thier prefix at stake just as much if not more than mine. As for litters from AI, our other girl had AI for her last litter and produced 11 pups

How lovely

Good luck Monteba - congratulations on the two so far, we will be here ;)

We feed a small amount of dry food every second or third night mixed with a mainly raw diet. But we also use sardines, eggs, yoghurt etc. So once my girls are about 7 weeks I mix a small amount of puppy dry into the other food. I feed a mixture of puppy dry, adult dry, raw as above until pups are weaned.

How cool is that? What a great friend, its always nice to have moral support or even just company on the long haul. Good luck, I am tipping we will have news from you by brekky tomorrow. Still no news from Nefiesrus

The fact that we have heard nothing concerns me insofar as there may be no pups and Newfsirus is still upset. But she was concerned that there may have been something else wrond so I do hope all is OK. Tina is a maiden also and 63 days from first mating is next THursday - so like you really have no idea. We will start taking her temp around Sat night or Sun morning but if nad I say IF she goes off her food will take it regularly then

Around 550 last I heard We've been doing a bit of work on the grounds too, so hopefully it won't be as mucky as it's been in previous years! Even better, hopefully it won't be raining, but if there's anything that can bring on a good dumping of rain it's our show Good entry - will have to try and come for a visit to catch up. Hope the grounds are ok for you. Pretty cold and miserable today.

OOOOO Hesapandabear when is she due? I thought you were due the same day or day before us. Were not off our food - but then it is a Labrador we are talking about. has anyone heard from Newfiesrus?

Teamsnag what a gorgeous photo - how lucky you were to snap something so gorgeous

We're not entered because we will have pups at home but we might come for a quick drive and catch up with several friends. Any idea how many are entered? Angelsun I certainly understand the local versus 3 hour drive situation. Might see you there