The Bee Gees and Me
Seriously, all I think about the first 48 hours of caring
for puppies is the song from the Bee Gee’s, “Stayin’ Alive, Staying Alive…” Everything I’ve read and lived in the world
of dog breeding emphasizes how the first week is absolutely critical to the
foundation of healthy dogs.
Our first pup in this litter, Sebastian Cabot, I named him
due to his black overcoat and white ruffle down the front, had an important
role in helping his brothers and sisters being born. Namely, nursing from his Momma. Scientifically, that action on his part stimulates
contractions for her to continue birthing the rest. If it wasn’t that way, she’d just hunker down
with him and nap. And that ain’t the
time for napping, let me tell you.
In my last entry which actually was written on Friday April
26, the day after the whelping, when I had two brain cells left, I explained
how Artemus Gordon came at 2:05 pm. The next
boy, Sean Connery came around 3:30 pm.
Remember his outfit in the movie about King Arthur, the shiny silver
boots? My Connery has actually tannish-markings
on his front paws. I found out the next
day when the black dogs all had dried off from birth (yes I did towel dry them
Day One, but for them to fully dry took Madeline’s attention), that three of
the boys have nice tan markings that I couldn’t see when the black color was
wet and shiny at birth. They are going
to be handsome dogs.
My 4:30 boy came in with a cute pink nose. His name is Bandit. I fully expect him to steal someone’s heart
pretty quickly. Our final pup entered
the scene around 5:30 pm, Mariette Joy.
It was the only time I ever really noticed Madeline Grace gobble an
entire placenta. It was a sight that
made me feel like I got punched in the stomach, but I got over it. Earlier in the day I actually grabbed a
placenta off the lawn to get it out of her view. While dogs, for health reasons, tend to eat
them, also for health reasons, they
should not eat ALL of them. To quote
St. Thomas Aquinas, “All good things in moderation.” If the dogs eat too many of them, I will just
say that like an encyclopedia salesman who thinks you are an easy sell, you
WILL be seeing them again.
So inside the world of puppy raising the next phase involves
food, temperature, cleanliness and complete freedom from any other important
responsibilities on my part. As I said
to a co-worker once, “When you’re raising puppies, that’s ALL your doing is
raising puppies.” I believe that this
week I have already lost three pounds from running up and down the stairs and
back and forth across the lawn. I sleep
in the finished basement with the dogs – it is quiet and den-like, but the
futon is not a study in comfortable sleeping…. Especially the pipe that tends
to run afoul with my spine.
Madeline’s food intake has tripled, which means I have to
feed her more frequently. She needs
protein, and her body needs to be able to regulate its use of calcium in
producing milk for them. I have to keep
an eye on her that all of her systems are working properly. Then, the temperature of the pups for the
first week or two needs to be like, oh, BERMUDA. Because the little space heaters are not a safe,
full time solution, I only use them when I am home to babysit the process;
otherwise, I turn the house heat up. Don’t ask how high. Just think:
short sleeve shirts and flip flops.
In a couple of weeks, when their little bodies’ engines can regulate
their own temperature efficiently, I won’t have to worry so much about a few
more degrees. Its ironic how my two big “basement
interests” compete for temperature: the
puppies need to be toasty but in the next section of the basement, the wine
needs to be stable and cool. I worry
less about the wine than I do my little guys though.
In case you were wondering:
Puppies’ cries are not generic.
When Madeline hops out of the kennel to get a drink – more often than
not, I kneel in to bring her a drink – if they are not in a deep sleep they are
CRANKY for her leaving them. Even though
they are yet without sight, they know her feel and her warmth and that their
lives depend on her presence. Just
recently, little Connery was making his ornery wailing as his body produced one
of its first Big Jobs. He needed a bit
of cleaning in the process so I took a paper towel and gently assisted him. On the other end of business, If they are
hungry, they have a particular noise they make to her. And if they are chilly they whimper…. Trust me
when I say, I do my best to prevent that from happening even momentarily. My friend gave me an incredible disc that you
heat in a microwave and it holds and evenly disperses warmth for hours on
end. This will be my god-send when I go
back to work. All of these details of
care I have accumulated by reading, by consulting with other breeders, and by journaling
my process with each litter so it is less of a shock to my system the next time
I need to use it. It’s not exactly like riding a bike – you do need to refresh
your memory on the particulars in order to be prepared.
I will honestly say: This
enterprise is not easy and it is not for the faint-hearted. Things can go awry and get both financially
and emotionally costly. When I talk to
potential buyers and they trigger something in me that makes me suspect they
are going to re-sell my baby to make a profit (“Puppy Brokers”) or they are
nit-wits that won’t take proper care to give the dog a happy, healthy life, it
really jacks my blood pressure up.
I had a woman call me about one of my boys in a previous
litter. I advised her that because his
tail was tipped with white like a paintbrush I elected not to doc it. It was so beautiful. Consequently, he would have a full-length dog
tail instead of an official cocker spaniel sporting look. He was six weeks old at the time. She said, and I quote, “I don’t want a dog
WITH A TAIL. Can you get rid of it?” It
would have been excruciatingly painful for him.
Her lack of insight was a level of ignorance that was inexcusably
stupid. Wanna know what I got rid
of? Her business as a potential
buyer. I said, “No. I can’t doc the tail at this stage. It would hurt him immensely.” She said, “well, then I guess I will take
Monte Carlo.” (one of my other
pups) I replied: “No actually he is not available. So I guess I can’t help you. Have a nice day.” I turfed her.
Another guy called me from a nearby city. He said, “yeah, I’ve got five kids so I guess
I should probably get a dog.” HUH?! Since when is having a full house of kids the
reason by which you choose to add a dog to your chaos? I asked if he had looked at other dogs. He listed off a variety of breeds that were
so diverse it made no sense: terriers
(toy breed), spaniels (hunting breed), labs (sporting breed), you get the
idea. I said to him: “What’s the age range of your kids?” He had a hard time conjuring up believable
figures for me. I replied: “I’m thinking that what you need is a golden
retriever. They are much better dogs
with big families and active kids. He
got defensive and said he had to call me back.
I called him back a few minutes later and when he finally answered, he
snapped and said: “I told you I’d call
YOU tomorrow!” No need. Jerk.
At that point you can safely surmise he was on the other line with the
person he was trying to sell one of MY pups to as a broker. He knew he was not securing the sale from
either direction and thus the frustration.
I remember the day Tiffany called me from Puppy
Paradise. That’s what it said on caller
ID. I asked her what that was. She said, “We HELP YOU to find good homes for
your puppies by matching the perfect buyer to your puppy.” Guess what?
No need. I told her
straight-out: “I don’t fly or ship
puppies. I want to meet the potential
buyers face-to-face. I want them to see
that I am NOT a puppy mill, but a hobby breeder.” I want to decide if the particular interested
person is the right fit for my puppy that I put so much work and love
into. I will settle for no less. Every ad I place going forward says: “No Puppy Brokers, please.”
Are these episodes with people reason to not get into dog
breeding? Not really, because any
business has its quirky people and scheisters. And every breeder I know will tell you that
you don’t do it for the money because if you actually factored in the cost of
the TIME you spend in addition to supplies and vetting etc., you don’t break
even. We don’t price our dogs to make a
big profit margin. We price them so that
the average family that deserves a healthy, quality dog can afford one. We have our buyers in mind as much as the
best interest of our dogs when we decide who to accept as a potential customer. I will say that given the amount of energy I
put into it, and my particular sense of “partnering with God” in the process of
birth and nurturing, I also believe that each of my dogs has a ministry.
The ministry of each dog is different. Each disposition has been created by God to
help someone and bring joy to them in a way to which they can relate. Remember the dog with the tail? Guess who he lives with now? (Me.)
And even though I have, by all sane estimations, “enough” dogs just by
owning his mother and grandmother dogs, he completes the package. He is full of joy and fun in a way that they
are not. Each dog brings something new
to the table.
And so as I hover over the little brood of five puppies, I wonder
whose life they will fulfill. I wonder
what their gift is and how they will make the world a better place. Sometimes I think dogs have a better shot of
accomplishing that then we people. But I’m
biased: I am in love.
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