I hadn’t had a collie litter
for nearly two years. There is nothing
as sweet as a collie pup, and there were a few bitches who were scheduled for
the next litters. One was Chance (my
enthusiastic sheep herder), who was now four and a half and had not yet had a
litter. I didn’t really want to wait
longer, and risk possibilities of pregnancy or whelping problems. And now I had a male that would suit her
beautifully.
The second was Kate, my
smooth girl, who had produced several outstanding litters for me, with show
winners and service dogs. She was now
seven, and, although she absolutely loves having puppies, this would be her
last litter.
I didn’t anticipate having a
large number of pups. Chance was from a
litter of one, and her mother in her previous litter produced only three. The intended father, Tattler, a new boy that
had arrived from England
As is common, all the
bitches came in season about the same time.
Chance and Kate were bred at almost the same time.
I am not one that runs off
to do ultrasound exams – I always felt that it was possible to wait for the two
months of pregnancy and then see the results.
The two bitches did show signs of being pregnant. Kate did not look at all big, so I expected
my one puppy, just hoped it was a girl.
Chance did develop a belly, but nothing out of the ordinary, and it
didn’t seem to affect at all her energy, spirits, or desire to catch
helicopters.
As the whelping dates
approached, everything was ready, each bitch had her own room with a box, and
neither of them showed much interest.
Kate was due first and was experienced, so I had no doubts that when the
time came, she would have no problems.
Then, several days before
due date, Chance started to show signs of imminent whelping. She wandered around the house, poking into
corners, ignoring the comfortable box, (of course!) and trying to persuade me
that my bed was the proper place…She was not in stress, not panting heavily,
and I could see that there was still time.
I left her in the whelping room, and went to bed, but of course, was up
ten times during the night to check. She looked at me with a calm gaze – “What
are you so uptight about???” and went back to her introverted thoughts of what
was happening inside…
In the morning, she was kind
enough to let me finish feeding and cleaning the other dogs, and then she
started to produce puppies.
Chance was very efficient
about it. This was her first litter, but she acted as though she had already
delivered many pups. She efficiently
pushed them out, cleaned them, and went on to the next. I sat in the room with her, offering her
water occasionally, but other than that, I was totally superfluous. Four puppies, five puppies….”Chance, “ I
said, “that is great. You can stop now!”
Six, seven….she stopped at nine.
Six sables, three tricolors, 4 females and five males. The puppies were a few days early (the
pressure of carrying nine puppies had evidently had its effect), and they were
tiny little things, an average of about 150 grams – but vigorous! From their first breath of air, they headed
straight for the nipples – obviously they inherited their mother’s great love
of food! – and latched on. I was
prepared with such a big litter to give them a supplement – but they were not
the least interested, only mama for them!
And regular weighing showed them all gaining weight as they should. They were strong and content, even if small.
Litter two was born two days
later. Kate did not give me any early warning signs, she quietly had her
puppies in the middle of the night, and in the morning I found her contentedly
nursing five – four girls and one boy, including my little Legacy.
14 puppies!!!!!!
The first three weeks are of
course no problem. The puppies are only
interested in eating and sleeping, and the mothers are calm and content,
relaxing with their kids in the box, cleaning them and enjoying
motherhood. Once I saw that Chance’s
nine were all nursing very efficiently, growing, and strong, I could stop
worrying about them – even though at this point Kate’s pups were twice the
size. But I knew they would catch up in
time.
As we approached the magical
number of 21 days, life began to liven up.
This is the point where we
start to see the difference between smooth collie pups and rough collie
pups. They may be basically the same
breed, but….
Chance’s little fluffballs
indeed became alert to what was happening around them, to people coming into
the room, to the new experience of real food, to the noises of the household,
toys and so on. But they were gentle and well mannered, and although they would
stand up with their front legs over the top of the whelping box, they came out
only by invitation, when I would lift them out to let them run around in the
living room.
The smooths became aware of
everything at the same time – but for them, new things meant interaction. What a strange idea, to sit in the whelping
box and watch the world go by outside it!
They insisted on being in the midst of things. By the time they were three and a half weeks old,
they were not only climbing out of the box and running around the room, but
they were using the puppy fence as a ladder to climb up onto the sofa, from
which they would bungee jump back down.
No arrangement of box and fence helped, whatever I tried, they
surmounted. Life is not meant to be
closed in a box!!!! When I opened the
door to come in, they were between my legs like a flash and running for the
freedom of the whole house. And they
were fast and determined! Food – well,
the gentle mannerly nibbling of the roughs was unknown here – they dived into
the food bowl with all feet, and gobbled.
Keep in mind, this was all going on with puppies that were under five
weeks old.
Their introduction to the
great outdoors was as expected. The
roughs sat in a pile next to the steps and cautiously moved forward inspecting
everything and watching mommy to see what was expected behavior. After a few minutes of examining this
fascinating new world, it was time to start running around and playing and
enjoying the new toys they found outside – but always at a reasonable distance
from the steps into the house, their known safe place.
The smooths, on the other
hand, from the minute their little feet touched ground, took off like little
streaks of lightning in all directions, and I could almost hear the “Wow!!!!
Look at this!!!! Look at that!!! I need to taste everything!!! I need to pick
everything up!!!! I need to bungee jump down those stairs!!!!” as they tried to
do everything at once. I was kept
occupied preventing the bungee jumps…
As they got a bit older and
more “experienced” in life, the whole bunch of puppies played and ran around
together and the roughs learned from the smooths (not the opposite, of course,
that would have been too easy), and they all ran, played, jumped, chewed…Great
fun for all!
Except for me, of course,
who had to try and watch 14 little bouncing balls scattering all over the yard,
picking up and chewing everything in reach, getting in the water dishes (that
is great fun!), and then finding some mud to dig in…
Keeping 14 active puppies
clean and presentable is no picnic – by the time I had brushed one clean, the
ones I had cleaned before were ready to be cleaned again. These puppies were well acquainted with
having quick showers in the bathtub from a very young age.
It is always very hard for
me to part with my puppies, I am always tempted to keep them all – but of
course that is not possible, I have to
admit that with these guys, as each puppy went to its new home, the difference
in activity and amount of care was very apparent! Each one had such a strong personality that
it was very noticeable when it was taken out of the group.
Ten puppies have gone to
excellent homes, and some of them have a future as therapy dogs as well. Four have stayed here (obviously I was not
going to be able to let them all go!) My
little Legacy is here, of course, her pet name is Robin, and she is smart,
learns everything immediately, and then thinks about whether she wants to do
it. Her tricolor rough brother, Lucky, is a big awkward boy with a very sweet
nature and no idea that he is bigger than the others. The two Chance kids, Topaz the female and
Tawny the male, take after their mother – they have not yet paid much attention
to helicopters, but like their mother, they love to run after the hose pipe and
try to grab the water, they nip at the shoes and pants legs of visitors trying
to herd them, and they are extremely talented at climbing fences to get into my
poor little patches of garden that are meant to be protected from the dogs.
Well, four is easier than
fourteen….
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