It's been a rough Mother's Day Weekend!

WOW! What a story I've got for you. The puppies came on Saturday, May 10th, the day before Mother's Day. Above you can see me and my 4 little darlings. This was taken about 1:00 in the afternoon.

It all started Thursday, when I began feeling a little wierd. I wouldn't let my master alone. All I wanted was to be near him. I also felt like going outside every few hours all night, so he didn't get very much sleep. Friday was pretty much the same.

Friday night I started leaking a little fluid, and Alan and Kathy were concerned that something may be wrong. A call to the vet put them at ease, 'cause he said that it was normal. I sure didn't feel normal.

All night Friday I felt I needed to go outside and go potty about every hour. So they didn't get ANY sleep. Finally at 7:00 AM, the first baby came.

She was a pretty rough delivery. I was pushing for about 15 minutes, but all that would show was a little black tail. Finally with my master's help, She made it out. He was pretty concerned because she was limp and not moving. But after about 5 minutes of rubbing in a towel, she started to breath and cry, so I knew everything was alright. All I wanted to was lick and kiss her. That's her above, only a few hours old.

About a half an hour later, I started contractng again, and the 2nd one came along. This time it was a little boy puppy, that looked almost identical to his big sister. He also came out tail first, but was much easier to deliver. I guess the first one stretched me out. He wasn't moving very good either, but quickly came around after I licked him alot. That's him above on the left, along with his sister.

Now, I don't remember my parents. And I don't know anything about Bones' parents, either. But both of these puppies aren't red like we are. They have the black and tan markings of a standard bloodhound. They also have white tips on their tales, and white markings on their chests, so I guess that one or more of our parents was a black and brown bloodhound.

The next baby came about 2 hours later. She made it even more evident that our parents may have been black and brown . She was almost all black, with tan paws. The picture above shows her 1 day old. Another 2 hours later, about noon, another sister came along. Finally, there was a red puppy that was more like me and Bones. *I used to have a picture of her here. But she died when she was a week old

Now is when the story turns a little tragic. About a week and a half before the babies were born, my Master had me X-rayed to see how many puppies there were, just to make sure there wouldn't be any problems. My Doctor wasn't in that day, so another Vet. lloked at the film. .He said that there were 5 puppies. So we knew that there was one left, so when I didn't start having contractions after 2 hours, Alan took me outside and for many walks, hoping that would help my deliver. Well, it didn't, and about 4 o'clock he called the vet, who suggested that I be left alone in the dark for another hour, to see if that would relax me and help me start labor again. That didn't work either, so we made our first trip to the vet's that day for an examination and another X-ray.

The Doctor looked at the first x-ray, and wasn't 100% sure that there really was a 5th puppy. It also turns out that his X-ray developer was broken. But he looked me over really good, and took the picture anyway. We were sent home, and he took the film to the people hospital to get it developed.

About an hour later, he called and said we had to go back to his office, because there WAS a 5th puppy, and we needed to get it out. When we got there, he gave me a shot to help me contract. We waited an hour, and still no puppy. I got another shot, and after another hour the puppy still didn't come out.

There was nothing left to do now, except to have emergency surgery, because if the puppy didn't come out it would make me very sick and I could die. I don't remember much after that since the next thing I knew, I woke up in my bed at home.

My Master told me what happened. It turns out that the last puppy was very large and deformed. He had a cleft palate and a mishapen head. He called it a "mutant" and said that there was no way that I could have delivered it. He also said that it had died inside of me, and hthere was already some infection in my uterus. So now instead of just a Cesearean Section, I was going to be have to be spayed, and have a complete hysterectomy. We were going to have this done later, since this would be my only litter, so it was just done a little earlier than expected.

I came home from the Doctor's at about midnight and was put to bed with my puppies. Mother's Day morning I'm still a little sore and groggy, but I'm starting to feel better, and beginning to eat and drink again. It feels good to have something in my stomach, since I hadn't eaten (or wanted to eat) since Friday night. I still don't feel much like eating, but I know I have to, so I can make enough milk for my new babies.

So here I am on Mother's Day morning. A big difference from the picture at the very top, which was taken the previous day. The only thing I really want to do today, is sleep and take care of the babies. It's a good thing that I had that first X-ray taken, because yesterday Alan and Kathy would have thought that I was done after the first 4 puppies, and would have got real sick from the 5th, and probably died. However, the ones that survived are perfect and healthy. And most importantly, so did I.

I'll give more updates and pictures as the puppies grow. They are all spoken for, and going to go to good homes. Bones' owner will get whatever baby he wants. Another will go to the Baker County (OR) Sheriff's Office to be used as a Search and Rescue dog, and I'll get to keep one.

But for the meantime, I need to sleep and get my strength back up.

See them grow up HERE!