Riska (FTW Fletchingly Annraidh) has given birth to a litter of seven strong heathy puppies by Barley (FTCH Ticefield Dazed N’confused). Barley is a dog that I know well, having competed against him and trained with him several times, so I know that he has the right temperament, which is just as important to me as his excellent health test results.
I kept a pup back from Riska’s previous litter (to FTW Bellspaddle Roscoe), who has done well in puppy working tests this summer, and at nineteen months old she is everything I could wish for in a young dog, which means that I will be keeping a pup from this litter too.
I am always very relieved to come through a whelping with no problems and all the puppies born alive and well. It does help that Riska is very fit, and stamina is one of her strong points, so she only took four and a half hours from start to finish, and had the decency to whelp during the day, thus saving me from a sleepless night. I have a lot of experience with lactating animals from many years of working with dairy cattle, and my job is to enable her to make a good job of rearing her puppies, so she is being fed four times a day, with a drink of puppy milk in between, which helps to ensure she takes in enough fluid to produce plenty of milk. I have a small downstairs bedroom that I use as a whelping room, which allows me to sleep in the same room to keep a close eye on the new family, and there is the added bonus that I have the luxury of sitting with my feet up on the bed while using my laptop during the day.
