Rio's puppies to Cougar
Page 1-Pregnancy and birth plus the first week of life
Rio (Goldmali Believe, left) was mated to Jan Ralph's Cougar (Ch. Bonvivant Esprit, right)
on the 9th and 11th of July 2008.
Rio 7 weeks pregnant
The scan showed 2 pups, we figured there might be 5 or 6.
Although Rio kept getting bigger. Click below to watch a video of her pregnant stomach moving in the final week of pregnancy, at YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj1cM4foaGA
At 5 am on Tuesday the 9th of September Rio started panting and pacing and got inside her whelping box.
At 10.45 am something started to happen
First pup arriving -a dog.
Small amount of white on chest and the nose was already black -often Malinois pups are born with pink noses.
Proud mum
At 11.30 am a big dog pup arrived.Two tiny spots of white on the chest -and unfortunately a kink at the end of the tail.
At 11.56 am the first bitch arrived. Hardly any white on chest.
With 3 pups -and still looking fat.
At 1.19 pm pup number 4 arrived; a dog without any white on his chest.
4 suckling pups
2.05 pm pup number 5 arrived, a bitch with a bit of white on her chest.
A 3.11 pm pup number 6 arrived, a dog with no white on his chest.
Surely this was it now, 6 pups?
No, at 3.49 another bitch arrived. No white on her chest. 7 pups.
Then at 4.19 pm pup number 8 arrived, a dog with a small thin white stripe on his chest.
This seemed to be it. Rio was exhausted and settled. We gave her and the pups clean bedding.
8 pups
It's impossible to tell at this stage what their colours will be like, as they are all born dark and lighten over the next few weeks.
An hour and a half later at 5.54, suddenly pup number 9 arrived unexpectedly. A dog without any white on his chest.
During most of the day, the Papillons had been kept away. Rio really did not mind their presence though, and when Abby sneaked in to take a look she knew how to get a good view!
All of a sudden, just minutes later at 6.04, a tenth puppy arrived. A bitch with no white on her chest.
Now Rio was REALLY tired. And dirty. And thin. 10 puppies. 6 dogs, 4 bitches. Finished at last.
A tired Rio with a pup now 2 days old.
All the puppies aged 2 days. Put inside a cat bed for a few minutes whilst the bedding in the whelping box is being changed.
Princess wondering what those weird things in her bed are!
(That bed won't hold 10 Malinois for long!)
One of the bitches, maybe it will be the one that stays, who knows.........
The dog pup with the tail kink. Hopefully somebody after a dog to work will want him as he won't make a show dog.
It won't look obvious when the fur on the tail is longer. Chances are all these puppies were so crowded in the womb the tail got bent-
it can happen.
Rio with all her pups aged 2 days
Content mother and pup, 4 days
Princess checking the pups out from above
The pups are 6 days old and Abby is SO interested in them. Rio has settled down a lot and don't mind the little dogs and the cats having a look and sniff.
Quite an audience here -Rio, Abby, Ginny and Jupiter the cat (pups as usual put inside a small bed when the box is cleaned)
Bobby has turned up
Ginny checking the pups out. Maybe she's wondering if those SHE will have one day will be as big?!
Getting too big for the cat bed already
(Let's face it, it's not often you can fit TEN Malinois into a CAT bed!)
Rio checking they are all okay
Back in the box
TO BE CONTINUED!
I will update with photos weekly. A new page each week.
Next: One week old
