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Memoirs of a Reluctant Canine Midwife By Linda Dightmon
It all began on September 28th, 2000. It was my forty-something birthday. I came home from work that day and a surprise birthday present from my dad and uncle was running around the house. Our home had been without a dog for almost six months now and it was time. My new pup was a female, 10 week old, German Shorthair Pointer. She was all mine, but with a hook. When it came time, we were to breed her with Dad’s 9 year old GSP, Maxx. A deal was struck. That evening was spent coming up with a name for my new pup. I finally chose “Amillian: Maxx’s Chance” for her registered name. I wanted something to go with her future mate so Amillian (as in Maximallian) and Maxx’s Chance?…well, he was getting a little long in the tooth. This is how Millie came into my life.
I have zero interest in breeding dogs. One puppy is a royal pain, I could only imagine the trials an entire litter could bring. There is paper work and whelping, weaning and way to much whimpering and whining. I wanted a hunting companion, a buddy in the field. But Dad and Uncle Ron had their heart set on a pup from Maxx. In September of last year, Geno and I went on vacation. Millie stayed with Maxx and when we got back we learned that there had been a mating. Yep, nothing like a young lass in season to make an old boy’s blood boil. By Halloween there was no doubt that Millie was going to have pups. At this point I could have pawned her off on Dad and Uncle Ron, but she was my dog. I felt that I needed to be with her when the pups were born. So I started looking for information. Her vet gave me some prenatal doggie vitamins and the location of an emergency animal hospital. (gee thanks.) I found numerous helpful articles from dog breeders on the web. I talked to friends and family with pets that had had babies. Some said that they can do it all by themselves, others told me the opposite. Terri, my hair stylist said. “They are puppies. They just slide on out.” (All righty then) One thing for sure, I was about to experience it soon because Millie kept getting wider and wider. One night, the weekend before Thanksgiving, I was working on the layout for the magazine and sharing some Wheat Thins with Millie when I noticed a pretty large puddle of water coming from her backside. Millie was way to interested in the snacks to notice, but I knew that tonight was the night. My plan was for her to have her the pups in the laundry room. I took her in there and tried to get her to lie down. It was about 10:00 when Geno peeked in the room to see what was going on. I informed him that we were going to have puppies tonight. He promptly announced that it was time for him to go to bed since he had an early tee time. I could not get this dog to settle down. She wanted to go outside! I have had two children myself so I wasn’t completely ignorant of Millie’s dilemma. For those of you, who don’t know, besides the obvious pain, it feels kind of like a… well, like a giant bowel movement. Millie thought that she needed to eliminate. I forced her to stay with me for about a half an hour before I realized that she was holding up progress. So, I let her go in the backyard. She circled the yard about three times before humping up and, you guessed it- she pooped a puppy. I still contend that this was a good move on my part. (We live in a warm climate so it wasn’t like there was snow on the ground.) However, I made a big mistake by not closing the back door tight. After having the puppy, Millie shot back in the house and luckily, back into the laundry room. I snagged up a squirming “Yard Dog” in my towel and followed the blood trail to my bitch. She was sitting on her blanket, wild eyed and bewildered. I showed her the puppy crooning, “Look Millie, it’s your baby!” Her eyes got incredibly wider and she snapped her head away. Undaunted, I put him near a teat and he latched on. She did not protest. It wasn’t five minutes before she was sniffing the new guy and giving it tentative little licks. The pup was nursing, pushing with both front feet and making a lot of noise for such a small creature. Twenty minutes later, it became obvious that number two would arrive shortly. Millie was panting hard and straining. She still wanted to go outside so I had to actually hold her down. I put number one in a shoebox that I had ready but I had underestimated the size and tenacity of newborn puppies. I was trying to help with the new pup and hold Millie down when here comes pup number one. He had crawled out of the box and made his way across the small room, raising hell as he came. Now, I was trying to juggle a big dog, a squalling pup and catch number two! After number two was born I found a deeper box and got some more towels. There is a lot of liquid involved during the birthing process! Number three and number four came without incident. Millie had finally realized that she didn’t need to go outside and was now helping instead of fighting me. I got her some water and began washing the first of what would be many loads of towels that long long night. I also began the task of getting the blood spots out of the carpet and the walls from her dash in the house earlier. If I got too far out of sight her whines would be added to the puppy noises. The next two pups came within minutes of each other and now I was short one placenta. Until now, each puppy had been born in a sac. Placenta, pup, umbilical cord all packaged nicely in one watery bundle. (I didn’t realize until later that it is normal for a bitch to have one or two puppies then deliver a couple of placentas.) About an hour later came number seven. Then number eight, but something was wrong. I could not figure out what was coming out of my dog! Soon, I realized that I was looking at two feet and a tail. This little guy was coming out backwards. (I found out later that this is not unusual.) Then came the missing placenta and I heard the alarm go off in the bedroom. Pretty soon my husband peered into the room on his way to the golf course. “You’ve been up all night?” he says. “Go get some rest.” After that, things settled down. All the pups were nursing and I watched amazed as Mother Nature did her thing. Millie seemed content; she was nuzzling and licking her newborns. The pups were all feeding, pedal pushing with their front feet. I had just put down her newly re-washed and re-dried blanket. What a nice litter. I was pretty sure that she was done having puppies so I went to lie down for a little while. I would call Dad and Uncle Ron later. It was 6:15 Sunday morning. A moment later (or so it seemed) something was waking me up. It was Millie. She had come into the bedroom and nudged me awake. Fog in the brain cleared and PUPPIES screamed in my head. I leaped up, and rushed into the laundry room. Millie was already there. The puppies were fine, but why was the bed so wet? Without my glasses it was hard to see but sure enough there it was; a very damp puppy. Pup number nine has arrived.
It is at this point in Millie’s marathon whelp that the memory goes a little fuzzy. I vaguely recall talking to Uncle Ron who lives in Jake’s Corner and Dad, who was still visiting in Pennsylvania. I know I spoke to both several times. I also washed blankets and towels again. I am pretty sure that it was about an hour after number nine that number ten arrived. Now, there were more puppies than nipples. I was switching them out. I begged her not to have any more puppies but she just cried and about an hour later spit out number eleven. By this time I was crying too. The phone rang just as number twelve entered the world, backwards. I quickly told whomever the caller was that I couldn’t talk now, number twelve was coming. It was about this time that Geno came back. He was amazed that Millie’s family had grown half again as much during the space of a round of golf. Uncle Ron and Nanette were on the way and I really needed to rest. I went back to lay down and he took over puppy sitting. I felt that there might yet be another puppy. After they got here we took the whole family outside. It was a beautiful 80-degree afternoon. Once again, I went to catch some sleep only to be awakened by Nanette coming into the room. “Linda, Linda, she is having another one! What do we do?” Yep, big ol’ number thirteen was born outside in the whelping box a full three hours after number 12.
So, that is the story of the birth of Maxx and Millie’s kids (The M & M gang). It started and ended in the back yard. There are 10 males and 3 females. All of them are big beautiful healthy pups. All of them are in Jake’s Corner with Dan and Uncle Ron. J They will be ready for new homes soon. Email me at azodlady@cox.net if you are interested in one. Click here to see pictures of the pups at 6 weeks. http://www.azod.org/gundogs/pups/
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