Happy New Year!

Pasha has whelped nine puppies: six girls and three boys. More information and pictures on our website http://brock-o-dale.co.uk/puppies/2014litter

The whelping was rather quicker and more convenient than I had expected. The day before her temperature dropped and she wasn't so interested in food as usual. At about 7:30 a.m. I realised she'd poo'd herself on the bedroom carpet, and then after I cleaned it up and let her out to go to the loo (and stood on cold wet squishy moss watching her do her business with a torch), and it was about 8 a.m. and she started hiding under the desk and behind an armchair in the study and scrabbling on the floor. So I let her get on with it and prepared myself for a long wait with a restless bitch, and the next minute she was under the chair and there was a funny squeaking noise, and I found her giving birth to a little boy. By midday there were 8 and she was chilling with them, but I thought I could still feel something inside her, so I took her outside to see if that might get things moving. She did a wee and just as she was finishing, a big cream boy came out, and I caught him in my hands and ripped the membrane so he could get it over his head and breathe. I had shut the door behind me to stop the other dogs coming out, and I could not open it again on account of holding a puppy and having slimy hands, so I was standing there with this pup and Pasha licking him and chewing the umbilical cord when the postman turned up. She said she'd never seen anything like it, so that was quite funny.

Several of the pups are blue, and since this colour seems to be widely misunderstood, I have included a picture of an adult blue poodle below. This poodle is actually the half-aunt of Pasha's puppies, so their colour is likely to be very similar. Blue poodles are born black, but they clear to blue after they are a year old. Blue is often described as being 'grey' and is hard to photograph, but in the flesh it has a lavender hue and really has much more warmth and depth to the colour than ordinary grey. Also worth noting is that the blue in poodles is genetically different to the 'D locus blue' in breeds that are born blue, which is associated with health problems -- there are no health problems known to be associated with normal clearing blue in poodles. :-)

Photo of Lola courtesy of her owner, Angela Gaye Mallory

Meanwhile, with the coming of the new year I am looking forward to watching the pups progress and eventually start their lives with some of the lovely people who have joined the waiting list, and the coming spring when I can finally get more eggs to hatch!

Pasha

On the morning of the last day of the year, I awoke to a horrible smell. Pasha had poo'd herself on the floor in my bedroom, and is obviously not feeling very well and showing signs of early labour (squeezing under furniture, panting, and scrabbling in the whelping box and in the corners of the room). Yesterday her temperature dropped and she did not have her usual interest in food. Since this is Pasha's first litter, it is likely to be some time before any pups put in an appearance, quite likely not until tomorrow. As I was writing this, Pasha was squeezed under a chair and I suddenly heard a funny squeak and discovered she was giving birth to a black (or possibly blue) boy. Now she has also given birth to a cream girl. Updates will be posted to our facebook.

Pasha in her whelping box. I filled the box with old towels and a washable old quilt so they can go straight into the washing machine once she has finished with them. She is rearranging them to make herself a nest.

Pasha: 1 week to go

Pasha is in fine fettle and due to whelp in one week's time, on the 3rd of January. You can follow her progress on our Facebook page and learn more about this breeding on the website page.

Pasha appears to be pregnant, so we are hoping to have pups early in the new year. There's not much daylight to take a picture with this close to the winter solstice, but here she is having a rest.