Ever since we first got Rorie, we knew we wanted to breed her at least once. For the experience and well... not to lie, the money. It took a lot of convincing from my Dad when Rorie went into heat this fall. Was she ready to be a mom? Was I ready to take care of puppies!! Well, sure enough I was convinced and I found a Standard size, beautiful, cream colored poodle available for stud service on KSL. They brought him (Drake) over to our house for the week for them to... uh.. do their thing. Man, that was an adventure in itself. We had to keep both dogs outside all day long because male dogs tend to pee on everything when around a female dog... and sure enough he did! Drake had to pee on every bush/flower/weed...etc. multiple times. Rorie pretty much thought we had abandoned her because she is not use to being locked in the back yard with some strange dog 24/7
After Drake left it was all just a waiting game. Wait to see if she was pregnant. I did a ton a research and most people said you usually can't tell if a dog is pregnant until the last few weeks. The gestation period is usually 60-65 days. So, only two-ish months. Man, how awesome would it be if humans only had to be pregnant for two months????
There were a few signs that Rorie was indeed pregnant. She peed WAY more often. We had to wake up 2-3 times at night and let her outside. She was more work than baby Jenson! She also ate more too. But I was doubtful. I didn't want to get mine/or anyone else's hopes up. Fianlly, her belly started expanding. And when she would lay down, you could watch tiny puppy movements. It was crazy! You could tell Rorie was completely miserable though. She would sleep and mope around all day long. So, I guess like typical pregnant women ;)
This picture was taken hours before she went into labor. Hahaha I laugh everytime I see it. Doesn't she look so uncomfortable?? Poor Rorie.
It was Halloween day and I was sure she had to be close! The research I had done, told me there are 3 phases of actual labor. The first one is when the dog starts panting a lot and shaking and it is the longest phase of pregnancy lasting anywhere from 12-48 hours . After all our Halloween festivities were over, we started getting ready for bed, when I noticed Rorie was pacing the house and panting. I thought, "Okay, this must be the beginning of the first phase." I tried calming her down and all of a sudden she starting shaking. Al and I both got very anxious, knowing that the puppies would be here within a day or two. Again we tried to calm Rorie down and tried to get her to go to sleep. But she simple could not stop shaking! I started freaking out a little. Rorie ran down stairs to her favorite spot, behind the couch where we store all her toys. Al tried getting her to come out because we did not want her having her puppies behind the couch!! As Al was trying to get Rorie to listen to him, I was busy in the kitchen getting newspaper and stuff ready just in case is happened early morning.... I called my dad letting him know it might happen soon because he promised he would help me through the process.
While on the phone, I hear Alek say, "LINDSIE! OH MY GOSH, THERE'S A PUPPY BEHIND HERE!"
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" 12-48 hours my butt. I told my dad to get over to my house ASAP. Then I ran into the living room to see Alek moving the couch a little bit, holding Rorie back by the collar and sure enough there lay a little puppy. "What should I do?!" asked Alek.... I told him to grab the puppy and bring it into the kitchen but my big tough husband looked at me like I was crazy.... "I'm not touching that!" I rolled my eyes at him and ran to the puppy, picked it up and brought it into the kitchen to the newspaper I had to barely spread out. I knew Rorie was suppose to know what to do by her dog instincts but I think with Al and I both freaking out, we had scared her. I had to coax her a little bit to start licking the puppy and I started rubbing the puppy a little bit myself to help her. I seriously had know idea what I was doing. Finally, the puppy let out a little cry and instantly starting trying to find her mommy to nurse. I was in shock. Did that really just happen!!
It was about 11:30pm when the first puppy was born. She was the only one born on Halloween. :) I knew at that point it was going to be a long night! We got Rorie settled into her bed and waited for the puppies to start arriving. My dad finally showed up and starting helping too. Alek on the other hand was too grossed out and fell asleep on the couch ;)
The puppies came every 45 minutes to an hour. Rorie did awesome! She knew exactly what to do. Usually, with the first litter it's normal for the dog to have a smaller number of puppies. I was hoping for at least four. Around 3am Rorie had number 5. At that point we thought for sure she was done and my dad went back home. I decided to stay awake just in case. Sure enough numbers 6,7,8 and yes 9 were born. The last one being born at 730 am. Saying it was a long night is an understatement!!!
There was one puppy that was half the size of all the others. A little white female pup. She stole everyone's heart. She was so small she had a hard time eating. We had to bottle feed her. It was so hard to watch something so little be so helpless. Unfortunately she only survived a few days. It broke my heart. I'm so thankful my in-laws helped so much watching over her and feeding her while she was alive. Poor lil girl:(
This is her Next to another puppy. Compare the size difference!
The first few weeks were a breeze. The puppies just slept and ate. The only thing I had to worry about was Rorie accidentally sitting on one when she laid down to feed them... haha..Their eyes didn't open until they were about 4 weeks old. And once they could see and walk... things got a bit crazier!
It was a lot of work! We had fun with them, don't get me wrong. Seeing them grow and start to get personalities. But, man did I get tired of cleaning up their poop!! There were so many of them and not very much room. So coming downstairs in the morning after they had pooped everywhere all night long was a nightmare. My house reaked!!! It would have been so much easier if we had done this in the middle of summer instead of the winter, that way we could have just kept them outside. :) Although, it was perfect timing for them to be Christmas puppies!!
They were all soo adorable! Seriously I wanted to keep them all.
It's really hard to get a picture of puppies all at once.... They NEVER hold still!
- Lt. Pink-Female (Norah) Went to our high school friends Alex and Lindsay Knowles. She was the first one born. Our only Halloween puppy. Everyone always commented on her having the softest fur and had the prettiest light golden color.
- Blue-Male (Harley) 2nd biggest of the litter. Quiet-giant
- Green-Male (Rocco) One of the curliest of the litter. Also, the most playful and energetic. Was always playing with one of the toys. (Al's Favorite pup)
- Multi-Male (name-unknown) Last one to be chosen. Lighter fur with darker ears. One of the noisier ones.
- Purple-Female (Piper) One of the smallest. Dark and very curly fur. Had two little white back paws. Very dominant personality... A lot like her mom :)
- Black-Male (name-unknown) Smallest and darkest colored pup. Very chill and laid back. Quiet and very well-behaved. Had a brown nose.
- Jasper-Male (Chewy) Most unique looking puppy. Brown nose and blue eyes. I thought he was beautiful!
And last but not least my favorite:
8. Tank-Male (Walter) Biggest pup by far! Last one to be born. Lighter/greyish coat. I really don't know why he stuck out to me. But he did. Maybe it was because he was the biggest and also the cuddliest. Or his cute face, or the way he would look at me all sad when I was playing with another pup. But, man was it hard to give him away!! Glad I kept in touch with his family and they still send me pictures. Walter is a lucky pup with a family of two little girls who adore him! He now lives in California and is living the dream being a beach dog. :)
So the big question... Are we going to do this again? I don't know that I've made up my mind. I tell everyone, "probably in a few years." I'll give it enough time that I've forgotten how much work it actually involves. :)
