Saturday, March 2, 2013

Welcome to the wee little ones



Riley picked the most inopportune time to come into heat, and was ready to be bred around Christmas time. Black Lab Jammer was more than willing to oblige and do his part.  Nine weeks later, that Christmas gift from Jammer materialized as 8 wonderful little puppies. Riley made sure I didn’t get much sleep, her contractions started at 9:30 pm on Sunday 2/24, and she delivered her first pup around 11 pm. After that, she picked up speed, and delivered 10 puppies in 3 hours. Unfortunately 2 pups did not survive. Black boy, the smallest pup, was born limp and unresponsive, but he had heartbeat and I was able to revive him.  We have a very balanced litter: 4 girls, 4 boys, 4 black, 4 yellow. These pups are much smaller than normal (6.8 oz to 11.4 oz), probably a bit premature.  The smallest retriever pup I have raised up until now was around 9 oz at birth, and normally have pups weighing 12-16 oz at birth.  Riley was not quite sure what to do with the first few pups until after the hormones kicked in.  Riley is being a wonderful first-time mama, very careful and attentive. Fingers crossed that all these pups thrive.

Collar
Sex/color
Birthweight
Pink
F/Y
8  oz
Blue
M/B
11.4 oz
Purple
F/B
7.6 oz
Yellow
F/B
9.4 oz
Black
M/Y
6.8 oz
Orange
M/B
7 oz
Green
M/Y
10 oz
Red
F/Y
10.8 oz
 


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