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Click on any picture for a larger view on all pages!
The first puppy was born at 3:45AM on Thursday,
December 14, 2006, and the last puppy at 10AM.
All 10 puppies are doing well at this point, but they now require
24 hour watch to ensure Mom doesn't accidentally lay on one of of them and to make sure they are all thriving.
Click here for more background info about this litter.
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The picture below shows the heat lamp mounted
at a height over the whelping box to keep the temperature over that part of the box at an important 85 degrees.
The temperature guage is placed below for monitoring since puppies have little ability to maintain their own body temperatures.
If the puppies want to get cooler, they can go to other parts of the whelping box further from the heat lamp. The room
temperature is kept at 75 degrees. The "pig rails," the white rails at the base of the whelping box, give the puppies
a place of safety (and cooler temperatures) so Twyla doesn't squash them against the sides of the box. These are actually
utilized for pig raising so the huge sow doesn't smash her babies in their pens...hence the name "pig rails."
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Look for the puppy under the pig rail by Twyla's head,
probably trying to get away from the heat lamp for a cooler spot.
The picture below is the view from the daybed right next to the whelping
box. There is no sleeping, but at least I can rest my body for a little while and still be able to view the puppies
at all times. My office is built into the closet on the other side of the whelping box to allow me a view of the puppies
while sending emails and updating the website to keep awake.
It's 6AM on Day
3 and Paul spelled me for some much-needed sleep from midnight to 5AM while he watched over the pups. This room
is a multi-use room of a TV room, office, guest room...and now whelping room. It offers TV, computer and resting place...the
perfect place if you have to be on watch 24 hours a day!
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