Cardigan Corgis are lovely dogs! I have had them for over 20 years. You can find out lots of info about them on the Cardigan Welsh Corgi Club website.
I have two girls now – Cammie (Grangefield Heres to Now) and her daughter Livie (CH Grangefield Love is Alive). Livie just had three puppies with a beautiful Finnish dog -Ole (CH All Trade Uptown Funk).
PUPPIES! I just bred my first litter and wanted to track our puppy progress. Maybe other first time breeders will find it helpful.
I didn’t start journaling until mid June, so I will gradually add early stuff from memory.
Before puppies were born
Getting stuff lined up. I used the list from Myra’s Canine Repro group on Facebook. This group is a great resource for anyone planning to have puppies, although it leans towards problem solving and can feel a little grim at times.
I had bought an inexpensive wooden puppy pen on Etsy, but decided to spring for a different one and after researching the options, decided on an EZWhelp & got the pen and extension. Set it up in the guest bedroom. Tight fit, but doable. I also got their heat lamp – it’s not very adjustable heightwise, which proved to be a bit of an issue later.
Kim (breed mentor) told me to make sure that I had everything lined up and ready to go in case I had to do something quickly, so I set up a small table in the room and stashed all my supplies in, on or under it.
I tried to get Liv to spend time there, but she wasn’t very interested. Since we had planned a c-section and she wouldn’t be whelping there anyhow, I just put her in there and fed her cookies periodically so that she would like it.
Warming box. In order to get the puppies home safely from the vet, I needed a warming box. Even if she hadn’t had a c-section, I would still need a place to stash puppies while cleaning the pen. I bought a small Sterilite box from Amazon and two different microwaveable heating pads. I actually only needed one, though. Covered the bottom with a thick folded towel, put in the heating pad and covered that with a thin towel. I duct taped a kitchen dish towel on the top for a cover and we were in action.
May 19 – Birth
C-section was scheduled for 8 am, but they didn’t actually do the surgery until later in the morning. They didn’t say, but I think they wanted to pull progesterone and make sure that she was ready. Around 11 one of the vet techs came out and told me we had three healthy puppies and showed me pictures! Three beautiful little mites – 1 black girl, 1 black boy and 1 blue boy. Sooo teeny.
They wanted to keep Liv for a while to make sure that she was fully recovered from anesthesia and that the puppies had a good feed. I went over to the Sandy Springs Museum and took a short walk through their woods, then sat in the car and knitted a little in the peaceful, shaded parking lot.
When they said she was ready, it was nearly 2 pm, so a long day of waiting for me. The vet tech loaded up the puppies in the warming pen and we put that in the front seat footwell and Liv in the crate in the back. She looked good. Not too woozy.
Driving home, some lunatic cut me off just as I was about to get on Route 70. I think I was pretty stressed out, because I gave her a very long horn blast – quite out of character! But what a bonehead. Then at the light before the turn onto 70, she must have been on the phone or something, because “little miss I am in such a big hurry” just sat at the light until I beeped. Just a little beep this time! Other than that, the trip home was uneventful. Put Liv and the puppies into the whelping pen and settled down to watch.
June 6, 2022 Day 19
Decided to start journaling today (wish I had planned this out right at the beginning, but you might as well start sometime!) Liv only got me up once last night (2:30am), and I got to sleep all the way to 6 am. I must have ignored her at some point, because she left a little poo present in the doorway of my bedroom! She was nursing when I got up, so I watched for a while until they stopped and then sprung her and let her go outside. Cammie continues to ignore the puppies. While the girls were out, I popped the pen pads into the dryer and emptied the de-humidifier. One of the electronic mouse traps had an occupant, so I took that out and dumped it into the woods across the street.
Made breakfast for me and the girls and paid some bills waiting for the dryer to finish. It’s cool this am. 71 in their pen, but the puppies are sleeping in a nice little pile, not even near the heating pad.
Liv is on day 2 of panacur. Also gets Oxy-momma, Doc Roy heart & bones and vit C. She is also getting probiotics, but while she is on Panacur, I am feeding them in the evening. She also gets a nice dollop of chicken gel and goats milk (Cam gets a smidge of each, but the cherries are down and she is fat as a tick.)
Weighed the puppies this am. Amelia is so wiggly that I am not sure of the weight, but I think it’s around 940 gr (33.5 oz). Milo is 1130 gr (39.9 oz) and Polo is 895 gr(31.6 oz). Liv came in while I was weighing them and popped into the pen to let them have a quick snack. They have really started to be on the move and are peering over the door.
I am debating about when to expand the pen and move it into the living room. My breeder friend said not to do it right after their eyes open – too much change all at once, but they have been open for several days now. Maybe I will set up the extension today and move them tomorrow.
June 8, 2022 Well lots happened yesterday! I expanded the puppy pen and moved it to the living room. Pups still cluster by the door though! They know where momma comes in! Then Liv started growling at the puppies. This is usually because the momma is a little short on calcium, so I have bumped her calcium and hopefully she will be better with them shortly. It could also be that she is a little stressed with the changed environment. I wound up brining her into my room for the night and we got up every couple of hours to feed puppies, so I am tired today.
It’s very weird. She is still good about feeding them and licking their bottoms, even though their teeth are coming in which makes the whole nursing thing less fun, but when they are finished eating and come up to lick her face, it freaks her out. So when she starts getting weirded out, I have her pop out of the pen and go outside and do something else. But she still wants to be in the pen with them. Poor conflicted momma!
I started them on dog food/goat milk slurry this morning. Mixed up ½ c of ground kibble + about 2/3c goats milk. This was wayyyyy too much for the first try. I put in one of the puppy feeder things, but they are still a little small to get into it, so I gave most of the slurry to Cam and Liv and put a bit of the food into a shallow saucer. They were interested and licked at it, but weren’t really sure about the whole thing. People say to start with one feeding per day and gradually increase, but they really didn’t eat much this time. I am going to make it a thinner gruel and make way less and try again this afternoon.
Afternoon gruel was better. Milo is actually eating it and the others are still figuring stuff out. Grinding up the kibble is a pain – I only have a Ninja blender and it doesn’t provide a very fine grind, so I am researching meat options for them instead.
June 9, 2022 So yesterday afternoon, I ran out and got some ground turkey. Goats milk and ground turkey was a hit! Milo figured out lapping and ate a bunch. Polo sorta figured it out and Amelia was still just licking the edge of the bowl. I wonder if it aligns with teeth development. Milo definitely has teeth, Polo’s are just coming in and Amelia just has a couple poking through.
NeverBlueDesign 