I'm sure there are better Labradors than Robin. (though she finished her Canadian Championship quite easily, earned numerous obedience and field titles) But I wouldn't trade her for anything. No dog is as accommodating as Robin when it comes time to whelp! Even under the worst conditions Robin never bats an eye, she just goes on with her business.

Her first litter gave me an indication of what a good girl she was. Unlike her grandma who refused to cooperate one bit (I don't know nothin' about birthin' no babies!) and her mother who whelped easily and fed the puppies (you want me to eat what?!), Robin calmly whelped, fed and cleaned up after the puppies like a veteran brood bitch. Big deal you say? After having to force grandma into the whelping box just to feed and buying out the store in paper towels so I could clean up puppy poop with mom, Robin was a dream come true. If a puppy was underneath her, there's no way she was going to lay down and fall asleep.

Best of all she waited until "Dad" (my husband Terry) got home from work, in case I needed help, then whelped the puppies. She did the whelping so quickly and easily that I was in bed at my normal bed time. (I told you she was special) With grandma I was up two nights with false alarms.

Robin's second pregnancy progressed much the same as her first one. Finally on September 10, I offered her her morning food, but she turned up her nose and said "No thanks!". Her temperature had started dropping two days before, so after she refused her breakfast, I took it again. Sure enough, it had dropped to 98 degrees. D-day!

The day progressed with Robin in her whelping box alternating between nesting and sleeping. For whelping we clear out one of the spare bedrooms for the bitch's use. That way I can keep an eye on her as I go about my business and don't have to sit in with her all day. To keep the other dogs out of the puppy room, we have a swinging "baby gate" in the doorway. Robin has learned to nudge it a certain way to let herself in and out of the room as she wishes.

Terry got home from work at 4:30 PM and was promptly told he was about to become a grandfather again. True to form, Robin's water broke at 4:50. Labor started at 5:00.

Robin labored off and on with that first puppy for an hour and fifteen minutes. Then she really got down to business and did some serious pushing. Five minutes later the power went out.

The power going out really shouldn't have surprised me. Since we had moved into this house 5 years ago, the power has gone out regularly. I'm talking an average of 4-5 times a year. Sometimes it's due to a storm, but like this time, sometimes the power goes out when the sky is clear and there's no wind. (Someone must have sneezed near a wire) It's not just going out at our house, but sometimes a 10 square mile area. When you call the power company to complain, they have a tendency to be surly and non-sympathetic. If it is storming the sump pump is no longer working so that means bailing every 20 minutes and no sleep during the night. The worst is being without water while the power is out.

Anyway, back to Robin in labor. Terry ran for the flashlights. During all this time Robin is still doing some serious pushing.

Terry arrived with the flashlights and I instructed him to shine the beams on Robin's hind quarters. No easy task as by this time Robin is up, down, all around the box in her effort to expel this puppy. Finally twelve minutes after the power went out, Robin gave birth to a black male. She did all the normal mother things, then looked at me and pushed the puppy towards me. She immediately started whelping the next puppy. Seven minutes later a yellow male was born. Thirteen minutes after that, a yellow girl.

By this time it was 7:00 and dark in the whelping room. Even though we were still on daylight savings time, the room is on the north side of the house and therefore, very little sunlight was coming in. Robin looked like she was going to take a short recess so we sat back, turned off the flashlights and sighed. Then we started to laugh. OOPS, recess over, Robin's back to work.

At 7:22 she gave birth to another yellow male. 7:45 and we said hello to a yellow bitch. After another short break to catch our breath, she delivered another yellow male at 8:15. No more recesses, a yellow boy came at 8:27 and a black girl was born at 8:38. THE POWER CAME ON AT 8:45!!

Robin then gave me a look which I read correctly as saying, "that's it I'm done!" Good thing, the batteries in the flashlights had started to wear out and the light from them was getting dimmer and dimmer. If you haven't had the pleasure of whelping puppies in the dark, you should try it. Its a lot of fun trying to find the black ones.

That was the only trouble we had with that litter. How can you beat a bitch that whelps eight puppies in two hours, in the dark and then takes total care of them until weaning time. Might not sound like much to you, but to me she' s perfect.

To top it off, once the puppies were weaned her eight month old daughter from her first litter took over the playing and socialization. There aren't many eight month old puppies I'd let in with little babies, but Boomer knew exactly how much to pull in the sock tug-of-wars and how hard to bite in the wrestling matches. She taught them how to chew bones and play ball. Many a time I'd walk by the room to see Boomer rolling on the floor with the puppies all over her. Now if she's only as accommodating as her mother when she whelps!

This whole experience has been inspirational at least. I've decided to name one of the black puppies Woodhaven's Black Out!!

© 1990 - LRM

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