Birth

Alda's pups were born on Dec 8, 2004

The following text is from Guide Dogs for the Blind.
To prepare for whelping, they are put in stalls that contain plastic wading pools lined with newspapers. The stalls are warmed with radiant heating coils in the floor, and are equipped with closed-circuit cameras that allow the kennel staff to monitor the dogs' activities from afar (they can keep an eye on the expectant moms from the kennel kitchen during normal hours and from an on-campus studio apartment after hours).

Births can occur as early as five days before the official due date. When the time is near, the females start to "nest"—tearing the newspapers into small pieces and settling into the pools.

During birth, the kennel staff will assist when needed. This assistance may involve resuscitating newborn puppies, clamping bleeding umbilical cords, and feeding females tired from a long whelp.

The newborn puppies are weighed daily for the first five days of their lives to ensure they are gaining weight. If a puppy's growth is lagging, the pup may be bottle fed.

The nursing mothers' milk is examined for discoloration and tested to ensure it contains the appropriate nutrients and is free of infections. If a mother has more puppies than she can handle, the pups may be transferred to another mother that has also whelped at close to the same time (within 24-36 hours). If no such dog is available, the puppies will be bottle fed. As a health precaution for the newborn puppies, only the staff members working in the whelping kennel that day are allowed to go into that kennel.

• She has 7 puppies.
• 5 boys and 2 girls.
• All are black.
• Assigned letter of the alphabet - N

image from tv monitor in kennel kitchen

Alda had her puppies on Thursday, Dec 8, 2004. She has 7 pups, 5 boys and 2 girls. They are all black. They will be named with word that start with the letter "N." She had an 8th pup, but it was under developed and DOA. That pup was a yellow female. Which means that Alda is possible of having yellow puppies.

I was able to view her from a TV monitor in the kennel kitchen, she is in the plastic pool snuggling with her pups. I watched her cleaning up after the pups or "pottying" them. The Breeding Department staff said that there was only one pup that was having a hard time making it through the birthing canal. It was a large pup and it had its head tipped down causing it not to move like it should. A couple of staff had to help Alda to reposition the pup. All the others were delivered without assistance.

Alda ate about 3-4 of the pup's placenta's before getting full. By using a video camera, I was able to view Alda from the Kennel Kitchen while she was in her stall in the maternity ward.

website updated on Dec 9, 2004

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