4am Monday 3/6 Ruby began whelping and at 4.15 am her first pup arrived. Her second pup arrived at 4.45 am then we had a 2 hour break before she whelped 5 more in a short space of time and everything seemed to be complete at 10am.
Ruby looked relaxed as did her pups 4 girls and 3 boys. Over the next 12 hours I became concerned because the pups didn’t seem to be sleeping a great deal and were very vocal. This was upsetting Ruby and making her very anxious.
I contacted our vets Beaumont Veterinary practise at Pinhoe Exeter and requested a visit. At 1300 hours Nick duly arrived and it was discovered she had a temperature of 104 and a scan revealed that she was carrying a further pup which was most likely deceased.
She was given an injection of Oxytocin which helps contractions and stimulates the release of milk from the mammary glands. We were very anxious that the injection would work as the alternative was a Caesarean to get the pup out.
Fortunately at 3.30 pm she passed the pup a large fully formed male who sadly was deceased. Within an hour the transformation in Ruby and her pups was amazing. They were feeding well and sleeping as they should be.
This has continued and by yesterday all of the pups had more than doubled their weight and as you can see mum is looking radiant.
All the pups are sable in colour which makes identification more difficult but after many hours of watching them my wife Diane and I are now able to tell them apart.
For over 20 years I have been selecting pups from our breeders and bringing them back to our force to place with our puppy walkers but this is the first litter that I have actually bred myself.
So far the experience has been absolutely amazing particularly seeing how instinctive everything seems to be to Ruby.
So far so good.
Paul Glennon
Devon and Cornwall Police dog development officer.
Ruby looks very proud and comfortable as a mum.Has her character changed, has she become more protective or is she quite casual about everything?
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