Friday, May 23, 2025.

Yesterday we saw that Ginny had come into heat, so I immediately made an appointment with the vet to take a swab for bacteriological examination and for mycoplasma.

The results of this always take a few days and if antibiotics are still needed, you have to be quick with taking the swabs.

Waiting for the results.

 

Monday, May 26, 2025

Made an appointment to determine the progesterone. The result was still low. She was still in the early stages of her heat. Determine again on Friday.

 

Friday, May 30, 2025

Back to the vet to determine the progesterone. It had risen slightly, but was still quite low.

We had the results of the swabs in the meantime and they were good. That is always nice to hear.

In consultation with the vet, we decided to only have another progesterone injection on Tuesday, because it was still very low.

 

Sunday 1 June 2025

Richard, Mike and I went to Radewijk, because the Old English Sheepdog championship club match was being held there. We still had puppies from Xanthy at the time and they had already been vaccinated and were also almost 7 weeks old. We took them with us, so they could socialize nicely.

Joey and Leanne took care of the other dogs. At one point they indicated that they had separated Xavi after all, because Ginny and Xavi were circling each other a lot. Ginny was also already moving her tail to the side.

And in order not to take any risks, they had separated Xavi, because he is Ginny's father.

I still couldn't believe it, because she was still so low.

 

Monday 2 June 2025

Xavi was already very excited and just wanted to go to Ginny. Ginny, on the other hand, was right up against our stair gate where Xavi was sitting behind and was also whining. Was she perhaps already further along? We will know more tomorrow.

 

Tuesday 3 June 2025

To the vet to determine progesterone. I told the vet that I hoped she would be able to mate today and tomorrow.

We had chosen Chris's Cassanova, because he mates naturally and produces offspring. Ginny needed this.

However, Chris is going to Denmark on Thursday with another male to participate in the Euro Oes. Exciting.

At 13:00 the vet called that my prayers had been answered and that her progesterone was at 14 and we had to go to Belgium to have Ginny mated.

At 17:00 I was with Chris in Belgium with Ginny. There was a natural mating and they were paired.

I was happy about it. Back again tomorrow.

 

Wednesday 4 June 2025

We went to Belgium again and luckily there was a natural mating and a connection again. Now we have to wait and see.

 

Thursday 26 June 2025

I am very careful, but I think Ginny is pregnant. Her nipples are changing colour and getting bigger, thick mucus is coming out of her vulva and in the evening she sometimes has to be pulled along on the walk.

We have an ultrasound on 30 June 2025.

 

Monday, June 30, 2025

At 9:00 am I have an appointment for an ultrasound. Mike came along, because he wanted to be there.

Even though I had a feeling that she would be pregnant, it is still very exciting.

Ginny was as happy as always at the vet and was on the table very quickly.

The redeeming word came quickly. She is pregnant. I just got emotional. Our beautiful girl who has already won so much is finally pregnant.

Mike and I were so happy. We saw about 4/5 puppies.

To be sure, we arranged an x-ray for the exact number.

Once we were on the bus, I immediately sent a message to Richard and called Chris.

We are really super happy.

 

 

Ginny had already had that 2 days of not wanting to eat and took a long time eating. Sometimes she also left some.

I immediately replaced the adult kibble with puppy kibble when I got home and instead of 2 times she now gets 4 times food.

Now she eats everything. The portions are now smaller and energy-rich food.

We keep a close eye on her.

 

Wednesday, July 9, 2025, Day 36

Ginny is growing well. She's already developing a nice belly. Her nipples have discolored considerably and have grown quite large.

She still pulls on the leash during her morning walk. However, she's sometimes a bit quieter in the evenings. She's still a wild, energetic little lady when people come in.

She no longer runs and plays wildly with Xanthy, Indy, and Xavi. She ignores them and goes off to do something else.

She also takes her rest when needed.

She still eats puppy food four times a day, which is going well. When it's time to eat, she lets you know by constantly walking to her food bowl.

 

Wednesday, July 16, 2025, Day 43

A week has passed. Ginny is gaining weight well. She's become much calmer during the day. She still has her moments of hyperactivity, but she also takes her time to rest.

On Friday, I washed her backside a bit because I thought she smelled a bit. Especially with this heat, I thought it was wise to do so.

I washed her backside thoroughly, and then I noticed her anus was quite bulging. I didn't do anything else. She had had diarrhea on Thursday, and when she went outside after the wash, she had diarrhea again and kept straining. I thought that was strange. I then checked her discharge, but it was normal and didn't smell. I did notice her vulva was quite red, though.

I decided to take her temperature just to be sure, so she didn't develop a bladder infection. However, when I tried to insert the thermometer into her anus, she screamed in pain. I thought that was strange. The vet was already closed, so we agreed with Richard that we would go on Saturday. I wanted her to check her urine and anal glands.

We were able to go on Saturday. The vet looked at her gums, which were a nice pink. Then she looked at her discharge and agreed with me: it didn't smell and it looked normal.

Then she wanted to take her temperature, but she screamed again. The vet then checked her anal glands, and they were indeed extremely blocked. It took a while for both the left and right anal glands to empty. Fortunately, there was no fistula or abscess. Everything was fine. We did do an ultrasound just to be sure to check the heartbeats and/or whether there was any fluid in the uterus, which could indicate a uterine infection, but that also looked good. We saw a few heartbeats, and they were very strong. I was so happy and relieved. We were able to go home.

Afterwards, Ginny is eating well, and her stool is also very good. I was nervous, but she's doing really well.

 

Tuesday, July 22, 2022, Day 49

Ginny is lying down more and more. She's really taking it easy. She doesn't like the food anymore either. She eats it because she's afraid the others will eat it.

She won't eat the puppy kibble without anything anymore. We mixed some training treats in with it, but after a few times, she wasn't interested in that either. On Sunday and Monday, we mixed mousse into the kibble. She ate it quickly the first two times, but then it took her longer again.

Starting this morning, we got and gave her Energique meat for puppies. The other dogs really turn their noses up at it, but not Ginny. She does go to her food bowl and eats it pretty quickly. I wonder when she'll stop wanting it. Luckily, there are other flavors available.

She's gaining a lot of weight. Her mammary glands are growing well. They're filling up.

This morning I washed our Xavi, and when I was done, I felt Ginny's belly. I thought it might be too early to feel any life, but to my surprise, I felt light kicks. As I said before, that makes me really emotional. Now you actually have proof that there's life growing in her belly, and so early.

Of course, we've already experienced it with Xanthy: the puppy born to me becomes a mother herself. That's also very special. You really develop a strong bond with her.

With Ginny, it feels especially special because she was born to us on August 8, 2021, and that was our very first litter. I've been away to shows with her a lot, and she's won many titles, so that bond is even stronger.

She's my big champion, and I really hope we can keep a daughter from her, but we'll have to wait a little longer for that.

It's getting more and more exciting now. We're going to have an X-ray on Friday, and then we'll know how many puppies she's expecting.

 

 

Saturday, July 26, 2025, Day 53

Yesterday we had to be at the animal clinic in Dieren at 8:45 a.m. We were going to take an x-ray of Ginny's abdomen to see how many puppies she was carrying.

We assumed Ginny was pregnant with four puppies, because the ultrasound hadn't really shown any fetuses in one of the blisters.

The x-ray was taken, and the vet and I counted five. So it had turned out to be a puppy after all. We were so happy. It was all good. Size-wise, it looked good too.

I agreed with the vet that I would let them know when Ginny gave birth. She was also very curious. It's so nice how involved the vets and assistants are.

I was supposed to receive the x-ray by email.

Today I cleaned the entire maternity ward again. A thorough scrubbing and tidying. Then I set up the whelping box and prepared the supplies needed for the birth. The maternity ward is all set. This evening, Ginny checked out the room and smelled it. She walked into the whelping box on her own and was smelling everything. Afterward, she lay down with me for a while, and I felt another puppy moving in her belly.

Who knows, maybe we'll have puppies next week. For now, they have to stay put for a while.

We're counting down the days and thinking about what it will be like, Ginny, with the puppies.

 

 

Monday, July 28, 2025, Day 55

Today is still a quiet day. Ginny lies down a lot, but she still wants to be near me. She's getting a little more exercise starting today, because we can feel her spinal cord a bit.

She still has a firm gait and just goes along nicely when we're out for walks.

This afternoon I shaved her belly and around her nipples and gently cleaned them.

I also felt one of the puppies kick again. Ginny is doing well.

This morning we received the X-ray by email.

 

 

Saturday, August 2, 2025

From day 55, I started taking her temperature to see if we could detect a drop in temperature.

We took her temperature both morning and evening. Everything remained stable until Friday morning. Normally, she was around 38.0, and now she was 37.4. Then we did it again an hour later, and she was at 37.3. Another hour later, and she was still at 37.3.

Then I quickly cleaned and mopped the maternity ward again. After that, I checked her temperature again. It had risen to 37.8. So we knew she would go into labor within 24 hours.

I had already decided to move Ginny to the maternity ward starting Friday evening so she would have more rest.

Mike was still with us early in the evening, but at some point he left. She was very restless. She wanted to go outside a lot to pee and kept straining. Inside, she couldn't find peace and whined a lot. I let her out for the night and put down my mattress.

I had a light on, but she remained restless. At one point, I heard her moaning every now and then. That was around 1:30 a.m. I put the mattress away, and I knew the expulsion phase had begun. I had sent Miranda a text, but she hadn't heard it. I didn't want to wake her by calling. So I thought, I have to do it alone, and why not now?

At 3:30 a.m., she started straining harder and longer, which resulted in a puppy being pushed out. However, it was large and remained somewhat stuck. I decided to help her, but it hurt her so much that she bit me. This is not like Ginny, because that's not her style at all.

The puppy was finally born at 4:10 a.m. This was a male weighing 528 grams, so I completely understand that she was in pain. She latched on immediately after weighing, and that went well.

The placenta also arrived nicely. Then she started pushing again, and puppy number 2 arrived at 5:10 a.m. It was a small female weighing 284 grams. The placenta arrived immediately afterward.

It took another hour, and then another large male arrived at 6:10 a.m., weighing 476 grams.

The placenta also arrived, and quite quickly, female number 2 arrived. She weighed 440 grams and was born at 6:50 a.m.

Miranda arrived next. We still had to see if number 5, which had been seen on the x-ray, arrived, but that didn't happen. I took Ginny outside for a moment so she could pee.

We discussed injecting oxytocin to get the contractions going again. After the injection, this wasn't the case, so we knew there were no more puppies. Miranda went home, and Richard and I cleaned up. Then she lost her last placenta, which was also great.

After cleaning up, Ginny could go back into the whelping box.

She gave birth to beautiful puppies—no white  black. She can consider herself a proud mother.

 

 

The males

 

 

The females

 

 

Sunday, August 3, 2025

The night went well. Ginny is very alert; she hardly wants to leave the whelping box. She reacts to every little sound she hears. Even though she's in the whelping box, if she hears something, she wants to look and smell to make sure nothing's wrong. This caused me to take those mouse naps, because you have to make sure Ginny doesn't lie on a puppy.

The puppies actually only lie with her. Nice and warm and cozy. Every now and then they lie on the heating pad.

Ginny ate and drank a little this morning and last night, but today she doesn't want to eat or drink anything else. She's only occupied with the puppies and only wants to be there.

I also offered the food in the whelping box. She ate the litter box twice then, but not again after that.

The males have gained a lot of weight, the females a little less. They certainly haven't lost any weight. The puppies are happy and have nice full bellies. They pee and poop well.

We've also come up with names for the pedigree. This time, we were thinking of something sunny and a holiday. We have two favorite countries for holidays: Italy and Spain. We wanted to use the place names of those countries.

We wanted the name to begin with an E. This led us to place names in Spain, because they have beautiful names that sound nice.

So, here are the pedigree names for the puppies:

First, the males:

 

El Toro From Bobbers Love Of Beauty                      El Casar From Bobbers Love Of Beauty

 

And the bitches:

Escamilla From Bobbers Love Of Beauty                  Estivella From Bobbers Love Of Beauty

 

Tuesday, August 5, 2025

The puppies are gaining weight well. The difference between the large male and the small female is becoming increasingly noticeable.

I slept a little better last night. However, I noticed some hardness around her nipples. I massaged them well and then immediately put the large male to the breast. He drained them quite a bit, just like he did with the other nipples. Still, I wasn't entirely reassured. I took her temperature. 39.7... I thought that was a bit high. We waited another hour because Ginny is overly concerned about her babies, plus it's very warm here. That could be the cause. After an hour, I took her temperature again, and it was 40.2. We then called the vet and were told they could come. I had to take the puppies in the thermal box, otherwise she wouldn't be coming.

At the vet, she had a temperature of 39.9, and she did indeed notice some hard spots.

She then underwent an internal examination, but everything felt fine, and the discharge looked normal and didn't smell. We then looked at the x-ray we'd taken before the birth. This vet had examined it together with another vet, and they only saw four. Richard, the vet, and I discussed what we were going to do. Richard still wanted an x-ray to rule out any remaining puppy material, which could have caused a uterine infection.

Fortunately, this wasn't the case, and even the uterus looked nicely shrunk. So we suspect it's the beginnings of mastitis (inflammation of the mammary glands). That's easily treatable. She's now on pain medication and antibiotics.

Otherwise, she's doing well. She's now sometimes outside the crate, and she'll be on a more regular feeding schedule.