My dog just had Puppy's!!! Also, a question for Biology and Dog knowitalls...

[wonderfly]

Hey, this is my first "mushy" thread, but I can't help but brag that my girlfriend and I, uh, our dog had puppies! I went out to feed her Friday night, and I noticed she had dug a whole in the yard. Before I could hand her the food, I heard a little squeel behind me, I turned around on the porch, and she had just given birth to one! And it was already squeeling...

Anyway, the mother had a look on her face like "oh crap! I wasn't ready" and I guess she wasn't, cause I think she meant to give birth in the hole she dug, but she picked up the baby with her mouth and ducked into her nearby doghouse. The daddy dog came close to the little baby and sniffed it, with this expression like "what is this thing". Very funny and cute.

Anyway, the next day, we counted, and we had a total of 9 puppies. One of them died, so technically we had 8.

Both of our adult dogs are mutts. They're both German Shepherd mixes. He's a tan dog, She's black with Brown spots. She's also part Pitt Bull, I'm not sure what his other part is, but he looks more like a purebred that she does.

Anyway, my girlfriends family has been raising this family, (actually local community ) of dogs for 5 years now. The generation born Friday is the 3rd generation of dogs. I have a question for all the biology experts and dog knowitalls out there:

Is there anyway of predicting what colors of the babies are going to be, judging by the color of the adults? I learned something along that line years ago in my college biology course, (but have since forgotten junk like that).

Anyway, the first generation gave birth to 10 puppies, 6 of which were black, 3 of which were black, with brown spots, and 1 was tan colored. My girlfriends parents kept the lone tan colored one. It was a boy.

Anyway, the tan colored one mated with the Pit Bull girl mutt, and she had 6 living babies, (I think a couple died) 3 were black, 2 were black with brown spots, and 1 was tan colored.

Me and my girlfriend kept one of the female black ones with brown spots. By the way, we named her Tipper, (my girlfriend's a bigger Democrat then I am, and this was during the 2000 election... ) anyway, she just had babies, and with all 9 puppies, we have:

6 black ones
3 black ones with brown spots or patches
1 completly brown one.

No Tan one, just 1 that's completely brown. But it's a light brown.

So, is there anyway to predict what colors you get? Alls I know is, the dark colors are the dominant gene, and the light colors are the recessive gene.

And is it true that mutts have more puppies than purebreds? Cause everytime one of these mutts has puppies, it's always near 10 at the start, (till some start dying). Is there any good way to prevent them from dying? With the first one that died, I think the mother might have changed positions in the dog house, and hurt the little fellows neck.

So sad, yet so happy.

[Rune]

I'm afraid I'm not qualified to help you work out the colour scheme of the future generations, I can vaguely recall the diagram with the black & white rats in school but that's that. You'd perhaps have to find out which is the dominant colour gene & so on.


And is it true that mutts have more puppies than purebreds? Cause everytime one of these mutts has puppies, it's always near 10 at the start, (till some start dying). Is there any good way to prevent them from dying? With the first one that died, I think the mother might have changed positions in the dog house, and hurt the little fellows neck.


I don't know whether its true they have more but it wouldn't surprise me, they're generally hardier than purebreeds. On the matter of preventing them from dying, ten seems quite a lot for one mother to feed on her own and there's bound to be competition for who gets most of the milk, is there a way for you to check the littlest pups are getting enough to eat and then supplement their diet if they seem thin? These smaller ones often end up getting sat on by their bigger siblings and sometimes don't make it. Also, perhaps you could move the whole family into somewhere they'll have more room so the chance of squashing the pups is reduced.

Its nice to see a mushy post, good luck, I hope it all goes well, enjoy your little family

[TimTwoFace]

PUPPIES!!!!

I've never had a litter of puppies born at my house, but always wish I did. So many puppies all at once would be a wonderful thing. Congrats on the new little family of yours, Wonderfly!

Remember to scotch-guard the couch!

-Tim

[Weatherman]

Hey, cool, puppies! Hope you guys can find good homes for the lot of 'em. As for the colors, more or less random genetics, thouhg I'm sure the parents colors have alot to do with it.

[Outlander00]

Well... I think its somewhat random in the case of an animal that has litters. The table that you were refering to creates too many variables, if I recall (its been a while for me as well).

[Barb Gordon]

congrats! That is soooo cute to hear. Sorry about the one that died, but I think it's normal to lose a puppy in a little that size, or even in small litters. Glad you still have a big group. I think you showed yourself with the info you have on what kind of colors to expect. The black color coats was the dominant and showed up the most in every litter, even in yours, so you should have been expecting more black coated pups then anything else, maybe a wildcard being a tan one or something. The light brown one could go tan as it gets a few weeks older.

~Barb

[turbomog007]

Congratulations about the new puppies

[wonderfly]

Well, since I posted this thread yesterday, my world has come crashing to a halt. 2 more puppies died yesterday, and 1 died this morning. Plus 1 I forgot to mention that died Sunday, and that means we've lost half the litter. I went over on my lunch break yesterday to discover one dead. I saw one was weak, and I keep telling myself I should have done something, but I just placed it back on it's mothers breasts, and I had to get back to work. When I got off work, I found that one dead. So last night, we figured out that the hay inside their doghouse was probably too wet, (either some rain got in there somehow, or she sweated so much giving birth, that the hay was too damp). But in a last ditch effort, to keep them from freezing, we brought the dogs inside and put them in the basement. (I don't think freezing was the cause of all there deaths...I think a couple are the result of neglect on the mothers part, though I can't really blame her). The thing is, it wasn't really that cold outside...but I suppose with damp hay. Hell, I don't know...

So, anyway, we brought them inside, and this one was real weak, and we tried feeding her a store bought dogmilk thru a bottle, but she just had so little enery, and this morning, we found her dead. So we started with 9 puppies, and now we're down to 4. I'm depressed to hell and back. I just know that if they could have made it through one week, they would have lived. I expected to lose 2, maybe even 3, but 5???

So now, for those who care, I have 4 black boy doggies, and 1 Black with brown spot boy, and no girls.... Yeah, all the girls died. 4 girls and 1 boy died. And the cute brown one died even. I'm kicking myself over and over. I feel like yesterdays deaths should have been preventable. Maybe I should have taken off work at noon when I saw that one dead, and the other weak. Maybe I should have stayed up all night with the sick one last night. I mad at myself, I'm mad at the mother, I'm mad at the puppies...and yeah, I'm mad at the HIGHER AUTHORITY, if you know what I mean. But I've asked for forgiveness, and patience.

The good news is these last 4 are little butterballs. It's easy to see where all the milk has been going to. I'm pretty confident these last 4 will live. And maybe after a week has passed and they get even healthier, I'll start enjoying the presence of these little guys again. But right now, I'm pretty bitter.

Sorry if I get you depressed with this post, but by god, I'm pretty depressed myself.

[Rune]

Oh *sigh* I'm so sorry to hear that Wonderfly but its no good beating yourself up over what you should have done or could have done, its what you do now that's important and it sounds like you're doing the very best you can Try to put a positive shine on what I know must be depressing for you, you can't change the past so concentrate on caring for that little family even more now.

If those last pups are nice and fat then they stand a good chance of thriving so love 'em and take care of them and take care of yourself too

[PowerZord]

PUppies!



Congrats! about the puppies! and sorry about the ones that died

my dog had alredy like more than 3 diferent Births.

in

in the year 1999
2000
2001
2002.


yes my dog has given birth a lot. puppies dying is a natural part of almost every dog birth. the last time my dog gave birth to puppies all of her puppies died. one by one. yes this sounds cruel.


anyways give lots of love and care to ur remaning puppies

[All-Star 1.5]

Well, I am glad to hear you had puppies when my first dog had puppies I was so happy , but then my second dog had her puppies, but they all died and then she died and then my third dog had her puppies, but she ran out of milk and the dad dogs kept killing and eating their babies until none were left, and then the dad dogs were put to sleep and the mom dog died of something So now I only have 2 dogs left both are beagles and they are both mother and son.

Oh, and kudous on the puppies may they live long and prosper.

[Elven Moon]

Awwww, puppies! How cute! I love puppies

[wonderfly]

Man, powerzord and J-GL, I'm sorry about your puppies dying. But I'm kinda glad to hear I"m not the only one this has happened to. I kinda thought it was just me puppies died on. I went to Walmart to buy some puppie milk for the babies, and the woman who checked me out said her dog recently had puppies, and all of hers have lived. That kinda made me mad. Frankly, I'm bewildered. I guess some puppies just don't get as strong a chance at life as others.

On a similar sad note, another one died last night. I was pretty distraught, but I keep telling myself, "These last 3 look really healthy, surely they'll live". So I'm keeping my fingers crossed. And I am pretty sure they'll live...

I'll let you know.

[PowerZord]

ehh this may sound cruel and heartless but i gotta prepare ya.


the last birth of my dog her last remaning Dog was healthy(well looked healthy) until one day started to feel bad the puppy and she was like almost dying. then the other day before my dad went to work he found the puppy dead she died(i won;t post it it's too horrible). but we never knew why. i mean she looked healthy. so keep them checked

[wonderfly]

Oh I check them every few hours. I'm not letting this last few slip away if I can help it. But so far, so good, for right now.

[PowerZord]

yeah keep them checked. anyways since we're on the puppies subject i decided to post this cute puppies pic i found.

[wonderfly]

Cute picture. Well, so far so good with the last 3 puppies. As I've looked them over better, they each have a distinct look. As I've mentioned, 2 are black, and one is black with brown spots. All are boys. The one with brown spots has his spots on his face and paws, very similar to his mother. And as for the all black ones, they're not as all black as I thought. One of them is black, but it's a redish/brownish hue running through his entire coat, so it's almost like he's not a true black. Maybe it's a light black. This color is coming more predominant the healthier he gets. And as for the other black one, he's black, but I've noticed: he has little white paws, (mostly on his toes). It's so cute.

Well, enough googoo and gaga. Gotta go check on them again.

[PowerZord]

by the way u described them they sound adorable!. anyways remenber to always keep them check.