Our New Favorite Dog!

A couple months back, I posted that we had a possible litter due around May 1.  I was so right.  I should be an obstetrician.  In fact, I'm going to call my doctor and ask why they couldn't ever get my due date right.  Why did I always go two weeks past it?  It's not that hard.  

Anyway. . . sure enough Annie woke me up yesterday morning (May 1) at 3 am.  Wait, backtrack with me.  I knew she was getting close because she didn't want to come inside anymore.  We had to force her to stay in.  She wanted to hide under the porch steps and nest.  

Why wouldn't she want to be inside instead of under the porch?

Simple. . .

This is what lives in the house.

 So anyway, that night she came in whining and wanting out.  I took her to the kitchen where I'd made her a bed.  She came back.  I tried putting her in the laundry room where I could shut the door and let her have her peace.  She flipped out.  
Finally, I put her in the bathroom and sat with her.  Within about 10 minutes she started turning in circles and scratching the towels and stuff I had down.  

The first few came about every twenty or thirty minutes.  I was there to assist if needed, but there wasn't any.
There wasn't much to it.  Again, got me thinking why I paid my doctors so much.

My oldest son woke up at 5 am and came in when he heard funny noises coming from the bathroom.  She'd had two by then.  When the third one came, he'd seen enough so I went and read books on the couch with him until he went back to sleep.

I came back and there were more!  She had six!  So I sat and "delivered" (and I use that term lightly) numbers eight and nine.
"Way to go Annie," I thought.
I assumed she was done.
This was her first litter.
Nine was a good number!

I went back in an hour or so later to make sure she knew what she was doing.  As the doctor, it's important to check up like that.  I was trying to count the males and females.
I counted two or three times. . . now there were ten!

I waited a little while and then came back to move them out of the bathroom.  Having the boys tromp through every half hour probably wasn't ideal for a new mama.
I started doubting my math skills.
I moved three of them and came back for more.
I grabbed four this time.
There were still four left in the bathroom.
Eleven?!

I felt like a failure.  As her "doctor" (and I obviously use that term lightly), I had left her when she still had puppies to have!

She made it look so easy.

In the time it took her to have eleven puppies, Sandy had had three along with a pretty hefty vet bill.

They are doing well though!  It's amazing.

It's really unfortunate that my boys have to find them so fast.

It never seems to bother the mamas though.

Looks like a lot of dark ones in this litter.  

"Please, no more pictures.  I was just born."
Get used to it puppy.