We’re past first 72 hours (also known as the “Thank You For Not Dying” stage) and we’re beginning to enjoy the puppies more, rather than hovering over them watchfully. A friend of mine commented that she has no memory of any of her litters before 3 days old and I have to agree - there’s something about the first 72 hours that generates manic feelings of instinctive protectiveness rather than actual bonding. Now they’re more like “real” puppies instead of half-baked embryos that we have to protect, and we can start relating to them as individuals. We’ve even given some of them names. It happens that this change in our emotion toward the puppies corresponds with the time that the bitch’s real milk (as opposed to colostrum, which is lower in calories) normally comes in.
Now that Pippi’s milk is in, there’s more than enough to go around so I’m no longer supplementing (for now, at least).
OK I need to come clean here and tell you that when I was weighing the puppies on the first day, I was having difficulty matching up the puppies with the IDs on the whelping chart, and I eventually figured out that one of our all white girls is actually a boy. Pippi's show name is GCH Madcap Jump The Broom ROM and all the puppies will have "Jump" in their show names. So this little guy's registered name will be "Madcap Jump to Conclusions." He actually doesn't have a call name, yet. People wanted me to call him "Pat" but that's not fair as he's a perfectly masculine little guy that we just messed up IDing because the next puppy came so quickly that we did not have a chance to take a good look.
Regarding tiny puppy names, they almost never stick and puppy families generally have their own ideas about names. We tell everyone they can call their puppy whatever they like, but we chose the show names. I've got no problem if you want to call your dog Beau, or Misty, or Shadow, or any of the other ubiquitous pet names out there, because it's your dog and it pleases you and that's all good. But I'm not walking into the ring with a dog named "Madcap We Luv U Pup-Pup." I'm just sayin'.
This is also the time when our bitches start with the heavy panting, and also some restless behavior. I’ve never had children but I’m told that the first time your milk comes in it’s uncomfortable (that’s medical-speak for PAINFUL) and just producing that milk has to be an effort, so it’s not particularly surprising that the bitches begin to pant and want more support to stay in the box.
In any event, this means that, if you're a Bull Terrier breeder, you'll need to man the whelping box 24/7 and probably actually be touching their brood bitch for the first two weeks. And it also means you won't be getting any REM sleep for a while, which truly does make you hallucinate.
All that having been said, at the end of the day Pippi is shaping up to be a gem of a brood bitch. She's produced beautiful puppies and tons of milk and she's taking really good care of them. She's learning to be careful where she steps, she adores the puppies, and she adores her humans, too. She just needs a little extra coaching, which is the least we can do for her, given what she's done for us :o).
We do everything we can to make our dams more comfortable and want to stay in the box more
Pippi is eating prodigious amounts of food. We feed raw, so she’s getting approximately 4 pounds a day of meat/bone/tripe plus two complete batches of Mother’s pudding (recipe below) - that means 2 packages of vanilla pudding, 8 cups of goat milk, 10 egg yolks (I add extra yolk) and a cup of sugar each day. That’s easily 6 times her normal intake but that’s about right - producing milk is a calorie and calcium-intense proposition.
Her liquid intake is equally impressive - from the time she started whelping to through the first day of the puppies‘ lives, she drank almost two gallons of goat milk and at least two quarts of water. Most of that was offered to her in the whelping box as at that point (the first two days) she was not voluntarily leaving her puppies.
Speaking of food, I’m going to back track a bit to whelping preparedness. Please do have something nice to eat (and drink) on hand when your bitch goes into labor. You’re going to be sitting there for many hours, and there’s no reason to suffer more than you have to. In an ideal world you should also have a few meals set by for the first week. It’s bad enough to be curled up in a whelping box with a fussy maiden bitch - don’t make it worse by eating sad food.
Here’s the recipe for mother’s pudding - great source of calcium, fat, and protein for lactating bitches, plus quick energy from the sugar. Bitches love it and will (in our experience) gladly lap it up even when they’re being finicky about their regular food. Our 55-65ish pound bitches will consume two batches per day when lactating.
Pudding Recipe for Nursing Mothers: 1 package vanilla pudding (VERY IMPORTANT - do not use instant pudding!!! It has an additive that can give the puppies diarrhea. Use the kind of pudding that has to be cooked.) 1/2 cup sugar 4 cups milk (I use raw goat milk but pasturized goat or cows milk is fine if that's what you have) 4 egg yolks Cook on low heat to a pudding consistency. I offer it to my bitches and let them pretty much have as much as they like. It's basically the recipe on the pudding box with twice the amount of milk and extra egg yolks. If you don't have a package of vanilla pudding on hand you can mix the following in a saucepan and cook to pudding consistency. 2/3 cup sugar 6 tablespoons cornstarch 1/2 teaspoon salt 4 cups milk (or one can evaporated milk plus equal parts water to make quart) 4 egg yolks 3 teaspoon vanilla Referenced Courses and Titles
22 Comments
Jade Marsh
8/15/2015 11:46:20 pm
I can not say enough amazing things about you Jane or Madcap Bullies. I made my first batch of pudding this morning and the girls gobbled it up appreciatively :) I do not live close to any like minded Breeders, so finding you as been a real blessing :) I appreciate the effort and time you put in to sharing your wisdom and experiences with the world. Being able to follow along, helps motivate me to keep on working hard, giving my puppes the best start possible! Thank you
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Jane Killion
8/16/2015 02:54:54 am
Jade, thank YOU for writing it - it means a lot to me to hear that the blog is helping you. I love writing it and it's great to hear that you love reading it :o).
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8/16/2015 03:14:26 am
Great post, I know all this too well as it was just 5 weeks ago I had my litter of Chessie puppies. I was so nervous the first week also as I had 3 little ones that I feared wouldn't make it. They did make it but then on 17 days we lost one of the little ones. I don't know what happened all I can think is mom laid on it as it was thriving just fine. It's a mystery that I have to believe happened for a reason. Congrats on your lovely litter and enjoy.
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8/16/2015 05:20:12 am
Oh, man, I am SO sorry to hear this...yes, it can happen in an instant that a bitch lays on a puppy and crushes it. As much as we try to watch them 24/7 things do happen, despite our very best efforts :o(. Enjoy your puppies - Chessies are smart little stinkers ;o).
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8/16/2015 08:30:11 am
Thank you SO MUCH for mentioning NOT to supplement with calcium BEFORE whelping! People mistakenly think they have to "get the bitch ready" for the event and this is the absolutely wrong thing to do. Afterwards, yes, when the need is there, give them as much as they will take and lots of water. Goat milk is the best, and raw goat milk if you can find it. Again, thanks.
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Jane Killion
8/17/2015 04:41:36 am
I tell ya, Diane, it blows my mind that this is not more common knowledge...
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Susan Lejonhud
8/17/2015 05:30:58 am
I enjoyed this blog post immensely and love your sense of humor ("thank you for not dying" made me snort and smile - thank YOU for being bold enough to write this!!! How true it is!). I so much appreciate you explaining the reason behind not supplementing with calcium during pregnancy. I no longer supplement until the bitch is delivering, but the very last litter we had, my Cameo was just NOT pushing out the babies, and when I explained to the emergency vet that I had not been giving her calcium supplements during late pregnancy, he gave me a blank stare. I could not explain to him WHY, and now I know why and feel much, much better about the difficult delivery! I had been questioning myself and harboring doubts that I had helped cause her difficult delivery because I had not supplemented with calcium beforehand. Whew! Thank you so much! I also thank you for posting your pudding recipe.
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Jane Killion
8/18/2015 02:57:15 am
Yeah, Susan, I'm going to dig up the references for that and do an actual article on that and the use of oxytocin to assist delivery - two very misunderstood topics...
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Norma Murphy
8/17/2015 08:38:54 am
Thank you again for sharing your experience and knowledge with us. How I wish vets would learn that supplementing calcium, even in the last week of pregnancy, is not good for the bitch.
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Jane Killion
8/18/2015 02:58:07 am
I hear ya, Norma! So glad you're enjoying the blog -I love writing it!
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Cheryl
8/17/2015 10:09:29 am
Once again, a lovely, informative & funny read. Thank you. I surmised there was some sort of common thread in each litter- Pippi is Madcap Jump the Broom; I believe one of her brothers is called "Madcap For Better or Worse" and isn't the gorgeous Saki aka "Madcap Kiss the Bride"? Then there's your PC litter, with names relating to WW II. I think it would be fascinating to learn more about how you choose the show names for your dogs. :)
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Jane Killion
8/18/2015 03:02:26 am
Cheryl, thanks for the compliments! Yes, Pippi is from the "wedding" litter as they were born right before Mark and I were married. Daphne's litter that was featured in Puppy Culture is our "Greatest Generation" litter. I had always wanted to name a puppy "Madcap Pilot to Bombardier" and as Mark is a commercial pilot we thought we'd do all WWII aviation names, but it sort of morphed more into Greatest Generation Pop Culture.
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Betty Raimondo
8/17/2015 01:06:49 pm
I love reading your posts and being updated on the puppies. Glad to hear they're at a safe point in time.
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Jane Killion
8/18/2015 03:03:06 am
LOL, Betty, ready to jump in or have I scared you off ;o)?
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Karen
8/18/2015 02:26:11 am
Thank you for the validation - I too have eaten many a meal beside the whelping box, watching my dog eat her RAW meal. My own family thinks I am nuts - and gross. However they love watching PC and reading your blog, and all of a sudden I am not so strange after all!
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Jane Killion
8/18/2015 03:06:43 am
Karen, your comment means a lot to us as that is one of the things we hoped to do in the film and also with the blog - bridge the gap between dog people and the rest of the world and tell our story in a way that people can understand the passion we have for breeding dogs :o). It's just something you can't describe in words and it took us five hours of film (and three years of filming and editing) to get it across, but I do think we succeeded :o).
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Betsy Phillips
8/24/2015 06:27:27 pm
It's so wonderful to hear that you feed your dogs what God meant them to have, raw food. There are many many people that believe this is just a horrible thing to give to our babies. My dogs have never been healthier. Your blogs are so fun and informative to read, especially the part about sleep deprivation, lol! Chinese Cresteds are like having a litter of tiny hamsters. The first two weeks are very critical in their survival, and unfortunately I still lost 2. Maybe I'll be a lot more informed My next litter thanks to you. Thank you so much for all your wonderful information.
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Nina Behrens
11/16/2019 07:56:55 pm
I'm really glad to find ur recipe for Penny our Red Heeled..I was starting to despair over her not having enough milk for her babies..no energy..always eating anything I put in front of her and still very little milk!! I'm making my first batch of pudding as I write this..and can hardly wait to feed it to her..I'm so very glad to run across your blog..your very open ..honest and a breath of fresh air..My question is howo g do I keep her on this..and what else can we do to keep her built up in strength ..milk and energy for her babies..
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Beth Hudson
2/12/2020 10:49:57 am
Jane, can you specify which ingredient in the instant pudding can give the pups diarrhea? I just bought the cookable one and noticed it has carageenan in it. Would that be it? I've been hearing that it's not good for the digestive tract. I didn't notice that the original Jello pudding had it in it. Thanks!
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This pudding is a life saver for the mother bull terrier. Casey didn’t like it so I pulled out the syringe. But jade loves it. That’s Easy. I just use the corn starch and make it homemade and not worry about the added stuff in the jello cook & serve pudding. Can goats milk is readily available here. Evaporated milk is used if we get into a pinch. Cows milk is last resort. Wish I knew about this 20 years ago. Thanks!!
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9/20/2020 10:21:55 am
Sometimes I feel like I need to ask God’s forgiveness because I am pretty sure I read and watch the Puppy Videos more than my Bible🤭. In all seriousness, If I knew before I became a breeder or dog owner how much Jane’s program would change my thinking and methodology I would bought this the second it became available. The mother’s pudding is the ONLY thing our mamma will eat for about two weeks postpartum.
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Cyndi
4/13/2021 02:50:38 pm
Why do so many vets say not to give goat milk? And I've read not to get more than two oz. per 20 pounds daily. My pomeranian is nursing one pup now and I put two oz of raw goats milk in a cup of water to incourage her to drink. With only the one pup im sure she is good. But was just curious why veterinarian suggest to avoid the goat milk.
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AuthorJane Messineo Lindquist (Killion) is the director of "Puppy Culture: The Powerful First Twelve Weeks That Can Shape Your Puppies' Future" as well as the author of "When Pigs Fly: Training Success With Impossible Dogs." Archives
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