You have a huge dog and you think she’s pregnant. Now what?
Today our Caucasian Ovcharka dam Natasha went to the animal hospital for her ultrasound. Twenty days ago, she was bred using Artificial Insemination. Even though Natasha is a big boned dog weighing about 140 pounds, our sire Fenrir is much larger. AI prevents injury to the dam.
A large dog’s pregnancy mimics human pregnancy. For example, we have already started Natasha on prenatal vitamins. Sound familiar?
The ultrasound makes sure there actually are puppies and that they are healthy and viable. We’d also like to know how many puppies there are, because these purebred pups will be sold 8 weeks after they are born. They have to be healthy, have first shots and sometimes travel documents.
While I am writing this, I get a call from the hospital letting me know they captured 6 puppy images on film and believe there are a few more. This makes sense since last time Natasha had 9 viable pups.
The gestation period for dogs is 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days. After the ultrasound, we will know almost exactly when the pups will be born.
The Sire? Fenrir has done his job and has no interest in his mate or the babies. He doesn’t…
