Leap Day Puppies!

Wilma gave birth to 11 (yes, 11, not 10) puppies on Leap Year day! Six boys and five girls. The first one came about 11:15AM and the last little surprise was born at 6:30PM. Weights range from 10 oz. to 1 lb. 2 oz. In total, she has about 10 lbs of puppies! As you can imagine, Wilma is exhausted. I'm a bit tired to.

Puppies Soon

Wilma came home in early January and I could tell by her "glow" that she was pregnant. But it wasn't until 4 weeks later that my prediction was confirmed by her vet, who felt "several egg sized pups".

Over the next few weeks, Wilma grew bigger and bigger and hungrier and hungrier. Kramer lost his dinner more than once. He also lost his playmate. Poor Kramer! All Wilma wanted to do was sleep, eat, lay around, and did I mention eat? I started rubbing her tummy and talking to the puppies. Eventually, I could feel them move, which is very cool!

An x-ray was scheduled one week before her due date. I wanted to know about how many puppies to expect. Based on her size, I guessed she had a big litter of at least 5 or 6 puppies. But I never thought she was carrying a litter of 10! Ten puppies! And I saw each little skeleton. They were everywhere laying in every direction!

It's now 4 days before her due date. Wilma is huge! Everytime I touch her I can feel a puppy move. She's showing no signs yet, but right now, I'd be surprised if she can keep all those puppies in until Monday!

A Surprise Breeding

Wilma's breeding in December came a little unexpectedly. We were both ready to fly off to sunny Arizonia to spend Christmas with my parents. But Wilma came into season 3 days before we were supposed to leave. Now what do I do…I thought I'd have to cancel my trip. But Paws said she could spend Christmas at the Paws HQ in Grand Rapids. So I flew off to the sun and left my golden girl behind to spend Christmas in the snow. It was a sad day and my friends and family in AZ was disappointed that Wilma couldn't be there.

There was Wilma, in season, at the Paws breeding kennels, with a cute male golden living next to her....and Paws was running short of puppies to train. The Paws staff decided to go ahead and breed her, even though the plan was to wait until her next season came around. They matched her with Wheatley, a younger man who was big and goofy, just like Wilma. It was love at first site!

Family Background...

This is my first attempt at blogging. My hope is to capture the highlights of Wilma's first litter with a few entries each week. We'll see how it goes. I thought I'd start with some background information on Wilma.....

Wilma's parents are Abby and Swinger. Abby is a Paws breeding stock dog who was donated from a breeder and Swinger is a show dog. Both are full blooded golden retrievers. Wilma was born on April 6, 2006 and seven weeks later, she came to live with me. She was my 4th Paws puppy and the fluffiest little puffball I had ever seen!

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Paws used the "Cartoon" theme for this small litter of two, "Wilma" Flintstone and Dennis "Mitchell", aka Dennis the Menace. Mitchell is currently in training at Paws HQ and is well on his way to becoming a service dog. Abby had another litter making Wilma a big half-sister to three little girls, who are also from a themed litter, "Harry Potter". Galleon, Seeker, and Figg are currently Paws Foster Puppies in training.

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In June, 2007, Wilma was officially accepted into the Paws Breeding Program.

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