Asia's Pups: Here They Come!

I could tell Asia was close to whelping, oh so close, the morning of July 27th. She was three days past her due date, and was acting very clingy. I thought I would have time to go for a short run (ok, 13.1 miles) before she was in labor. My husband and kiddos often follow me around in the car and rehydrate me, but they got home a little before I finished my run. As I came to a walk in front of our house, my husband yells at me to hurry up and tend to Asia! I sprint as fast as my weary legs could go, and discovered that Asia had escaped from her whelping area in the basement and as my hubby shooed her back to the basement, she delivered her first pup on a bottom stair. I got there right away so was able to tear the amniotic sac off the puppy, rub it, clear its airway and get it crying. A yellow male! Yay! Asia wanted me around while she labored, so I got to play midwife while five more puppies were delivered in a period of about four hours.

After six puppies had come into the world (all yellow: five males, one female), I thought Asia was done. She seemed to be breathing easier and had an appetite, and the x-ray had only shown six pups anyway. It wasn't until that evening that she started to seem restless again. I went to check on her one more time before I went to bed at 10:30 and found another puppy, a black male. He was a cute little runt and seemed to be a fighter! I stayed up a few more hours, but exhausted and alone with my two kids for the weekend, I went to bed. At 3:30 am, I awoke and went down to check on everyone when I found the last puppy, a black female, that had been stillborn. She was a beauty, and I felt very badly about the situation, but am still thankful that we had seven very healthy little puppies.

My dad, the vet, and sister came up the next day to help us out and check out Asia and the pups. I was thankful to have the help!