I haven’t documented too much this week because I fully expected the puppies to come, and I wanted to safe my video editing spoons for after! But turns out … Game is taking her sweet time! We made it through the entire week without puppies. However, I’m happy to report that we checked off all our goals once again. Game saw one dog friend (Dina) twice and three different human friends, and she got to swim in a lake, which she very much appreciated! She’s got to be so warm; I bet cooling off feels good!
Here’s some silly little shaping. We’ve started hold an object twice in the past but I never finished training it, and since it’s a fun and low-key activity, I’ve started over with chin rests and a pole. Look at this happy girl!
Toy play, limited
The last few days, I haven’t let Game play with toys at the park because when doing so, she has no sense of self-preservation and I don’t want her to smash her big belly into a tree. She is opinionated about this and has complained when Chai got to play and she didn’t, since this is Not Fair. Lucky girl; Chai inevitably misplaces a toy at the park every time we play, so after being patient, Game gets to do that part: find the toy (she will search for as long as it takes and ALWAYS find it) and carry it all the way home.
Behavioral changes
On Wednesday, she said no to the breakfast wobbler but ate the food when I took it out of the wobbler. Otherwise, her appetite has been ravenous and her temperature pretty stable. As of yesterday, I’ve been taking it twice rather than just once a day.
Behaviorally speaking, Game was grumpy Wednesday morning – the same day she said no to the food toy.
On Thursday, she ambled after a squirrel and was back to normal.
An upside-down couch Game (Tuesday.)
Today (Saturday, March 23) is the first day Game has been restless. She has been digging her blanket fort into the preferred shape throughout the week, but spent relatively little time there. Today, she’s been there more often than in the past and is also changing positions more often. Since we are expecting a small litter, today may be the day she is finally starting to really feel these growing puppies! She is also taking up more and more space in my bed every day. I don’t know how, but while she used to be One Malinois In My Bed, she is now Three Malinois In My Bed. That makes it a bit harder to sleep for me because I now feel as if I was sharing the bed with four dogs rather than two. But hopefully, soon, we’ll be down to two again (unless Game decides to have her puppies in my bed, in which case I may move into the blanket fort myself.)
Preparations!
- I got …
+ Calcium tablets.
+ Two more puppy toys.
+ Anti-parasite spray for the surroundings.
+ Anti-parasite shampoo (because the 2-day-old-puppy-safe Frontline spray seems to be sold out everywhere).
+ Another rawhide refill.
- Game and I finished re-watching the Puppy Culture film.
- I outlined my socialization plan for the weeks ahead. I have a preliminary overview/outline for the first 8 weeks as well as a more detailed plan for each week. I’ll be updating it as we go and share a summary after each week, hoping to spread the puppy joy to everyone reading along!
Special scavenging treasures
- Crunchy street bones.
- A croissant.
- A slice of pound cake (all of the above on the first two days of the week! Lucky girl!)
- Chilaquiles (or something that looked that way anyways)
Special meals
- Beef shank with marrow bone and kibble soaked in raspberry leaf tea (as of Saturday, March 16, Game gets a shot of raspberry leaf tea with her dinner. It’s tasty!)
- Canned food and wet food “sobres” of different brands with her Panacur.
- Yogurt with Panacur.
- Training cheese and hotdogs.
- Chicken and spinach/garlic pasta.
- Eggs with olive bread soaked in raspberry leave tea and tomato.
- A slice of pizza margarita.
- Frozen Kong with soaked kibble.
News
- I won’t keep a puppy myself because I kept Chai. Drago (the sire’s) owner has decided whether they want to keep a boy or a girl this week! Eduardo wants a boy! Here’s to hoping we’ll get at least one boy; I’m looking forward to watching him grow up alongside Drago!
Worries? No, thank you.
Game is already a little overdue, but I’m not going to worry until I have to. If at all possible, I want a natural birth at home so neither Game nor the puppies get the early stress of giving birth at a vet clinic or having a C section. As long as she’s within the window of possible natural birth and behaves happily and normally, I’ll wait and not subject her to another check-up. We still have several days that are within the range of normal (when you don’t do an ovulation test but count from the day of mating, this window is bigger than it would otherwise be. Sperm can remain fertile in the genital tract for up to ELEVEN days (says this source; most others I found were not scientific articles and said 5 to 7 days). If the 11 day study is correct, gestation may happen up to 11 days after mating! Friday was 66 days after the second mating – so the typical 63 days plus 3. Not a big deal yet.
Our color tracking chart!
I fixed the day counter on this one – turns out I had skipped a day the last few weeks. Oops. Higher math and I are not exactly friends.
