ELEVEN puppies update

After blogging about the 10 pups, Ell had an 11th puppy. I can't believe it. She was a basketball on legs, and pitiful for a good 10 days before she whelped. NOW I KNOW WHY! Ell does not cease to amaze me. When she had her first litter she never uttered a sound while she whelped, proceeded to immediately get up after each pup to lick it off and get it moving. I was a bit nervous with her first litter after the catastrophic litter with Zoe, and I ended up using Oxytocin on the last pup Ell had in her. And I lost that little brindle girl. So this time around, despite my best efforts with anxiety, I waited it out and let Ell tell me when it was time to whelp, and let her take her time. She did just that! Never stressed out, worried, panicked or nervous (except right before the first pup I had to lay along the whelping box stroking her back), she handled every pup with ease and in the pile of brindle pups she would find the newest one and continue to clean it and get it going.

Ell took 14 hours to whelp, we started right around chore time yesterday at 5pm and she finished at 930 this morning as I was coming back to do one last check before running to town for supplies. Also surprisingly she had most of the puppies breech (tail first) and the entire litter was very consistent.

Pups and Weights:
1. Brindle Male - full collar, lopsided blaze 9.4 oz
2. Brindle Male - half collar, full blaze, white on ear tip 9.2 oz
3. Brindle Female - half collar, narrow blaze 9.6 oz
4. Brindle Male - full narrow collar, narrow blaze 8.7 oz
5. Brindle Male - full collar, incomplete blaze, white muzzle 9.3 oz
6. Brindle Male - 3/4 collar, hourglass blaze, 10 oz
7. Brindle Female - minimal white (mini Ell) 11.5 oz
8. Brindle Male - no collar 8.6 oz
9. Brindle Female - white spot on neck (no collar) 9.2 oz
10. Brindle Female - two tiny spots on neck (no collar) 9.1 oz
11. Brindle Female - wide blaze and wide full collar 9.5 oz

to say I'm shocked and excited and now nervous is an understatement. But so far Ell is proving her motherhood by being a trooper feeding them all (i'm making sure all look full and red nosed and rotating pups if need be) and enjoyed a brief romp outside in the last snow bank we have. I had to put a lead on her and pull her out of the box but she seems to be happy to be able to walk up the steps again to the doors :)

Photos when I get a bit more rest. The rest of the critters need my attention now