It's GO time!

I just pulled an all nighter and it had nothing to do with alcohol, bars, despressed friends,or triple features, it had to do with 1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9... little brown, curly, squealing, puppies!



Someday I want to breed Sienna. I have never been around when puppies have been born before and I thought that this is something that I should do before I have a very pregnant dog about to birth many puppies. So when my trainers’ dog was bred, I asked if I could be present when the puppies are born. She said “absolutely!”

This past weekend I got to feel the puppies inside mama and my trainer, Mary, informed me that on Tuesday she would have x-rays so as to get an idea as to how many puppies we could expect. Mary called on Tuesday to say that it looked like there were 7 puppies but maybe 8 if one was hiding. She was thinking that it would still be a day or two before Reilaigh would go in to labor. Since this is the 2nd time she has bred this dog, she had a pretty good idea of the pre-labor signs to look for but was also going to take her temperature in a day or two because if her temp drops that is a sure sign of the beginnings of labor.

I was getting anxious so I called on Thursday around 12:30pm and left a message asking how Reilaigh was doing and if she thought it might be happening soon. About 15 minutes later, she called to say that she thought Reilaigh had just had a contraction. Mary wasn’t sure just how long we had but was pretty sure it wasn’t going to happen for a few more hours.

Since I had time, I came home, got my stuff ready, ate lunch, tried to take a short nap (since I figured it would be a long night) and finally decided about 2:20 that it was time to go. Around 4pm I showed up with a grande non-fat latte (for me) and a caramel macchiato (for Mary). We then sipped and waited. And waited. And waited some more.

It was grand central at Mary’s since she is part of the parent club and the next night was the Harvest festival. She had some how ended up in charge of the cake walk so people were calling constantly as well as some very anxious puppy friends waiting to hear news of puppies. Around 8pm, she received a call about the cake walk and Reilaigh, who wouldn’t let Mary out of her sight all day, came and sat right next to me. When she got up, signs of labor were on the floor – ewww! So we hustled her back to the bedroom where the blankets were and waited.

About an hour went by and nothing had happened yet (except for some uck and ooze) so Mary decided to take Reilaigh out for a potty break and I took one too! When I was done, I looked outside to see Mary and Mike (her man) gathered around Reilaigh and Mary said “we have pup number one”. Man I missed the first puppy!!!!! Oh well we brought Reilaigh back in, cleaned up her pup and gave it to her.

We thought that once the first pup came that the others would quickly follow. Well…….pup two took another hour and 20 minutes but it was cool because I caught him in a towel. Now we had 2 boys.

She gave us a bit of a scare because I guess once they begin having puppies, you should get at least one pup an hour. Well over two hours went by as we waited for pup 3. She finally came out around 12:30 not breathing on her own so Mary worked with her and she started making some noise and moving around. Then it seemed like no time and pup 4 was on its way, yeah, another girl. Then in less than an hour another girl, pup 5. Then we waited and worried as another 2 hours passed. Finally another pup came but this one didn’t have a chance, so pup 6, a boy, was still born.

Mary gave Reilaigh a shot to help her with the last puppy (remember the x-ray said 7) and left to take the still born pup out. Seconds later I was catching pup number 7. This one, like pup 3 was very water logged and not thriving like some of the others and I was alone. I tried to do some of what I had seen Mary do but was very relieved when Mary came back. Pup number 7 was fine – whew.

Well we were thinking we were done, though it seemed to me that I could still feel a puppy in her belly. So at around 5am I decided that it was about time for me to go home. Mary went to make coffee and we were chatting about an upcoming dog show when Reilaigh started acting like she was going to have more, surprise! Around 5:15 one more boy and 5:30 one more girl were brought into this world. So much for seeing 7 on the x-rays!

I finally left around 6:30am and Reilaigh was done and Mary and I were exhausted. It’s hard to pull an all-nighter and go through the stress of birthing puppies but it was worth every moment as each new little brown curly life entered into this world.

Don’t put that in your mouth!

Dead birds, live birds, birds, birds, birds. Why did I choose a bird dog again? Originally when I first decided that I wanted to get a dog of show quality I thought that I would get a Golden Retriever but then after some research I realized that Goldens are EVERYWHERE! And for good reason, they are beautiful and loving. They make great family dogs and live to please their humans. Well, I knew I preferred larger breeds. I didn’t know much about Chesapeakes but since I have a ½ chessie, ½ chocolate lab I thought, I would check out Chesapeakes. It didn’t take long for me to realize that Chesapeakes are so cool. Some of the traits that I love about my chessie mix are the traits that are often associated with Chesapeakes; loyal, protective, hard-working, ready and willing to please and energetic. They were specifically designed to be hunting water dogs; they have webbed toes and a double coat which allows them to stay warm in the cold Chesapeake Bay waters. They are a relatively young breed, started in the early 1800’s. They have Newfoundland in their heritage along with a few other hunting breeds, possibly Coon hound, or perhaps English Foxhounds*. They are known for their drive and determination to get the bird and bring it back to their owner. In my opinion, I think they are GREAT dogs and even though neither my husband nor I are hunters, I am hooked on the breed.


Newfoundland around 1920's



My original plan was to show Sienna. I thought, how fun, she and I will run around the ring and we’ll get all kinds of conformation titles and it will be great. I also liked the fact that they are not as well known over here on the west coast, since the breed originated on the east coast. So that meant less competition and being a beginner, I still think that was the right choice. But since I have had Sienna I have learned even more about the breed and what they are capable of.

Like I stated earlier, neither my husband nor I are hunters. I have no interest in hunting. But Chesapeakes were bred to hunt water fowl. And even though Sienna has never hunted, the instinct for her to retrieve birds (and bumpers) is amazing. I realize now that to not let her do what she has been bred to do would almost be a crime against her breed. We had a gathering with several chessie owners a few months back and even at 7 months I could hardly hold her back when she knew there was a bird for her to find and retrieve.

So now I am planning on doing much more than just conformation, I plan her getting hunt titles as well and I might even let her go duck hunting once in a while (with friends of course because I have no plans to start hunting - but I think my husband likes the idea of getting a rifle.)

For more information on this breed go to this website and click on “Historical Discussion”.
*http://www.cbrs4me.com/chesapeake/sindex/sindex.html