I think Shorty is pregnant

Good Luck! Your doing everything right and will be a great mommy/grandmother to shorty and her pups. Poor shorty she must be so scared, and missing out on all her puppyhood because she has to raise a litter, It's very sad. Some dogs are not even housebroken at that age. I'm glad she is healthy (does she have worms, someone on the forum said if she does then the pups will too) and I pray she will not need a c-section. Keep us updated. I was also wondering if you had any idea what breed got her pregnant. Also are you feeding Shorty puppy food? She needs to be on puppy food now until the pups are weaned (maybe longer after all she is a puppy too) and a good quality (I don't know which ones come in puppy food) I'll come back with food suggestions. She also needs calcium supplemented into her diet. Taking care of a pregnant dog and puppies is a lot of hard work, but you seem more than ready to take on whatever happens, and take good care of mom and pups.

Ok, one type of food they said that would be good is Innova Large Breed Puppy. I'll add more as people tell me. (if you are already on a high quality puppy food please tell me).

Ive read some where that puppy food no longer needs to be used, just a high quality all stages or adult food. Canidae has good products, as well as Eagle Pack. You can supplement her food with many things. Cottage cheese, Yogurt, raw egg, pieces of cooked meat, chicken broth for flavor etc.

Try no to worry too much! I know its hard to think about this but there are many BYB's or puppy mills or even unknowing owners who start breeding there girls so young, and most raise them just fine! Im sure with the added bonus of having such a caring owner, Shorty will be fine.

Dont worry too much if she seems unsure of what to do at first. With our mutt foster, what I did was stay with her when the pup needed to nurse, and give her lots of treats and praise when she stayed with the baby. I did have to take over cleaning duties because she would not lick her too well and the pee and feces would stick to the baby. But she learned! About 2 weeks after the birth we had a Tropical Storm. She was scared to death and actually grabbed up the baby and put her inside a drawer!

I think what also helped was our Golden Retriever. At the time she was only a few months old, and she just wanted to play with the baby. I think that sparked moms jealousy because she would run back to her box and growl at the Golden.

Good luck, and please keep us updated!!

how is Shorty doing today ??

Well, she's still preggers. Bouncing around making messes and trying to eat cats. LOL Ya know, normal puppy stuff.

She's on large breed puppy food by Purina One. I know it's not the best in the world but, so far, it's the only thing she hasn't throw back up yet. I've been giving her yogurt and cottage cheese because the 3 books I picked from the library today said that would be fine. (I also snuck her a small piece of fried liver today)

I tried to snap a picture of her but I had one with a flash of black butt, one close up of her left eye, one of her tummy and one of her tail and she tried to speed off through the house. She's an active tub-butt.

I have no idea what was bred with her. Her Dad and brother are both pure Husky. There was a (purebred) black GSD, a Rottie/Husky, and something else/Husky. So, I dunno if the pups are going to be pure or not. I can guess that they will be either 1/2, 3/4, or full Husky.

I've actually heard some pretty nasty things about puppy food. But I suppose she needs it for the babies.

Good luck

I agree for a puppy you can use a food for all life stages but for pregnant dogs it needs to be a puppy food.

how are things going, does shorty still seem agitated or has she calmed down yet?

Well, I do believe she's getting close. There's been some clear discharge from her vulva the last few hours. The book I have on hand states that this is just the start of it all. It snowed here today so I took Shorty out for a walk. She loves the snow so much. She ran around in circles, played, lunged and growled at the snow. She tried to eat it as it fell from the sky. Didn't work out so well for her. LOL But, she's adorable and strong. I've been sitting with her for most of the day just in case. My luck, she'll go into labor in the middle of the night and I'll have a suprise or 2 in the morning.

I was worried there for awhile Saturday, though. I couldn't feel the puppies move. I know they have periods of rest and activity. About 5 p.m is when I felt movement and my heart lifted. Even Shorty "looked" worried. She would look at her tummy and whine at it. She's clamed down since they've moved around which is good. You could tell she was starting to stress. Of course she could've been picking up on my stress.

How's she doing today?

I'm starting to think she's holding out for Christmas to get here before she gives birth. The pups are still moving around in there and now Shorty thinks she's a princess. She has a dog bed, a blanket, a new rug (she had an accident on the other rug), all the food she can eat, treats, walks, love and attention. Yes, sir, she is one spoiled puppy!!

I'm also paper training her while she's stuck in the house. I figured it would be a good thing for when the puppies come.

I don't suggest paper training, Sorry! Dogs have a hard time telling the difference between peeing in the house in one place and not in the other. Some learn the location but not the paper so if you move the paper they just pee where the paper used to be. Also having her pee inside and outside is very confusing because they think they can pee inside and outside and may stop asking to go out at all and jsut pee inside. Why can't you take her outside?

I take her outside during the day from the time I get up until I go to bed. She has accidents during the night, though. I call it paper training, but I use those puppy pee pads for nighttime when I can't get her out. The floor is tile so if she accidents on the floor it's no big deal. I leave the pad in the same spot everynight and so far she's not doing too bad. She's had 2 accidents on the floor. Meh. It's easy to clean.

The puppies have dropped. She grew very fat looking overnight. Now when she stands up you can just about feel her backbone and her tummy looks like it should be on the floor. If she doesn't have them soon, I'm taking her back to the vet.

Sounds close!

Good luck!

Called the vet to be safe. I think they are getting tired of hearing from me. LOL They said she can now go into labor anytime from now until 4 days from now. The tech said just because they dropped doesn't mean she has to go into labor now. She said to look for her milk coming out, heavy panting and some dogs have a change in behavour (sp). So, now I'm on the look-out for signs of labor. And if she doesn't have them by Tuesday at the very latest, I'm to get her into the vets no later then Weds. as she may need to be induced or given a c-section.

Has her temperature dropped yet? I'm still not a fan of the paper training, crate training is your best bet, but you can probably hold off on that until the pups are born since she should not give birth in her crate as it would be too small. Speaking of which, do you have a whelping box for her yet? You'll need one now so she is used to it and will birth in it. You can buy or build one. They should have edges or bars that come in so that the pups can go under them and not get squished between the mom and the wall of the pen.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a22...s/whelpbox.jpg

there is one persons, you see the bars along the edges? Those are what I was talking about. Good Luck and keep us updated!

Alot of breeders reccomend a kiddy pool, as it's easy to clean. only problem with that is, the babies can still be squished.