FINAL COUNTDOWN

Just hanging at home!

With only a week to go we have been busy!!! Cypress grows her babies overnight and is finally starting to slow down her pace a little. This last week will bring huge (literally) changes to her belly! Right now we can definitely feel the puppies move and to some degree, the shape of their bodies. Amazing Mother Nature never lets us down! Each time we do this, we are left in awe of the dogs and the intimacy of it all. We are blessed they let us in so easily.

In preparation for this big day, the whelping room was completely torn apart, scrubbed and sanitized, the room AND everything in it. It is so important to be immaculate for these young babies. The room is ready now and so are all my tools!

Although we have been through many deliveries where everything was perfect there have also been some that had problems. Something is learned every time and I always continue to grow my "data" base and add more knowledge! There are multiple resources available for breeders from books and seminars by other breeders, to seminars from AKC, Vets and REVIVAL; all dealing with the delivery process and I soak in all of it! This part of the process leaves my stomach in knots until we get all those little beautiful handfuls of love safely on this side!

All these resources are invaluable but of course I wholly rely on my breeder "community" to get me through all things from delivery to training and go home day! It takes a village......to get this far. And after you get your little bundle of fur, the work goes on for you!!!! We were fortunate enough to end up with a fabulous mentor the day we started on this journey! This is Momma Cypress on gotcha day from Hoekema Homestead Goldens.

Today we had a grooming session and spoiled the crap out of Mom. She will get another bath in a chlorhexidine shampoo that kills everything (hopefully) before she gives birth but today we did the feel good works! Bath with our favorite whitening shampoo and conditioner, a great brush out cause she is loosing undercoat. They generally loose that layer of softness twice a year and the brushing feels soooo good to them and saves your vacuum! We also trimmed her nails, the hair on the foot (grinch toes) and trimmed her under belly. Some breeders shave them completely before birth but we like to leave to some hair so the puppies don't scratch her.

Tomorrow finishes a 3 day dose of a dewormer prevention treatment for all dogs on the property. They will continue to get the deworming treatments along with the puppies as we go along. Prevention is a FAR better plan than curing something unwanted.......

After the weekend we will start taking her temperature. We will be looking for a drop from 101 to 98 (ish), she will refuse her food and then we watch.....constantly. It will not be long after those two things happen. Hopefully during the day but I have slept in that darn recliner and will do it again if that's the card dealt my way!

Give us some extra hugs and love on next Monday......I will keep you posted!!!

In the meantime, some cute pics sent my way of Royal Golden puppies! Be sure to follow us at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1342802679627878