Viola is expanding...

She's just over 30 pounds now, from a starting weight of 27 lbs. She is starting to look a little lumpy and her milk is starting to come in. Today is day #39 of 59-63 total days. We will start giving her Panacur once daily starting tomorrow (day 40 through 4 days postpartum) as part of our worming regimen (read more here). She seems to feel great and is totally over her morning sickness. She is acting very motherly and protective of her toys and treats.

She even tried mothering ME the other night ... I wasn't feeling well and I went to bed early. She came into the bedroom and jumped up on the bed, sniffed me and then left. She returned a few minutes later with a brand new chewie she had apparently been hoarding. She dropped it on my head and kissed me, then left ... it was like "here, this will make you feel better." She is so sweet! I kept it under my pillow and gave it back to her the next morning.

Viola says the babies want a corn dawg...

Viola says she is having cravings, and that the babies want a corn dawg. Yes, we are having corn dogs for dinner tonight. She says the babies need proper nutrients for growth and that corn dawgs are an important source of nutrients like fat and protein.

(Yes we gave her a teeny piece)

She is still feeling very moody and would like to sleep all the time in her cozy cave, except at night, when she tells Derek that she has to go out and pee every two hours. Her nipples are swollen and she's grumpy and nauseous. I've been kissing her head and telling her it will be better when the babies arrive ... I haven't told her about the watermelon phase of her pregnancy yet to come.... =/

Sad Viola wants a corn dawg

Poor, sick Viola

More morning sickness for Viola today. She just can't seem to keep anything down. It's worse in the afternoon though, not in the morning. Any woman who has been pregnant can tell you it should be called "all day sickness". Viola's seems worse on an empty stomach. My poor baby girl, I wish I could feed her some crackers and make her feel better.

Viola is starting to show...

Day 16 and Viola's ribs are starting to spread. She is sleeping a LOT (even for a whippet) and very crabby. She doesn't have much of an appetite for chewies but is hoarding the ones she does have.

She says her cozy cave is her private temple and no one else is allowed in. More morning sickness today.

My poor baby girl!! She will understand once her little ones are here. Just about a month and a half to go now.... the waiting is the hardest part!

Feeling a little queasy...

Viola had morning sickness today! Seems like things are progressing right along and she's showing other signs of pregnancy. We're so excited and are planning to start feeding her smaller meals more frequently so she can keep more of it down.

Blastocystes growing into embryos

Starting today (if she is pregnant) Viola's blastocystes will be growing into embryos. During the next two weeks, the vital organs will be developing inside the puppies. She is starting to have morning sickness, and her nipples are beginning to enlarge.

Blastocystes implanting

Today through Thursday (if she is pregnant), the blastocystes will implant in the wall of the uterus.

Viola on day 9

Viola's belly seems to be filling in just a bit. Assuming she is pregnant, she on day nine and seems to be feeling good. She's got a good appetite and we haven't noticed any morning sickness yet. She's sleeping well although she insists on getting up and going outside at 7 or 8am every morning. Since we are night owls this is not fun but whatever Viola wants, Viola gets. She IS the princess! I took a photo of her today sleeping on her cozy cave.

Viola on day 9 of her pregnancy

Happy Easter everyone!

Viola is done with boys!

Viola says she is completely done with boys. This is a GOOD sign ... when a lady goes out of season after being bred it usually means she is pregnant. We're crossing our fingers for puppies around June 13-14th. =)

Another successful breeding!

One more successful breeding with Princess Viola and her beau Blue. It's good to try to get more than one successful breeding "just in case" the first one didn't "take." So we had another successful breeding tonight and will hope that Viola is now pregnant. Now puppywatch begins!!

Lovers' quarrel solved!!

Daddy Blue

Viola and Blue worked out their differences today. We had the first natural breeding, so her earliest due date will be June 13.

We are planning to do at least one more breeding to make sure. One of the surest signs that a lady is pregnant is if she immediately goes out of season and is not interested in breeding anymore. This happened with Viola's half sister, Chippy, so we expect that they will be swapping pregnancy war stories in a few weeks!

Problems between lovers

Every relationship has its ups and downs. Viola and Blue are no different. When Viola seemed like she was ready to be bred, we started putting the two of them together to see if sparks would fly. Generally... okay, 100% of the time with whippets, sparks fly. Whippets are easy to breed and if you put any girl in heat with an intact male, puppies are a result. But, as I've told you before, Viola is not just any girl. She's a princess, and we've been calling her the Virgin Queen for over a year ... probably a mistake, in hindsight.

Viola goes outside first, and she feels kinda excited, hyper, full of herself. We let Blue outside. He starts sniffing around and telling her she is beautiful. She accepts the compliment, but informs him that she is NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL thankyouverymuch. Blue ends up hiding behind Walt somewhere during this talking-to.

Sigh.

Viola's first veterinary check-up

Today Viola had her first pre-natal check-up at our wonderful vet Blue Ridge Animal Clinic in Lexington, VA. She's perfectly healthy, appears to be having a normal heat, and is very early in it (as we suspected) and not ready to breed yet.

Viola with her nephew Aidan aka Leo

We had her progesterone levels tested, and that has to be sent off to a lab, so we should find out tomorrow or Monday where she is in her season approximately. That will give us a good idea when she will be ready to breed, and it will let us know that she is having normal hormone levels.

We also had her rabies vaccination done. Often vets recommend against giving vaccinations if a female dog is in season, because there is a potential for the virus to be passed to the eggs. Rabies is a killed virus though, so there is no risk to the babies at all. We definitely double checked that to be sure! I am so fanatical about keeping our girls' pregnancies safe that I won't give them carsickness pills because they are a slight risk to the developing fetuses.

So now it's all about waiting until she is ready to breed, keeping her nutrition healthy, and keeping her happy while she is away from home. She said the spring in Virginia SUCKS compared to South Carolina.....

A photo of Viola pre-pregnancy

This is Viola at 14 months old. She has gotten some nice compliments from show breeders and we are hoping to show her more this year now that she has matured more. Since our girls grow up and mature slowly we usually have to wait until they are 2-3 years to show them successfully.

First post -- Finally a litter in the near future!!

Viola with her niece Sephie

Today Viola FINALLY came into season for the first time. This is unusual because she is 2.5 years old ... most whippet girls come into season between 7 and 12 months for the first time. We started calling her the Virgin Queen in jest but it started to be alarmingly possible as she went longer and longer without any prospect of puppies in the future. Her sister, Chippy, came into season a few days ago, and as nature tends to do, that seemed to "bring in" Viola's season.

Daddy-to-be Blue

We'll be breeding Viola to Blue, who is Rini's father and the father of several of our Timbreblue litters. We have really loved what Blue has brought to our breeding program, but at nearly 10 years old this will probably be one of his last litters for us. We had hoped to get Viola to see Ellery in Canada, but the timing just didn't work out. Ellery will be in Lexington, KY for the whippet national dog show the week BEFORE Viola is ready, and the week that is "perfect" for breeding he will be back en route to Canada. We're hoping to breed Viola to Ellery for a future litter, or possibly take Rini up there this winter.

In the meantime we are SO excited about the potential puppies from Viola and Blue. Viola is white and blue brindle, which means that crossed with a solid blue dog she will genetically have a GREAT chance of having a mostly blue, blue and white, or blue brindle litter. We could also have puppies who are black, white, fawn, or fawn brindle. If you're interested in being on the waiting list, please contact me at johannah@timbreblue.com

Now I'm going to celebrate!!