Jaquenetta German Shepherd Dogs
It's a Dogs Life !
Greetings to you all. I have a fan. What a woman of discernment and exquisite taste Kate Coleridge ( Santrovaso ) must be. She also suggested one of her bitches had a similar temperament to mine, and she could imagine us out on the town together. Squawk told me, and then added “not that you’d be much use now you’ve had the operation.” That’s all humans think about, breeding. We can have a fun time without producing off-spring. They are always discussing what dog to choose for what bitch, an unhealthy obsession I call it.
The showbitch was in whelp. What a drama queen. She became restless so Squawk stayed up with her until 4 am then Growler took over. Nothing happened. All the next day she got herself psyched up, running from room to room and out around the garden. She finally settled down in the whelping box at noon. Growler went into another room to watch television. She ran after him jumping around, and would not stop until he went back to sit by the box. Everytime he went to move she was out jumping up whining at him. So Squawk took his food to him. Might have known she would behave like a prima donna and want all their attention lavished on her. So it was her first litter; the class one bitch did not behave like that when she had hers. Eventually she started the contractions, after making Growler sit there with her for seven hours. Squawk had to ease out the first puppy, cut the cord and clean him up; also the next one. Typical of her to expect everything to be done for her. While she was whelping a puppy, Squawk put the others in a shallow box on a covered hot water bottle, in a corner of the box. So the bitch could see them, and return them to suckle in between births. When the bitch whelped the last one she picked it up in her mouth ( Squawk panicking thinking she was going to harm it ) and chucked it, still soaking wet, into the box on top of the others.
One of the puppies died after a couple of days. Squawk thought it was the first born, because it had been a difficult birth with a lot of blood, and she had been surprised when it came out alive. She had read, while researching for her next book set on a farm, that for the first few days of their lives each piglet fights for, and establishes his right to one and only one of his mother’s teats. This is his teat and no-one else’s. If he dies that part of her udder will go dry. The area around one of the bitch’s teats became hard. Squawk remembered what she had read, realised that the same could apply to puppies. She put hot poultices on the area, massaged it, and persuaded a puppy to suckle it to try to get the milk flowing. She was there for ages tending to her. It took a couple of days before all the hardness disappeared and she was functioning normally. In future Squawk said she must remember to check the teats soon after a puppy has died, but it is all put down to experience. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the wood-burner hadn’t chosen that moment, to have a leak in its boiler and flood the floor. They both had to stay up all night. One massaging the showbitch’s teat, and the other mending the wood-burner and re-lighting it before it became too cold for us all. The rest of us curled up and went to sleep.
We got rid of all the litter except this one little brat they’ve run on; who is too similar to his mother for my liking. Anyway I’ve put the little wimp in his place already. He has been advertised but nobody suitable wants him, so I’m stuck with the little blighter for the moment. Now he is six months the humans are going to show him. Not another scraggy showdog. His mother is bad enough with her superior attitude, without having her bragging about her little darling as well. And the humans even when they don’t win still believe they’ve brought the best dog home with them. Can’t see it myself. The little squirt will never grow to be as noble-looking and as impressive as myself, so I will still be the alpha male around here when Growler’s away. It’s a dog’s life.
Copyright J C Hiscox
Previously published in the GSD National Magazine May 1999
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