This was the first breeding pair of Chinooks which produced our first Swiss Chinooks litter, which we called Swiss Cheese! We had completed OFA hip and elbow examinations as well as the CAER tests for both Manuk and Nana. We tested for Canine brucellosis which came back negative and did a blood test for nutritional deficiencies to prepare Nana for pregnancy.

 

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Nana

 

Nana was 4 years old when she became pregnant with 7 pups after 2 artificial inseminations (1st AI Sat 12 December 2020, 2nd AI Mon 14 December 2020) with fresh sperm. She had a straight-forward textbook pregnancy with no complications, continued to go for regular walks until 2 weeks before the birth and had a special 'real food' diet throughout her pregnancy and lactation until the present day.

 

Delivery of her litter was through natural birth which went relatively smoothly until her 6th pup was born after which her contractions seemed to lessen and then stop. We needed to induce her to give birth to her last pup, Nanuk. Nana had a mild case of mastitis only a couple of times during lactation which we treated with cold cabbage leaf compresses, camilosan ointment and calendula cream (for open cuts/wounds). She breastfed until she decided she had had enough, when the puppies reached 12 weeks old.

 

She was an outstanding mother, keeping the whelping box and all the puppies wonderfully clean and showing lots of patience and affection. Later on, when the pups were more active and playful, she would swiftly but gently intervene to calm all pups who got out of hand. We made sure she always had a place to take time out and made great efforts to reduce her stress and encourage calmness and relaxation throughout her pregnancy, lactation and weaning of her pups.

 

Her pregnancy was confirmed with an abdominal ultrasound on Wed 06 January 2021 with around 6 pups identified. Nana was dewormed and received a Hepatitis vaccination during her heat cycle as well as a week before the birth. We did a second ultrasound (Sat 06 February 2021) and opted not to have an x-ray for a puppy count (we were told she was definitely going to have 6 puppies, maybe 7 or 8 altogether). I was advised by Patti Richards (Forever Greene Chinooks) to buy a doppler device (which I got trained to use properly by our vet) to check if there were any remaining pups during the birth. Luckily, after 6 pups had been born, I used the doppler device and confirmed that there was indeed one pup left, our last pup, Nanuk. Nana turned 5 years old 4 months after having had her first litter.

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Manuk

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This was also Manuk's first litter and after having tried to mate our dogs naturally, we resorted to collecting sperm for AI. Having the father of this litter's pups around made the whole experience of raising a litter quite unique as male dogs do not usually have much involvement or presence in the litters they sire. Aside from being Nana's housemate since she was a 9-week old pup, Manuk's presence was generally calming and laid back, which of course made things easier in terms of keeping Nana calm and relaxed during pregnancy. Once the pups were born, Manuk occasionally popped his head and eventually himself into the 'puppies' room' where the whelping box was. Naturally, he became a bit lonely because most of our attention had turned to Nana and the pups but when we had a moment, we comforted him with affection and gently gave him the space he needed to get used to the new smells and presence of the pups. He gradually got used to his new biological family and even occasionally came to see what was going on.

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As the puppies grew and were socialized with lots of visitors coming to our home, Manuk welcomed the crowds of people being as sociable and outgoing as he is. When the pups reached around 5 weeks old, they were already walking albeit wobbling around Manuk and at first he wanted to keep a safe distance between them. With time and acceptance he gradually ended up tolerating their presence, annoying attention and even played with them on a few occasions. He learned very quickly that being a patient dad paid off and we did our best to facilitate calmness and good behaviour from everybody. He definintely had a favourite and that was always Vreni. The other pups would try and get to lick his face and play with him but he was having none of it and only allowed Vreni to lick his face (with the occasional exception of Nanuk who was only allowed to clean his ears!) and do pretty much whatever she wanted. There was never any conflict and we also gave Manuk the space he needed to have time away from the pups (and chaos!) so that he could recover and take his time getting used to situations. He did very well in showing them limits and they learned a great deal about how to behave with adult male dogs. Manuk was a great dad and we could not have been more proud and happy with him!