# Update....puppies and new pijies



## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

Ravi (our dog) went into labor last night and so we were up pretty much all night with her, then the first puppy came at nine this morning. She had one every hour for the first four, then two hours until #5, then and hour and a half for #6, then there were three hours before number seven came! We have whelping injections for her, calcium followed by oxytocin (might have that one mixed up in spelling, I'm too tired to go check lol), but when puppy #7 wasn't here yet we were just getting her ready to go to the emergency vet (used by Canine Companions when they're not open, and also for surgeries and such) with Ravi and the puppies to have her checked and maybe have a C-section. 

Literally the minute we were about to go, out popped puppy #7!  A huge relief indeed. The emergency care center is where we had to have our Golden Myrtie and our cat Belevedere put to sleep over the last two years, and we can happily live the rest of our lives without going there again, let me tell you. So #7 came an hour ago and we are waiting on the rest. They saw nine, more or less for sure, in the sonogram, so hopefully the other two will be following shortly and there won't be any after nine.  Fingers crossed!! The great news is that all the puppies were born breathing and healthy. Usually when one takes more than two hours to come down the birth canal, it is stillborn.....but so far, so good! 

(An hour later....got waylaid while writing this) Well the next puppy was born undeveloped . Sometimes that does happen and it is sad but part of life. Hopefully number nine will be just as healthy as first ones. 

Let's see.......where was I....oh yes.

Jennifer came by today amongst the chaos and brought six lovely pigeons. Three went into each aviary and they are settling in nicely. They were all vet-checked and pronounced healthy which is good. There is a nice older racer who is a '98 and he is ready for retirement it seems. A sweet blue bar girl "Buddy" who is people-oriented and loves to bow back to me. She was very attached to Jennifer and it was hard for them to part, but Jen wants the best for her and for her to have a pigeon mate of her own. Two little ones, one red and one red and white, very sweet and cute. And two whites, one with the "Peter Boyle" hairdo and one sleek little gal. They seem to enjoy it here so far and no one is bothering him, which is good, since I don't have the energy for arguing lol. It is the two white ones she thought might be feral, I'm not sure about the fancy as she doesn't look like a cross to me but what do I know hehe. I think she is just skittish. But we'll see and if they obviously protest being kept enclosed, I will make arrangements to release them or find them a home they can fly at. Thanks to everyone who helped in helping these pijies find me, and especially to Jen for taking such good care of them and driving them up to me. 

And now I'm off to dog-watch......see you all tomorrow! Hope everyone is doing well and everyone's families and critters.


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Thanks for the update, MJ! I hope all those puppies will be OK.

Sounds like all is well with the pigeons.

Try to get some rest!

Terry


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## horsesgot6 (May 30, 2007)

MJ 
Glad To hear You have New Puppys. Boy Is that alot. Just wait Until They start getting Into Everthing  Hope To See Some Pictures Soon Of The new Babys. Sounds Like When all Is Siad and Done You'll Be Out Like a Ligth With the Busy Day You Had.


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

Congratulations on the the new puppies and your new feathered additions, MJ.
Waiting for pics now 

Reti


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

MJ, I'm so sorry about the one baby but happy that the others are doing well. Hope #9 has made its entrance by now and is in good health. I'll bet Ravi is one tired little girl.

You are such a good person. I know Jennifer's pigeons will be well loved and cared for by you.


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## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

Hey everyone.....well the "last puppy" was certainly a FALSE alarm. A few hours later another puppy was born but he wasn't right either, he had a hole in his stomach and was born alive but didn't make it past fifteen minutes. That was an unbelievably heart-breaking time and if I never have to live through something like that again, I will be happy forever. I can't stand to see something suffer and again it makes me wish I had some sort of home euthanasia for situations like this, when it's one in the morning, no vets nearby, and literally no time to get it to a vet to have it euthanized.  If CCI didn't breed their dogs twice a year to get all the puppies they can, I feel like this sort of thing wouldn't happen quite so often.....all the stillborn and undeveloped puppies. Many other breeders (quietly) feel this way about their CCI puppies, but CCI does own the dogs and there is little we can say about it. I am still pretty angry, if you couldn't tell. Not nearly as angry as I was last night though. It just makes you feel really helpless when you know something is not right but is being done anyways. When we had our first breeder, my beloved Golden Meg, they bred them once a year. They had less puppies, but the puppies were 99% healthy and whole. Now they breed them every heat cycle, which for one is terribly hard on the dog, and they get more puppies but so many more have problems. I don't understand how they think this is a better idea. Sorry for the rant and rave, it is just really hard to deal with this and have no control. Thank God this is the last time. I will move out of state before I let them breed her "one last time" (which we've heard for the last two litters now). 

Deep breath.

Again sorry for ranting. The blessing was that after this pup passed on, yet ANOTHER popped out, whole and perfect and squealing for a nipple.  It was truly a blessing from God to have this perfect puppy and helped to easy the terrible pain in our hearts from the one before it that didn't make it.  

Jen's pijies are doing WONDERFULLY and act like part of the crowd. I rearranged some "furniture" and perches in the aviaries, so they all had to "re-settle" into new zones. I find that is a good thing to do with new birds, then there aren't as much territorial wars going on and everyone has to find a new place to sit, rather than the new birds trying to fit in somewhere. "Buddy", the blue-bar who likes people, is just a love. Whenever she sees me she bows and starts dancing, she reminds me so much of Mrs. Bird when I first got her. I will spend extra time in there to make sure Buddy doesn't feel lonely for humans, and help her adjust to finding a bird mate. The older racer in the little aviary is also quite content, he is sitting in the sun and calmly remembering racing days past. I told my mom, it's hard to believe this little guy has flown probably thousands of miles over his ten years as a racer, places we've never been or seen or heard of lol. He has certainly earned his retirement and is enjoying every second of it. I put him in the little aviary to ensure no one bothers him and the youngsters are crowding around hoping to hear stories.  Actually he might be a female, I'll have to check with Jen. The darling little red birds are in there as well and already one was in the plastic shelving today, making herself a little house. It's amazing to me how they adapt to new situations. In the big tent, the two white fancies don't seem upset at all. They are not flying around, trying to get out, or seem frantic or nervous. They flew down with everyone else to eat this morning right away, pushing through the crowd to get to the "good" seeds. Last night they perched right amongst the other pijies, just as if they'd been there all along. 

Another amazing thing is that my "puppy" Finnigan seemed to understand what was going on yesterday, and instead of barking his fool head off to play all day, he remained quiet and occupied himself while we were busy with puppies. Uncle Leonard knows the drill and kept himself out from underfoot as well. Finn usually needs a lot of attention from six-thirty am to about eleven am each day, but yesterday I told him early, "Today is a quiet day, and you have to be quiet and take a break for awhile or go outside and play by yourself." Sounds silly, I know, but that's exactly what he did. And this morning there was no early barking and he is being exceptionally good, as if he knows it's "quiet time" in the house right now. I wonder how much of this is a genetic behavior, learned from being pack animals? I know that wolves and wild dogs remain quiet when a female is birthing, so as not to attract predators to the birthing den. I wonder if that comes into play here, even with such a domesticated dog? It is very interesting, and I'm very proud of him for being such a good boy. I swear, some of these dogs just understand what you're telling them.

And Ravi and the nine pups are doing extremely well and slept through most of the night. She is calm and relaxed and SO GLAD to be done!!! We are very glad too. And we have a beautiful day here with temps in the upper 70s so I'm going out to have some pigeon time after I catch up on here with posts. Thanks to all for reading the continuing saga. I'm off to read all the posts I missed yesterday!


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

Thank you for a great update, MJ!!

I can certainly relate to how you feel about the overbreeding. That's one of my soapboxes too...not to mention a seeming tendency for "designer" dogs! *SIGH* when will some people learn to leave nature alone?! 

So glad to hear about the pijies adjusting but I'm certainly not surprised. You have a wonderful set up and the new ones just knew they were coming to Shangri-la!

Looking forward to future updates! Thank you again!  

Shi


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

MJ, again, I am sorry about the last baby's problem and don't blame you for ranting. I would probably want to sock those people for insisting on two litters a year. I hope the 9 remaining babies continue to thrive and you know we are looking forward to lots of pictures.

Finnegan is bound to have known what was going on and what a good boy he was for keeping quiet. I'll bet he will be really curious about all those little babies once they start "snuffling" and crawling around. There is nothing sweeter in the world than a puppy.

You know, Maryjane, every post you write makes me so grateful that there are people like you in this world. Keep up the good work and I hope you get a good night's sleep.


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## littlestar (May 11, 2005)

Maryjane, I didn't know you post until Renee told me. Thank you so very much and appreciate you taking in all those pijjies helping Jen and I out. I knew you where taking in two, but didn't know about the other ones you were also taking in until Jen emailed and told me about the other four and that you were taking them in too, it was very nice and sweet of you. They all sound so sweet and the old racer was actually retired. When they hit a certain age they are no longer put in races, but keep as breeders or to foster eggs. I'm just so glad they are with you. I told Jen they couldn't of gone to a better home. Again, I can't thank you enough for taking these little ones in, you are a pigeons guardian angel in my book. 

I'm sorry to hear about the puppy, but glad to hear so far the other ones are doing good. These breeders should know it's not healthy to breed a female every six months, it's not healthy for them nor for puppies, but I agree with you they own these dogs and not much you can say. I had German Shepperds and won't even think about breeding them until they were at least a year old and only once a year. It sounds like their not worried about the females health, just getting puppies from her, it's ashame they put no value on the females life.

But anyway, keep us updated on the pijjies and the puppies and how they are all doing.


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## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

Thanks Maryann, yes Jen's pigeons are doing very well. I hope to be able to get some pictures today of them. The retired racer has settled into a routine of sitting in the sun, eating, bathing, and sitting in the sun some more.  The others all act like they've been here forever too. There is no escape-attemtps, door-watching, or frantic behavior at all from the ones thought to be possibly feral. They hang out on their perch of choice (near each other usually, but not as a couple lol), and both took a bath yesterday.  And the puppies are doing very well, I will have pics of them up soon too. They are the cutest little butterballs.


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