Tuesday, November 08, 2005

To Karen and Neng, here's a picture of the puppies. This is not a very good shot though. Maybe next week when they're bigger, I'll be able to get a better one. Sadly, one of the puppies in this picture died the other day (as I mentioned in my previous post). I think its the rightmost one, they look identical kasi.

Besides our other dog China, who is a labrador, this is only our second time to take care of a nursing dog. When China got pregnant and gave birth, I was on my last year of residency training so I was busy at the hospital. But now with Toni, I was more involved with the whole pregnancy thing. From the time we learned she was pregnant up to the time she gave birth and now that she's nursing her puppies.

You'll be surprised how Toni developed her maternal instincts over night. Since this is her first time, we were quite afraid that she wouldn't know how to take care of her puppies. Our vet instructed us on how to take care of the puppies in case Toni wouldn't know how but she proved us all wrong. If at first she was nonchalant about her puppies, the moment she recovered from giving birth, she immediately bonded with her babies. She would lick each one of them to thermoregulate them and to make them do their "thing". Come feeding time, although we still have to assist her, she knows not to stand up and to stay still when her babies are nursing. She is so protective of her puppies that even my dad who she loves so much earned her ire when my dad tried to pick up one of her puppies. She doesn't even want to be parted from her babies even just for a while so we have no choice but to move her to where the puppies are and let her eat her meals there. Its also funny to see the puppies' father, Harry mope around the house all day missing Toni and his babies hence we also bring him to where they are from time to time so that he can bond with them. Haaay... if only all fathers are like Harry!