The Classic Home Made Cookies have Arrived

At around three in the morning our oldest boy, ClarkeBar Grizwold (AKC), informed Ann that Lemonhead Lucy (AKC) needed to go out for a walk. He is in charge of watching the house at night and made just enough noise to get one of us out of bed to come look.

Lucy wasn't showing any signs of labor, but we always go out with our girls when they are coming close to their due date for safety. Ann let Lucy off the leash and Lucy wandered around in the dark for a little while. Nothing out of the ordinary happening so far.

Dogs in general, and Bassets in particular, tend to look for a hiding place to have thier pups. On our farm there is a wonderful place under the shipping container we use for storage. Every girl who had babies since we moved here has picked this spot and we have to be careful not to let them have their way. Under the container may be a wonderful hiding hole, but we simply cannot access it like the girls so we can't help Mother and protect the pups there. Ann didn't know that Lucy had changed course in the dark and headed back toward this prime hidy hole. Luckily for us both Lucy didn't make it back there before deciding to drop the first puppy. Her yelp in the dark brought Ann running . . .

Lucy's first baby was still well protected by her placental sack when Ann found Lucy standing in the dark with a surprised look on her face.  Ann scooped the baby up in one hand and Lucy in the other. I (David) was asleep as this all happened so I came late to the party.

Abba Zabba heard the commotion outside from the big dog house and began makeiing a warning bark very softly outside of our open bedroom windows. She watches the place at night, barking most nights over some noise, so this wasn't enough to wake me fully. Bassets have difffernt means of expressing different meanings. A warning bark is a sort of "muff" sound. Low and relatively quiet. This sort of warning puts everyone on notice than something might be happening some- where without getting everybody out of bed. If a louder noise comes out of the darkness the soft warning become a very loud and high pitched  "ROO". This brings out all of the hounds and humans.

As Ann grabbed the baby and scooped Lucy up Abby made the softer sound because she knew who was moving around in the darkness. I woke up, but didn't get out of bed until I heard a human voice through the open window. Voices are not usual here at night so I was awake and moving right away.

Turning on the outside security lights that light up the farm to its edges I could see that the front door was left open and outside I went. Ann and company were nearing the house as I left the front steps and we were all back inside a few moments later. By this time everyone on the farm was up and moving around. 

Safely back in the whelping pen we found that this new puppy was a robustly healthy little tri-colored girl Basset. She was born on a sultry Summer night (not a cliche), at 3:10 a.m. weighing 11.8 ounces, and very mobile.  We named her Spritz. 

Not knowing any more than this and expecting a Friday delivery we were about two-thirds ready for whelping a litter of pups. Half the puppy linen was on half the open shelves, gloves and other equipment was available but needed brought out. The whelping pen was ready too. Despite our preparations most litters seem to come as a bit of a surprise until we realize that we are ready for it. But Lucy is a new mom. This is her first litter. And each mother is an individual. So whelping each litter is slightly different. The themes and motiff are the same, each litter a like a familiar song. The melody and words change but the key and tempo are closely related. With Lucy the main difference was the she wanted to have her babies outside the walls of the small kiddie pool we always use to keep the new Bassets contained, at least until their eyes are open and they stand up.

We were well on the way and had the right stuff where we needed it, so our job became to get our stuff set up to receive newborns and keep Lucy from picking a new place to have babies. 

Bassets can be stubborn and whelping is a bit messy. It's better that Mother stays in her place for many good reasons. So after picking Lucy up and putting her back in the pool four or five times, at 3:50 a.m., suddenly Lucy birthed a nice little 12.7 ounce tri-colored boy which we will call Tollhouse. 

We usually spend time during all of these early minutes deciding a puppy name for each new arrival from a prepared list of names made early on in the pregnancy. We also begin to record weights and measures and I begin writing the social media and BLOG posts. 

Ann rubs the new arrivals before trying  to get new babies on boobs as quickly as she can. Puppies are better off if they start eating right away. But Mothers can be difficult to help. 

At around 4:15 Lucy got a serious look in her eye and gave us a wonderful little girl we called Lemon Zest. She came into this world a compact 12.4 ounces with an excited attitude.

With twelve paws on the ground, our whelping stuff in place and working normally, we can start breathing normally and waiting to meet the next whomever that shows up. But, at 8:30  a.m. it seems that three was going to be the magic number. 

It's entirely possible to end the day with a small litter. Unusual, but possible. Abba Zabba had four in her first. For now we'll call it three.