Well, I thought our Belgian Malinois was a few weeks out from delivering her pups, not the case obviously. We have a short table that the workers put together when working on the house, 4'X8' plywood for the top, that I put next to the Nipa. Our girl dug herself a little pit and have put out 4 pups so far. I built a birthing box for her first litter on the recommendation of my Mother, but that was on short notice as I had no clue they needed one. Needless to say it was done with 1/2 plywood so I need to reinforce it a bit as well as putting down some vinyl flooring for the area that the pups will spend their first days and weeks. I had planned to do this next week after a trip to Dumaguete for some materials...will have to make this happen tomorrow. Shawn
She has at least 6 pups, hard to tell as she has dug in and it is tight to see; breathing heavy so I am expecting her to have another one or two. Can't sleep as I am trying to watch her, but not be too bothersome as she takes care of things. Shawn
Seven pups now and I think she is done, drinking water (cold from the dispenser). She is a great girl, wish I would have been better prepared as we were with her first litter. This one really surprised us, Chili and her pups will be moved tomorrow once I get her birthing box straight. I dropped the ball on this one as I thought we were still weeks out. All the pups are doing well and getting to the teats, cute and look the same as the last litter. A long night, Shawn
Ended up with 7, four boys and 3 girls. I braced up the birthing box as well as put in vinyl floor tiles for easier clean up. Pups are doing well. Shawn
Yep, our son left the door open when she was in heat and within minutes she was locked up with our Dalmatian. We were doing our best to keep them apart as I really did not want more pups right now, but a short lapse by an 8 year old and here we are again. I had my fingers crossed in the beginning that a 1 time coupling would not get her knocked up, but 7 pups compared to 9 she had in her first litter. The first litter produced great pups (reason I kept one of them for myself) so all indications is that these will be good pups as well. It really is something else so see these guys at less than 2 days old and look at the pup I kept at just over 6 months old, they end up being pretty good sized dogs. He already is just about as tall as the Dalmatian but thicker in the shoulders and back legs/hips like our Belgian Malinois, who is just a bit taller than the Dalmatian. It is an interesting cross with the pups taking on the best traits of both breeds, the one I kept has to the most loving and loyal I have ever come across; plus he is "my" dog where our other dogs seem to prefer the wife a bit more. Dogs all have different personalities, our 2 small local dogs try to avoid the kids where the Dalmatian loves to be around our son as well as Cherry's dad when he stops by. The Belgian is just a sweetheart, but very protective of the wife; when we are goofing around she will jump up between us, pretty funny as we will antagonize her a bit. Shawn
Dalmatian and Belgian Malinois ( Dad the Dalmatian) my midnight is from the first Litter Dustin and she is growing to be a very big Dog But so lovable and Protective. if the new litter as as nice as Midnight's litter ( and I am sure they will be) A proud owner you will be. JP
I ended up putting the birthing box in the previous dirty kitchen, when we had workers, that I converted to a goat pen for the couple goats we will be getting. The first litter I had it in the house but the wife did not want to deal with the "smell" that accompanies the pups so it is outside. I was a bit worried our girl would get a little stressed with our other dogs as she will be very protective of her pups, she did tear into a couple dogs at first but now just walks them away if they get into the "zone" she feels is OK. They were obviously curious to what the sounds were but now know to stay away...our Belgian has always been top dog so they know not to mess with her. The pups are doing well and have grown quite a bit in just 4 days. I think they will look pretty much the same as the first litter but three of them are tinted much browner than the rest or the first litter. My wife has a theory that since the Dalmatian only hit it once, compared with constantly with the first litter, that the browner pups will take on the Belgian features more than the ones that are black. Odd though that the ones with the browner color have more pronounced white on their nose, neck and chests. She never left the yard and only locked up the one time with the Dalmatian so it is an interesting theory. If the first litter is an indication, the spots on the white areas won't really show for a few weeks and it really takes 6 weeks or so before you really start to see what they will end up looking like. As I've mentioned numerous times, I kept one pup from the first litter and at almost 6 1/2 months I see so much of both the Belgian and Dalmatian in him, both physically and personality. Great dog as I'm sure the pups will be. Shawn
The pups have mostly opened their eyes, seems they are seeing motion but ears are still closed. Chili is doing a great job again as a mother and has been really good with our son handling the pups...our other dogs still need to stay away. Got an inside bet with the wife on if the ones with a browner tint keep it or end up looking like the first litter of pups; pretty confident but either way they will be a great group of pups; even without planning for them, they will have all shots and such going forward as that is just how we are. These guys are many, many weeks of being able to looking for new homes, so that will be a different post in a different section. Shawn
The pups are 2 weeks old today and are doing great. We were a bit concerned as there was one little runt girl, she is still a bit smaller but not by much anymore, the first one to completely open her eyes and has better mobility. There is also another pup that has a white line down his forehead to his nose, cute little guys. The birthing box is pretty hot so I put a couple dozen ventilation holes in it today (forstner bit used for door hardware). In the meantime we had the pups at the Nipa hut during the day and they really seemed to be quite comfortable. Someone had to watch them as they are starting to get their little legs going trying to walk and can cover quite a bit and they are small enough to fall through the bamboo posts (a couple feet down). Checked the birthing box tonight (not much wind tonight) and it is still a bit uncomfortable, so my list around the house have changed to the priority is putting up some chicken wire around the interior of the Nipa hut porch and keep them there after tonight. The Nipa hut is my wife's pride and joy so I will have to pick up some extra zip ties as well as I don't want to use staples that could damage the bamboo. The Nipa is pretty cool and the pups as well as Chili are more comfortable there so I have an early morning task to get the materials and get it done. It is shaded from all angles so it will be a more pleasant work than some of my other little projects. A much larger area so the pups should be able to get their legs under them sooner as they search out their Mom (and they find her). Shawn
