False pregnancies, and other small problems.

[carolyn dewrance]

THE FACTS AND FANCIES OF A
NON PREGNANT BITCH



Most of you know what it's like to be in season pregnant and to have puppies, but I am going to tell you all about mine.
I had been in season for ten days when I was bundled into Rick's combie, with my Mistress Carol and driven to a house; I have never been to before. It was all a bit strange. At this house I was introduced
To Alfonso. I have met him before at dog shows, and have always admired him. He has a lovely nature, a perfect face and is all over a very nicely proportioned dog. He really is a super fellow and I fell in love with him there and then. Well as it was raining we were allowed to roam around the house together and when it stopped raining he showed me his yard. I was very impressed, as it is so much nicer then living in a flat. He has a lovely safe garden in which to lie and some lovely other
Chows to talk to. Not that I am lonely, as I have Lady and little Julie and I go for long walks in the park every day. To cut things short, Alfonso and I were mated, and I left with my Mistress and Rick and returned to my flat. The next day I felt sick, and really was not in the mood to do any thing, not even eat my food.

Then once again I was put in the car, and taken back to Alfonso. I think Alfonso really liked me, as he was very pleased to see me this time! Once again we were mated, and I am sure that I am going to have puppies this time.

I am now in my second week of pregnancy and am not feeling very well I went up to see the Vet, and he says I have a slight kidney infection and a small lump in my uterus He gave me an Injection and some tablets to take. I really don't feel like eating anything but raw oats and milk and an egg now and then. Dog food is taboo.
It makes me sick. I really can't stand what they put into tinned meat and the meat from the butcher, is also revolting, I will not eat biscuits, but I do like sardines as well as a nice piece of steak as was liver and Kidney, I am sure I am pregnant, but no one else knows yet. So I shall keep it a secret for a while longer. I have finished my tablets and am feeling well again.

My third week is coming up and I still have a slight discharge, which is brown in color. I am feeling much quieter and like to lie around the flat during the day. I am not very friendly to Lady and the puppies. I must say I am looking really lovely, it's only my eye that is worrying me at the moment, but my mistress is treating it so I know that it will be fine.

My forth week, I feel good and look good, and this week I have decided to eat strawberries and cream. I have gone off my other food, so my Mistress has put me onto a vitamin tonic. What an awful taste it has I do try to spit it out, but it doesn't help and she only gives me more if I do. I am beginning to put on weight and the Vet says
I am pregnant. My discharge is turning white but there are no other signs yet. We all went to the day of the Mutt Show but none of us won a prize, all the mutts did, Anyway it was nice to have a days outing, and I think the puppies enjoyed it.

This is now my 5th week and I have put on weight and am getting wider around my rib cage. I am sure I can feel my puppies kicking inside but I really don't know just how many I am going to have this time. I am now off strawberries and cream and back onto fresh meat and milk, but I will still not eat my cereals, somehow my babies do not like conventional dog food.

On Saturday and Sunday the 12th and 13th October I was awoken early in the morning and taken to the dog shows. Now these I love and I always try to look my best, even when I think I am pregnant. Well this time I worked extra hard and surprised everyone including
My sisters by taking home 2CC's as well as five trophies. Boy was I proud of my self, I had the widest Chow grin on my face that I had ever had, and I felt I really deserved it! So Rick has promised to take me to shows out of town next year to try and make me a Champion. Alfonso is now a Champion so my puppies have a direct line Champion in their blood!

This is now my 6th week and I am still very fussy about my food. Last night I ended up eating a few Chicken pieces with out the bones and some left over ham the neighbors sent up. I am very lucky as they send me something up every night and just to make Carol mad, I won't touch the food she prepares for me, but wait for the scraps, which I prefer. My breasts are now starting to feel a bit fuller, but I can’t see much change in them. Every night when Carol gets home from work
She gets me to lie on my side and she looks to see if there is any change in my breasts and the she rubs my tummy which I love and she talks to the puppies, She says this is getting to know them before they are born, I love this and it helps me to relax.

There is just one thing I don't like, and that is Raspberry leaf tablets mixed with my milk, but I drink it all the same a she says it will help me when I give birth to the puppies, and that it aids the puppies by giving the extra oxygen to the placentas which will keep them healthy
And give them a good start in life. I myself feel really fantastic I wonder what my babies will look like, if they will be like their Champion father or like me; I will just have to be patient and wait a little while longer. Tomorrow my first litter will be a year old, and I must say that two of them have turned in to fantastic dogs. I wish I could see them again to compare them with my new litter.

Little Cindy the golden Cocker next door is due to have her puppies any day now and she is so tiny, a miniature Cocker if ever I saw one, and I am sure she is going to have at least 6 puppies, I feel so sorry for her, as she has not been to the Vet for a check up, and I do hope she will be alright. My mistress is keeping an eye on her, to see that all goes well.

I was awake all night last night, I just know its time for Cindy to have her puppies, and I was right, she had her first two at 7.30am and by 10am she had given birth to four bitches and 2 dogs, I just hope she can manage them all. The first little bitch nearly died but I think my mistress has managed to save her. Cindy doesn't seem very interested in her as she is a weak puppy, but all the rest seem to be healthy and sucking well.

Well tomorrow I am into my 7th week and don't have long to go myself. I don't think I will have as many puppies, certainly not six. I am feeling very lazy and tired, Although I look pretty big, my mistress says maybe I will only have about two or three puppies, but I will just have to wait and see. I love eating raw sheep's lung and heart, and had some very smelly sheep's stomach last night, which I did find rather rich and would not eat all of it. My mistress, is really feeding
Both Lady and I some strange foods. |She call's them natural remedy foods and believes that raw foods are much better than cooked, I think I agree with her as she gave us both some Curry last night and neither Lady or I ate it! Not that it was too hot, but we have got used to raw meat.

I am going for a check up with the Vet tonight to see that all is well. I feel fine, but we must see that my unborn puppies are also developing correctly. My mistress is really very concerned about me, and I think she feels there is something wrong. The Vet says there is nothing to worry about and that I will have a few good-sized puppies. He also says that, I must not eat so much raw meat, as it is not good for me. He gave me some worm tablets and some Befee Vitamins to be crushed onto my food, well I never ate anything last night, just to spite everyone. I really don't feel hungry but my Mistress does not understand this and she cooked me some meat this morning and gave me some egg, milk and Honey, which I would not eat as well. So she took my temperature, which was normal. I wish I could tell her not to worry but she does.

My mistress seems very concerned about my breasts so she phoned the Vet this morning. He is also a little concerned about me, and says that I may have a dead puppy inside me and it my milk had not started to cone down my next Friday, he would like to x-ray me to check that all is O.K. I am sure there is nothing to worry about, I feel just fine. My mistress went to a homeopath Chemist to day and got me some tablets called Lac-Can; they are supposed to produce milk. Ha.Ha.

I am now well into my 8th week, an am felling on top of the world no dog could feel better. My breasts appear to be dropping, but I still don't have any milk. I spent the afternoon at Rick's Daughters house on Sunday, She has a big pool of water in the back yard, and everyone was jumping into it, Not I, it looked cool but I stayed well away, Chows don't get there toes wet. We all had a lovely braai, and I ate all the left over meat, which I really enjoyed. The people next door to Julie, have a Chow, and let me tell you he has the thinnest legs I have ever seen; He has a lovely body, but a "Wolf" face. He my dear friends is just not up to our standard and he thought me a bit of a snob when I growled at him, when he tried to smell me through the fence.

I am now almost in my 9th week and still have no milk to feed my puppies with, when they are born. It’s pouring with rain outside, and although I can come and go, as I like, Lady is locked in the bathroom. This is because we might fight. My Mistress is looking after the dogs next door as their owners are away. I think it is a sin, to leave a young mother Like Cindy alone with her puppies. The other three dogs are now locked in the kitchen, as their balcony is flooded with water, the drains are blocked. She does not have the heart to put them outside in this weather Lady and I am very lucky to have such a caring mistress. She really loves us and would never subject us to bad weather.

6th November, D.Day! Well I know every one at home is awaiting the birth of my litter. Carol has been taking my temperature every day and Robin is keeping an eye on me all the time. I myself just want to rest I am not hungry and will not eat. To day I am 63 days pregnant and I think my puppies are due, I suppose this is what they call a break before the storm I just want to be left alone.

Well my whelping day has come and gone, and I have dug my nest, and still not produced those long awaited puppies. I am also getting worried now. Carol took me to the Vet for a final check up. The verdict "NO PUPPIES' Well you can just imagine how I felt. We were both very upset and cried all the way home. I just can't believe that I went through all those stages of pregnancy for a full 9 weeks to produce 'NIKS well it happens to the best of us, so I wont let it worry me and I shall try again next time.
Carolyn Dewrance.

[Milly and Mabel]

We can not be done with all that bother - anyway, our Mummy Chow who was called Lizzie told us not to have anything to do with boy chows so we havn't.
Anyway, we are going to have a look under the strawberries this coming summer to see if we can find a little chowling girl. If we cannot, we are going to look under the blackberry bushes in the autumn to see if we can find a little chowling boy.

Love from Milly and Mabel.

[carolyn dewrance]

My darlings Millie and Mabel, I do wish you the best of luck with your new baby chowling, and hope that you find that little girl you want so much, I know that she will bring you both lots of joy and I know that your Mommy Judy will love her just as much as she loves you so dont be to jelous, and give her lots of kisses.
Love your Aunty Carolyn