o'cockaigne

While I’m waiting for Charlaigne to give birth, I can update my website.

October 17 we went with two fully loaded cars, the caravan and a trailer with a quad, to Ronostrand in Een. We didn’t have to take care of a field at Rono with the CC2000 team this year, but we would have our CC2000 coursing the following weekend in Hoogeveen.

Initially, I had only entered Crumbaugh for the coursing, but because the two bitches that were to be entered would not be present anyway, both Crumbaugh and Cranston Argyll ran a training session on Friday and a trial run each on Saterday and Sunday. It didn’t matter to them, they had just as much fun!

Brandir always likes to scurry around, greet the acquaintances and see how stupid those hounds are to run after a piece of plastic.

Monday we left for Hoogeveen where we were very hospitably received at Camping Hollandscheveld. A beautiful location, adjacent to nature reserves where you could walk with the hounds. The coursing field was next to the campsite but not visible to the hounds and the quad was barely audible so it remained wonderfully quiet on the campsite.

After a wet start of the week, the weather cleared up so much that on the coursing day many people were walking around in a T-shirt. As a result, the joint lunch could be enjoyed outside under a bright sun.

Simon had been busy all week trying to figure out a good course. The field was a bit on the narrow side and completely bordered by tall trees. But in the end he managed to lay down a nice long and safe course. We had around 33 courses both in the morning and in the afternoon with most of the hounds running solo. I always like to have several hounds of different breeds running together and that’s why Crumbaugh ran together with Mika and Kimmi, the two Afghan males of John and Karin Alt. What fun and beautiful courses those were! Especially in the afternoon they were not inferior to each other and it was a chaotic gang of people at the finish who tried to grab the hounds while they tried to take the hare from each other and jumped around each other. At one point, Crumbaugh just dragged Mika along!! And all that without even once growling at each other!

The old Brandir is also still going strong. I’m just saying that he would like to see the puppies, his great-grandchildren. He’s so good with puppies! I just hope he can enjoy them for a while.

Charlaigne in the whelping box with the traditional, crocheted puppy straps.

Yes, and now we have to wait for those puppies. It won’t be long and everything will be ready for delivery.

Fingers crossed that everything goes well!!

On 9 October, I had an ultrasound at Charlaigne and 9 embryos could be seen at that time, one of which looked strange but had a heartbeat. The doctor suspected that it would be resorbed so we counted on 8 puppies. A good number.

Meanwhile, we are a few days on and Charlaigne gave birth in the night and early morning of Tuesday 12 to Wednesday 13 November. The first pup came into the world at 0.45. A very small male of barely 300 grams. But very powerful with tremendous perseverance. While I was trying to remove the membrane, he crawled towards a nipple and tried to grab it but the placenta was still attached so he couldn’t go any further. That was a struggle for a while, also because it was the first pup and Charlaigne had no idea what was happening. But when the placenta came loose, he hung on to the nipple in a jiffy! At 2.10, a male (490 grams) and a female (380 grams) came in such quick succession that we were short of hands and also have no idea who was first. An hour and twenty minutes later came male number 3 of 400 grams and at 5.00 a bitch of 320 grams was born. At 5.15 came another male of 400 grams. Around six, Charlaigne had to go for a pee again but after peeing, she took the press position and a puppy popped out! Luckily I had a towel with me and was able to catch it just in time before it fell into the high wet grass! So it was a male of 420 grams. An hour later, a very tiny teeny-tiny bitch weighing 270 grams! was born. What a brat this was but also a little fighter.

So we thought after No 8 that Charlaigne would be done but by ten contractions came again and the last male was born. A hefty one weighing 510 grams.

After changing, I thought I would get a few hours’ sleep. I had been up for almost 48 hours since Charlaigne had also been a bit restless from Monday to Tuesday.

But alas, it was not to be because at noon Simon called out that Charlaigne was again in the pushing position but that she had not had any contractions. I then went for a walk with her first because this usually helps but nothing happened. Then I called the vet and rushed over because she had been in labour for 12 hours.

There was an X-ray first to see if there was anything left in it – yes. Then an ultrasound to see if it was still alive – yes.

And then you have to decide; open it right away or first try to induce contractions with oxytocin so she can give birth to it herself.

Since a caesarean section is an intense operation anyway, the doctor advised trying the oxytocin first. But alas, nothing happened.

Meanwhile, Simon sat at home with 9 hungry puppies who did not want to be bottle fed. I asked him to call Desiree Knoop (a Whippet breeder with an awful lot of experience) and ask her if she could come and give tube feedings.

Fortunately, she was willing to do so but she was at the vet for vaccinations with her own dogs. If she had had to go back home first to collect the stuff it would have taken hours more. So she called home to ask if her daughter could bring the stuff to her in Etten-Leur and by four o’clock Desiree was with us and fed the puppies and made sure they relieved themselves as well.

What a relief! And how grateful we are to Desiree for doing this for our puppies.

But meanwhile, I was at the vet and Charlaigne was being prepared for surgery. I didn’t have much hope that the puppy would still be alive, it was past three in the meantime, so I was incredibly surprised when the assistant came to me with a live puppy in a towel! It is a nice firm bitch who was born at about 3.45pm and weighed 470 grams when she came home.

And so then there were 10 puppies!

The first few days went well. The puppies have not lost any weight and have started to grow well right away. During the nights we take turns to keep a close eye on Charlaigne and the little ones. But she doesn’t get up a single time and turns out to be an exemplary mother. She has plenty of milk but …. unfortunately only 8 nipples! So the puppies have to take turns drinking, 5 to 5.

The other hounds have to stay at an appropriate distance; not visible. If even one dares to appear in her field of vision, her looks are lethal!!!

But on Friday, Charlaigne’s temperature flies up and she is clearly not feeling well. She has to go on antibiotics but that does little to change her situation. Over the weekend, she starts peeing more and more frequently and smaller, so we think she has a bladder infection. Simon is able to collect some more from Victoire on Sunday evening but she doesn’t respond to this either. Monday morning I call the vet and he says I can just use Novacam. At first she responds to this but Tuesday afternoon her temperature shoots up well over 40℃!
To the vet again and after an ultrasound, blood and urine tests, the only conclusion is that she has an infection somewhere, probably at the cervix because ‘something’ could be seen there. So continuing the antibiotics and Novacam and hoping she responds quickly. Since it took quite a long time for Simon to return with Charlaigne, I just tube-fed the puppies so they wouldn’t suck Charlaigne dry like a bunch of starving wolves all at once.

When Charlaigne has to go outside or to the vet, the puppies are in a crate. Meanwhile, there is also a bigger box next to it, as the biggest ones already came over the edge of the crate! There is also more peace and quiet when they have a bit more space.

But on Saturday night, something went badly wrong! I had just returned from walking Charlaigne and was standing with my back to and next to the crate with puppies, when suddenly a huge scream came from the crate. I looked and snatched out two puppies, one of which had a paw stuck in the collar of another. Luckily, a good pair of scissors was within reach but I couldn’t get the strap cut. The puppies screamed like mad, Charlaigne all panicked and the other hounds came running too. I yelled at Simon, who was asleep, to come and help because holding two struggling puppies and cutting a strap with a big pair of scissors ……..

Anyway, in the end it worked and the puppies were fine except that they were all pretty upset, because they felt the panic unerringly. And us no less!

In all the years I have been using these straps, I have never had any problems with them but I have now ordered others straight away.

Wednesday early afternoon, Charlaigne’s temperature goes over 40℃ again and she has to go back to the vet. Now she gets a fever-reducing injection and another antibiotic to go with it only they did not have this in stock and it would not be there until Friday! We called several more clinics but no one had it in stock. In the end, we ended up at Desiree’s again and she knew her vet had it. She picked it up on Thursday morning and brought it to us so we could administer it ourselves.

On Thursday afternoon, Victoire came to give Brandir his acupuncture and she took an immediate look at Charlaigne. She too thought it was a worrying situation and left some remedies for her. The temperature kept hovering around 39.8℃ and it wasn’t until Friday evening around ten that it suddenly dropped below 39. Puh, what a relief!!! Things are finally moving in the right direction although we are still worried because she is panting so much. Hopefully the problem is really solved and the temperature won’t fly up again when we stop the antibiotics.

We are now 12 days on, the eyes are slowly opening and some of them can already get out quite well. We still take turns watching over Charlaigne and her kids, day and night. So we are running out of sleep because catching up during the day is proving impossible. But then again, we don’t want to take any chances.