Montana and her Puppies

So, Alei and I made the road trip to bring Montana home on December 23rd; she was only 10 months old and had already been guarding alpacas. I transitioned her in with the goats, which she was fond of, but after 10 days, she jumped the fence and went missing in the night. We spent three days looking and posting about her, when she emerged from the woods behind the neighbor's house. After that, JD heightened a portion of the fence from 4 foot to 8 to make sure we didn't lose her again while we were on vacation. We also began planning a large electric fence to allow her access to all the farm and house, but keep her home.

One day while a friend was visiting, Montana did a roll onto her back to have her belly rubbed and I was astounded to see what I perceived as the beginning of milk to feed puppies. I talked to the lady I got her from and while at first she admitted that she had not been separated from their male Pyrenees, she later told me that they hadn't been together. The evidence I was seeing led me to believe the first report!

While I was sure she was pregnant, I thought we had a few weeks to prepare and literally was just praying it would be after our Florida trip. The night before we were leaving at 4 a.m. for Disney, I went to the barn to feed and close down the animals and there was the first born puppy crying next to Montana.

We delivered puppies 2-6 in the cold barn between 8 p.m. and midnight. It was absolutely too cold for the puppies so we made the decision that we had to move them all inside. That was much more difficult than it sounds when it involved a 100 pound dog that was scared of stairs, the backyard and the house itself. We packed up the puppies and started leading her towards the house. Twice she laid down and wouldn't budge and poor James would pick her up and carry her. (JD went to be about 10:30 when a friend and her son came to support James and I for the long night!) 

We had to carry her through the backyard and down the retaining wall and into the house she was scared of. We positioned her and the babies on a blanket in a pool in front of the wood stove. She was so exhausted that I don't think she minded. She ended up delivering #7-9 in the basement, but little #9 was still- born. 

At 1:30, I collapsed into bed and my alarm went off at 3:00 to shower and finish packing for a 4:00 departure. I left my sister and pet sitter a text that Montana and the puppies were in the house. I left a dirty and tired new momma dog with 8 hungry puppies that appeared to be nursing well.

 I had a sister and two friends that all tended to Montana and the puppies several times a day. We have some Montana challenges, like she will still wander off, yet doesn't want to go to the bathroom too well on a leash. It is very time consuming to tend to her each day. 

I had the house call vet come and check out Montana; she even cleaned her nicely. I came home for a slimmer, cleaner momma dog and fatter, rounder puppies.

Here's pictures of the babies taken just yesterday by Alei - they were 10 days old.

I'm planning on weekly pictures - they are going to grow so quickly! They are also getting different colored yard tonight to start charting who is who - we have four boys and four girls.

Tomorrow I'll try to blog a bit about our Disney adventure -

Jenny