This Time, Yaddle Says "YES!"

July 17, 2025

Anyone who has been reading my stories for a while knows that I am a preservation breeder of Toy Fox Terriers and Teddy Roosevelt Terriers. Some of you might remember that last year, starting in March, I had made plans to breed my precious Yaddle. I left her with "Mama Kathleen" in Texas after she and I attended the United Dog Owners Group (UKC) show in Longview. As soon as she came into heat, a mutual friend and Teddy breeder was going to bring her stud to Kathleen's place and he and Yaddle would, um, jump the broom, so to speak. Unfortunately, few activities have such a high plan failure rate as dog breeding. The tryst never happened and we made alternate arrangements. And, due to that high plan failure rate, Plan B also failed to come to fruition.

I spent close to nine months after Yaddle's false pregnancy making certain she was in outstanding physical and mental condition before trying again--even having some very hard talks with myself about whether I should try again at all. May rolled around again and Yaddle came into season, right on time. By this time, Steele was old enough, in my opinion, to sire a litter. We knew that his temperament was good. His DNA analysis didn't show anything super scary. Yaddle was happier than ever. Both the vet and my gut told me that we were good to go. Telling myself that it would be the last attempt to breed her, ever, I allowed the pairing to take place.

As typical, I started feeding her half her regular food and half puppy food, to ensure that she was getting the nutrients puppies needed for growth. I also started her on prenatal vitamins and took her off of anything that was not vital for her survival or for that of her puppies. Dental water additive? Gone. Oral flea meds? Gone. Snacks with Mama? Well . . . no. They stayed. For several weeks, I waited with bated breath to determine if she had conceived. Dogs don't start to gain weight until five weeks into a nine-week-long pregnancy. X-rays and ultrasounds are also pretty useless until then. It was true that she had gained weight over time, but between the food and the vitamins, I'd have been surprised if she hadn't gained weight. Kathleen and I are in agreement about palpating a female dog's abdomen to check for puppies: there's too much of a risk of harming or losing the puppies without having a darn good reason to palpate. Just confirming pregnancy isn't enough.

Then, just past the five-week mark, it happened. I felt a puppy kick for the very first time. I didn't say anything to anyone about it until a few days later, when the kicks were starting to become stronger and more frequent. From that moment on, the puppies were strong and vigorous. Dan guessed that she was going to have four, maybe five puppies, but by the time she was a week from delivery, I think that Yaddle was guesstimating that she was going to give birth to about 100 of them. The puppies settled down as her due date drew near and they were moving into delivery position, but her tummy was just about scraping the floor, poor thing.

July 19, 2025

To be 100 percent honest, I thought that she was going to have her puppies today. I had brought Topper down from Dan's place to get some photos of him, as I'm still trying to sell him (albeit half-heartedly), so he'd been staying in the large crate that I have set aside for pregnant moms and new litters. When Yaddle started nesting on Wednesday night, I informed Topper that he was moving into smaller accommodations. There I was at midnight, scrubbing away and adding new bedding, cursing dogs that just can't seem to manage to keep to my plans or schedule. By three o'clock, the crate was cleaned with fresh bedding, covered with a new comforter/drape, and moved back into place. I had, at this point, forgotten to put the privacy sheet up inside the crate, which doubles as a prevention device against puppies getting their heads stuck between the vertical wires, but at the time I was blissfully unaware. I napped for a few short minutes periodically through the night as Yaddle settled in, shifted blankets the way she wanted them, and eventually dozed off.

At five o'clock I gave up sleep as a bad job. I got up, fed the dogs, and had a cup of coffee. Yaddle pushed most of her food aside, then went to lie on her side in the nest that she had prepared. She wasn't pushing, she wasn't whining, she wasn't doing anything but lie there and yawning. She was stressed because she was confused. Yaddle, for anyone who's not familiar with her, is a "special needs" dog due to an accident when she was a puppy. She was trusting me to make certain she got through everything okay, because I always had done so before. At 7:49, the first puppy was born. No muss, no fuss, just a few pushes before she was calmly washing her first puppy. He was beautiful, a little blue tuxedo male who weighed just over five ounces. Everything was seemingly well with the world.

Over the next couple of hours, things took a decided turn south. Yaddle kept pushing Little Boy Blue away from her. She'd turn her back on him or curl into a tight ball when he tried to nurse. On the one hand, it could have meant that she was simply confused and irritated at this thing sucking at her nipples--how rude! On the other hand, there could have been something wrong with the puppy and she possessed enough instinct to reject it. Either way, it was Not Good. Believing that it was the former and not the latter, I kept putting him near her and he would nurse a few drops at a time. But the puppy was the least of my worries at that moment. Even more troubling to me is that Yaddle never showed the least sign of continuing with labor after the first puppy after the first was born.

Again, it's not something that you worry about right away, so had it not been Yaddle I might not have been so concerned. However, I had also gone through a gruesome with another breeder's dogs in which both puppy and dam died. I didn't want my thoughts to go there, but inevitably, they did. As the moments ticked away between puppies, I grew more concerned. After an hour, I gave her a bit of calcium to stimulate her contractions. Nope. I took her out of the crate to move around. No contractions. Another 30 minutes, more calcium. Nope. I had one female dog who would regularly go two hours between puppies, but when the second hour passed with nothing, I was beginning to think cesarian section. Yikes. The only good thing was that Yaddle was starting to show maternal thoughts toward the puppy. She let him nurse, then curled around him for a nap. Mind you, I'm operating on two hours of continuous sleep, a few micronaps, and a copious amount of caffeine. The last thing I want is for her to just doze, for Heaven's sake!

It did occur to me that if she's napping, then she's not in distress. Reassured by that thought, I went into the kitchen to make myself a bit of breakfast. When I returned to the living room, Yaddle was stretched out on her side. A few minutes later, at ten nineteen, the second puppy was born, a blue tuxedo female who weighed a little under five ounces. She had barely gotten the second puppy washed, when the third puppy, a blue tricolor male that weighed nearly six ounces was born at ten thirty-six. At ten fifty, the fourth and final puppy, another blue tricolor male who weighed just a hair more than 4.5 ounces, was born. And Yaddle? Yaddle settled right into this motherhood thing. After not even turning a hair through the entire process, she proceeded to clean every puppy from stem to stern, nosing them into their respective places to nurse and to eliminate. By eleven thirty, I laid down for a well-deserved nap. After all the wild disappointment that I had last year, this litter was a positive experience.

Of course, I wouldn't be me without having some concerns. The final puppy was a bit thin and a bit small for my taste. He's gained weight both times I've weighed him since he was born. He's caught up to the female puppy, weight-wise, and he doesn't look as thin as he did, so I'm not concerned about him being a "failure to thrive" puppy at this point. As with any litter, anything can happen at any time. They're going in to see the vet on Monday, so I'll get just a little more information then.

So, that's where we stand right now. I don't have a litter "theme" for call names yet. If I end up keeping the female, I suspect that she'll have a science fiction related name. We'll see. It's all up in the air right now. I'll probably write more about this litter in the future, good and bad as it comes. Right now, though, Yaddle is dozing as two of the puppies nurse and the other two blindly find their way through their world. All is peaceful. All is good. If you don't mind, please send prayers or good thoughts for this litter. I'd appreciate it and so would Yaddle, now that she's starting to figure this puppy thing out.