Storm and Chanel Puppies Day 39 Pre Parturition

Chanel is thankful Spring has finally arrived.

Chanel has always been a very calm and easy-going girl. Now that she is pregnant, she seems very much the same but her “happy meter“ is off the charts. Her tail is wagging constantly and she likes to carry her favourite stuffed toy around in her mouth. 

Chanel did have a mild bout of morning sickness around day 25 but she bounced back quickly. She is eating about 20 oz. daily which we will increase to 22 oz. this week. 

Chanel hasn’t slowed down yet and still is very active with the pack. She eagerly runs out the door every morning to check the perimeter of our backyard fence. Chanel is our resident chief of security with Faith and a few others as back up!

We expect Chanel will slow down over the next couple of weeks as her abdomen grows.  

Above is an amazing photo by National Geographic of an embryo at 25 days.

Pre-natal period: It is an interesting fact that a dog's tactile perception develops before birth, therefore unborn puppies can detect "touch" when the mother is petted from the outside of the abdomen. This establishes the basis for puppies to tolerate being touched when compared to puppies born to mothers that were not petted.
Pregnant dogs that are exposed to stressful events tend to release hormones that can be detected by the fetuses which can negatively influence their future development. This underscores the importance of providing pregnant dogs with a stress-free and tranquil environment.

At this stage, the puppies’ eyes and spinal cords have begun to develop and their faces are also forming. The fetuses are approximately 1.3 cm. This may seem small but they will triple in size in just one week. Between days 29 and 35, their toes, whiskers and claws start to develop. They are now beginning to look like dogs! Interestingly, their eyes are initially open but their eyelids fuse at around day 35 to protect them from contamination during development and remain closed until approximately 10 days after birth.  

And now we wait patiently for the miracle to happen!