Skye, Day 56 (pre-parturition)

Such a beauty.

“The Final Countdown”

As Skye heads into her final week of pregnancy, she is very much focused on finding the perfect den in our backyard to have her puppies. This morning she dug a hole that she can pretty much fit herself into along with Pepper, her partner in crime! It is her natural instinct to find and prepare a den to birth her puppies however, she’ll actually have them in a nice warm and sterile environment known as the whelping box. We keep puppies in our bedroom for the first 3 weeks and over the next week we will make all the final preparations for their arrival.

Skye is still extremely interested in food and will almost take your hand off when offered a treat. She inhales her food in about 4 seconds flat and is now receiving 3 meals daily, but we may increase that to 4 or 5 meals as we move closer to her whelping date. Her abdomen measures a whopping 35.5 inches or approx. 90 cm.

Skye has a cozy dog bed or our king-sized bed to sleep on but prefers the cool tile floor in our ensuite bathroom. She still is very active with the pack and we know our girl Olivia also enjoys the game “find a shady spot and dig a hole”!

National Geographic image of a Golden Retriever puppy fetus

Towards the 50th day of gestation, the fetuses’ skeletons are ossified. At this point, the puppies are fully developed along with their coats of fur and they will rapidly gain in size in preparation for their birth. It is easy to feel the puppies moving around now and we will continue to pamper Skye as we await the BIG day!

Stay tuned ….

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