Just because your dog is pregnant, does not mean that they shouldn’t get some exercise.

Other than their usual friskiness, you should be taking your dog on daily walks up until the last 3 weeks of the pregnancy.

Now, I don’t mean a marathon, and I don’t mean quickly either. Just a moderate walk for your dog that makes sense.

* Tip: Please put your dog on a leash with a comfortable harness, so that something disastrous doesn’t happen to her or her puppies.

* You can check out the Terrier Lover Store for Snazzy Dog Harnesses and Great Dog Leashes too!

Always be sure to bring along water for them and offer it to them a few times during your trek.

* Tip: Please clean up your feces…It’s so rude not to…Just bring a grocery bag and put your hand inside of it. Pick up the feces and turn it inside out and tie it. Voila…You didn’t even have to touch it or make a fuss!

If you have more than one dog in the house, as we do, and they often get rambunctious with each other, try to minimize this behavior, especially as the dog pregnancy progresses, as it could be harmful to the puppies if they play too rough.

Your dog should be feeling the “effects” of being pregnant, and may not even really feel like playing much, especially if they are feeling nauseated around 3 weeks from morning sickness.

Try to minimize your dog from jumping onto or off of high furniture. Give them a lift if you must. Just be smart!

***

I hope you enjoyed this Dog Breeding post on Terrier Lover! Until next time…

Love Your Terrier,

Kimberly Edwards

P.S. Check out the Terrier Lover Store for all of your Terrier Needs…It’s really cool too, by the way.

Technorati Tags: dog breeding, terrier breeding, dog pregnancy, dog exercise during pregnancy, pregnant dog, dog exercise, dog health

Many of you may think that our little pregnant dogs may have all kinds of strange cravings and want to eat like crazy when they’re pregnant…but dog’s are pretty controlled in all honesty.

They may want a few more morsels than usual, but that’s normal.

So, what should your regimen be when your dog is pregnant?

Well, a dog’s pregnancy is typically 60-63 days long, roughly 9 weeks.

So, here is your food schedule:

1st 30 days –> The dog should be eating normally…nothing new, nothing different.

* Tip: You may supplement fresh meat into their diet on a daily basis if you are so inclined.

Last month –> The mommy dog should be eating a high quality puppy food.

Now, in my opinion, I think it’s healthy to also supplement a mother dog’s diet, and any dog’s diet for that matter, with Read the rest of this entry »

I had this awesome summary of everything we were supposed to do when we bred Knosey and Kaptain.

However, after Knosey mated, she developed a pyometra (check out the post to find out what that is, and how to spot it), and was saved by emergency surgery.

In the meantime that we’re waiting on Kurious’ next heat to breed her and Kaptain instead, I didn’t want this list to go unused, as I felt it is very comprehensive and easy to glance at to know exactly what you’re doing and when.

***

Well, if you’re breeding your dog, you will know when they mate, so mark down the dates they mated.

It should be on the 10th, 12th and 14th day after the dog’s heat starts.

Pregnancy is roughly 9 weeks (60-63 days after mating), so here’s what it could look like:

About 3 weeks after mating, an ultrasound can be done, but vets often wait a little bit longer so that the puppies are more developed and easier to see.

The dog may have an upset stomach at this time and may not want to eat for about 7-10 days, just like morning sickness in humans.

About 4 weeks after mating, vets can do a blood test to confirm the pregnancy, if you haven’t had an ultrasound or don’t want to pay for it, as it can be costly.

If you do have an ultrasound, they would be able to tell how many puppies there are now too.

* Tip: It is important to know exactly how many puppies there are, so that you know if your dog is in trouble when they are delivering the puppies in labor. There could be a puppy at least every 2 hrs. If the dog goes longer, then she is in trouble and a vet should be called immediately!

Around 5 weeks, the dog’s Read the rest of this entry »

Terrier Newsflash:

From your previous reads, you may remember one of our girl miniature schnauzers, Knosey.

We just bred her, at 2 yrs of age, with our boy, Kaptain (Knosey & Kaptain – Bred at Last).

We were convinced that Knosey was pregnancy months ago (So We Think Knosey is Pregnant). Knosey had a False Pregnancy (Does Your Terrier Have a False Pregnancy?) a few months ago now, and then went into heat about 1 month ago, and we were overjoyed that everything was alright.

Knosey would be close to 6 weeks pregnant now and we would have been expecting a litter of pups come the end of August (Knosey’s Real Pregnancy?).

However, out of blue today, Knosey started vomiting and apparently, she had not eaten, as evidenced by the lack of substance in the fluid.

Then, I noticed blood on the tiles…She was bleeding. Concerned that this could be a miscarriage or infection, we rushed her to the vet immediately tonight.

We are so glad we did, as she has a Pyometra – a disease of the uterus most commonly seen in female dogs.

Instead of the uterus filling up with a pregnancy, it fills up with a fluid and becomes infected. The vet told us that there is a saying – “Never the let the sun go down on a pyometra!”

After blood tests were done, it was confirmed that she has a serious infection, as evidenced by the white blood cells in the discharge and her blood sample taken. X-rays confirmed that, in fact, there were no puppies…it is just a very inflamed uterus.

They are trying to reduce her fever and hydrate her before emergency surgery, probably starting within a few minutes from now…

We are grateful to God that we noticed the problem right away and went to the vet for investigation. Sad that Knosey doesn’t have babies, and due to the complete ovariohysterectomy, will never be able to have puppies, but…

…So Thankful that they will be able to save her life!

Without ovariohysterectomy surgery, or spaying, she could lose her life due to the toxicity of the infection.

The vet says that pyometra is common in dogs and cats, but not many other species of animal, and is not something that occurs in humans.

Although common, and the fact that the vet has performed numerous surgeries of this type, she says it is a serious and somewhat dangerous surgery and could have unforeseen complications.

The surgery should last about 2 hrs, and consists of removal of uterus, ovaries, etc, and thoroughly cleansing the area of the infection.

It’s dangerous because the uterus is so infected that they need to be very careful not to tear the uterus and expose other parts of the body to the infection.

Knosey will have to stay at the vet for about 2 days after surgery and will be sent home on oral antibiotics.

The vet assured us that Knosey will be under full anesthetic, have an ECG monitor, an anesthetist present and a team of vets that just happen to all be on tonight at the Emergency Hospital.

I will update you by 3:00 am, as she should be out of surgery and we should know the immediate outcome.

We appreciate everyone’s concern about Knosey and everyone’s prayers for her healthy pregnancy.

***

I hope this post on Terrier Health will be helpful to others! Until next time…

Love Your Terrier,

Kimberly Edwards

P.S. You may leave a Comment by Commenting in the Box Below!

Technorati Tags: ovariohysterectomy, pyometra, dog health, dog surgery, dog pregnancy, spaying

Terrier Newsflash:

Hey, Everybody…What’s up?

This is Kimberly’s hubby, Kenney…and I have been away from my family for a while working on real estate, but…

I am still very connected to my little family, including my miniature schnauzer doggies.

…And there’s one little surprise that I am so happy to find out about…

…Is Knosey, our little Miniture Schnauzer (who just had her 2nd birthday) Pregnant?

We bred her just before Kimberly came down to Texas, and if she is pregnant we’ll be getting ready to really start seeing it show.

As a matter of fact, we will be getting an ultrasound done around the 18th of July.

I am so excited!!!

We bred her with our only boy, Kaptain. Kaptain is a 14.5 lb Mini Schnauzer, who is blonde in color and has the neatest & calmest of temperments.

…And Knosey, although she was a beautiful jet black color as a baby, is a platinum color now, with the sweetest little personality and temperment also.

The Perfect Schnauzer::
These two precious ones should make the perfect baby Mini Schnauzers. Ok, Ok, I am a little biased, but “it’s true”…LOL!

***

I hope you enjoyed this Terrier Breeding post on Terrier Lover! Until next time…

Love Your Terrier,

Kenney E.

P.S. Is your dog pregnant, or are you thinking of breeding your dogs? Check out this great book to get started:

The Complete Book of Dog Breeding The Complete Book of Dog Breeding

Technorati Tags: mini schnauzer, pregnant dogs, dog breeding, miniature schnauzer

That’s right!

We finally bred our 2 1/2 yr old female, Knosey with our 4 yr old male, Kaptain. This is an exciting expected litter, as Kaptain is a rare blonde color, and Knosey is a platinum color, which is also rarer.

Looking at the dates, it seems that we should have a litter of puppies between August 19-22nd, provided Knosey is in fact pregnant.

Lots of puppy duties we need to get ready for, and lots of reading up on a number of things that have to do with Knosey’s pregnancy, whelping and raising the puppies.

She is perky and happy, but has been sleeping a little bit more than usual.

We are very excited to have our very 1st litter of miniature schnauzer puppies!

I’ll keep you updated on how Knosey is progressing…

…This may be confusing for Knosey, as she just finished with a False Pregnancy (check out that post here)…

***

I hope you enjoyed this Dog Breeding post on Terrier Lover! Until next time…

Love Your Terrier,

Kimberly Edwards

P.S. Is your dog pregnant, or are you thinking of breeding your dogs? Check out this great book to get started:

The Complete Book of Dog Breeding The Complete Book of Dog Breeding

Technorati Tags: dog breeding, dog health, dog mating, dog pregnancy, miniature schnauzers, puppies, miniature schnauzer puppies

Terrier Newsflash:

“I don’t know how it happened”…LOL…

Well, Knosey, who usually goes into heat before Kurious, has not…In fact, she is very late, so to speak.

In the past week, she has gained 1.6 lbs and has not been fed anything extra or special from the other dogs…She is visibly more “fluffy”…

Extremely “nesty” and uncomfortable while sleeping, we believe she may be pregnant. One more week of weighing, and if she gains close to 1 lb this week, we will be doing an ultrasound.

It is common for the vets to want to just do an x-ray, but in my mind, that just does not make sense. You would NEVER get Read the rest of this entry »

I saw this video today, and fell in love…Of course, it’s Puppy Love! Hope you enjoy it…

Love Your Terrier,

Kimberly Edwards

P.S. Check out this all-inclusive book on JRTs:

Technorati Tags: Jack Russell terriers, Jack Russell puppies, terrier puppies, puppies, terrier breed, terrier

Terrier Announcement:

This is the newest addition to our extended family! My mother just adopted a little girl, miniature schnauzer from the breeder we got our 4 from. (Yes, we are all Terrier Crazy!)

Her official name is “My Precious Princess”, but she’ll be Precious for short!

We mulled over so many names, but came back to the 1st name mom chose in the beginning…Precious!

Isn’t she darling? She was born on 7/24/2007 and is still in Texas, but will be home soon to meet her new mommy!

My husband took these amazing photos of her yesterday and emailed them to us…So exciting!

She can’t really Read the rest of this entry »

The West Highland White Terrier is one of my favorite breeds of terrier. My mother has an 11 yr old Westie-Poo mix (Photo to the left: Sugar), and she is a lovely dog.

Since the Westie is so closely related to the Cairn Terrier, resembling a white Cairn of sorts, I am in love with this breed as well, since I had a Cairn terrier for 18 yrs. The photo below to the right looks so very similar to our Honey it is amazing. This dog is just slightly lighter than our Cairn was.

Both Westies and Cairns have that typical happy-looking “smile” on their face, just like the one the Westie has below…

I found a wonderful article to help you decide if you want to adopt a The West Highland White Terrier of your own, or for some more information on your Westies! I hope you find it information and enjoyable to read!

***

West Highland White Terriers – A Wonderful Breed Apart
By Jeff Cuckson

West Highland White Terriers are furry coated dogs, with dots for coal black eyes and button noses.

Why are West Highland White Terrier puppies sought after by many dog lovers? Because Read the rest of this entry »