Meet Maddie, our Mama Dog, with her Newborn Puppies

Hello Steemit Philippines! Allow me to share this incredible day of my life to all of you.

Yesterday morning, my family and I were able to witness the miracle of four tiny lives brought by our rescue dog, Maddie, who has been with us for almost six years now. Maddie is a rescue dog way back in 2016. She was found as a stray by my sister in her workplace, and was fostered there until my husband decided to take her home. We welcomed Maddie to our family, cleaned her up, and showed her a lot of love. But having a rescue dog involved difficulties like backyard escapes, chewed up objects, destroyed couches and so much more. When we took her home, we had to dog-proof our house. In spite of that, rescuing Maddie has been an immensely rewarding experience.

The Whelping Story

Around 5óclock in the morning, I woke up to the sound of my dog in labor. She was panting, vomiting and making weird noises. We knew she was pregnant, but we did not expect her to give birth this soon. Pregnancy in dogs, or gestation period, is approximately 63 days from the day of conception. Today is her 57th day, so we expected labor to happen next week. But she started her contractions earlier in the morning, and from what it looks like, her contractions happened a few hours ago.

Maddie’s placental sac broke and the puppies began to be pushed out, within a 10 - 20 minutes interval. I was not able to capture the birthing process because she had her puppies in seclusion (although we transferred her and the puppies to a safer place later in the afternoon) and I panicked a little bit. It was my first time seeing a dog give birth and it wasn’t just any other dog, it’s our dog that we love so dearly. I woke everyone up in the house to let them know. My husband told us to keep our distance and just quietly observe the birthing process. After all, Maddie did not really need much help.

Three hours later :

Maddie delivered a healthy litter of four puppies (three male and one female; the gray one is the female pup). They make crying noises as they were born, but Maddie immediately fed them and hence the crying stopped. The puppies look so adorable with their big eyes, round face, and small heads. They inherit their color from Maddie, as seen from their black and white dominant colors. I hope the pups resemble their personalities from their mother as well, who is a smart, friendly, and affectionate dog.

We are so proud to have seen our dog give birth to four amazing puppies all by herself. It was really amazing watching her mother dog instincts take over as she whelp, nurse, and take care of the puppies. She constantly licks the pups and keeps her eyes on them, which made us realize that we have nothing to worry about because our dog is a responsible mama dog. This day is my proudest moment as a dog owner.

This ends my entry. I am inviting @jeanalyn @janeaugusto @yangitu99 to join this. Thank you for reading my diary and stay safe always!