So much for being prepared. Gadget is roaming around the house at midnight last night. Drinking water like there's no tomorrow, I hear her enter the bathroom so she can drink yet more water from the toilet. Which is something I have always allowed, since St. Bernards drink gallons of water a day; at least mine do. So I got up to fill her water bowl for the umpteenth time, and decided while I was up I might as well check her temp. 99.5 degrees. Okay, safe for another day. NOT! Not only did she not show ANY signs of labor, she showed no signs of stress, pain, fear, nesting, restlessness, or any of the other things I read about. And not only did she not have her pup in her whelping box, she didn't even have them in the house. Which looking back now, THANK GOODNESS! Birthing anything is a messy proposition. But I digress.
She had been making her little nest outside all along; I just didn't notice it until this morning when I got up to feed my pregnant dog, only to look out the window and discover she was not only no longer pregnant, but had delivered all her pups! She did it all by herself, DUH, and she did a terrific job to boot! Everyone of them had already been cleaned and corded, and they were all nursing happily in their tiny home made nest Gadget had lovingly created for them.
On a sad note, Gadget delivered 10 puppies. 2 of them didn't survive, but I am convinced by the way she had both of them cleaned and groomed like the rest that even if I had been there to help they would not have survived. She did an awesome job all by herself. So much for human intervention. Dogs have been giving birth for at least 2000 years, I'm sure they know what they're doing. At least Gadget does.
So now we are off to the vet to make sure nothing got left behind.....as if...
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