Maremma puppies right before Christmas at DMAR. Tom and I got our Christmas present just a day before Christmas Eve. Bianca had her first litter of pups starting at 8:30 am. Since it was Bianca’s and Santino’s first breeding attempt (each only a year old) the litter was small – only 2 puppies, a male and a female. All are doing well and doing their thing – sleeping and nursing while crying.
We had been watching Bianca like a hawk since Friday night. I took her temperature and it was lower than usual. We knew that this meant impending birth. However, Bianca took her sweet time about it. Her water didn’t break until 4 am Sunday morning and then she left us waiting in anticipation for another 4 1/2 hrs.
Bianca’s vet said he was thrilled to learn that we were breeding Bianca. She has one of the sweetest temperments he has seen in large dogs. Bianca has no issues allowing others to touch her in awkward ways, especially being placed on her back for x-rays. Hopefully she will pass that temperment on to her pups.
Bianca is a great mother. Her instincts kicked in immediately as she cleaned them off. She knows to roll onto her side to give them access to milk and picks up her rear leg when needed to allow them to feed off the rear nipple. Bianca rarely leaves the whelping box. Only when she needs to go to the bathroom. This is pretty incredible since we keep the room at 77-80 degrees. Bianca is an outside dog and loves the temperature to be cold. She must really love her babies to stay in the box panting for hours on end.
As of now the pups have Santino’s coat style. Waves running from the head to their toes. Santino is anxiously waiting for them to appear, but for now the small glimpses of Bianca when she leaves the whelping box will have to do.
Funny, but it seems Santino knew that Bianca was in labor. The night before he began to act differently really wanting to see her. He didn’t eat his dinner nor his breakfast the next morning.
If you would like to see Bianca and her pups please visit www.desertmtnalpacas.com and select the live cam from the top menu. We have four channels connected, 3 for alpaca viewing (we had 2 new crias this month) and 1 set on Bianca. Sorry if it is kind of hard to see them. They are white and sometimes everything looks white in the picture. You will have to look for movement.
Both pups are up for sale. Please contact us at info@desertmtnalpacas.com if you are interested. They are livestock guardian dogs, so we prefer them to go to a working home. I guarantee both you and they will be happier if they have a job to do.
Merry Christmas!
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