The puppies joined the world on May 16, 2007 which was Day 60 and right on target! Our vet had made a kennel call on the morning of the 15th and we noticed Easy's temperature had dropped, a sure sign that puppies would arrive within the next 12-24 hours. Tom was away for work and I was the anxious mid-wife. We had erected the the whelping box in the attached garage, which in our case, has never been used for parking vehicles. The whelping box is the size of a small room itself, and has two compartments; one for birthing and puppies and another where momma can escape to her own food and water and time-out as she desires. As the puppies grow, the safety rails are removed. Easy was restless, busy shredding papers and moving about but each time I checked on her there were no babies yet. Finally, I turned out the light and went to bed, leaving the baby monitor next to my bed. I must have fallen into a deep sleep because at 12:43 a.m., somewhere in the recesses of my sleepy brain, I recognized the mewling of puppies. PUPPIES!! OMIGOSH! I jumped up and ran out to discover Easy had already delivered two healthy pups, a male and a female, without my help, Thank you very much! Puppies continued until 4:40, quite uneventfully. Easy was a devoted mother to the birthing, and all pups were delivered, cleaned and fed without need for human intervention. To me, two signs I look for in a dog I want to keep are whether they are easy breeders and easy whelpers. With those two in place, my anecdotal observations are that they will be an excellent mother.
Puppies are given litter names, so that when we give vaccinations and worm, or just document handling we can tell them apart and know who we are referring to. Some times their litter names have simply reflected their markings (two spot boy, one spot girl) but this time they received actual names. Owners who have made reservations can request their own "D" names, but of course, can call them anything they like. We use the German naming protocol, so each subsequent munsterlander litter receives a letter designation. This is our fourth litter, and so the names must begin with the letter "D", followed by vom Foxtal. The word "vom" means " from or of" and our kennel name uses the word "tal" which means "valley" in German. Therefore, we have names which essentially read, as example, Danica from Fox Valley. The male and female who had arrived before my notice are at this time called Danica (the girl, the little speed racer) and Doc.
Dark and Diablo came next, at 1:52 and 2:22 respectively. Diablo was the first puppy to receive a name (the others had to wait until their personalities dictated their names). He was not even free of the birth canal and was shaking his little head back and forth, as if to say "get me the heck out of here! I've got things to do!" As soon as he hit the ground, he complained and headed directly for the chow line! I thought to myself, "you little devil!" And so, he was dubbed Diablo.
D'jango joined the gang at 4:40 and the family was complete. His name is pronounced Jango, and you can see him belly up at the food bar while the others are happily napping.
