Havanese Forum banner

Molly's first litter

12K views 80 replies 18 participants last post by  Ditto's Mom 
#1 ·
Molly set all sorts of records, yesterday afternoon. She told Pam she wanted to go in the whelping room, that she had been shown several times in the past several days. Starting 15 minutes later, she had the first 4 puppies in 32 minutes. In an hour, and twenty minutes total, and she had four girls, and two boys.

That was the middle of the afternoon. Usually, it's 3 or 4 in the morning when they start, and takes hours. Pam texted me while I was still at work. I asked her how Molly did, knowing it was her first litter, and sometimes they get a bit worked up with the whole process. Pam said that Molly did better than Twinkle, who was always the easiest whelper ever, and thoroughly enjoyed the whole process. We didn't think it possible that one would ever be any better at it than Twinkle was.

Usually, the Mom won't leave the litter for the first 24 hours, but soon after I came home, she was at her door, asking to go outside to potty.

It always amazes me how they know exactly what to do, every time, but this has been extra easy so far. Molly is very proud of her puppies, as they always are, but it doesn't bother her a bit to leave them for a short while. She wraps them up when she leaves the whelping box.

Several records set, but also maybe the flashiest ever Red litter. The light colored ones are the color that turns the really dark clear Red. They all have some white on them.

Even with Molly's good work, Pam, and I have still had a busy time, and she had to leave me here by myself today, so she could go help a friend with Cancer who is selling her house. I don't think she's contacted anyone on the list yet, even, but I didn't want to wait to show off these puppies.
 

Attachments

See less See more
1
#10 · (Edited)
Only if we have a good reason to breed one before they turn two. There is really no good reason to put off OFA hip testing in Havanese until two years old, but not enough people in Havanese know, or care enough about the whole hip testing picture to change the minimum testing age to 1, instead of 2. I think 2 was the default when people starting doing OFA hips, and no one thought to question it.

So few understand the OFA hip rating methods, and I'm sure many dogs have been thrown out of the breeding pool simply because of a bad Xray. I'd say it would be a safe bet to say that at least half, probably way more than that, of the Havanese listed with Mild Dysplasia on the OFA site is because of poor quality xrays. Havanese have very flexible hips, and if there is any pulling on a hip, by either the person holding the dog, or the dog itself, while taking the xray, the rating is going to be lower than it would be with a good xray. If one just hands the dog off to go get the xray, the average technician if not going to get a good Havanese xray very often.

If one was paying attention, there have been dogs with Good preliminary that might have come back MD later, but the hips don't normally deteriorate, so the rating would just be from a poor quality xray. We know of a couple of Havanese, that belonged to other people who didn't understand how to look at the xrays, that had dogs to get Mild Dysplastic on preliminary, but got Excellent on the final one, after they turned 2. Those dogs didn't have hips that improved like that. It was from the xray quality. They both had Pam look at the Prelim xrays, and knew better what to do for Finals after Pam explained it to them. Both of those MD prelims had the dogs rotated, and one leg pulled on.

Pam always looks at the first xray taken, and if the positioning wasn't good, she'll have another one taken. We don't put our dogs under just to get the best rating, but if we know one will get a Good rating, that's good enough for us. It's not hard to grade the xray if you know what to look for.

There are good reasons for breeding a dog before it turned 2, or before you could get an appointment for the xray to be done after it turns two. For instance, if you have a female who has a long period between heat cycles, and it would put her close to 3 before you could breed her after getting the xray taken after she was 2, or you have a Male you want to breed before he turns two who got a good Prelim OFA hip.

For those that don't know, the reason to not breed a Havanese until after 2 is because you can't get a final on OFA hips done until before that age. That's the only real reason. All other testing can be done before. Pennhips can be done before age 2. To get Penn Hips done, we have to travel an hour and a half farther than our Vet who does our xrays for OFA, and appointments can only be scheduled pretty far in advance.

It would be pretty simple for Havanese to get the minimum age for OFA testing changed, but so few understand much at all about hip testing.

edited to add: Personally, I only know of two Havanese that have actually had hip dysplasia, and it's likely, from evidence, that both came from injuries. I'm sure there must have been some, but those are the only two I've known about.
 
#11 ·
As an add on to what Tom said, it just so happens that I work with a vet who sees a LOT of Havanese. (her parents even own one because she likes the breed so much!) I asked her if she has EVER had a Havanese in her practice with FUNCTIONAL hip problems before geriatric sort of general "old age all-over" arthritis. She said no. Patellas, for sure, carpus, for sure, shoulders and elbows sometimes. No hips.

OTOH, she treats LOTS of Havanese for thyroid problems and allergies and we don't include thyroid in our required tests for breeding. (although all three of my dogs have been tested and are clear) And unfortunately, allergies are something that are harder for breeders to keep track of let alone do anything about since they tend to show up when the dogs are older.
 
#20 ·
I don't know if Pam has had a chance yet. My 103 year old Mom had a small stroke a few weeks back, has been in rehab, and is getting discharged on the 17th, so we've been running wide open with that too. The stroke only influenced the flex of one foot, but she needs assistance to stand, and transfer, so right now, needs help 24/7.

Pam left early this morning to see about getting some furniture for her to go in the next place my Mom will need to stay. We're going to have to put her in Assisted Living until I can convert one of her bathrooms at home into a handicap accessible one.
 
#21 ·
Oh, I know how tough this is. My dad is on hospice, (though doing remarkably well!) and I know how much energy goes into making them as comfortable as possible!
 
#24 ·
At 103, you don't get to complain about anything. She's doing fine. It's just a foot that's unpredictable from the stroke, so it's not safe for her to stand up on her own. It's fortunate that she's clear headed, and always has a cheerful outlook. We thought we could make her house usable for her, but had an impossible time finding enough people so a caregiver could always be there.

Pam visited every assisted living place in a 50 mile radius, and found one where all the residents seem happy, and smiling. I think my Mom will actually enjoy it there, especially since the food is really good, and she will have plenty of people to talk to.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top