Havoc is very pregnant

Being a first litter for both Gryff and Havoc we were unwilling to jinx it by assuming too early that Havoc was actually pregnant. She did start to act a little oddly fairly quickly, being even more affectionate than she normally is, which is REALLY saying something. She also started to play more roughly with her sheltie playmate Feisty, who was forced to accede on a regular basis with "ENOUGH, you have me pinned already, now let me up!"

Havoc didn't see what the problem was, she was just playing, but she was playing with Feisty in a manner that she normally reserved for the big rough and tough dogs who also liked to wrestle. Feisty was used to the softer play that Havoc reserved for smaller dogs and puppies. But after Havoc was bred, Feisty was relegated to rough tough status, which she wasn't sure she appreciated.

After a few weeks, it was impossible to demy the obvious anymore, Havoc was really and truly pregnant. And if the size she was starting to attain meant anything, she was going to have a lot of puppies.

By 4 weeks she was already really big, and I started to wonder how she would manage getting much bigger, and I started to look for more puppy homes for the potential horde that was on its way.

Interest in the litter started to grow as Havoc kept growing. Her activity level dropped way down in the second month, as it was just too hard to do things with all that extra weight, and that big belly. The defining moment can when she was sort of running around the training hall chasing Feisty, and Feisty sprinted up and over the ramp. Havoc ran up to the ramp, stopped, looked up, and said "I don't think I can make it".

Toward the very end of the pregnancy Havoc really started to show the strain. In the last week her 35 pound frame was carrying over 40 pounds of puppies! Her back legs drew the brunt of the burden, and they swelled up with water to twice their normal size. In the last couple of days she could no longer even walk, she would manage to get up, take a step or two, and then her back end would simply give out from the weight.

She also could not eat much at all in the last few weeks, taking smaller and smaller meals as the pups filled up all the room. In the last couple of days she wouldn't eat at all, not her dog food, not canned food, not even fresh cooked chicken. She was full already!, and she was getting ready for the big event.