This morning, I'm trying to remember a time a pregnant dog came into the shelter with a known due date/tie date. It just doesn't happen. Most often the family is unaware or hoping with all their hearts that the pregnancy was avoided. Around 7 weeks, the denial is no longer an option and they begin reaching out, in a panic, to shelters. 

Shelters run on shoestring budgets, therefore running the dog to the vet for Xrays to help determine a due date is not reasonable. Taking a temperature twice a day, weeks in advance, with a reluctant, unknown dog is not easy or kind either. So I learned to wait. Wait for panting. Wait for pacing. Wait. For days. Which means no plans without guessing on the status of the dog. Then worrying while I'm gone.

With my Momma dogs, I know and record the exact dates she tied. That date gives me a due week. Temperature taking can be minimized. My Momma's are in amazing homes and trust the process when I take temperatures, and more importantly when they go into labor. We have had time, they have been shown love and trust, so they give it. 

The one sign that I noticed consistently with the shelter dogs is the tail placement. Maybe the girls get a sway in their backs. Perhaps it's the hips slowly widening to allow passage through the birth canal. I do know that at the base of the tail, it changes. What used to hang straight, has a lift that moved the tail from the body. 

Pippi is finished 8 weeks of this journey. Today is day 55, her previous litter was born on day 57. We shall see what she has in store for this, )her last litter) delivery. She has shown me that she is tired and cranky. She is needy but wants her space. She's hungry, but not for that. It's been a fun couple days negotiating what her mood would be like and where her tolerances for things are. I am no longer allowed to feel the babies with my hands, she is happy to lay full out on my lap, where I can feel the kicks with my legs. 

This is her show, I'm just the support team. What is for certain, we will be having babies soon!