Sparkle got a fun gift yesterday.
Renee sent a box of those perfect and adorable cookies to Sparkle to thank her — Sparkle was the Virtual Specialty’s Vanna White, and Renee won cool prizes one day when Sparkle pulled her number.
Numbered balls in a wading pool with water — like bobbing for apples only different.
Thank you, Renee! Such a fun and kind surprise.
Daisy was dragging a bit at the end of the one-mile walk yesterday and so she will just do an easy 1/2 mile walk every other day now — until she says that is too much. I have no idea how much weight she has gained as that would involve an unnecessary trip to the vet but she is really big.
We also will not be x-raying for a puppy count for the same reason — there is no reason to create even the mildest of stress-responses in a pregnant dog because those responses involve stress hormones/physical responses that developing puppies do not need. We will count puppies as they come out.
The results of Daisy’s nomograph arrived yesterday. This tells us two related things. First, Daisy has continued immunity from her puppy vaccines — four years later.
This is normal — annual vaccines are not needed and even every three years is too much for most dogs. We run titers to know when/if to vaccinate adult dogs — Sparkle is at almost seven years with Distemper and Parvo immunity provided by a single puppy vaccination, for example.
The nomograph also tells us when maternal antibodies are expected to be sufficiently low in the puppies such that a vaccination will be effective. A vaccine given when the maternal antibodies are still in play is ineffective, may provide a false sense of security, and represents an unnecessary vaccination burden.
I am not anti-vaccination! Vaccinations save lives. Rather, I am a fan of targeted and effective vaccinations — not unnecessary ones.
We started the process of locating and washing puppy linens yesterday — given the reality that we still have reconstruction going on, that was no small feat! In addition, I nominated the litter for the BMDCA Futurity yesterday. This has to be done before the litter is born and so I checked that off of my long To-Do List.
We hope to have a productive Friday here at Puppy-Prep Central — I hope your Friday is all things happy and healthy.