July 9, 2011

Time has gone by so fast and Gracie just got huge in the past week.  You can feel those little ones kicking around. Should only be a few more days. We are expecting at least 10 puppies. She is being spoiled rotten, as she should be. Trying to get her used to the whelping box (we use a wading pool). 


June 4, 2011

Signs are pointing to Gracie being pregnant. Since they do not have an EPT test for dogs (that I know about) we need to do it the old fashioned way, looking for signs.  Watching Gracie, we have noticed that her nipples are starting to swell up and she actually seems to be having morning sickness.  Poor thing, I hope she is not feeling sick this whole pregnancy, she will not be a happy camper.  She is doing a lot of sleeping which is normal for a pregnant female.  At this point, the cells of the embryo multiply and have implanted themselves within Gracie's uterus to begin the development process. The next few weeks will be show rapid development.

May 21, 2011

Picked up Gracie in Mississippi and was she happy to see us.  Had a long ride back, so we decided to stop for the evening in Douglasville, GA.  Gracie again was on her best behavior at the hotel as I always want to be mindful of other guests at the hotel.


May 14, 2011

John called and said that Gracie and Moose did what I sent my girl to Mississippi to do.  He will put them together again on Sunday and Monday to make sure we are successful.  Estimated arrival date will be between July 11th and July 16th. We will leave next Saturday to pick Gracie up and bring her home. 

May 8, 2011

This was a fun ride! We stopped in Birmingham for the evening and Gracie had her first hotel experience. She was not crazy about the elevator. She had us laughing when the elevator doors closed and it started going up, she did not know what was happening.  Drove through Tuscaloosa, AL and saw the damage those tornadoes caused. Heartbreaking to see all that damage.  We ended up in Greenwood, MS on Monday afternoon.  Gracie and Moose re-acquainted themselves, but she kept that tail between her legs. She was not very interested in him at this time.

May 6, 2011

Here we go again! Gracie is in heat and we are making our plans to head to Mississippi on Sunday evening. This is going to be a hard trip, I just got back from Birmingham tonight and will turn around and head back on Sunday. Brad and I will need to be back on Monday so we can go to work on Tuesday.


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                                                                              2009

This is a journey for both Gracie and our family.  I plan to keep a diary of Gracie's journey into Motherhood. This should be fun for all of us.

Gracie was born July 28, 2007. Her parents are Big Red Chief out of Ole Plantation Bulldogs and Big Sky's Ranjun.  She has been alot of fun to have in the house.  But, being a bulldog obedience training was a must.  Gracie did not disappoint, She came in 1st in her class. I was so proud of her..She came straight home and promtly jumped up on the counter and grabbed the hot dogs and headed outside. Oh well.  We just keep working with her. She has been so much fun this past two years, we really feel that this is a dog that more people need to be aware of, to enjoy and discover for themselves.

October 17, 2009

  Gracie is in heat, so we are making plans to drive out to Mississippi. Its about a 10hr trip, so my Husband Brad and myself packed up the food, water, toys and a blanket for Gracie and a pillow for me.  We took off on Saturday morning about 5:30 am and I got my coffee.  Gracie and I slept for a couple of hours because anyone who knows me, knows I am not a morning person.  Gracie was very good on this long trip.  She just settled in and when we stopped we would take her out to walk around and relieve herself.  We got to our destination around 4:30 pm.  Met Moose...What a beautiful dog he is.  He is a very happy and friendly dog.  Moose tried to introduce himself to Gracie, but she was not interested in any part of him...yet.  We left for home,  very sad that we were leaving our little girl. We have never left her with anyone this long before.

October 25, 2009

Got a call from John, Gracie and Moose had a successful encounter.  My little girl is growing up.

October 28, 2009

Gracie and Moose have been busy this week..Oh my...What is my little girl doing.

October 31, 2009

Brad and I headed back out to Mississippi to pick Gracie up.  What a wonderful site to see her.  She was so happy to see us!  I opened that car door and she bolted in the car probably saying "Get me outta here, you wouldn't believe what happened to me!"  We know that she was missing us, whenever we stopped for gas and Brad or I  would get out of the car Gracie would get very upset and start crying. Probably thinking we were leaving her again.  But all in all we had a good trip home. Gracie was on her best behavior and I jumped in the back to sleep with her for awhile.  We got home around 10:30 pm, and Gracie was so happy to get home.  Greeted all her playmates Rocky and Matilda and headed around the house to make sure everything was the same.

November 10 , 2009       Day 14

There really is no guarantee to know that Gracie is pregnant.  Unfortunately they don't have pregnancy tests for dogs, and it is usually around 4 weeks to find out for sure. Friends suggested I go buy a pregnancy test to see what it said.  I am not feeling like running around the backyard with a stick waiting for Gracie to pee on it!  We will just wait and watch her for any differences we may see and the vet will do x-rays on December 16th.  The only thing that I have noticed in the past week or so is that Gracie seems to be sleeping more.  Other then that she is still my little girl.

November 27, 2009       Day 31

We really don't need a test to know our little girl is pregnant.  Her nipples have started swelling considerably, and as Brad says she is looking a little "thick".  He always knows the right words to say.  At this point the embryos are about the size of a walnut.  Gracie does a lot of sleeping and is not playing with her toys as much.  Her appetite has been something else.  She has a ravenous appetite, and we really need to keep it under control.  Gracie is still being very loving and is sweet and just wants to cuddle on the sofa.  We are really enjoying this experience.

December 13, 2009     Day 47

Poor Gracie, she is just so uncomfortable.  Unable to find the comfortable position.  Sleeps on the floor a lot, seems to prefer the floor to the sofa.  Gracie has that pregnancy waddle going on now, very cute to watch her walk.  Nipples are large and swelling up and her belly has really swelled.  I am really excited that we go to the vet on Wednesday to find our how many pups we can expect.  By the looks of her we are thinking five to seven.  The pups skin pigment should be all set by now and they just continue to grow.

December 21, 2009   Day 55

My poor baby is just huge!!  X rays last week showed 8 pups, but by the look of her????  Gracie barely ate anything, A couple of nibbles but really not interested like she normally is. This is an indication that labor should be about 10 - 24 hours away. Just a waiting game now.

December 22, 2009  Day 56

Gracie's temp was 98 this morning and 99 this afternoon.  She is staying very close to me.  You can hear those little heart beats when its really quiet and you put your ear to her tummy:)  Gotta say, I have never seen a dog with so many different size nipples.  She has big ones and little ones, thick ones and thin ones.  Those pups are gonna being fighting over them.



Puppies arrived on Christmas Day!!  First one was at 3:30pm and the last one at 2:35am.  It was a long day and needless to say my Christmas dinner was ruined, but that is perfectly o.k.  Gracie has 13 pups and one of them did not make it.  But, we are very happy to say the remaining 12 are happy, healthy and vocal.  I will be posting pictures shortly.  But here are a couple that I took. Puppy number 1
First 6 pups
Day  - All dried off and looking good.Day 1....Whew what a day we had yesterday!  Everyone is happy and full.