New litter of Silver Gray German Shepherds

My granddaughter was the maternity nurse. She is 7 and had a world of questions.

Pa why are the puppies in a balloon?

Pa what is that cord coming out of the puppies belly?

Pa did my mom bite my umbilical cord off?

Pa this one is a girl and this one is a boy.

Pa why do I have blood and urine on my hands?

Pa why do you have 2X4s around the inside above the floor?

This is when Kinzie was just helping deliver.

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"Precious" ( can you tell my granddaughter named her? ) ended up with 10 healthy pups. Both of the black ones are Females as well as 2 of the silver gray.

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Can you tell which side of the whelping box floor is heated?

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The first time I made a whelping box with a heated floor I heated the whole floor and the dam would not stay in the box and she would remove the pups.

The baby pig mats stay from 90 to 100 degrees and while that may be fine for baby pigs the pups do not want it that warm. With a 1/2" air space between the bottom of the plywood floor and the pig mat the plywood holds between 80 and 90 degrees and with a 1 1/2" air space on the other side the side for the dam stays about 60 to 70 degrees where the concrete floor in the unheated basement garage stays at about 50 degrees.

If anyone wants directions on a good whelping box PM me and I will reply.

I have been raising GSDs as long as I can remember and started the current endeavor in 1972 after returning from the USMC. We only breed each female once a year as they are more family than money producers. ( I know many people push them to get 5 litters every 2 years )

With breeding for silver gray a typical litter is from 8 to 10 pups and normally most will be silver gray with a couple of traditional black and tans.

Interesting! That is quite a batch of pups! It will be a long time, if ever, that your grand-daughter forgets this day!

Thought I would update - - - I am keeping one female for my Grand daughter but the others are all gone now. She named her "Heidi of the Kingdom" - - - our kennel is named German Shepherd Kingdom ( www.germanshepherdkingdom.com )

I have a female about 2 weeks bred ( I hope ) and my daughter still has 9 pups requested.

I have 3 breeding age females and I breed them once a year @ - - - I am thinking of getting a couple more ( the pup I kept back will not be bred till she is 2 years old ) Many of the other breeders will try to get as many as 3 litters from a female in a year but that just wears the dog out. Mine are family as well as a source if income ( kind of like my cows )

We cannot keep up with the orders for silver gray German Shepherds - - - they are not any better than the other colors - - - I just like the looks! But I guess many others are starting to like the silver gray as well - - - I had my first in 1965, a neighbor bred white German Shepherds and came up with a silver gray pup and gave him to me as an outcast. Great dog but only lived about 11 years. My first K9 dog was a silver gray that was unusually large ( maxed out at 146# ) and lived 15 years - - - the last 2 he hated when I went on duty without him.

Any chance of seeing a picture of Heidi of the Kingdom on here sometime? Interesting sideline!

I was always amazed by the fact that our little Jack Russel would generate far more annual income than one of my cows, and on far less expense... :?:

burnt said:

Any chance of seeing a picture of Heidi of the Kingdom on here sometime? Interesting sideline!

I was always amazed by the fact that our little Jack Russel would generate far more annual income than one of my cows, and on far less expense... :?:

Click to expand...

I will try - - - but keep the secret that one litter of pups is worth 10 weaned calves, you don't want everyone starting a kennel.

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This is her at 6 weeks

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With her trainer.

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This is the Mom at the presentation of the first of 11 pups.

This did not work like I wanted but I hope you can click and see the pictures.

Thanks George. Gonna make a great dog for her someday!

I hate to report but "Heidi" went to investigate a noise to the west ( she got under the electric fence and the adults stayed in ) - - - I heard a commotion and a pack of Coyotes were on her, I jumped the fence and Angus, Precious and Tank ran thru it then and the Coyotes fled but Heidi died.

Coyotes are so brave around here they are going into the small towns and killing the dogs and cats but this is the first I have lost to them. I will not trap them but any in range are fair game!

Oh man that is just sickening.

Gee that's terrible.

This is Sadie - - - She delivered on her due date 3-31

The pups are growing like weeds as well - - - 4 little girls and 2 boys

This is Sadie 2 days prior to delivery



This is her with pups

She is truly a beautiful dog. 6 pups are very manageable. I'm always a little concerned when dogs have
9-10 pups or more.

I'm sorry about your Heidi dog. I just now read that post.

The coyotes are terrible here! But with Joe Bidens help I have started going out about 2:00 AM if they wake me up - - - houses to close for a rifle at night so I shoot 2 or three quick shots of #9 birdshot into the trees and let it fall on them - - - 2 nights in a row and the coyotes have stayed away for about a month. I'm sure I did not hit any but I gave them enough to think about that they are bothering someone else!

If I have more than about 6 pups you need to divide them into 2 groups, large and small and all day rotate them every 2 hours - - - at night they can all stay together. Then provide milk in the food for the mom to keep her strength up and I had one female about 10 years ago that had 19 and raised 17 - - - but that is exceptional!

10 pups if handled properly on a large dog in good condition will normally be fine - - - 12 is not unusual but you do need to separate the large and small or the small will get shoved out.