My Wonderful Experience Helping My Dog Birth 8 Sweet Puppies!

**WARNING: This post may contain pictures and topics that may be sensitive to others, this includes birthing of dogs. Viewer discretion is advised.**

I got the glorious experience of helping my precious dog, Millie, birth her 1st and only litter of puppies! This was back in 2018… my, at the time, 1-year-old dog, Millie, had an oopsie pregnancy prior to getting spayed during her first heat cycle. Let me make this clear. We are in no way dog breeders of any kind, nor do we ever intend to be. We usually wait to have our females spayed after their first heat cycle in order to let their bodies normally develop and not stunt their growth. We have never had this happen prior to this. We live in rural Kentucky on a small farm and surrounding farms with dogs that roam. We learned from this experience and I wanted to share with you all.

Millie was my super smart and rambunctious dog. When she came in heat, we knew we would have to keep her well confined as she would roam and for sure get knocked up (pun intended). We were very successful with this and she HATED it, but it was for her own good. Towards the end of her cycle, she got loose ONE TIME… and that’s all it damn well took.

She ran down the hill, we heard her yelp, and by the time we got to her, she was locked up with a male dog. Not gonna go into detail here, you know what happened. LOL. If you know anything about dogs, you also know once they are locked up, you cannot physically pull them apart until the male is finished or it could hurt them both, and neither my wife and I were willing to do that. Millie trotted her euphoric ass back up to the house with me hollering like a crazy woman at her telling her she better not be pregnant whoring around like she just did. I was MAD. My wife was hysterical with laughter at me fussing at Millie who could not give 2 shits in that moment if I was fussing at her or not. She did her deed as a female dog. Lord help us (major eye roll).

Sure enough, she was pregnant. The euphoria subsided and then reality set in… we were gonna have puppies. We were praying that where it was her first litter, it wouldn’t be more than 4-5 puppies. I had the option to abort the pregnancy through my vet but did not have the heart to do such a thing to my sweet Millie, who I had a feeling would make a wonderful mother. It may sound irresponsible, but my wife and I are very responsible dog owners and would never put them in harm’s way. My vet is only a phone call away. I had experience with birthing puppies as my daddy use to breed AKC registered coonhounds, so with that and growing up on a far, with cows and cats, and that I’m a nurse, I knew enough to know how to handle this with my vet on standby in case of emergency.

Millie had an uneventful pregnancy as she was very young and healthy. She ate and ate, got big and round, her teats started to fill for the puppies to come. And I watched this dog transform. She was always rambunctious, never wanted to be held and cuddled before, always on the move. But since becoming pregnant…my dog 100% clung to my side. Her hormones caused her to quickly become a lovey dovey and cuddle bug dog, and I was totally here for it!

My wife texted me throughout the day at work that Millie had been really restless and panting, signs of starting labor. She also said she has been going in and out of the old crate we use to crate train her and her sister, Macie, in, no doubt her nesting and choosing a spot to have her puppies. I so hoped Millie would wait for me to get home just so I could be with her and help, if need be. And my good girl did just that. She waited until I got home from work and we almost immediately began to labor to have puppies! She didn’t seem in too much distress, so I talked and sang calmly to her and petted on her. Finally, the first pup came out with no problems! She immediately went into mom mode and cleaned the pup and the pup squealed and wiggled around. Just pure natural instinct that I thought was absolutely beautiful to watch. Millie knew exactly what to do.

Then, another came. Then another. Then another. Then another. All with ease and no issues, squealing and groomed by her tongue. By this point, she was exhausted. I could tell. She plopped down on her side and let the new puppies began to nurse. They all reached their spots blindly and knew exactly what to do. Amazing. I petted and kissed my girl and was beaming with such pride… my girl just birthed 5 beautiful puppies with little to no help and all it doing great! Or… so I thought. I heard Millie whine a little and tense up and *PLOP* out comes another puppy! This makes 6! She was clearly spent after birthing 5 already, and she made little effort to get up this time to clean the newborn. So, this mom came to the rescue! I put on some gloves and grabbed the newborn with my hands and placed in a warm wet washcloth and gently but also vigorously wiped the puppy down, with enough movement to clear the puppy’s lungs and hear the yelp. Success, we have a 6th healthy baby! Millie popped her head up at the sound and I told her all is well and laid the puppy next to her side to nurse.

My dog fully trusted me at this point. She knew I was going to help her finish this. She was calm and had no qualms with me being near during this vulnerable time. With another whimper and push she squeezed out the 7th puppy… and then, finally, the 8th. I cleaned and awoke each one, all healthy and squealing. With me laying the final pup down by her side, my poor girl was spent. She lifted her head just enough to lick my hand as if to tell me “thank you.” Because had I not been there, the final 3 pups would have been a struggle for her. She expelled the rest of her birthing and I cleaned her up and she laid on her side with 8 fat and beautiful little cow spotted and black puppies. All nursing, all happy, all safe. And so was my Millie girl. That was most important. I gave her some water and she slept for a while.

Once she regained her strength, she got up to adjust and see her brood. They squalled and squealed and she was so curious of their sounds, but she knew they belonged to her. There stood my amazing dog, my companion, doing something in nature so pure and beautiful, watching her bloom into this amazing mother, and I got to see it and help with it. I was in tears from emotion. Here I watched her babies take their first breaths of life, I could see the pride in her face looking at them… I could definitely feel my heart swell sitting by her side. She was protective at first of the litter, letting only me and my wife come close, but very quickly relaxed as the puppies became more mobile.

EIGHT PUPPIES. What on earth are we going to do with 8 puppies!? We immediately started documenting their growth and trying to find good homes for them to go to once weaned. It didn’t take too long either. They all went to homes of people we knew, and we occasionally get pictures of them throughout the years… which brings me such joy. We decided to keep one puppy. A fat little mudball of a puppy with a shy temperament. She was the 3rd born out of 8.

As they grew, their bigger spots shown proudly, but the spotted ones began to have smaller spots pepper all over their bodies. No doubt, the blue heeler in them, as Millie was part blue heeler, part lab. They were a handful for sure, but we had so much fun with them! It was amazing watching them grow and become independent. We finally decided on a name for our little girl… Pepper Ann.

Millie began to start weaning and when I say this dog was done with these puppies… she was DONE. She loved them, sure. But like any parent, they drove her insane. She would jump up on the couch just to get away with them. And when we’d ask her if she’d miss them puppies when they were gone, she’d squint her eyes and turn her head away. A sure sign she would, indeed, NOT miss them puppies. HAHAHAHA. We got such a kick out of this. Mothering is hard work, we know. LOL

These babies were little piggies, making messes wherever they went! It was a lot of work, but I wouldn’t change any of it for the world. They all went to their separate homes, save 2 that went together as siblings to my cousin’s farm. And back life went with now 3 dogs… and here is our Pepper Ann as a baby.

Sadly, Millie died a year later in a freak accident that shattered all our hearts. But her spirit lives on through Pepper. Pepper is now 6 years old. And just like I got to see her take her first breath, I fully intend to be by her side to see her take her last… when she’s very old and grey.

Hope you enjoyed this story! It was an amazing experience! A reminder to PLEASE spay and neuter your pets to prevent these kinds of things from happening. I was fortunate all went well, it could’ve easily went a different way.

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