Today is one of those March days when the sun shines hot, and the wind blows cold: when it is Summer in the light and Winter in the shade. Today is also the 57th day of Yuki's pregnancy, which means that the first day of Spring, April 1st in these parts here, which also could Yukl's due date.
We had a good indication that Yuki would be gifting us with three puppies based upon her ultrasound last month. Yesterday, our vet confirmed by way of xray that indeed three rather large puppies are peacefully residing in Yuki's tummy. She has gained almost 4 kilograms in just about 1 month... or increased her weight by more than 35%.
It is interesting to compare the differences between Rumi at this stage of her pregnancy with that of Yuki. Rumi by only her fourth week was showing signs that the wheels were beginning to fall off. Rumi has always been prone to doing things at her own pace and in her own way. But it bordered on the ridiculous how trying a walk around the block became for her. To her credit, she was shuffling around with 5 walnuts instead of just 3.
Fast forward to Yuki. She remains a Porsche with no brakes as usual. But she also seems to have further honed her Catwoman superpowers. Suddenly, no table is too high for her to occupy. A convenient perspective to work on her newest hobby, terrorizing Rumi (and occasionally Sugu). Yuki, who averaged a Cat 2 hurricane most days, has now evolved into a substantial Cat 5. Whereas Rumi went almost comatose during her late pregnancy, Yuki's pendulum has swung to the other extreme.
It feels like Rumi and Sugu have been constructively evicted from the house. They walk on pins and needles as well as sleep with one eye open. Mostly it is humorous, until Rumi finds her big girl pants and roundly puts Yuki in her place (the puppy krankenhaus in one instance). Yuki has always been and will always be the boss of Gartenstraße, but it will be nice when she stops trying to one up Putin.
Side bets are already being placed here at home... boy to girl ratio of puppies/ and red versus black and tan. We are naturally excited for whatever comes and just hoping they are healthy. So our living room is once again Puppy Palazzo headquarters. Some upgrades have been made, namely the purchase of a bed mattress to insert for the humans into the whelping box. The positive difference this time with our Shiba litter is that it will be about half the size of the Shikoku litter... and more beneficially, taking them into the backyard kennel at all hours will be a bit more hospitable in Spring rather than biting Winter.
The biggest risk with this litter is that I abandon what little discipline I have and insist on keeping one of the puppies for ourselves. No Seth, just NO. Unfortunately, Kathrin is making no protests about us keeping a Shiba puppy. This act of restraint will take some real resolve, pray for me.
Looking forward to making some updates when we have more to share.