Our “C” litter arrived starting at 9 PM last night and was completed by the time we woke up at 6 AM.  We went to bed at 11:30 PM, two hours after the first pup, a big male, was born.  When I woke up to check on things at 2 AM, there were two boys and a girl.  By 6 AM all six had arrived, 3 boys and 3 girls!!

Newborn Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies

A tired and protective Mae watches over her 3 boys and 3 girls shortly after their whelping.

Mae did all of the whelping and cleaning of the puppies on her own without assistance from me, which is an important part of strengthening the future of the breed.  As we are becoming more involved with the international community of griffons, we’ve been reading the recommendations of the Federation Cynologique Internationale in regards to breeding and find that their guidelines are in line with our own:

Any dog should be able to mate naturally. Artificial insemination should not be used to overcome physical inabilities of the dog. A bitch should be excluded from further breeding if she is unable to give natural birth, due to anatomy or inherited inertia, or if she is unable to take care of the newborn puppies, due to mentality or inherited to agalactia (no milk production).

On a less serious note, as we are approaching the “Ides of March”, we will be giving the puppies temporary “C” nicknames related to Julius Caesar.  Cleopatra and Caesar, of course, but I’ll also research some other names used at that time.  We won’t actually call the puppies these names, but it just helps us to distinguish them in our photographs and records.

We are so excited to raise these little ones, I can barely keep the kids away from looking at them!  I’ll keep you all posted with more pictures and updates soon!!