Happy Birthday to the 12 pack

It was five years ago today that Della gave birth to twelve Great Dane puppies, one in my office and the remainder in the guest room that we had set up for that purpose.

I had picked her up from a shelter over in Chesterfield a couple of weeks before. They suspected she was pregnant and our vet confirmed it a few days later. Della had already made herself at home, immediately taking our other female Dane, Serena, as her best friend. We decided to keep her throughout the birthing process rather than shifting her to another foster home who would have been more knowledgeable and experienced. We had plenty of advice and Della was a great mother who really did it all herself. We just supported her and helped keep track of the puppies, making sure that everyone was getting enough to grow and thrive.

It was an amazing experience and one that we've repeated a few times since, including one other litter of Great Danes. We put in an outbuilding (the Puppy Palace) that is a good place to raise a litter of puppies, and set up a new enclosure that we now call Dane Land. Several other female dogs and many other puppies have benefitted from what Della did five years ago today.

Those pups are now fully grown adults of course, and we see quite a few of them from time to time. They are all wonderful dogs and their present personalities are a testament to all the early care and handling they received as puppies in the first 10-12 weeks of their lives, as well as the love and training that their adopters have supplied.

We believed that Della was about two years old when we got her, which means she's now seven, which is considered senior status for a giant breed dog. 

We have fostered, owned, and loved many dogs over the years and have learned something from all of them, but I'm hard pressed to think of one who has made more of an impact on our lives than Della. 

Very pregnant Della, the day before she gave birth.

That feeling of relief after giving birth to a half dozen, even when there's more to go.

They all love their momma. 

The first couple of weeks were just eat, sleep, grow.

These are some of my favorite pictures from the first couple of weeks. There are many, many more in the almost daily blog posts that began on June 13, 2019, and continued into early September of that year when all the pups were finally adopted.