Can You See Them?

Many breeders will have an ultrasound done on their females after pairing. This is typically done around day 30 of the pregnancy -- give or take a few days. My opinion of the Great Danes; however, it's more of a confirmation of pregnancy rather than any kind of accurate puppy count. These gals are just so deep chested, and they hardly ever hold still. This makes it very difficult to get those great detailed ultrasound pictures like the ones we get of our human babies.

This being the case I had an idea. I decided to give Hildie nightly “tummy rolls”. This is where we gently took a small massage roller the kind you find at a bath shop, it has an arched handle with 2 soft wheels on the front and on the back. Each night Hildie would come in for snuggles, lay down, and we would roll this over her belly. This got her used to holding still and something foreign on her tum.

When it came time for her ultrasound she honestly just stood there. AWESOME!! Doc. Heidi was able to count 9 embryos!! In the picture you will see mostly blue clouds then a black hole that looks like it has something in it. That is the embryo. You can one in the top middle, then another more clouded to the left, and if you really look you will see another in the bottom right.

I still hold to my original opinion that ultrasounds are not completely accurate in predicting “how many” puppies, but…. Holy Moly, Mama’s got a full house!! Hildie’s next scheduled event is October 22nd. She should be on day 57 of her pregnancy and we will do an X-ray to get a more accurate count of how many puppies to expect when she goes in to labour around day 63!!