I took Daisy to the groomers yesterday to get her haircut. I've found it's best to go super short about three weeks before delivery. There are a few reasons for this. First whelping is a messy messy messy event. The first litter Daisy had long hair and was a mess afterwards. Of course she won't let me take her away from the puppies long enough for a bath for at least 5 days. It was a long smelly 5 days! So now I shave her down, it makes it easy for the puppies to get to her teats as well. Then I can just use a large wet wipe to clean her up after the whelping is completed. It's also easier to visualize the puppy coming out of the birth canal if there is not a lot of hair in the way.
I'm not too good at palpating the puppies at the 4 week mark but I'm getting better. I definitely felt a few puppies on each side so she will have at least 4 puppies. Since they are coming around Valentines day I've been playing around with a few famous couples names to use for the puppies. I'm definitely going to use Romeo and Juliet, maybe Sonny and Cher too. I'd love help from my readers, so please let me know of any cute couple names that come to mind!