Mariah’s Puppy Journey – Instinctual Behaviors
It’s been a long few weeks of not much sleep for me and even less for Mariah. The puppies are growing so quickly. Their eyes are just about ready to open now. Soon, I will begin incorporating the puppies into my “pack”. I have 3 other boys that have been more than curious about the puppies. But, what began a journey through precious puppyhood has filled me with extraordinary experiences not many will get a chance to see in their lifetime. I am not encouraging anyone to go out and breed their dog to experience these incredible behaviors! Having a litter of puppies means a huge commitment to their welfare for their entire lives and their owners with them as the pups grow and get old. I do, however, hope to share some of these astonishing observations with you to help you see into the world of who dogs are.
Even for a young dog, Mariah’s instincts came into play even weeks before her puppies were born. She started looking for places to “nest” or “den” to have her puppies. Since she lives in the house with me, she would look under tables and in corners. She would dig at the carpet and spin around and around. When she was outside, she continued her quest to find a place to have her babies. I put up her whelping box and started encouraging her to be in there by giving her some meals, and treats whenever I saw her go there. I gave the whelping box a name and called it the “puppy place.”
The day the puppies were born, her denning instinct became even more apparent with frantic and desperate behavior. As each puppy was born, she knew exactly what to do. She immediately and gently removed each birthing sack from the puppy and began licking and cleaning the puppy so the pup would be stimulated to breathe. As each baby came, she was more experienced. She knew what to expect, and after each birth of a new puppy, she soon began to check on the others born before. She would push them to her side for nursing and warmth, and then began licking their bottoms to stimulate their digestive systems. Puppies are not able to “go” on their own without the mother dog’s help for the first 2 weeks.
I gave her privacy from the other dogs during the birthing. Once the birthing was over, I gave her more time to feel privacy and time to bond with her pups, taking my other dogs past her by holding their collars and leading them to the back door.
As the days continued, the other dogs gave her room on their own and passed quickly to get outside. Then, a new behavior arose. Mariah, who adores her pack, started protecting the puppies from the other dogs. She would run out of the puppy place and herd the other dogs away. If they came too close, she would nip them or give them a “hard eye” letting them know on no uncertain terms, they were not to come near. This is not aggression, but natural protective instinct.
Dogs are still 99.9% wolf by their DNA. Along with that, comes “instinctual” behaviors we humans are sometimes unable to see. When you experience the birth of a litter of puppies, you run head on into those behaviors and experience the wonder of those behaviors that were intended for survival in the wild.
Instinct in dogs is not something we control. It comes “hard wired” in every dog. Some dogs have more instinctual behavior than others. Regardless of how much we humans believe we have domesticated our dogs, they will always be dogs related to the wolves and have preprogrammed behaviors to help them survive. The birthing event so clearly captures this.
Caption: The birthing event of puppies is wonderment to us because when we watch, instinctual behaviors are so prevailing and clear. Having puppies is a lifelong commitment to the puppy and their new home until they are old and gray.
