Hallie's Litter

Hallie's First and LAST Litter!

Hallie decided she was going to have babies.
These are the babies she decided she would have.

I've been told that it is not uncommon for westies to experience false pregnancies. I don't know about that but I can say that when it does happen, it's not pretty. However, by the time of "weaning," we did finally get used to the babies' odd looks.

These "babies" came from a rescue we fostered named Clyde (he's the little guy wagging his tail on our home page). Clyde just happened to come into our home about two months after Hallie's last heat cycle. Whether he liked it or not, Clyde was the "daddy" (or source) of these babies that Hallie had decided to "give birth to." Clyde was all too happy to replace these "babies" with the new toys we gave him when Hallie started making off with his old toys to nurse.

Hallie would gather her babies very close underneath her so they could easily nurse.

When Hallie had gathered five babies and was looking to increase the size of her little family, I had to put my foot down. I was willing to carry five babies up and down the stairs every day so Hallie could have them at her side, but I did not know at what point Hallie would decide her family was complete and I knew Clyde *must* have his limits to his generosity in providing Hallie with babies.

This is Hallie's first and forever favorite baby...

I think it's the impressive teeth that made Hallie love this baby most

Hallie was a good little mom - cleaning, caring for and feeding her babies.

Carrying an arm full of Hallie's babies upstairs every night and then downstairs every morning where Hallie would spend the day looking after them became a real nuisance. However, it was either that or listen to her howl all night or all day wanting to be with her babies.

Finally, Hallie decided her babies were ready to leave the "nest." It was now time to play "FETCH" with her favorite baby!

Not only were we dealing with Hallie's babies, but we were dealing with a westie who really believed she was a mom in a house with other westies (three others because in addition to Clyde and Mollie, Kellie had just come home with us at 13 weeks of age). Anyone who has experienced a bitch in the house with a new litter of pups under these circumstances, understands what I mean. Our lives were chaos for five weeks!

Because Hallie suffered from CMO, our vet wanted to wait until she was physically developed before spaying her. We decided that because Hallie was healthy enough (and because a recurrence of false pregnancy was not uncommon), this was definitely the time for Hallie to be spayed which is why this will be Hallie's first and last litter!

Hallie's First and *LAST* Litter!

Hallie's First and LAST Litter!