By Cynthia Ruckman & Darcy Keehn
It was an ordinary August evening. Finishing up night-time dog chores, preparing ahead for an early morning Vet appointment for my Dachshund Goldi.
My husband, Mike, was waiting for me to watch a movie with him.
Goldi’s tummy was huge and she was uncomfortable. My instincts as an experienced breeder/exhibitor of over 30 years had me concerned that Goldi’s uterus was too tight for her to go into labor. My friend’s Dachshund, bred to my Champion stud dog, had needed an emergency c-section for that reason a couple months prior.
You never know. Staying up to date on canine health and reproduction can make a significant difference.
The difference between life and death.
I had read a post on a canine breeding forum a week before about a full-term bitch that died suddenly at home. Sadly, the woman whose bitch died, had lost all the puppies with her. She was questioning on the forum what could she have done? Several responses came back that they had successfully done an emergency at home c-section in which they had been able to save the lives of some of the puppies.
Out of curiosity, I did some more research which showed you have two and a half minutes to get the puppies out alive. By three minutes they will be brain dead from lack of oxygen.
While carrying Goldi back to the house from the potty area that quiet evening, I held my hand on her belly feeling the active movements of the puppies inside. As I leaned over to put her down, she kissed me on the nose, then Goldi died. I shook her to get a response and her tongue fell out of her mouth, already blue. My hand was still on her belly and I could feel those puppies moving.
I went to the door and yelled to my husband “Goldi just died. Get a knife we are going to do a c-section!”
Two and a half minutes was going thru my mind. By the time my husband got into the puppy room with a knife, I had Goldi’s body on a chux pad on the floor with my box of whelping supplies at hand.
“We have two and a half minutes to do this.”
Mike made the initial incision and the uterine horns presented themselves full of live puppies. I kept repeating in my mind, we have two and a half minutes. It’s OK, Goldi can’t feel anything. We have to get the puppies put of their sacks and breathing. Two and a half minutes.
All I can concentrate on is what I can save. Now is not the time to cry. It’s time to act. My hand is on live puppies. My choice is whether to let them die or do what I need to do to choose life. Two and a half minutes….
We pulled puppies out, ripping sacks, clearing away amniotic fluid. Get them breathing! Get them breathing! I had up to three puppies in my hand at a time frantically working.
There were eight puppies total. The last puppy was blue and limp. She never took a breath. The seventh puppy was gasping. Mike worked a long time trying to help the seventh puppy breathe while I continued to stimulate breathing in the other six puppies. Once all seven of the puppies were breathing on their own, we got them into clean dry bedding on a heating pad.
Then I cried. Tears blinding my vision, didn’t matter now. We put Goldi’s body back together, placing her in a blanket with her stillborn daughter. Later, Mike buried them under our apple tree.
My bitch Sweetie, a new Mama, was willing to accept all seven puppies to nurse and care for. I was extremely grateful the puppies would have the love of a foster mom to nurture them.
Then the guilt started to rise. I felt guilty I had cut open my beloved dog. I had not been fast enough to save all eight puppies. Would I be judged as a terrible person?
Still feeling like the worse person ever for what I had done, I talked with the sire owner Darcy, the following morning about what had happened. Darcy was grateful Mike and I had been able to save those puppies and saw us as heroes.
She insisted this needed to be shared with others and we could write it together. Just like the post on the forum I had read the week before gave me knowledge. Knowledge is power. This is a choice that had to be made in that moment. There are two and a half minutes. This could happen to anyone. Are you going to take action and make the decision to save lives or accept the tragedy and lose all?
The seventh puppy never established a normal breathing pattern and died a day later despite all efforts to save him. Above is a photo of the six who were saved within two and a half minutes.