Puppies?? OH, YEAH!!!!!

  Jewel had her ultrasound this morning.  We were sure she is pregnant (or else the best false pregnancy in dog history!) but anxious to get an idea of how many puppies are in that every growing tummy.  I read in one of my books of a breeder that uses a tape measure to get an idea of how many puppies were in a litter.  I've meant to try this before, but would forget to find the tape measure until a few weeks after the breeding. For Jewel, though, I got the tape measure and measured her within the first week of being bred to Evan.  She's to be measured right at the last rib and each inch increase equals one puppy.  Her starting measurement was 22 inches.  By yesterday, it was 28 inches and we still have 3 weeks before her due date!  I didn't say anything about this experiment to my vet until Dr. Robbins was counting puppies on the ultrasound screen.  The first puppy showed up the instant he touched the scanner to Jewel's tummy.  And such sweet words to hear, "oh yeah, she is pregnant".  From there, we just saw one heartbeat after another...three...four...five...six...seven?  Dr. Robbins wanted to re-count, but the puppies started to really begin moving and rolling.  He was looking for the heartbeats and I was watching the shapes dart in and up, in and out of view on the screen.  Finally, he pronounced it would be a litter of seven, plus or minus.  He guessed we could go as high as nine, definitely six.  I explained the tape measure experiment, which he found very intriguing and wants me to let him know Jewel's final measurement.  A high tech machine versus a tape measure--we'll see which is more accurate!