TATRA SHEPHERD DOG BREEDING 2019

BYSTRA AWAITING FOR HER PUPPIES OF POLISH TATRA SHEPHERD DOG

Bystra "became pregnant" in December 2018.  When "these optimal 2 days came", me and my wife  took a vacation  and  went with Bystra to the selected Groom, on the other end of Poland  (of course, it was possible to go closer, but what ... we thought:”let’s go the whole hog”). We had fun: I was joking that we should borrow an ambulance from our familiar doctor. The beginning of Bystra’s pregnancy did not stand out in any particular way, our maiden (well, let’s say: married woman) behaved normally, on walks she walked happily with her four-legged friends and, as always, she was fooling around with us. In the 5th week, during the ultrasound examination, we saw the Tatra Shepherdog puppies for the first time - they looked amazing! At the end of pregnancy, Bystra, like a lady,  began to change her tastes: once she had an appetite, and other time she did not want to eat anything (then my imagination worked hard: 1 “she’s healthy, but only doesn’t eat, 2. she gets sick and if so, should I go to the vet or wait a while?”). Although in the living room we had a playpen for puppies and the special delivery room was disinfected and ready to receive the patient, Bystra decided that as a mother she knew her job better. She found a place in the garden, in the woods, where she stubbornly dug a burrow for her future offspring (throughout her entire life she had never dug up the garden before!). When we tried to bury down the hole, covering it with branches, she dug it up again and again and. Then,  with a beautiful smile, she came to tell us that she already had “a real delivery room for the Tatra Shepherd Puppies”. Finally, the days when she should give birth came. Of course, we were on tenterhooks. Nothing happened until the 4th day, so me and my daughter took Bystra to the vet - the man of the angelic patience in fact. As a future grandfather I was definitely even more concerned about the situation than my wife, and many times I put his patience to the test. On the way to the vet (Bystra  was sitting in the trunk) I heard my daughter saying: "Dad, something is squeaking from behind ...". At that moment I realized that Bystra had begun giving birth in the trunk and I was standing on a closed railroad crossing.  And, still, we had 15 minutes drive ahead... There was no way to help her and I couldn’t get out of the car. I would probably  get a heart attack that moment, if not for the cardiologists in Anin, who have modernized me very efficiently and well not long time before. And here it is - one Tatra Shepherd puppy of the Podhale shepherd was born in the car, another at the vet, the third on the way back home again in the car and the rest -surprisingly -  at home ( Please note: in my delivery room, not Bystra's mink). :) Maybe that's the reason why  our Tatra Shepherd puppies tolerate the long car travelling well? The delivery lasted about 12 hours and was  completely successful.

BYSTRA, POLISH TATRA MOUNTAIN SHEEPDOG, AS A MOTHER

Raising of the Tatra Shepherd puppies  is a hard job that consumed most of my vacation leave for 2019 year (Hey! - How I rested!). In the beginning of their live, the Tatra Shepherd puppies should be fed every 4 hours: Bystra is feeding them first (I make sure that every baby gets a tit, the number of thems is limited and all the  babies wants to eat), then I feed them (no, not what you mean ! I give them the bottle !). Puppies are always hungry and Bystra cannot keep up with milk production, which is normal  with such a number of puppies). The whole "operation" takes about 1.5 hours. Now I am free for 2.5 hours  until the next feeding time (sleep well till then !). And so 24 hours a day. And 7 days a week. Many weeks… And when sometimes your wife helps in feeding (someone has to work to support the family), the whole procedure takes only about 1 hour. Bystra is fine. When she feeds the puppies, she gets rest. Bystra finds well her motherhood,  after the first 3 days of the crisis, she looks after the Tatra Shepherd puppies very well. When the puppies grew up a little, she began to raise them, mainly by having fun together (sometimes, when they 'mischief too much', she gives them an educational 'slap'). After the puppies of the Tatra Shepherd Dog started to eat the dry food, Bystra realized that her own food was "bah! and that of her babies was “yummy!”. And so she began to eat from their bowls (puppies and Bystra obviously have the same food, but "the others’ one is always better for Bystra). When guests come to our house, Bystra leads them proudly to her puppies, Tatra Shepherd Dogs, then lies down  watching newcomers’reaction on such a Beauty !  a bunch of Tatra Shepherd Dogs happily wagging their tails to their admirers. Despite the fact that our Bystra lost a lot of weight during her motherhood, she is very joyful (we get the impression that even more than before) – now she has babies to care and for a  company). And when we took her to the knights' tournament in Czersk, she was very happy, to meet all "old friends" from Grunwald. Throughout the pregnancy and motherhood, Bystra  was looked after not only by us, but also by our vet – Mr P. Rafał Nojszewski from REPROVE clinic, who is an extarordinary professional in dog deliveries.