Dog Having Puppies

Real estate agents find homes for homeless puppies

MOUNT HOLLY — Facebook provides a way to connect friends, including the four-footed variety.

From their High Street homes, which are across from one another, Toni Diamond and her niece, Jennifer Smith-Winzinger, have used Facebook to reach out to thousands of people across the country for help in placing homeless dogs.

In the past two years, they have found homes for dozens of canines, mostly from shelters in the South where they faced euthanization.

The two women, who are real estate agents for Prudential Fox & Roach in Mount Laurel, have set up a bank account to which they contribute 5 percent of their commissions into a “rescue fund,” Diamond said.

They also line up donations or services from other pet lovers who want to help out with a dog’s medical care, if needed.

Smith-Winzinger’s sister-in-law, Bobbi O’Brien, who works at Bryan Animal Hospital in Mount Holly, also helps with medical care.

About once a month, Smith-Winzinger, who was raised in Florida, and her husband, Joseph Winzinger, travel to the South to pick up puppies and other dogs about to be euthanized in packed shelters. She has appropriately titled her Facebook page “Hound Hauler.”

The women learned of the need in Southern shelters after befriending people on Facebook who are pet lovers like themselves.

They started matching dogs with people in the North who would mention on Facebook that they wanted a certain type of dog. Many of the pooches in local New Jersey shelters are pit bulls, which aren’t as popular as other breeds, Diamond said, so it was hard to find the right dog locally.

“To get more breeds, more puppies,” the two women visit shelters in North Carolina and Georgia where they have friends, Diamond said.

The shelters in the South are brimming with litters of mixed-breed dogs that have popular hound, beagle and retriever genes in their background.

“People love beagles,” Smith-Winzinger said.

“Their shelters ... are overflowing with puppies,” born to dogs that are let free to roam around rural neighborhoods without having been neutered, Diamond explained.

Some also need medical care, like the one named Cookie with severe mange that Diamond placed with a Maryland family. She had set up Cookie’s own Facebook page and raised about $2,000 for his extensive medical bills.

She and Smith-Winzinger also have placed dogs with families in New England, where shelters are almost bare, as well as in the Midwest.

Will My Dog be Having Puppies? | The Yella Belly

It’s typically not simple or evident to tell when your dog might be pregnant or whelping (a dog-specific term for birthing). She won’t be “late” and you can’t just purchase a home pregnancy kit from the corner drugstore for her. Besides, it would be a pretty difficult task to get her to pee on a stick. The best way to find out if you’ll have newborn puppies in your home soon is to take a drive down to your veterinarian’s office. A basic blood test and X-ray is all that she’ll require. But if your female dog is not spayed and you suppose that she may be pregnant, there are some signs and symptoms that you can look for on your own.

Is she behaving normally? Or has her mood changed?

If your dog is normally on the go but no longer has a lot of energy, that’s one clue she may be pregnant. If she is having a hard time getting peaceful or sleeping, this can be a clue.

She might also become more aggressive about her territory.

Watch for vaginal discharge, this is a normal symptom of pregnancy.

Watch for changes in your dog’s eating program. Is she eating on a regular basis? If she has a decreased appetite or isn’t showing as much joy and attention to her food as she usually does, she could be having morning sickness.

A female dog’s nipples will get to be engorged while preparing for nursing her pups.

Watch your dog’s stomach to see if it looks blown up or swollen. This happens half way through the pregnancy. You may even be able to gently touch for the puppies also.

Your dog may want to stay away from people or animals, even though she is usually social. She wants her own space throughout this time.

Your dog might start “nesting,” or getting prepared for the delivery and care of the puppies. She may scuff and claw at the floor or the blankets as if to fluff them.

How to prevent your dogs pregnancy:

If your dog isn’t presently pregnant, and you don’t want puppies in the future, there is a obvious, clear-cut answer. As Bob Barker often said, “Have your pet spayed or neutered.” Mobile pet clinics are making this more reasonably priced and easily accessed all the time.

If you desire for your dog to give birth in your home you will want to help make her stress-free and comfortable. Provide her with some older blankets in a calm, quiet area. You may want to have plenty of newspaper close at hand as well. Dogs as a whole prefer dark and quiet places to birth, which is most likely why most dog births happen during the night. The labor can last anywhere from 2 to 6 hours. To prevent any unpleasant symptoms in dogs , make sure she is getting a proper diet, including plenty of vitamins and minerals. This will help make sure she has plenty of energy for this process.

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