1998年1/20

Lovely started bleeding and her vulvar swelling. Now that she is more than three years old and she seems emotionally prepared for a litter, we decided to mate Bong and Lovely. Bongo is over one year old and very healthy. But I should wait for another ten days because ovulation usually occurs 10-12 days after the first sign of bleeding and vulvar swelling. In the hope of the successful mating I told Bong to take a rest and prepare for the day.

1/30

Since yesterday Bongo got very excited and sniffed around Lovely. I realized this is the day I should mate them. I put Bongo into Lovely's cage.
Bongo has a great willingness, while Lovely has the same amount of reluctance. Lovely refuses Bongo and finally starts growling.
Bongo relentlessly mounts Lovely but Lovely put her tail between her hind legs, which makes his effort in vain. But Bongo is so determined to mate her and angered Lovely finally tries to mount Bongo from the front. ( I burst into laughter to see this funny happening.)
I realized it's impossible to mate them without the human intervention. Next moment I found myself in the cage together with my two Labs, trying to mate them desperately. I am holding Lovely's neck under my right arm with her belly on my lap and her tail is pulled in my left hand. I play the role of the assistant and Bongo made his goal. I felt as if I was playing soccer. While playing I felt sorry for my opponent, because we are the team but my opponent has to fight by herself. In five minutes victory is our team's. And our ace striker gained his goal.

I am sure the mating was successful. Let's count puppies before they are born. I wish I could have chocolate Lab. Hireditary there are chances to have chocolate Labs between yellow and black labs/
We have decided to change the food into science diet growth, which is very nutritious.

2/20

For the past three weeks, Lovely has had a great appitite. It seems that she has gained her weight a bit. She has become a bit chubby around her waist.

2/21

Somehow Lovely lost her appetite. She didn't eat half of her breakfast and left her dinner untouched.
Is it a morning sickness?

2/23

Her appetite is as small as ever. While walking she pisses many times and tries to eat grasses on the wayside.

2/24

Food given together with the soup, she ate all of them.

2/25

Lovely has regained her appitite. She has become a bit chubby around her hips. It's like that of a pregnant woman.

2/26

The increasing weight seems to make her slower and less agile. Her jump was different what it used to be. The kids coming to our house said so.
Her teats seems to grow bigger.
I am sure of her pregnancy.

3/1

Lovely still keeps her good appetite. We add some canned lever to her meals.

3/2

　We took Lovely to the vet to see if she gets pregnant. As usual she was afraid to climb up onto the table for diagnosis. The vet checked her with a ultrasound scan, and diagnosed Lovely her pregnancy.
We felt very happy. Finally we made it. We felt as if we had our new babies.
We watched the video of the producing a litter of puppies in the vet office. We were told that pregnancy lasts for about 63 days and the would-be mother requires a lot of calcium. That means the birth date will be either on the late March or on the early April.
After coming back home, I told Bongo it won't be long before he becomes a father. He wagged his tale so hard as if he expressed his joy. （Is it his usual expression?）

Interview with Lovely

Master:Congratulations! You are now expecting babies! Lovely!

Lovely:Thank you. But I had a very scary moment at the animal hospital. The vet applied something very sticky to my belly and then pressed a kind of gadget there. That annoyed me a lot. I wonder what he's trying to do.

Master: It's a ultrasound scan. He was working very hard to see if you are pregnant.

Lovely: Oh, was that so? I should have known it in advance, then I could have behave myself. I was so scared that I just stayed there with my tail between my legs.

Master:Oh, that's what happened to you a month ago when Bongo try to mate you. I got irritated a lot then, because you didn't seem to accept your friend Bongo. In the end Bongo got his goal with my assistance. It's almost like a soccor game.

Lovely: Anyway I'm very happy to know that I have a litter of puppies in my tummy.