2024-04-17 21:51:40
The most common question I get about pregnant Bára is, “Was it on purpose, or did she slip?” It was like this. At the time when she was almost done, a worshiper appeared in front of the Štvanice villa in Prague. And since this place is mainly associated with the theater, even our efforts to keep the dogs apart turned into a performance for those who were drinking outside. The story is part of the three-part series “Dog Mom’s Diary.”
Bára is a Hungarian bitch who waited up to 52 human years for the father of her future children. Not that she didn’t want offspring before, but her mistress never allowed her, with one exception. Once, when she was having a bad moment, she arranged a date with a suitor in Stromovka, but Bára didn’t like him at all! Thanks to this, the mistress understood that connecting two dogs can be quite a science, and she never tried anything like that again.
But her bitch didn’t give up. In January this year, she was like crazy during the heat. Stealing rolls from the bottom of baby carriages was joined by running after dogs. At home, she whined, pulled the sleeves of her winter sweaters, bit the duvets and pillows – in short, as if she refused to accept the fact that, according to experts, she was already too old for her first children. Therefore, it is not surprising that when the black hound Abu (honored Abouš) appeared in Štvanice, she took advantage of the situation and the affection of foreign onlookers, who mocked the owners of the dogs, to let the two meet. “Leave them, they’re in love, they’ll be beautiful puppies,” wailed the male staff.
She once guarded the roof of Lucerna, he the slavish Fuchs. But the cultured dogs came together more thanks to the genes from the Hungarian Vishzla, which was once peppered with the blood of the Braques Français. | Photo: Magdalena Medková
Like father and son
“It doesn’t have to work anyway, I already have some experience with it,” said Mrs. Báry, who after the fiasco with the date in Stromovka, the dog walkers told about how people travel even five hundred kilometers away to find their partners. “Then let’s leave them, probably nothing will happen,” she decided to the warm atmosphere of the audience. “You really want to? And I thought this would never happen to Abous,” the dog owner’s eyes lit up. But his black hound with a white breastplate and a noble appearance from his mother of French origin was more skillful than the mistress expected. The initial game quickly degenerated into a love foreplay that brought the two dogs together for a good fifteen minutes.
“We have to pour something cold on them so that they get scared and disconnect,” said the lady who once witnessed dog sex in Riegro’s orchards. She splashed the rest of the cold beer on their joined bodies, which only had the effect of making the two dogs even more stuck together. Meanwhile, Jakub, Abouš’s human friend, promptly ran to the villa to get a bucket of cold water. “Then we shouldn’t water them, they say it’s normal, everything will loosen up in 15 to 20 minutes,” he reasoned on the way back from the bar full of “initiated” people.
The rest of the time it was just the two of them watching the animals patiently wait with their tails together for everything that was swollen inside them to finally give way. Then everyone will go their separate ways. “We have to drink to that,” said Jakub happily, when the dogs finally parted. His emotional involvement reminded the mistress of the role of a father who is proud of how his son has shone today. And also that he invited the whole villa for a shot that evening.
“Granules? I don’t want that”
According to experts, the cut-off age for first-time mothers is the age of five. There are six litters, and even though these breeds behave like small children forever, the lady was afraid that if the union did have results after all, there is a higher risk of a complicated birth. “Don’t worry, he can handle it,” the experienced dog handlers assured her. “If she gets old, her body will kill the sperm,” others said. For the result, all the initiates had to wait 21 days, when it is said that it is possible to reliably tell if a female is pregnant.
“Well, she’s 100% pregnant,” said the vet as she ran the ultrasound head over Bara’s belly. “And how many are there, can you see?” asked the surprised lady. “One, two, three … six, seven, maybe eight,” the veterinarian counted the packages in which the puppies will grow until birth. Before the two reached home together, everyone close to them knew about it, as well as the family, which alternates custody of Bára with Mistress Bára. Their role was particularly interesting because the rotation only started in January and quite soon there were nine dogs.
A Buddhist family of four didn’t want a puppy, but a dog that would bond with them. And then Bára was to have eight children. | Photo: Aktuálně.cz/ Caty Hartung
The dog’s pregnancy period lasts an average of 63 days, and for the first half, basically nothing changes for the bitch, except for the comments of the surroundings, which constantly remind the bitch that she will have puppies. And this is, given that the bitch does not understand a single word, a matter worthy of disappointment, because judging by the human face full of emotions, Bara expected a treat or at least a squeaky toy, but she never got it. In the month and beyond, various nicknames such as “Ms. Cecíková” or “sperm whale” began to be used – and this was incredibly annoying for Bára.
The last, most demanding phase, which lasts about three weeks, can be compared to a woman’s pregnancy, according to smart burners. The bitch wants to urinate all the time, stops eating what she used to like, and often doesn’t know what to do with herself. Lying down is no longer comfortable for her at all and she shows it quite loudly. In addition, Barunka stopped eating any pellets, which did not meet the wishes of her owner, who had already bought special feed for five thousand kroner in advance. And now, not only did the bitch have to eat four or five times a day, but she also wanted cooked and also anything human that was on the table.
How eight became nine
They haven’t slept at all in the last week. Bára walked around the apartment at night, licking her owner’s face and hands, in short, everything indicated that the litter was about to fall. “They say he’ll stop eating that day,” the lady said knowingly to all who dared to ask. But except for the nights, Bára was energetic. She ate boiled meat, ate food from a box and went for walks to Stromovka, where she clumsily played with a stick and pretended to be squirrels. “You know, we are expecting puppies every day,” said the lady to the passers-by, who were a little puzzled by the obesity of the vizsla breed.
A pregnant vizzel on a squirrel hunt. | Photo: Magdalena Medková
Bára decided to give birth exactly according to the rules, so when her water broke on Easter Monday and the first contractions began, it was exactly the 63rd day. The lady waited over half an hour for the first puppy. The bed, which the cat sister Emma liked before giving birth, remained unused the entire time. Bára stuffed herself in the closet, under the bed and in the dark corners under the slanted roof of the attic apartment in Prague 7.
“He’s already out,” shouted the lady’s friend, who sacrificed the holiday season spent outside of Prague so that she could assist in the birth and play cards with the annoyed lady at home after evenings. It was clear that Bára, who didn’t know what was actually growing in her belly the whole time, was surprised by all of this, so she had to be helped a little at the beginning. The owner tore open the wrapping, cut the placenta from the umbilical cord and wiped the puppy, the size of her palm, with a dry cloth so it could breathe. When the bitch recovered and went to clean her puppy herself, everything was as it should be.
The whole birth lasted about twelve hours, mainly because the bitch simply needs to rest during multiple litters. The intervals between the puppies lasted even two to three hours, which according to experts is fine if the bitch is not having contractions and is not pushing. Even though Bára managed everything on her own since the second puppy, there were moments when she had to be helped to ensure that the puppies were born faster and in order. In short, the presence of the owner is often necessary if he wishes that the selection of healthy puppies does not depend on nature or on the instinct of the mother bitch.
It was shortly after midnight when the eighth four-legged creature came into the world, and as the bitch lay down, all the onlookers retired to bed. The other family, which was at the birth of the second puppy, went home, and as the lady was about to lie down, the outline of a small head appeared on the breathing body of the bitch. “We’ll have one more!” she cried out and also that she was born within an hour.
You can read about the life of puppies in the next installment of the three-part series “Dog Mom’s Diary.”
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Dog lovers even in baroque. “Václav IV lost his wife because of them,” says the historian | Video: Michaela Lišková, Jakub Zuzánek