This night the pups had their first trip off the farm, to the vet for their dew claw removal & tail docking. We ended up taking the whole family. I drove the Expedition, the kids sat in their usual seats in the second row watching a DVD, and John sat in part of the 3rd row with a crate (with the top half removed) on the other side - the other part of the 3rd row seats were folded down. John made sure Jill & the pups stayed settled during the 15 minute drive.
When we arrived at the vet at 5p, I went in to let them know we were there and that we would only be bringing in 4 puppies at a time, to lessen the stress on Jill as much as possible. That worked out beautifully, with John & kids staying out with Jill and half the puppies and me staying in the waiting room. We switched out the 4 pups and Jill did just fine with the transition. Our vet came out to the car to speak to John and check on Jill. He said she looked wonderful, and that the puppies were healthy, happy and well fed!
Back home we all breathed a sigh of relief to get Jill and the little ones settled back in the whelping box. As much as I dreaded the process of the tail docking, I am glad it is done and that we now have a litter of true looking Brittanys.
