LISA: Hulk and Stella are having puppies and they are due any day.
MARLON: Mother Nature decided to poke her head into our lives and she cut the power on us, and it’s very, very
important that we have electricity when the puppies are born.
MARLON: Without the power it can prove fatal to the litter.
LISA: This could not have been the worst timing. I don’t know what we are going to do.
LISA: She doesn’t look so good. She is not lively. I am going to take care of them and hope for the best.
MARLON: Breeding dogs is a pretty crucial part of my business. It’s very important that we have successful
litters. There is no ignoring the facts ‘Hulks is our biggest star.’ So we decided that he should try to have a
litter with Stella. If she had 10 plus puppies, this litter could easily be worth $150,000, $200,000.
LISA: Stella is a big dog. So it’s hard to see anyways but she is two months pregnant and she is due any day.
MARLON: Hulk and Stella have known each other, well, all Stella’s life. They have been romancing for quite a long
time. They make the perfect pair.
MARLON: We took Stella for a little walk, you know, try to keep the puppies moving like a cement mixer. Try to see
if we can induce labour, so. Doesn’t look like it works. She just seems like she is just enjoying herself,
wandering around with Hulk, smelling stuff.
MARLON: With Hulk being about 180 lbs. And Stella being about 140 lbs. I expect this to be the biggest dogs
that we have produced yet at DDK.
LISA: She is doing good. I just noticed she gets starting to shake a little bit. So I am going to check her temperature again and
see if we are dropping, see if we are getting close. So hopefully, hopefully I see a low temperature and we can get things
going. You know she is anxious. Stella, come here. When our temperature drops into the 98s where we should be
expecting them in other 24 hours. Right now it is at 100.4. So it is just normal so no puppies at least till for
the next couple of days.
MARLON: With Stella giving puppies this time around, it’s very important that we have a successful litter. The last time she
didn’t have such a successful litter for a few reasons: the room and the temperature wasn’t right. We just weren’t
prepared. Unfortunately, at times, you know, make us sometimes forget things. We are human beings, you know, believe it
or not. We are not robots. So, you know, we mixed up the date and the dog started having puppies unexpectedly and we just
weren’t ready. Unfortunately, we lost the whole litter. So emotionally it was tough. Honestly, we didn’t know if we wanted to
breed her again and honestly go through it again.
LISA: Can you feel her belly? That’s your belly. Where is Stella’s belly? So, yeah, that’s for the puppies to eat. The
puppies are in here. They are inside here. Can you pet the puppies?
MARLON: We decided that it was time to step up the whelping game and we actually dedicated a whole entire room in
our house to whelping. So right now we are about to enter into the whelping room. Like I said this is a room that we put
together for Stella but we will use this as we carry on breeding. But everything is custom made. It’s still being finished. But
come with me. Check it out.
LISA: With Stella’s due date approaching, we still have quite a few things we have to get ready. Luckily, I do have my
veterinarian on call. But the room is not quite finished. I am really hoping we can get everything done on time. Otherwise,
everything could just be absolutely terrible. If she is not comfortable, if she is stressed out then she is not going to take
care of the puppies the right way and we could lose all litter.
LISA: So she is at 99.6 right now. She does seem a little bit more, a little bit more anxious right now. So, hopefully
that’s a sign that she is going into labour. But we will see.
MARLON: Mother Nature decided to poke her head into our lives.
There’s trees down everywhere. I mean there is flooding.
LISA: There is power outages. This could not have been worst timing. I am really hoping it comes back on and we
can get everything set back up for the puppies.
MARLON: We are kind of at the moment.
MARLON: Without power, I mean it could prove fatal to the litter and it’s very, very important that, you know, we have
electricity when the puppies are born. The power is out for 2-3 days. The dog can’t have puppies in a room that’s like 50
degrees and drafting air. That will be like a gigantic problem.
LISA: I have been trying to reach the electric company and they are not answering. I don’t have heat for the
puppies, which is really important. Puppies can’t generate their own body heat until they are about two weeks old.
I have no lighting. I can’t see anything. Luckily, we are at least able to get some lanterns where they are quickly selling out
everywhere. I don’t know what we are going to do.
LISA: Hey, Stella! CHILD: Mom, is she having her puppies now. LISA: No! Not yet.
MARLON: Pray for the power to come back on to the power gods.
LISA: And she is shaking and panting and she looks pretty uncomfortable. So let’s see. Her water just broke. So that means
they are going to be coming sooner than I thought. She is nesting, panting, really getting uncomfortable. You can see her
starting to push. You can see the contractions on her stomach will tighten up.
LISA: When Stella starts having puppies, I like to give her space and, kind of, let her do her thing. I sit there, I wait, I pet her, I
comfort her but once the puppies are actually born I like to get them out of the sack very quickly. So I will help her, I will
break the sack and then I pinch the puppy’s neck to make sure he has got a nice, loud, clear scream. If he doesn’t, I
have a aspirator that I have to stick in his mouth and pull out any fluid and then wipe him down with a towel and give him
to mom to lick and clean off and then I put him right on to the nipple to nurse right away. So she is just minutes old and
she is already on the nipple. She is eating, which is perfect. It’s just what I like to see
LISA: Stella is having puppies a lot slower than I would like to see and I am kind of, starting to get worried.
LISA: So if she doesn’t have this next one soon if she doesn’t really start pushing. I am going to take her to my regular vet
here. Unfortunately, living out in the middle of nowhere, the closest vet to me is 30 minutes away. The only problem
with that is I don’t want to be driving back 30 minutes to my house with her in the car when she is having a puppy.
LISA: She is starting to get a little faster now and she is doing good and I am feeling a huge relief and I think she is
going to be okay.
LISA: You are right. It’s a boy. It’s a boy. He is blue. He is 1.5 ounces so only an ounce smaller than his sister.
MARLON: She is having another one right now.
LISA: Another boy now.
LISA: There is a hole. So when they eat, it can actually go into their nose, into their nasal passage and a lot of the times
these ones don’t make it. But to give him the best possible chance he is going to need to be tube fed, bottle fed and just be
given like, round-the-clock treatment and care.
LISA: We just had a puppy born with a Cleft Palate. Unfortunately, with these kind of things, there is a lot of the time a
birth defect internally. So I am going to take care of him and hope for the best.
LISA: I stepped out of the room for five minutes just to put my son down, thinking that I was going to have enough time and
she popped out another one. Unfortunately, this one when I picked her up, she doesn’t look so lively.
LISA: So at the very end, she had seven puppies. Unfortunately, we were left with
three: one male and two females that are absolutely gorgeous.
LISA: Our breedings with Hulk are key a point in our business. It can be really stressful and unfortunately, we do have
some tragedies. But it’s also full of a lot of excitement and happiness.
MARLON: So now we have three new monster puppies from Hulk and Stella.
One male and he won’t leave my clutches for no amount of money. I expect we have got a 200lb-er on our hands here. You will
hear his name-King Kong.
MARLON: We also have two other beautiful females who are already sold.
I know they are going to their amazing new homes.
LISA: We are really excited to see where these puppies go within our business and to their new families and seeing the
smiles on people’s faces and kids when they get their puppies is just, it’s beautiful. It makes it all worth it.