The Waiting Game: Days Away From Turkish Boz Puppies
There is a certain kind of excitement that comes with knowing puppies are just days away.
At Dragon Ranch, this is one of those times when excitement and trepidation seem to live side by side. We are counting the days, imagining the puppies we are about to meet, and wondering what the litter will look like. But underneath all that excitement is the quiet hope that everything goes exactly as it should.
When you raise Turkish Boz livestock guardian dogs, the waiting doesn’t really mean waiting.
It means checking the cameras.
Then checking them again.
It means walking out to the barn to check on the expectant mother in person, even though you just looked at her on the camera ten minutes ago. It means watching for every little change in behavior, making sure she is comfortable, eating, drinking, resting and preparing in her own way for what is coming.
And, of course, it means checking the cameras again in the middle of the night.
Right now, Zisa is in those final days before giving birth. And while we are anxiously watching her, she seems remarkably content to simply be Zisa.
Last night, one of our Blink cameras captured a moment that we couldn’t help but smile at. Zisa was sleeping peacefully in the barn beside two of our mama pigs and their piglets. Surrounded by all those little lives, she looked completely at home.
What makes the moment even more special is that Zisa is only days away from having her own puppies. Yet there she was, still doing what she does best: working, watching over the ranch and finding a comfortable place to rest among the animals she protects.
There is something beautifully fitting about seeing a soon-to-be mother resting beside other mothers and their babies.
She is surrounded by the very thing she is about to become responsible for again.
For us, though, those peaceful moments are mixed with plenty of nervous anticipation. We know that nature has its own schedule, and no matter how much we prepare, there is always that little knot in your stomach when one of your dogs is getting ready to deliver.
We want to meet these puppies so badly.
We want to see their faces, their markings, their personalities and those enormous paws that will eventually belong to the next generation of Turkish Boz guardians. We wonder which ones will be bold, which ones will be laid-back, and which ones will immediately decide they own the place.
But before all of that comes the waiting.
The late-night camera checks.
The barn visits.
The quiet moments sitting nearby and watching Zisa.
The wondering.
The hoping.
And the occasional realization that we are staring at a sleeping dog on a camera at 2 a.m. when we could probably be sleeping ourselves.
But that’s part of raising these dogs. We don’t just breed them. We live alongside them, work with them and become invested in every litter long before the puppies ever take their first breath.
So for now, we wait.
Zisa rests.
The pigs sleep with their piglets.
And somewhere inside Zisa, a new generation of Turkish Boz puppies is getting ready to make its entrance into the world.
We are excited.
We are nervous.
And we are checking that camera one more time tonight.
Because the next time we look, everything could have changed. 🐾
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