Can you guess how many puppies this soon to be momma is going to have? Above is an x-ray taken of Lacia, a German Shepherd from Lakeview Shepherds, owned by Jennifer Bush.  X-ray is a useful tool to determine the number of puppies and thereby insure that all pups are born after whelping. When performing puppy counts, our veterinarians rely on the number of skulls present to determine the number.  Skeletons do not show up on x-ray until the mother is at least 45 days pregnant.  A few weeks after this picture was taken, Lacia gave birth to 7 puppies.