Eye's are opening!

Well little or should I say not so little Miss Dorie has finally opened her eyes, they are not open all the way but getting there.  She looks like they are going to be that beautiful Dark Eye that her momma has.

This morning she weighed in at a whopping 4 lbs 4 oz which is about where Dallas was at this age, but Dallas had 9 siblings to fight his way to the milk bar, not Dorie, she has sole access and she knows where it is.  This morning Dad was petting her and put her down and she got up on all four legs and walked across the whelping box to get to the food bar.  She has been almost walking but not quite, so today she took her first big steps.

She is a love and I bring her out at night when we are watching TV so she can cuddle on my lap, she is fine as long as her mom doesn't come around, then oh dear Lord, that nose goes into overtime and she is trying desperately to get to mom.  It always amazes me how good their sense of smell is at this young of an age.

Things around the house are getting back to normal or at least as normal as possible under the circumstances.  There is a big vacancy by Ivie being gone but each day gets a little bit easier, tears still happen more than I would like but I am so glad to have Dorie here to help ease the pain.

Circle of Life

This has been a very hard week for me and I am sorry to not have posted any news regarding Ivie.   I had to help Ivie cross the rainbow bridge on Tuesday morning.  It was probably one of the hardest things I have ever done but it was the right decision for what was best for Ivie.

Saturday a friend came and watched Dorie so that I could spend quality time with Ivie.  I didn't want to have any regrets.  We went to stores that loved her and she was adored by her fans.  We went to the park and watched ducks, kids came and petted her and we just enjoyed being together.  I will never regret that time with her.  Sunday she started to decline quite rapidly and Monday morning when I brought her into my vets office I thought this is it.  Even though Dr Allen was quite shocked at her rapid decline she felt there was hope and so I took Ivie home armed with pain meds and hope.  I stayed with her all day on Monday.

Tuesday morning she came into the house went and looked at the puppy, which Nevada allowed her to do.  They both layed together at the base of the whelping box as if Ivie was transferring all of her motherly knowledge to Nevada.  She got up to go outside and I knew at that time she was done.  She fell on the way down the ramp and I had to carry her to the van for that final car ride.

My vets office is amazing, I don't know who was crying the most, me or my vet, the vet techs or the office manger or receptionist.  They all knew what a special bond we had and felt my pain in losing her so fast.  We have sent tissue samples to get answers as to what has attacked her so hard but it will be a while before I have answers.  My vets preliminary examination is that it a cancer that attacks the small intestine.  It is vicious and deadly and she assured me that we made the right decision.

It doesn't make it any easier.  The only thing that does make it somewhat easier is the beautiful baby girl in my whelping room.  I feel so blessed to have her and am so grateful.  I do believe there is a reason that I was only given one puppy.  She is beautiful and I pray that she turns out to be the amazing girl that I hope she will be.

Each day gets a little easier, but It is the little things that I so miss.  I miss her funny little bark, her ability to sit on your lap and take all your breath away, making you feel like a 10 ton brick has landed on you.  I miss the little hop that she would do while waiting for her meals and I just plain miss her so much.  My house feels empty.  My other dogs are doing their best to make sure I am ok and Nevada is an amazing mom, has so many of her attributes, time will just tell if Dorie lives up to her legacy.

Dorie

Everytime I have a litter of puppies, Chas, my stepbrother gets to come and give puppies names so that I am not calling her puppy girl.  He has decided that her temporary name shall be Dorie.  I think that it is an adorable name.

Dorie is doing well, she is gaining weight and we are starting to get the first hints of black on her nose.  She truly is a beautiful baby girl and I am so excited to watch her grow and develop.

This has been a rough couple of days for other reasons besides the baby.  I found out Thursday evening that a very dear friend of mine had died that day of a stroke.  Cindy was a fellow Berner person, a vet and one of the best friends anyone could ever have.  She loved to come and see the puppies, I could call her anytime about something that was happening to a dog and she would offer advise or come at little or no notice to see my dogs in my house without ever accepting any payment for her services.  We would go for nice long walk in the woods and afterwards always have dinner at Fortune Star in Sequim.  I will miss her dearly and it hit pretty hard.

On top of that Friday Ivie stopped eating food.  Any Berner owner knows that when your dog stops eating you need to immediately get them into the vet.  They are a very stoic breed and not eating is usually a ign that something else is going on.

We had an appointment with my vet to take Dorie in to get her dew claws removed in the afternoon so my vet said to bring Ivie in as well.  The first words out of her mouth after checking her over was that she felt a mass in her abdomen.  Upon further x rays and ulta sounds Ivie has a large tumor in her bladder.  Linda tried to get a ssample to send off for pathology but those results came back in conclusive today.  So we need to do it again tomorrow.

Ivie is really not eating, straining very hard to pee but is happy to see me and we are having lots of snuggle time.  To say that I am so thankful that Nevada is a good mom right now is an understatement.  Susan Kowitz came over yesterday so that I could take Ivie for a car ride and walk, she enjoyed our time but is tired afterwards.  She still doesn't want to eat and I have started her on some holostic protocols that I did with Frodo when he had cancer.  Hopefully tomorrow we will get more news and can actively start to fight this nasty cancer.

Today China left for good for her forever home with Melanie.  It is good timing as I really need to focus more on Ivie and Nevada and Dorie.  If I am not reaching out at this time, I hope everyone understands.  Susan

We Have A Beautiful Baby Girl

I usually like to keep up a blog so that others can follow along and not feel like they are bothering me to ask questions on how puppies are doing.  I didn't get real active in posting on this blog this time because Nevada was hardly showing puppies.  When we went to do the ultra sound to confirm pregnancy there was only one puppy on the ultrasound.  When we did the x ray a few days prior to delivery - again there was only one puppy.  One puppy is certainly better than no puppies and for that I am very grateful but I feel so bad for all of my homes that have anxiously been waiting for puppies.  I didn't post anything on Face Book because I just needed to know that the puppy and mom would come through surgery and be fine.  They ARE!

A beautiful baby girl was born yesterday by C-section.  Delivered by my amazing vet and friend Linda Allen.  She was climbing towards the light and could not wait for Linda to free her.  She was crying the minute she came out and in no time at all was doing laps around the box I had brought to put her in to keep her warm while her mother was recovering from surgery.  When Nevada was well enough we had baby girl nursing from mom and then we loaded up in the van to head home.

Yesterday Nevada was just not sure about this thing that wanted to drink milk.  I talked with Madeline about it and she told me to give Nevada some calcium, after some calcium she was all about motherhood and has been an amazing mom.  Little girl is drinking well, scooting around the whelping box and let's everyone know when mom walks away and it is too cold.  I then go and turn on the heating pad, put her on it and put a blanket over her to help keep her warm and toasty and she falls asleep.

The hardest part has been Ivie.  Ivie was the worlds best mom.  She adores puppies, loves them and wants to mother them all.  Every time the puppy squeeks Ivie is all about trying to get to her to mother her.  I have had to put up a second barricade to keep her from rushing past me when I come in or out of the whelping room.  Poor eye eye, you will have time to play mother to her when she is a bit older, right now it is Nevada's turn to be mom.

I will post pictures and keep everyone up to date on our day to day happenings, feel free to leave me a comment or two and enjoy.