And Then They All Went Home

Monday morning Mr Yellow went with his new Dad Jarrod Alcaida and his partner Chad Harr to Live on Fox Island.  Jarrod shows Pygmy Goats and was so excited to come and pick up Finn that is Yellow Boy's new Name.  Lavender Hills Take What You Can Give Nothing Back.  I expect Finn to have the most amazing life with his two dads living on the farm with Gigi the Corgi and Monkey the Affenpincher.

Then Right after Finn Left, Red Boy's new Mom Kathy DeHart drove up from the Portland Area to pick him up.  Kathy is an experienced berner mom with two other dogs in her house and wanted a dog to do performance stuff.  Rally, Obedience, Drafting.  She has named him Forrest - Lavender Hills Life is a Box of Chocolates.  I am sure I will get to see Forrest a bunch in my travels and I wish Kathy and Steve the Best with that sweet baby boy.

After they had left, Cuba and Pink Girl were kind of lonely.  I brought them into the house and let them mix with the big dogs under careful supervision.  Last night they both slept in the crate together and didn't have any accidents, I was so proud.

This morning Pink's Dad - Walter drove up from Portland to pick her up with his son Kevin.  Pink is now going to be called Emma and I think that name just fits her perfectly.  Walter wanted to call her Lavender Hills Emma Von Raron which doesn't go with the movie theme but I told him that was OK.  I know she will have him wrapped around her little paw in no time.  

I would be lying if I didn't say I cried a bit when she left, I had been doing so well with all the puppies but it just hit me that they were all gone and I already miss them, so keep the pictures and information coming because I just loved these puppies to death.  I know they all have amazing homes and each and every one of the families is special in there own ways and I think the puppies that have been placed are exactly where they need to be.

Cuba has been given freedom in the back yard now that everyone is gone.  I opened up the deck and he has been hanging out with his mom and Kenya this morning & Mom and Grandpa this afternoon.  Gandalf is in a foul mood tonight so I am keeping him away.  I think he is grumbling about having another puppy in the house and those damn little sharp teeth.  Vegas has gotten to play with extra supervised play time.  She just doesn't realize how big or exuberant she gets and I don't want her hurting him.

I guess this is it for not until the next litter comes - 

Starting to Leave the Nest

It has been a very busy few days and it didn't help that I lost my internet for 2 days.  Finally got it back this morning.

Friday was a big day,  Anne and Addy came up to evaluate the puppies and help take pictures.  You will see their 8 week pictures below.  Anne left with Lime Girl and delivered her to the Portland Airport where her new Mom - Joanne was waiting to meet her.  Her name is now Lavender Hills No Place Like Home and her call name is Kansas.  Kansas had fun in the airport chasing people down for puppy rubs and only was a bit fussy on the plane.  She now lives in Arizona with her big Brother Sigen and I expect her to keep them both very busy.

After she left, Larena and I gave the rest of the puppies baths for their big photo shoot on Saturday morning.  To say we were both exhausted afterwards is an understatement.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early.  Lisa arrived at about 9 am with her car piled full of props and fun stuff to take pictures.  We chased puppies around, and she left around noon with over 1000 pictures taken for the day.  She is still editing them and as I get them I will send them to the individual owners of the puppies.

The picture above is of Blue boy - who is going to be staying here at the house.  I fell in love with him about 4 weeks ago and I just couldn't stand the thought of not keeping him.  So his name is now Lavender Hills Show Me the Money - Call name is Cuba.  I hope that Cuba can follow in his Grandpa's footsteps and keep me proud.

Today we had two families come.  One decided that the puppy wasn't the right fit for her and what she had hoped to do with him and I totally respect her decision.  Mr. Red wasn't a show dog in my opinion but she had her heart set on him and really wanted to see for herself, and agreed with me that there will be another puppy in the future, and if she wasn't totally in love then she needed to wait and that is what she has decided.    This has made made another person very happy and she will be coming tomorrow along with another family to pick up Yellow Boy.

Green Boy just left about an hour ago for a long drive back home to Corvallis with his new mom Haley.  His new name is Lavender Hills Hey Mr Wilson and his call name is Wilson.  Haley is a Vet at OSU and I know he is going to have a wonderful home.  I am hoping he doesn't cry too much on the way home, as that is a long trip for the little guy.

Nevada has watched Kansas and Wilson leave and she doesn't seem too upset.  I think it is important for her to see her babies leave so that she doesn't go looking for them.    I did reduce their space in the living room so I can actually sit on the couch now, since there are four puppies instead of 6 and I added a large crate so that hopefully Cuba can get used to it since that is where he will be sleeping at night once his brothers and sisters are all gone.

7 1/2 Weeks

The puppies are quite active now and keeping me and Larena on our toes and busy, busy, busy.  They have been enjoying the big back yard and I tell you I need eyes in the back of my head at times to keep up with them.

Last night they are were all playing and having fun so I went into the kitchen to make the big dogs food.  They were all centered around the island waiting patiently for me to prepare their dinner, when in runs lime girl.   Jumps up on me like hey whatcha doing?  Then went around to each one of the big dogs to see if they wanted to play with her.  The little stinker had managed to get herself between the slats on my deck and came through the gate from the back yard onto the deck and just waltzed into the kitchen like she owned it. 

My deck looks like the clampetts have been visiting.  I had to improvise with anything and everything I could find to stop them from coming between the slats.  I knew this was a problem with the last litter of puppies and had every intention of fixing the problem before the next litter.  Some how it didn't get done and now, well it looks terrible.  My house looks terrible, the weeds have taken over, just know that for those of you that are coming to get puppies, don't look at anything but the puppies.  Maybe one day I will get things caught up

I still do not know who is getting what puppy but for those that have a possibility of getting one of these babies you might want to start thinking of Registered Names for your baby.  My Kennel Name is Lavender Hill so all puppies names will start with that and then the theme for this litter is Iconic Movie Quotes.  So I know one person is toying with the name Lavender Hill There is No Place Like home and her call name will be Kansas.  I cannot tell you what Mine is yet as I won't know for a couple of days if I am keeping one and I don't want my name out in the universe yet for someone else to grab.

Beth is coming at 11 tomorrow and Pups go into the vets office at 3:30.  somehow I need to work for a couple of hours in the morning, so it will be a very busy day.  Enjoy the pictures that I took tonight while playing in the yard.  Of course the only one that wouldn't sit still long enough to get her picture taken was of course - Lime Girl.

7 Weeks

I feel like I am always apologizing for taking longer to post than I would like....but it has been a very busy week for me at work and so by the time I am done at the office and come home and do what needs to be done with the puppies it 10pm and I am falling asleep over the computer practically and I just haven't been able to manage.

First off Lime girl is back to her normal self and doing awesome, running playing doing everything she did before without missing a beat and no limping so I am beyond relieved.  I was pretty sure she would be but there is always that nagging in the back of your mind - what if?

I kept the puppies in their confined outdoor space longer than I would have liked because I didn't want her overdoing it in the big yard.  I had expanded their area, put in a few new things that make noise when they walk on them and they have been doing well.

This weekend Dallas was entered in a Dog show in Lynden and my partner in crime for showing dogs had to work today, so that meant that Dallas was going to have to hang out with one of our friends that is a professional handler and sleep in a crate in her rig for the night.  He could do it, but I absolutely hate to do that to him and so Larena offered to stay at the house with the puppies while I came up after work yesterday, bailed him out and headed over to the hotel, where he promptly jumped on the bed and let me know how much he appreciated not sleeping in a crate.  After we show tomorrow then I will bring him back home with me and give Larena a big break.

But she just sent me a text that the puppies were bored and so she opened up the big yard and they are having a blast I am bummed that I am missing their first big adventure in the back yard, but I am sure that they are much happier with their new yard.  She said they are already going through the agility tunnel and having fun, so something to look forward to when we get home tomorrow.

Next week is going to be a very busy week.  Puppies will be getting evaluated by my friend Beth who is a Lab breeder on Wed morning.  Wed Afternoon they go into the vets office for their first set of shots and we will microchip the puppies.

Everyone wants to come and tell me their two cents worth on this litter and I keep a journal, I don't tell anyone what anyone else has said or what I am thinking and just let them tell me their thoughts.  So on Thursday my friend Cindy who shows Dallas wants to evaluate and Thursday afternoon my friend Lorraine who is a German Pincher breeder will come.  Friday the stud dog owner is coming up and doing it.  One puppy will leave with her on Friday and then on Saturday I have a friend who is just an amazing photographer and especially with puppies is coming up to take pictures.  I am thinking that puppies can start going on Saturday afternoon.

I will try and keep you posted as we progress through the week.  Lots of things happening that is for sure.

Oh Yeah if your wondering about the 7 weeks pictures they are up.  Not the best of pictures, I was limited on the help I had and if you are wondering what all the white stuff is on their noses.  it is cream cheese.  I was using it to get them to stand still on the table:)

Happy Mothers Day

Even though this picture is a week old, I thought it was kind of appropriate for Mother's day.  Wishing everyone a very happy and special day.

Nevada is still being an awesome mom, she continues to let the little sharks nurse off of her and is watching over them whenever I am off doing something like mowing the lawn.  She is still trying to get them to play with her and I think that will happen in the next day or so.

Lime girl is continuing to improve every day.  She is running and playing with the other puppies, She limps every once in a while, usually right after she wakes up.  So I do think this is more of a muscle or soft tissue injury just based on how she is acting.

Yesterday I was able to go out to our local health food store and they had fresh butcher bones, I picked up four for the babies as that is all they had left, they go really fast and thought a couple of them were larger and puppies could share.  Well they LOVED them and sharing was not what they wanted to do.  Lime and Red ended up with theirs alone as any time one of the other pups came they got pretty defensive about their bone.  Pink and Green shared and yellow and blue shared just fine.  I let them chew on them for 5 minutes then picked them up and will bring them out again today.  My dad is going to stop by Sunny Farms today and see if they have two more, so that we don't start world war three.  If not I will have Larena stop on Monday and pick up two more on her way to the house.

Normally at this stage I would have opened up the big back yard to the puppies, but because lime is not all together well yet, I want to keep them in their puppy environment.  I pulled out two more x pens and made their area bigger, so it actually a good sized area now.  I also brought out a pop up shade canapy to give them extra shade in the grass.  I brought in a plastic tarp yesterday and did you know they make a lot of noise, especially when you have four puppies pulling it from each direction, it was great fun.  I am going to see if I can find a little kiddy pool for them to fill with water as long as the weather is as nice as it has been.

Last night in the middle of the night, don't ask me how, but pink girl managed to get her head stuck underneath the couch.  At 2 am I hear a puppy screaming and thought for sure it was Lime girl, but no she and the rest of the puppies are looking as dazed and confused as I was.   I hear Pink and I see her butt and back but no head.  I pulled on her but she wasn't budging.  I actually had to lift the couch to get her head out.  How she managed to do this, I have no idea, hopefully it doesn't happen again.  In the meantime, I see a nap in my Sunday afternoon future.  That is after I have finished mowing the lawn and given two dogs baths, by then I will need a nap:)

6 Weeks

I am so sorry for not posting this week.  I had planned on doing it on Wed when I was home watching the puppies but then Wed turned out to be a very bad day.  A breeders worst feeling and the thing we worry and dread the most happened, I stepped on a puppy.  It happened when I was trying to feed them and step down off the step, of course they are all screaming and crying for food and Lime got underneath me and I stepped on her front foot.  She cried, I cried it was horrible.  She was holding up her foot and just crying for all she was worth.  I managed to get their food down and pick her up and love on her, but she wanted her food at that point, so I put her down and watched as she held up her paw eating.  Every time she put it down she cried out and by now I am just beside myself.  I call my vet and blubber into the phone I stepped on Lime Girl.  Thankfully my vet follows me on Face Book as does her staff and I am well received at their office.  Kelly tells me to wait, Dr. Allen was just getting ready to leave for the day - then I hear through the phone - Susan Stepped on Lime Girl and my vet yelling, tell her to hurry up and get in here.

So the next trauma of course is making sure all the puppies will be ok for the 45 minutes or so while I race her into the vets office.  As I am climbing into my van I am thinking oh this is going to be a fun ride.  (just two days before I was thinking I need to start taking the puppies for car rides so they get used to it) no instead I drive an already traumatized puppy 20 minutes away to the Vet's office.  Really Good Susan.  We get there and she is immediately whisked out of my hands, more because they all want to love and cuddle her than worried about her well being.  Linda allows me to come back and she palpates the area, determines what is hurting and takes x rays.  It just so happens that on that particular day they had an Orthopedic Surgeon that came up to the office for some surgery's and he comes over and takes a look at the x rays.  Now he has a real sense of humor and thought he would freak me out more by saying Oh My Gosh you broke all her toes, see that - of course he is pointing to the area where her growth plates are wide open and she is supposed to look like this.  I told him nice try.  He looks it over and they both pronounce nothing is broken, it is just a soft tissue injury and she will be ok in a few days.  She gets more snuggles, I pay the bill and collect my puppy and we drive home, with her curled up in my lap on the way home sound asleep.

Yesterday and today have been spent trying to keep her calm as my vet said, she knows she is hurting and is actually doing a pretty good job of that by herself.  She has moments of not limping and then she will limp again.  I am hoping and praying that she will be herself in no time.

In the meantime,  all the other puppies are doing great, these are sweet puppies and all are growing, running playing and eating well.  We have three puppies that are now over 11 pounds, 2 at 10 pounds and one at 9 1/2 pounds.  Yellow continues to be the biggest boy, he loves his food and attention.  I cannot be on the couch as I am right now without him wanting to be picked up and loved him as he just demanded from me.  Blue Boy is very mellow and is just happy to have his belly rubbed.  Red and green are pretty busy and curious and usually in the middle of any scuffle.  Pink is the smart one, she sits back watches, she is pretty much completely potty trained and she loves my dad, her little tail wags ninety miles a minute when she seems him.

The best part about the last couple of days has been Nevada.  She wants so badly to play with the puppies but they haven't quite figured out her games yet.  Just like her mom, she keeps bringing toys outside to the puppies and drops and pounces on them.  Right now the puppies are taken back and are not quite sure why their mom is acting so weird. In the meantime it is fun to watch.

My dad came over to help take pictures tonight, not the best pictures, he does his best but doesn't have the patience that is needed to photograph puppies so they are the best I could do for now, if I can get someone that is better to help with a camera I will do them again.

Note to Self.....

Oh Boy it has been a very busy weekend.  Lots of guest at the house and the puppies are just thriving.    Yesterday my good friend Cindy and her son Brandon came over.  Cindy shows my dogs for me and just fell in love with the puppies.  She helped me do some stacked pictures of the puppies.  I usually never do this to 5 week old puppies because over the years I have found they change so much between 5 weeks and 8 weeks it isn't worth trying to puppy wrestle them.  But Cindy wanted to do it, so we did.  What we got were some great pictures and she felt overall this was a very consistent litter and she has her favorite that she is keeping her eye on for me. 

They got their first taste of string cheese and some dehydrated duck for their efforts and Cindy may have a few new piercings in her fingers for all of her efforts.  Later she lay on the deck and had the whole group crawling all over her.

Today my son showed up wearing a baseball cap, a couple of the puppies were not sure why his face looked so funny, so this was another good thing for them to learn.  One of the reasons I love having people come over, all shapes, sizes, voices and smells.  One of my friends told me that she once had a dog totally freak out because a man had a baby on a backpack on his back and the dog thought it was a 2 headed person.  So now I am on a mission to find such a person, if you know of someone that can help me with this task, send them my way, it will be good for the puppies.

Tonight I opened up their little exercise area so they have another x pen attached giving them more grass to romp and play in.  I have added a ramp to go down into the yard, since I need them to learn how to walk up and down the ramp, the step going into the big yard is a big one and I don't like the puppies jumping off of it, so I figure if they can learn how to walk up and down the ramp then we can move to the big yard.  Right now Pink girl is the star.  She is so smart, she is also the only one that always pees and poops out in the yard and if she is indoors at night, it is always on the puppy pad.  I would say the others are about 50% of the time on both the ramp and the peeing part:)

I would also like to say note to self.... Never debone a chicken and then go and play with puppies without washing your hands first.  The results are not pretty, I am surprised I can even type this, my fingers hurt so bad.

5 Weeks

Took a while to get everything loaded up today as this morning was spent watching the Bernese Mountain Dog National Specialty Via live stream from Sturbridge.  Best of Breed with a beautiful line up of dogs started at 7am my time, which meant an early start getting puppies fed, weighed, cleaned up and taken care of before breed started.  I got to watch most of it until the end when we had puppy people come so I missed the very ending, but it made me very proud of our breed and how lovely the dogs I watched were today.
It wasn't until later after my puppy folks left that I was talking with a friend who is hoping to get one of these puppies to show that I realized I hadn't posted or put up the new pictures.  For that I am sorry to keep you all waiting.  To say I am super excited and happy with this litter is an understatement.  They take everything in stride, are happy to have new blood , um I mean fingers to chew on.  They get so happy and excited to go outside, they love it out there.  As soon as they are a little bit bigger, I can open up the big backyard, but for right now, they just cannot quite manage those steps into the yard. 

Larena and I are teaching them how to use a dog ramp, right now let's just say it is a hit and miss about 50% of the time they get it and 50% they don't.  They are getting much better about pooping and peeing in the grass and very few accidents on the actual deck.  I have an enclosed in puppy area off the side of my back deck and it has one small step down into a side yard that I have x-pens around so they can pee and poop down there.  My friends that were here today could not believe how smart these puppies are.  One is a Great Dane Breeder and I really think she was flabbergasted when she watched Green make his way off the deck go into the corner to poop.  She just looked at me and asked how old are they?

Nevada is still letting them nurse, not as much and she is quick to let them know when they are hurting her.  I am now feeding them 4 times a day.  6am, noon, 6pm and 10:30pm.  Sometimes they eat everything I put out and other times they leave half of it behind for mom.  My feeling on this is that is just fine.  I don't like my puppies to feel like they are starving or have to hurry and get it all, I think that just fosters bad eating habits.  I would rather them eat slowly and not worry about where their next meal is coming from.  Again my Great Dane Breeder today was amazed at how civilized they were when I fed them this afternoon and shocked at how they left 1/2 of it behind.  To me eating fast is just asking for a disaster, so this makes me happy at how slowly they are eating.

They are not puppies but Sharks

It has been a busy couple of days, Tuesday we had some puppy folks come for a visit and the puppies are getting more and more excited when someone comes to see them.  Their little tails start wagging and they run towards visitors I am sure they are thinking fresh blood, fresh blood, because they are little sharks or pirannah's and they are biting everything. 

Mom is getting a little more aggressive with them when they are nursing, of one of them chomps down too hard, she is done, outta there, hasta lavista baby.  Today I am sure one of them drew blood and she jumped straight up and when they came at her started to growl at them.  Then Red boy's head ended up in her mouth.  Not to worry she won't hurt them but this is her way of letting them know that this hurts and how would you like it if I bit you.  Puppies need to learn this, otherwise you will be calling me in 6 months begging me to help you fix a biting puppy.

So for now crocs, or other fully enclosed shoes, long sleeves and maybe gloves are going to make visiting a much more pleasant experience.  Although the weather has been nice, yesterday I had to keep all the dogs in the house with all the doors and windows shut.  My neighbors across the street are slash burning and all the smoke was coming directly towards me, it was not pleasant.  Today the air pressure changed or something and it is no longer coming into my yard so we were able to spend the day outdoors.  As a matter of fact, they ate lunch and dinner outside and are still outside enjoying the beautiful day, I am sure when I bring them in they will crash big time.

While they were sleeping today I mowed one of the dog yards, not too close to where they were, but close enough to be a loud noise.  They watched with interest but didn't seem to upset by the noise which is a good thing.  I changed the pictures today for you, these were taken today and you can see how much they are changing.

We Don't Wanna Be in the Whelping Box

So the Routine is this at 10:30pm,  I put them to bed back in the whelping room.   I now have piddle pads down for them to use and they spend the night in the Whelping box - there are 6 puppies and the whelping box is 4 x 6 so there is plenty of room for them.

Mom usually checks on them a couple of times through the night but somehow the 5am check up requires them to scream and cry and let me know they are awake and ready for food.  If the weather was better, I would run them all outside to go potty but that is not an option right now.  So instead they then go and piddle kinda close to the pad, hey if the front feet are on it and the back are not - I am pretty impressed for 4 week old puppies to be getting the hang of this is a good thing.  I then turn on the coffee pot because, well life cannot go on without it and make the puppies breakfast.  Gandalf usually has to get a bark in here and there because God forbid at the age of 10.5 he hasn't missed a meal yet and somehow I haven't forgotten to feed him, but this might be the morning that happens so he wants to make sure that I don't forget.  Sorry Gandalf you are going to have to wait until after puppies have eaten.

I take my coffee (again this is a requirement at this time of the morning for me to just function) and the puppy food and we go back to the whelping box.  By now they have all pooped and it is now my job to pick up the poops.  I do that, then put down puppy food.  They are getting more excited about the puppy food and eat, walk away, then stumble in to it, walk away, wipe their heads on each other as they scramble over each other, normal puppy stuff and when they are done, Nevada is ready to come in and do clean up patrol.  She eats whatever they don't and proceeds to clean them from head to toe.  I get a warm wash cloth turn on the scale, wash them off, weigh them and then take them into the big playpen in the living room.  One at a time until they are all done.  Clean up the whelping box, start a load of laundry for the bedding, grab another cup of coffee and sit and watch them play and romp and run in the new area and pick up more poop.

By now Gandalf is practically going to hyper-ventilate for lack of food and I have to leave my puppy TV to feed him and the other dogs.  Pick up dog yards, More coffee, maybe something to eat for me, shower, get ready for work and if I am lucky I will have a little bit of time to play with them before Larena shows up.  Off to work - get home at 5 to 5:30, depending on if I feel I can leave early.  Get home and watch and play with puppies.  Larena has given them Lunch and I feed the dogs at 6pm & then feed the puppies around 9pm to help hold them through the night.  At 10:30 off to bed they go,  I clean up their puppy area, change out all the bedding, put another load in the laundry and crawl into bed.

It is a lot of work, but I love it and the joy these puppies give me on a day to day basis is undeniable.  They also help others too.  Friends now call me and say I am having a bad day can I come play with Puppies.  My son cannot wait to get back home so they can crawl all over him, he is 26 and lives over in Everett.  He called today and is hoping to come this week.  Last night my friend who is the fire chief in Sequim called to come up with his two boys.  Ben is a big guy about 6'4 and it was so funny, he just crawled in the pen, laid down and immediately had 5 puppies on him.  The 6th was in his son's lap.  He just glanced over at me and had the biggest grin on his face and said this is what its all about!  So True!

Who needs a Living Room when You can have a puppy Room instead

My living room has been made into a puppy play room and the puppies are so happy with their new digs.  After the initial howling and screaming wondering why they could see their mom through the x pens but couldn't get to her, they eventually calmed down and started to explore.

Pink girl found the crate that is tucked into the side of the couch, it hasn't been touched since the last set of puppies and one does not realize how much dust can accumulate in one of those things until you have a puppy go and roll around in it and come out looking like a dust ball.  Good thing is she cleaned most of the dust out, bad thing, it was all over her.

I had the TV on most of the day yesterday for extra noise, at some point during a fixer upper show on HGTV - green realized that the TV was going and started barking his head off at it.  He was not happy with the hammering I guess but I just laughed and told him that was nothing, wait until the real handiman shows up hammering and making noise here at the house.

I do like to have my handiman come and do things while I have puppies, I figure the hammering, sawing and general banging and clanging of whatever is good for them and Richard is planning on coming up this week I believe, so we shall how they handle that or if Richard gets any work done or just spends his time playing with puppies, it is a toss up.

Gandalf my 10 1/2 year old berner takes this all in stride.  His dog bed is just outside of the puppy play area.  He was laying there minding his own business when Red boy realized that it wasn't his mom sleeping on that bed.  He looked at him as if to say, you look like mom but you don't smell  like her, who are you then proceeded to bark at him and give him the what for.  Gandi just looked at me as if to say, really mom, I have to put up with this when I am trying to sleep, could you please make it go away.

We had visitors yesterday, of course my dad and Chaz came up, they actually helped me put up the puppy area in the morning and then Jerrod and Chad came bringing some new toys which were a major hit.  I always enjoy meeting my puppy people and talking about the puppies and what to expect from Bernese Mountain Dogs, yesterday was delightful and I look forward to the relationships I am creating with these new babies.    Our visitors for today just called to cancel due to sickness, but I am sure some of my friends will come up sometime during the day.  I believe in pretty much an open door policy, it is good for the puppies to meet as many new people as they can.

Enjoy the pictures, not the best of them and I was hoping that Cindy could help me today but she had to cancel, so this will have to do for a few days.  It is going to be another rainy day, so the pups will be indoors again.

4 Weeks Already

Hard to believe that half my time with these babies has already passed and before I know it they will be going to their new homes.  Each day it continues to amaze me at how much they grow and develop and watching their little minds work is so much fun.

Last week the weather was so nice and the puppies got a taste of the big world, yesterday and of course this weekend when I have time to be home, it is supposed to rain and be typical miserable northwest weather, which means it is still too cold for them to be outside.  I have been looking at my living room as I sit and drink my coffee this morning and I think it is time to turn it into a daytime puppy room at least as long as the weather is crappy.  I think I can roll up my area rug, put down a tarp and use some x pens to protect the couch and then that way they can be part of the day to day, chaos at the house.  They need to have the noise and stimulation so they are well socialized.  The million dollar question is can I get this all done before the next set of visitor's show up at noon today:)  We shall see, if not I may put them to work to help.

Lime girl is still up to her antics, I have a cut out in the whelping box to make it easy for mom to go in and out, as the puppies get bigger and figure out how to escape their confinement we put in 2 inch boards up the opening to make it more difficult to escape.  I have had one board in for the past three days, well Lime girl made her way out last night when Mark and Mary were here visiting.  Apparently she felt that it was her turn to be in Mark's lap and out she went.  So now I have a second 2 inch board in the opening, which makes it really hard for Nevada to get in and out, but she let's me know when she wants in and we play a game of getting all the puppies to come into one corner so she can hop in, then they realize mom is there and all heck breaks out.  They have found their voices that is for sure, but they are sleeping through the night which is very nice.

Well I better get my butt in gear if I am going to rearrange my living room before puppy folks arrive.  I will get pictures today and get those up for you tonight.

Big Day Today

This morning it became very apparent that Nevada didn't want to nurse the puppies, at least not as long or as much as they wanted.  They were crying and hungry so I made up puppy gruel for them and we had our first big meal.  I do mean Big!  I have never had a litter of puppies take to eating so well, they dove in and figured out the concept very fast, they also ate almost every last bit and then topped it off with a visit from Nevada after she had cleaned everyone from head to toe.

I did take some pictures and although it is very late as I am typing this, I will try and get those pictures downloaded from my camera in the morning so you can see them.

Today Charlee's mom and dad came to pick her up, she was very happy and I think Nevada was happy to see her leave.    Monica and Ken had a great visit with the puppies, so they had a big day of socialization with new people and were pretty tired after they left.   Charlee was very happy to see mom and Nevada is happy to have her entire house back without gates to keep Charlee away from the babies, this means that Nevada doesn't have to wait for someone to open a gate and she can come and go into the puppy room as she wants, this makes one very happy momma.

What made Nevada even happier though was the puppies getting to go outside for their first big outdoor adventure.  The weather was lovely this afternoon in the 70's and so I felt it was a good time to take them outside.  We carried them out and Nevada was rolling and lounging in the grass with them, I swear she was smiling from ear to ear, as if to tell me it was about time I took them outside. 

They were curious, ate some grass, sniffed bugs, climbed up and on the small step that goes into the puppy yard and drank milk and played with each other, we even had some piddling and pooping outside, which is always a good thing.  When we brought them back into the whelping box a couple of hours later, they literally all fell asleep exactly where we put them.  Lots of stimulation makes for tired puppies.

Puppy TV

Every day they are changing and getting more and more active.  They are starting to try and run but it doesn't always work out for them, so you see a lot of starting and stopping and crashing into each other.  I call it my puppy T.V. because it's better to watch than anything on TV right now.  They chew on each other, starting to paw each other and are piling up on each other more than they have in the past. 

It seems there is always one that just cannot quite settle down to go to sleep, this last round was lime girl, she pulled up the corner of the whelping pad and moved it half way across the box, then went around and literally pounced on each of the other pups to see if they were awake, then whining when no one responded she put herself into the corner of the box and cried herself to sleep.

I spoke with my mentor this morning to ask her advise about whether or not I should start them on gruel and she agrees with me that they are thriving on momma's milk, they are gaining, growing and as long as they are not hungry no reason to rock the boat, so we are still nursing every two hours and mom is doing an amazing job, the whelping box is spotless and the minute a puppy whines or cries she is in cleaning their bums.  In a way they haven't had to poop on their own, because mom cleans them long before it ever gets to the point of them trying to do it on their own.  So for me I think this is another reason for them to have a few more days on Mom's milk.

Green hit the magic 5 Pound mark this morning and Lime is right behind him, I am sure she will be 5 pounds by tomorrow.  Now I understand why Nevada is eating 9 to 10 cups of food a day.  She is eating three times a day and her bowl is empty after each meal so I am feeling very good about the nutrition they are getting.

More Interactive

Oh how these puppies are changing so fast, every day it is something new or more pronounced.  Yesterday they were three weeks old and now the fun begins.  They are starting to play with each other, are awake for longer after meal times and I introduced a few toys into the whelping box which they are starting to take an interest in.

Pink Girl is definately the most laid back and easy going puppy.  She is content to sleep and doesn't interact much with the others. She is usually the last to get to the milk bar and the first to get her fill and leave, no messing around with her, go in get the job done and sleep, that's her motto.

 Blue Boy for being the smallest holds his own and man when he gets a nipple he doesn't let go, no matter how much jostling the other ones do.  He and Lime Girl play together a lot and chew on each other.  Lime is just a big chunk, although she got outweighed this morning by Green Boy, first time she has been bypassed in the weight department.  Although that doesn't surprise me as Green is usually one of the first to get to the milk bar and the last to leave, he doesn't miss a meal that one 

Yellow is the happiest to be picked up and cuddled, he loves his cuddle time and is super sweet.  Red Boy is the last to settle down, you know the toddler that doesn't want to go to bed and cries because he is so tired - well that is red boy.

Their teeth are starting to poke through and it won't be long before mom decides that nursing is not her thing, right now she is going in every couple of hours and letting them nurse.  I was trying to remember when I started the last litter on gruel and it was today, but they weighed less and were gaining less than these puppies, which is interesting because it is the same breeding.  I think I am going to hold off for a couple of days before starting, but as long as we are getting good weight and mom is willing to let them, I think the more they can get from her the better they will be.

I will get pictures this afternoon and post them as soon as I can.

We can hear now

Well today has been a pretty big day for the puppies, when I left this morning, they were not hearing me, however when I came home from work today, as I walked into the whelping room and asked how my babies were doing, two of them lifted their heads and looked at me.  It became very evident that they were all hearing me this afternoon.

On top of that they are also starting to interact with each other more now, whether or not that is smelling milk on each other and trying to determine if they can get it by biting each other's noses, who knows.  What I do know is that is is very fun to watch them and see them starting to play with each other.  Now the fun begins

They are also gaining nicely,  Lime Girl is still the largest at 4 lbs 2 oz and Blue Boy hit the three pound mark this morning.

Weekends just are not Long Enough

I hated having to go back to work this morning, getting to hang out with puppies all weekend was the absolute best and it was just not in my wheelhouse to go to the office this morning, but it had to be done.  Larena is staying at the house now, so I know they are in excellent hands while I am at work, she adores them, loves on them and makes sure that Nevada doesn't step on one when coming in and out of the whelping box, but I doubt that will ever happen. 

Some girls are not very careful around their babies, that is not the case with Nevada, she is so good, so careful, she comes into the whelping box as if walking on egg shells, gently and carefully putting down each and every foot,  Now that they are getting more active, their sense of smell is getting better and they are up and scurrying in seconds when she is in, she usually stands at the front, lets them all scurry towards her, then she hops over to the other side and quickly lays down.  Sometimes she cannot get down fast enough and then we remove the puppies from her and give her the chance to lay down and they immediately attach themselves to her once again.

The Puppies are all gaining in leaps and bounds.  They are moving around better by the hour and are now pretty much all walking and there is still some wobbeling with the movement but for the most part they are going in a forward direction.  All of their eyes are open and I have to say that these pups have the darkest eyes I think I have yet to see on any of my pups.  I am fortunate that my lines have nice dark eyes, which I believe comes from my foundation bitch Ivie (Nevada's mom).  Usually when puppies eyes are just opening their is a film and they look kind of grey, not these guys, they look black so I am thinking they are all going to have nice dark eyes, which is much prettier and pleasing to the eye than yellow or light brown eyes.

Nevada was very happy to have me home from work today and the first place I needed to be was in the whelping box with her and her babies.  I got puppy kisses and could just smell the puppy breath, I know that is mean, but I swear it is the best feeling in the world and nothing can make you happier than cuddling and loving on the babies.

2 Week Pictures Up

I know you will all be happy to see the new pictures of the babies.  They are changing by the hour, I swear.  They are getting stronger on their feet, Red is really scooting around the box.  Pink is always the first one to raise her head when Mom comes in as if to say the milk wagon is here and then the scurrying goes on.   Blue always makes his way to the best teat, Yellow usually tracks right behind pink and Green & Lime always get lost on the way.

Having Larena here is so nice, she has been such a help in just a short period of time.  This morning just having her hold puppies so I can trim toenails on the back feet was a huge help and for once I don't think I got any to the quick.  That extra set of hands is so nice. 

This morning the sun was shining and I was able to go out and pick up the dog yards, and I decided I would try and mow before the rain came back,  I got all of the dog yards done, the side yard and started on the front when I ran out of gas for the lawn mower.  Getting this done before the rain started was so nice.  This time of year, I swear the lawn can grow 3 inches in a day, so getting a head start on it before it gets too big to mow was a very nice feeling and of course knowing the puppies were being watched allowed me the ability to get some outside chores done.

This afternoon we tackled the pictures.  She understands what is needed to get the pictures and is patient enough to get it done right.  Puppies on the other hand were kind of squirmy and not all that cooperative.

2 Weeks

Where has the time gone - hard to believe they are already two weeks old.  I swear they are changing and getting stronger by the hour.  Eyes are opening, yesterday they were little slits, today they are a little more open than yesterday and I am sure by Sunday they should be open all the way.  They are getting up on all fours and walking, this morning it was more like a wobble, this afternoon Red was making more progress and by tonight I swear they are almost running to mom when she comes in the box.

Today my house sitter has moved in for the rest of the duration.  Lorena loves the dogs and they love her, she is moving back to Sequim and  her new apartment won't be ready until the end of the month, so I told her she could stay with me until it is ready.  It is a big help for me and I worry about my dad and his ability to get around as the pups get busier, last thing I need is for him to lose his balance and fall and break something.  Lorena has a cat named Tigger and he is also great with the dogs.  I think it will be good for the pups to see a cat and this morning he climbed in the whelping box and checked them all out, they all sniffed and realized he wasn't mom and Nevada was just fine with him being there.  My cat used to teach all the pups about cats, but she crossed the rainbow bridge last winter at 17 1/2 years of age, so having Tigger here is nice.

Tomorrow we will take new pictures and get them up on the blog for you.

Good Morning

This morning I am moving on the slow side.  Last night, I was rushing down the hall to let Charlee in the house, one of my rugs slipped out from under me and I came crashing down on my left hip and wrist.  Nothing broken, but I am sure the bruise when it pops up in a couple of days is going to be all kinds of pretty.  Of course this is my left hip, which is the side I lay on to watch the puppies from the day bed, so last night was a rough night for sure.  Aleve is my best friend right now and waiting for it to kick in so that I can make my way into the office, at least for a little while.

The puppies are all doing what I like to call the drunken sailor walk, they get up on all fours and totter around trying to figure out how to put one foot in front of the other and move in a forward direction, it is quite cute.  Green and Red Boys this morning are starting to show a sliver of an eyeball peeping out, so the others should follow suit and I would expect by this weekend they should all be open.

Green boy is the talker, he barks and growls, it is quite hilarious to listen to him tell his momma that he is hungry and she should be making her way into the whelping box.  He is a smart one.  He knows that when he talks she comes, not too bad for a puppy that is 12 days old.

Nevada is being an incredible mom, I wouldn't expect less, she was good with her last litter and her mom was an amazing mom so it runs in the genes.  Yesterday, dad said she was in the whelping box from about 11am to 3pm he kept trying to coax her out but she was perfectly content to be with her babies.  They are super clean and I have yet to see a wet pee spot or poop from them as she cleans them long before they can do it on their own, which at this point they should be able to do, I just haven't been able to witness it, because she takes such good care of them.

New Pictures

Today Dad helped me take pictures of the puppies.  At this age, getting pictures is never easy.  They move around and of course every time I try to take a picture they have to turn away from the camera.  So not the best of pictures but I am sure you will agree they are better than none.

First day back at work went well, although I had to come home early.  A good friend of mine had planned on using Dallas as a Stud Dog and her girl wasn't scheduled to come into season for a couple of months.    Well Charlee didn't get that message and mom and dad have a trip to Hawaii planned, leaving tomorrow.  So we have a guest for a couple of weeks.  Charlee is a great girl and I have her in my bedroom where she can go out the side door to a yard of her own.  Nevada has let her know that she is in charge, Charlee backed off and they are getting along quite well, which makes me very happy.

Rolly Pollies

I have now started calling them the Rolly Pollies because they are all very fat little puppies.  When mom comes into the whelping box their little noses go up in the air and they air scent mom, then the boot, scoot and boogie to the milk bar happens, they usually all end up there at the same time and then scramble on top of each other for a nipple, one or two will get knocked off and they roll down the remaining puppies with their little feet up in the air, two fat to get right side up and scream and make a ruckus, then they right themselves, climb back up and roll back down.  It really is quite hilarious and I know I am a mean mom, but it's always good for a chuckle. 

Green boy likes to come in through the back door, between momma's back legs but half the time he doesn't make it all the way and then screams bloody murder that their's no milk - no green boy there is no milk at the back of your momma's legs.  I always find Blue boy and put him on the best nipple while the others are all scrambling, that is because he is the smallest, not because I am playing favorites.  Eventually they all find a nipple, drink until they are comatose and fall asleep.  That pretty much sums up life around here.  Eat, Sleep and be Happy.

Yesterday my dad and Chaz came and watched the puppies so I could go to the dog food and regular food store.  Nevada has decided that she likes raw food and so that is what she is getting, along with some other stuff, I just keep trying to get as much food into her as I possibly can these days.  While it was nasty and wet all over the rest of Washington, it was actually not too bad here.  After feeding the pups, Nevada likes to go outside to cool off.  I have to keep the house warmer than normal for the puppies, especially at night, so the dogs are wanting to be outside more than they normally would.  She goes and lays on the puppy deck next to my home office and if she wants in she can give me the look and I can let her in.  We seem to have a good routine down and I am not looking forward to going to work next week, but I have to.  Pups will be watched by my dad, who has helped me raise the last 5 litters.  He loves the puppies and is a tremendous help. 

1 Week Birthday

Gosh hard to believe a week has already gone by.  The puppies are all doing great, gaining weight, getting fat and are very content and happy babies.  Mom has lot's of milk and they are basically thriving.  I am starting to see black pigment on the noses and red boy has been trying to stand up and walk rather than doing what I like to call the boot, scoot & boogie, he was doing that when the others were sleeping for the picture above.

As of this morning  - little miss lime girl is the biggest, weighing 1 lb 14 ounces so she is practically knocking on the two pound door.  Red & Green, Pink & Yellow are 1 lb 12 ounces and Blue boy is 1 lb 8 ounces.  He is always happily sleeping when the Milk Wagon comes in and I have to wake him up and put him on the best nipple.  He has been steadily gaining so I am not concerned about his weight at all.

It is interesting watching the puppies when Nevada comes into the box, they can all be sound asleep and pretty soon you can see their noses start to twitch, heads lift and then it is off to the races, they scurry around scooting here and there trying to find her.  Someone always seems to get lost and starts crying and screaming bloody murder that they cannot find their next meal and I have to rescue them and then they are all happy.

Life is otherwise good, Nevada is still being picky at eating, but she is at least acting like I am not trying to poison her with each meal.  French toast is her favorite so far, but yesterday she had some raw turkey, raw cut up chuck roast, some stella and chewys dehydrated raw duck, goats milk, vanilla ice cream  and two sliders.  Yes she is spoiled and pretty soon she is going to have to not be hand fed, but I am hoping we are making headway.

I am hoping I will have a helper come and take one week pictures today, if not we will get them tomorrow for sure.

Heaven Has a New Angel - Peanut

This has been a tough morning - during the night she continued to thrive, I fed her twice and she was doing great.  This morning I put her on the heating pad, which is what I have been doing whenever I leave her alone and let Nevada out to do her business and feed the other dogs.  I then throw towels in the dryer to warm them up and fix her food and go and feed her, when I got back to the whelping room, she didn't look right, her body was limp and lifeless.  I tried and tried to revive her, Nevada tried to nudge her, licked her and after about a half an hour I knew she was gone and there was nothing more I could do.   I really thought she would make it, but my vet told me today, that sometimes with little ones like this we really don't know if their internal parts are working correctly and more than likely there was something else going on that we couldn't see.  I know I did everything I could and I knew it would be a struggle but I wasn't about to give up on her.

I also didn't realize until she was gone, how much of my focus had been on her and how much time she took.  Nevada and I both crashed this afternoon, her snoring put me out for the count and I think that was the most sleep I have gotten in one session since they were born.  She required constant watching, making she she didn't get squished, was warm, was eating and she cried and moaned a lot, I didn't realize how much until she was no longer with us.

Today I was able to really focus on the other puppies, I did take pictures, not the best, but I haven't had anyone come over to help and we will get better ones on Friday for sure for their one week photo's.  As you can see some of the pigment is coming in on noses.  I had to put a different color collar on flower girl, that ribbon was just not good - so she is now Lime girl.  Green boy likes to bark and it is so cute to hear.  All of the babies are gaining weight and doing well. 

They had their dew claws removed yesterday, so that is behind us and now we can start to focus and move forward.  Nevada has decided she likes raw meat.  I spent $75 at the store today on Meat and hoping this gets me through until a raw food order I made comes to the house on Friday.  Whatever it takes:)

Looking forward to hopefully a good night sleep.

Peanut has gained an ounce

I know that doesn't seem like much but when she has been steadily losing weight since birth, any gain is a gain and I will take it.  I think we have a game plan that seems to be working.  Every two hours I pull out a warm towel from the dryer that has been warming it up and then I wrap her in it and get her good and warm for 20 minutes, usually this is me laying on the cot with her resting against my heart.  Then I tube feed her and another 20 minutes resting in the warm towels against me.  At that time her taste buds have kicked into gear and I put her on momma for as long as she wants and I have been watching like a hawk that she doesn't get kicked away by her siblings and sitting out in the whelping box all alone.   When Nevada's milk lets down, I have to literally hold her head to a nipple so that she doesn't get pushed aside by the other pups.

Her vocal cords are working well and if she does get pushed out, she lets me know.  Last night in the middle of the night I heard one of them barking, I couldn't figure out who it was but this morning I heard it again, green boy has learned how to use his vocal cords as well.  Cracks me up hearing this little teeny bark coming out of these puppies.

Nevada still doesn't want to eat, I have been trying everything, she will eat a little bit of something and then turn up her nose at it - We go into the vets office this afternoon at 2pm to have dew claws removed.  All but little wee one - I will not do hers, it is just two stressful on her little body, so she will have all of her dew claws.    When we go in, I am going to see if Linda has any ideas about what I can do for Nevada.  Not sure if she is still nauseated and if so, can I give her pepcid or what is going on.  I am going to order some raw food and see if that gets her taste buds moving again.  If anyone has any ideas, I am all for it.  She  won't touch chicken or anything to do with chicken,  I have tried bone broth, cottage cheese, eggs, potatoes, she ate a little bit of canned rabbit yesterday.  She didn't like oatmeal.  She was eating Satin balls, but then those lost their enticement, goats milk.  She will still eat vanilla ice cream.  Like I said, open to ideas, so if you have any - let me know.

He is a She

So apparently my friends Mona, Linda, Terri & Susan don't know the difference between a boy and a girl.  During the c section they were on one table and I asked them what they all had and they all said four boys - I am going to call out Linda who was taking care of the wee little one in question.  So I was busy trying to revive the one puppy that didn't make it and later taking care of mom, never looked at the sex of the puppies.  I have been a little bit busy at home, trying to keep wee little one alive and hadn't checked the sex of this puppy until this morning when I was on a phone call with Anne and she asked me to check something, when I noticed that Stuart Little's plumbing was all wrong, he is a she.

She has not been doing so well, I have been tube feeding her every two hours throughout the night - to say I am tired is an understatement, but more concerned for her well being than mine at this point.  We just got back from meeting my vet at her clinic - bless her for coming in on Easter Sunday and she gave her some sub q fluids and sent me home with some showing me what to do throughout the day.  I was able to talk with a good breeder friend of mine, that had a similiar type of a situation a couple of years ago.  She gave me some very valuable advise and for right now, I am seeing a turn around and she has already gained 1/2 an ounce since this morning.  Considering she kept on losing weight, this is the first gain since she has been born, so I am super happy about that. 

The remaining puppies are all doing great!  Momma's milk has come in and they are all gaining weight.  I like to weigh my puppies twice a day for the first two weeks, I find it really is the only way to know for sure that they are doing well and if one isn't doing as well as the others, you can give that puppy a little more TLC or make sure they are on the good nipple.  Nice thing about 7 puppies is that they are all pretty much good nipples, although some are always better than others.

I will keep you posted on the peanut's progress, but for now, I am hopeful that we have turned things around.

All is Well

Nevada is being an awesome mom, she doesn't want to leave her babies at all and I almost have to force her out to go potty, she wont eat unless she is laying down with them nursing on her and has been doting and being an all around amazing mom, I couldn't ask her to be any better.

Her milk still hasn't come in, although I think they are getting more than they were yesterday and this afternoon for a minute I almost thought it had dropped, there is a humming sound when the babies nurse when momma's milk comes in, it is hard to describe, but any breeder knows what I am talking about, I think it was wishful thinking on my part, but I have faith it will be coming in soon.

I have named the wee little guy Stuart Little - he is so tiny compared to the others but he is a fighter.  I have watched him and he has figured out that if he burrows down and goes for the nipple at the bottom that momma is almost laying on, then he doesn't get knocked off as easily.  He is still not gaining like the others, so up until now, I have been tube feeding him.  I ordered premature baby bottles from Amazon last night and they just showed up this afternoon, so tonight I will try and bottle feed him instead.  He is getting supplemented every two hours, which means not very much sleep for me.

This afternoon I think I got a good nap, when Nevada crashed and was snoring, I layed down on the cot in the puppy room and before I knew it I was out like a light.  I had some friends come by today and watch so I could take a shower, oh how that can make a person feel good. 

I hope everyone has a happy Easter, we got pictures today with my phone camera and I have been trying to figure out how to get those on the blog.  So tomorrow I will try again with my real camera.  New Pictures coming I promise.

Susan

Welcome to the World

We have 7 beautiful babies, 5 boys and 2 girls.  I know that is the main information that everyone wants to know and my apologies for not getting this posted earlier, it has been a pretty hectic day.

We arrived for our c section this morning at 10am, my village of helpers was there to assist and I am sure other people coming into my vets office this morning wondered what in the world was going on.  My vet is a small practice and her philosophy is she will do c sections, but her concern is for the momma dog and I am responsible for the babies and bringing necessary people to revive and take care of how ever many puppies we think we are having.    This relationship has worked well and I am comfortable with it and mostly comfortable with her and her abilities to make sure my bitch is well taken care of. 

today we had a new crew of helpers, some that have been through this with me before, some expereienced breeders that have helped with other c sections and a couple of people who wanted to come and help, although they have never done anything like this before, but they are new breeders and appreciated the experience.  Overall we had an awesome group of people.  As the puppies came out Ben and I hurried them into waiting hands and they worked their magic on reviving and cleaning up the puppies.  One of the problems with c sections is that babies can take longer to revive because of the anthesethia, normally I am not concerned about this.  But Nevada was fighting the anethesethia with everything she had this morning and although my vet didn't want to had to give her more than normal just to get her under for the surgery.  One puppy had made it into the birthing canal, even though Nevada hadn't shown any signs of being in labor and that puppy was the last to be taken out.

This beautiful little angel didn't make it, we worked on reviving him for over an hour, tag teamed on him, rubbed and rubbed, did everything we could and pulled out as much fluid from him as we could, he just could not catch a breath.  After Nevada was all closed up and in recovery, my vet even tried and just couldn't get him going.  I have never lost a puppy during a c section and have been second guessing and questioning what could I have done differently and the fact is, I don't think there is anything we could have done, unless I was at a facility that had more trained staff, more Repro and Neo Natel equipment and even then who knows if he would have pulled through or not.  I tend to believe that things happen for a reason and maybe there was something else going on that we were not aware of, as to why this puppy could not survive.

All of the puppies are beautifully marked, not over done on the white blazes, all have white on all four feet, some just a little bit, but all the toes are white so they are very consistent.  All were born at a little over a pound except for one wee little boy that I have now named Stuart Little.  Stuart is small weighing in at 8.4 ounces and has a cleft in his lip.  We had to spend extra time at the vets office today because we needed to make sure that he could latch on an actually nurse.  Dr. Allen gave me a better feeding tube than what I had and made sure that if I need to tube feed him, I could.  I have only had one other puppy that had to be tube fed and I was a nervous wreck everytime I did it.  I have to say that I have done it twice with him today and I am much more confident with my abilities than the last time I went through having to do this.  Stuart is small but he is feisty and he has figured out that if he gets underneath his sibilings and gets the nipple on the bottom that mom is usually laying on, that he cannot be knocked off as easily than if he gets a top nipple.  He is small and it doesn't take much to knock him off, but so far and into the night he is doing well and I have faith that he will continue to thrive.

I have spent the majority of the day, watching and making sure he is getting enough to eat and thus haven't had time to write.  I was getting ready to take a nap and realized that I am sure those that are following the blog have been anxiously awaiting the news - so I am sorry, I didn't get to this earlier.

tomorrow we will get pictures and I will post them, until then I need to get some rest while I can.

Baby Eve

After many phone calls and discussions, I decided to stay home today rather than driving to Tacoma.  Nevada has shown no signs of going into early labor and being in the car 5 hours is just not in her best interest.  So instead we went to the Dog Food Store and stocked up, picked up a few last minute things that I keep on remembering I need and worked half a day at the office.

She no longer wants Costco Chicken, Duck, Steak, Eggs, you name it and I have tried it.  I am getting her to eat.  Dr Cindy said she needed to eat at least a cup of food a day, I am probably getting 2 1/2 to 3 cups in her, still not as much as I would like, but I think she is having nasea issues and I don't want to give her anything that might upset the babies.  Hopefully after babies are born, her appetite will be back.  In the meantime if the puppies like baked potatoes and grilled cheese sandwiches it is not my fault.  Seems to be the only thing she will eat the last two days.  Tonight consisted of two grilled cheese sandwiches and two baked potatoes with butter, of course all hand fed for the maximum benefit.

She has now reached the point where she cannot have anything else to eat until tomorrow morning, that should not be an issue.  We have our C Section scheduled for 10am and I have my helpers all lined up.  I think I am ready, so off to bed to get the last good night sleep I will get for a while...

X Rays - Any Guesses

Today we headed off to Tacoma to visit our Repro Vet for X Rays.  I could have done it at home and my vet is awesome, but I have been worried because Nevada just isn't eating as much as I would like, or at least the way her mother ate at this stage of the game, so I felt it was worth the 2 1/2 hour drive to make sure everything is looking good.  Dr. Cindy gave us two thumbs up and said everything looks normal and I shouldn't worry so much...sorry it is just in my nature, I get very involved with my breeding program and I don't ever want to lose a single baby for any reason.  If there was something happening and I didn't do everything in my power to stop it from happening, I would never forgive myself.

She counted 7 babies and she thinks there is possibly an eighth one hiding, all look good and healthy so that is excellent news.  She also doesn't think Nevada will wait until Friday to have these babies.  So I am on extra duty watching and monitoring her.   She wants me to check her progesterone on Thursday (which means another 5 hours on the road, as we cannot get same day progesterone here in town) and based on what that number is, I should have a better idea of when they will arrive.    Dr. Cindy thinks that if it looks like they are coming on Thursday, she would like to do a c section then.  I came home and talked with my vet and we both agree it is much better to get her home and do it here, closer to home, then I am not driving home 2 1/2 hours with mom and new born babies in the van.  I will be half way home before they call me with the progesterone numbers anyway, so it is best to be closer to home for mom and babies.

Nevada has had two litters and both resulted in c sections, one because she had a single puppy and one because the puppies were so large and she just couldn't push them out with her last Bully litter.  So we have all agreed with this litter, just do a c section which will reduce her risk of tearing something or having a puppy get stuck in the canal and losing it.

So now my timeline has moved up and the chores are calling me... Susan

2 Weeks to Go

Hard to believe in two weeks these sweet little babies will be here.  I took this picture of her tonight and you can see she is starting to have a wide load, but she is doing great.  She stands back when the dogs are coming or going so she doesn't get trampled, but she doesn't hestitate to let them know when they are not behaving correctly.  She is eating well, actually better than me - for that fact.  She is getting roasted chicken with the drippings from Costco mixed in with her kibble and she loves it, but I noticed this morning that she couldn't quite eat all of her breakfast, so instead of two meals a day, I will start giving her three.  That will be a little easier to digest and not quite so much in one meal time. 

Today, my dad came over and we tore apart the whelping box and put it back together.  My dad made my whelping box and I love it, except the pig rails (boards to stop mom from squishing pups when they are new born) were just too low, the pups kept getting their heads stuck under them in the last litter, so we moved them up, now they are probably too high, but I am not taking this thing apart again.  It is solid and heavy.  By taking it apart, I was able to give it a good cleaning as well and I was able to get under it, which I haven't done in a while, surprisingly, it wasn't too bad, but it got a good bleaching - all ready for the new babies.  Nevada came in and supervised and we got her seal of approval when it was all put back together.

We go in for X Rays on Monday the 26th at 10am, so I will have a better idea of how many puppies she is going to have at that time. 

Meanwhile it is starting to sink in that I have a lot of work to try and do before pups come, because after they are here, not much gets accomplished as far as day to day chores around the house.  I try, but there is just never enough time and I spend as much time with the babies as I can.

Happy To Say.....Nevada is Pregnant

As a breeder it is never easy to actually get your girl pregnant and knock on wood, I have been successful most of the time.  Mother nature is never convenient and things don't always go the way you plan.  Take this breeding for example.  I knew Nevada was going to come into season and I knew it would most likely happen when I was at a dog show in January.  January was pretty packed for me.  I wanted to enter her in the Portland shows as she finally had coat and looks mature and I thought she would do well.  Of course right after entries close, the coat starts coming out in buckets and I knew she would come into season.  Trying to be at a show with a seasoned stud dog and a bitch that is in season is miserable for everyone in the hotel, and most definately me.  So I decided to eat my entries and leave Nevada at home with the house sitter.  Strict instructions to watch for signs of her coming into season.

My house sitter calls on Saturday and lets me know she is in season.  So I contact the Stud Dog owner of the dog I plan to use just to give her a heads up and make sure they don't have plans that will cause us problems.  I next call the repro vet's office to make an appointment so we can come up with a game plan of when to have her ship semen for us to use,  He lives across the country and I didn't want to drive there in the winter.  My repro vet is on vacation until the following Monday so she says to get progesterone on Thur, Sat and then they will pull on Monday when I come in.  Thur I take her to my vet, and we get the results the next day.  My vet sends me an email and says she's at 2.  For those that don't know 2 is when they start to surge and when they hit 5 is when we want to breed them.  I figured on Thursday she would be at .2, certainly not at 2.  I kidded with my vet and told her you mean .2 right.  She says no she is at 2. Crap! My house sitter didn't catch her on day one as there is no way she could have progressed this fast.  I contact the stud dog owner and let her know and we both start worrying about the weekend and if this is going to work.  Saturday I take Nevada back in and wait for the results because I have a bad feeling.  Sure enough she has ovulated and is at 5.  It is now Sat Evening Back East.  The soonest we can get the shipment is Tuesday if she collects on Monday and that will be iffy because there is a terrible snow storm. 

As much as I like the dog I wanted to use, I realized that timing is just not going to work and I need a plan B and Fast.  I called Anne and asked her how she felt about repeating the Nevada and Bull litter and was she open to taking Nevada for a week, while I flew down to Arizona to judge Sweepstakes at a Dog show that week.  She agrees that it is the best idea and I drove from Tacoma to Portland to leave Nevada with Anne and still needed to get home that night to feed my dogs that were at home.  Needless to say, it was a lot of miles that day in the van.  Nevada spent a week on the farm and of course she Loves Bully and Anne and Greg.  I went and picked her up the following weekend and have been babying her ever since.

We went in to see Dr Cindy last Monday where she confirmed that Nevada is pregnant.  she tried to count puppies by ultrasound and her unofficial count was 7 with one additional puppy being reabsorbed.  I was concerned but she assured me this is quite normal and we would put her on antibiotics just for the safe side and she wanted to see her again today to do a recheck.  Nevada has been very nautious, hasn't wanted to eat and I have been begging her to eat.  At this point she is eating better than I am.  Today we had our recheck and Dr Cindy said everything looks really good.  All the puppies look healthy and Nevada had actually gained 4 pounds which surprised me as since I was sure she had lost weight.  She gave me suggestions on the food and tonight Nevada ate the best she has eaten for the past week.  She had two cups of kibble with Roasted Chicken and the drippings.  She inhaled her food and wanted more, but I didn't want her to get sick, so she gets the other 1/2 of the chicken for breakfast tomorrow.

It makes me very happy to be able to tell folks now that this pregnancy is looking good.  We will be doing x rays on the 26th of March and we have scheduled a c section for the 30th of March.