Happy New Year

Last Night after tossing and turning and finally falling asleep, the alarm on my Freezer decided to go off at 4am!  4 Fricking AM!!!  Are you Kidding me.  When the alarm goes off it is a beep and every 2 minutes a long beep, not something you can actually sleep through.  So I carefully get up, hoping and praying that I can sneak out of my room, past the puppy pen the laundry room in order to shut the damn thing off.  I come out of my bedroom and 17 faces are staring at me - damn, so much for sneaking past the puppies.  I go and turn off the alarm and it is showing a D for defrost, I am assuming.  Really what kind of sadistic bastard programs a freezer alarm to go off at 4am, shouldn't there be some kind of safeguard in place to have it go off during normal awake hours.  Like I am going to defrost my freezer at 4am. I am going to be lucky to defrost the damn thing before February at this point.  Now the puppies are awake and they are pretty sure that it should be breakfast time.  Sorry puppies, no breakfast for you at 4am, go back to sleep

Luckily I was able to go back to sleep fairly easily and woke up to pouring down rain  and I do mean coming down in buckets.  I decided we would feed the little puppies back in their room and the big puppies on the deck under the awning.  Of course by the time the puppies were fed, the sun had come out, at least for a little bit, so we brought the little puppies out too.   They all had some outdoor time before the next squall came.

I purchased a new tunnel for the puppies and it came yesterday. It was longer than I would have liked, so it doesn't fit under the awning but we put it out in the grass.  Hot pink girl was the first one to investigate and go running through it.  It was a great entertainment value.  Pups were attacking each other through the tunnel, pulling on it and running through it.  I am sure if the weather had been better today they would have played all day with it.  But the weather did not cooperate today and we had to bring them it, they were soaked when we got them in so in a way they all got a little bit of a bath today.  Basically every time we brought them in the weather changed so we took them out, then it changed and we brought them in.  I am telling this is a great workout program.

Tonight everyone got their toenails trimmed and the little pups got wormed for the first time, puppies are terrorizing each other and Dallas and Vegas don't want to be outside due to the fireworks going off in my neighborhood.  Kenya could care less and is perfectly happy on the deck.  Have I mentioned how much I hate fireworks.  I think they are lovely in displays where people can go and watch them.  But having m80's go off just for the sake of making a loud boom never made much sense to me.  Unfortunately my neighbors feel that it is their right to make as much noise as humanly possible tonight at the misfortune of poor Dallas.

I wish everyone a very happy New Year and may all your dreams and resolutions come true.  Me I will be washing clothes, have the TV on loud and running as many electronic appliances as possible to drown out WW3 in my neighborhood.

Lots of Visitors

Sorry for the lack of posting, we have had quite a few visitors the last two days and I am just now having an opportunity to sit down and write.  Visitors are so good for the puppies.  Everyone reacts and plays with the puppies in a different way.  Different voices, sizes, ways of petting, picking up, funny noises, scritches, you name it, each person does something different and it all helps socialize and create better puppies.

These pups have great reactions to people, they are not fearful in any way shape or form.  When the big dogs bark, they stop what they are doing look and then carry on with what they were doing.  I am not sure if it is the sheer number of puppies that has helped or the great genes that they all have, but as a breeder I could not be more proud to watch how they interact with new things, sounds and noises.

They are also getting so big, when I first brought them out to my living room I thought they looked so small in the space I had set up for them.  Now I look at the space and think it looks too small for them, but there is just no way I can make it bigger without rearranging all of my furniture and that is just not going to happen.  I did make their outside area larger today so they have a lot more room to run and play.  This is important for their development and of course Vegas is super excited and happy with the new surroundings because now she feels like she can play with the puppies.

Today she was bowing and playing with them.  They were biting and barking at her, I just love watching this interaction.  At one point someones head was entirely in her mouth and she was just holding the puppy down as if to say "see, teeth hurt you need to be more gentle".  This is a great learning lesson for the babies and I know it freaks some people out, but mom will teach them more about bite inhibition than I can ever do.

We are working with the toothbrush more on their nails and have started to integrate some new foods into their diet which they are pretty excited about and their bowls are squeaky clean at the end of meals.  I am still keeping the little pups separated from the big pups at meal time so that they have a chance to actually get some food.  Today I also introduced my Weaner Feeder for the big pups.  This is a carrier that holds four individual bowls and I have two of them.  This teaches the pups to eat out of individual bowls instead of the round bowls we have been using.  It is a way to make sure that each pup gets the right amount of food and the bigger ones are not eating the majority of the food.  I will try and take a picture of them eating out of it so you can see.

The Seahawk Game is on - so time to go yell at the TV and add another thing for the pups to get used to.

Super Mom

Yesterday the place where I have been getting my pine pellets from was out and so I got shavings instead.  Oh My God, what a freakin mess that is.  The puppies think its great, lets see how far we can spread it, it's soft and sticks in their fur and in 20 short minutes they have spread it from one end of the puppy play area to the other.  Cleaning it is going to be fun and I see my shop vac going into overtime tomorrow morning or this afternoon if I can find some pine pellets somewhere else in town.

I hate the pellets because the puppies chew on them, but they have been doing so well going to their box to potty, at least for poop, we still miss the mark when peeing, somehow having your two front feet in the box when you do the business is being in the box in their little minds.

Yesterday they spent a good majority of the day outside and they loved it.  It was cold but they didn't seem to mind and as they started to fade off, especially the younger ones, we brought them in, we fed the little ones outside as well yesterday and that was good so they could go poop and pee right after they ate.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we can have more days like that for the pups, at least I will get to use my new 32 degree shirts from Costco for something as I sit outside with them trying not to freeze.

The puppies are growing so much and when you pick them up they make the best grunting sound, it cracks me up, pink and teal have the best sounds.  Lady Bug is no longer the smallest, she is growing like a weed as well, she still gets cold fast and can't be outside for long but she is holding her own and yesterday I saw her pick a fight with one of the big boys and she was winning, she may be small but she is mighty.

Yesterday I also picked up an electric toothbrush to start playing with their feet so they get used to a noisy thing touching their toes.  I like to use a dremel on my dogs to do their toenails and most groomers do as well.  This way they are getting used to the vibration and the noise touching their toes.  Most of them could care less as I was doing it.  A couple were not having anything to do with it, but they will be getting double doses until they no longer care either.

I also managed to lose my crown on Christmas day and my dentist is closed until Monday, so if you see me or talk to me in the next couple of days I am missing one of my front teeth and boy is that a weird feeling, but I honestly I am just happy to be upright these days and it's not like I am the only person that has ever lost a crown.

We also did pictures yesterday of the puppies so I will work on adding them to the side bar for you.  Today's picture is of Vegas being supermom!  Kenya has decided she has had enough of these hooligans and she will feed them if she has to, but she really doesn't want to and does everything she can to stay away from them.  Vegas on the other had does everything she possible can to be with them, she is trying to feed them all, mother them all and is starting to play with them.  She really is being supermom and reminds me so much of her Grandmother Ivie,  I even called her Ivie the other day, she is just like her and loves her babies and Kenya's too.

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday with family and friends.  It has been pretty quiet here, other than puppies that want attention.

John and Erin came over for Christmas Eve Dinner last night and we had the bright idea that we would get a picture of all the puppies perfectly lined up on the couch for the holidays.  John has helped me with pictures before and so we knew that we needed the puppies to be sleepy and full otherwise chaos ensues.  So after everyone was pretty much passed out we started placing the puppies on the couch.  Started with the little pups who literally passed out and fell asleep where we laid them.  Then we added the big puppies.  The picture above is the final result.

Moral of the story....my puppies will never be still and quiet and line up for a perfect photo.  I have yet to do be able to accomplish it and I don't think there is enough duct tape or glue on the planet to make this happen.  My breeder friends do it all the time, they say do it when they are 4 to5 weeks, do it when they are tired and full, do it on something high so they are fearful of falling off.  Ya Right.  Not at my house, I did all of the above and obviously it didn't work.  Notice Pink Girl - she is the one that is about to leap over the railing for freedom and she was just the start of many that planned on joining her.

Erin is in love with White boy and thankfully he is now too big for her to try and sneak him out when she leaves.  Christopher wants to keep Lady Bug and I change my mind daily on which puppy I want to keep for myself.  I love them all, love their little personalities and am super excited for their future.  I used to think that Vegas puppies were amazing and many were going to be show potential, but as Kenya's babies get older, I am really liking them as well.  I have my short list from both litters, but time will still tell how they turn out.  I will say that the two pink girls are going to be going into experienced Berner homes that are going to engage their minds and put those two girls to work.  They are busy, busy, busy and I am starting to think Turquoise may also be in the same boat.  I have definite people in mind for these girls, but again we will make those determinations when they are 8 weeks old and know who is going to be show potential.

Merry Christmas Eve

Wow!  Hard to believe it is already Christmas Eve, these pups are getting so big and full of themselves, this is the fun stage, big pups are 5 1/2 weeks and littles are 4 1/2 weeks and I am starting to see little personalities develop.

This morning was frosty and cold, so after feeding pups in their boxes, we took the big ones outside for a little bit while I worked on cleaning the puppy play area.  Oh Boy did they like that crunchy cold grass.  Vegas was feeling her oats and started to play with them.  I LOVE this stage when momma is teaching them how to play, it is so much fun and I could have sat out there on the cold grass in my pj's forever if it wasn't for the fact that I knew I had to get things cleaned up. 

I think it is a tie between the two pinks on which one is the sassiest and has the most spunk.  Hot Pink is the smarter of the two and figures things out faster, she is the first one to use the ramp outside and is always the first one to come and get petted when the opportunity comes up.  Pink is just trouble with a capital T!  She is the one that is picking fights and this morning she was telling her momma a thing or two I was just cracking up.  I tell you those girls are something else and will definitely be going into experienced homes that know how to channel that energy.

We took the little pups out for a few minutes and again they loved that crunchy grass, Turquoise is starting to also be a little miss sassy pants and it will be fun to see if she continues on the path of her cousins.  Lady bug is always the first to get cold and we don't have her out for very long, she doesn't have the long coat that the other pups have and is perfectly content to be held in someone's arms or come into the house and have the play area to herself.

Orange boy is doing much better, he was getting around outside pretty well, still limping but at least he is putting weight down now on the sore foot, so I think he will be just fine.  Maybe a bit of a drama queen but he will be ok.

I would like to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas filled with Love and a chance to spend time with your family.  This is probably the quietest Christmas I have ever had without a single decoration out, but that is ok - 17 beautiful puppies is the best Christmas present ever.

Spa Day

Yesterday my good friend Terri and her husband showed up at the house early in the morning for a spa day for the puppies.  Terri just asked that I had coffee, which I promised I did and wouldn't give her goats milk, I promised. 

I always love it when folks show up for the first time, walk into my front door and it's the same expression and "OH MY GOD"  when they see all the puppies.  Then they cannot wait to get in and start petting and playing with them.  This was Rick's response yesterday when he came to the house.

I have to say it was so nice of them to come, Terri breeds Golden Retrievers, she took one look at me, still in my PJ's and no coffee yet and took charge.  I have to say, it was so nice, I knew she knew what she was doing and for once it was just nice to not have to make any decisions.  They brought towels, I supplied the shampoo, she sat down and started trimming toenails and then proceeded to wash all of the puppies.  Rick, Larena, Christopher and I all worked on drying puppies.  It was a fun day, lots of laughter and having nice clean puppies at the end of the day was so nice. 

After they left, my vet asked me to bring Orange boy in at 2pm - again on a Sunday so that she could look him over.  We did x rays and she looked him over really well.  Determined nothing was broken, he is just very sore and more than likely was stepped on my either Vegas or Kenya.  She said to keep him away from the others as much as possible as rest was what he needed the most.

By the time I got home, it was 3pm and I realized I had not stopped moving since early in the day and I hadn't eaten anything either.  It was very nice having Christopher here, so that I could make myself some lunch and just relax for a few minutes.

Today, I went into the office for a little bit, then had to go out and purchase Dog Food and more chicken from Costco - Costco on the 23rd of December at 4 pm is not the place you want to be if you are in a hurry to get home.  I swear all of Sequim was there and if they weren't in Costco they were in Safeway, like they had Christmas plans or something.  A good friend of mine ran into me at Costco and just laughed at me - He said I looked like hell - Gee Thanks Ben, I guess maybe I should do better at trying to not look like a Walmart Shopper that you see on Facebook and here I thought I was doing pretty good - I actually took a shower today and didn't have puppy poop on me, at least I didn't think I did. LOL

Note to Self -

Goats Milk does not taste good in your morning coffee.  Of course I was so tired this morning that I didn't notice that I had grabbed the Goats milk instead of creamer, stirred my coffee and took a big swig before realizing what I had done.  Thank God the kitchen sink was close by and I was able to spit it out.

I knew that Cindy's teenage son Christopher was coming to stay with me during Christmas break to help me out and I wasn't too sure I was looking forward to having a teenager in the house - ask me again in two weeks but after the coffee fiasco this morning, I really do think it is probably best that he is here to help out.

I let the big puppies outside this morning after breakfast.  They were screaming bloody murder again and I wasn't done cleaning the living room area.  They were able to be out for a short period of time before they got cold and Cindy and Christopher came just as I was starting to bring them in, so that was good timing.  Somewhere in the process of being outside, Orange Boy did something and is not putting any weight on his left rear.  I have been keeping him away from the other pups and letting him rest in the crate.  I talked to my vet and if he isn't better by tomorrow morning she wants to see him.  I am hoping he just tweaked something and is being a baby about it.

We had puppy people here today to visit with the puppies and they were able to help bring puppies outside to eat lunch.  Orange boy managed to walk just fine around the food dish, a little bit off but not like he was earlier so I am hopeful it isn't anything bad.  I do love being able to feed puppies outside because then they learn to go off the deck to pee and poop in the grass.  I was so happy to not have them do this in the house and they all came in and crashed after their short afternoon play time.

Tomorrow Terri and her husband are coming up early and the plan is to give all of the puppies baths and do toenails.  It is going to be a busy day and I expect to see some fluffy puppies tomorrow afternoon.  I am sure we should get some good bath pictures if nothing else.

Updated Pictures are Up

The puppies are all looking pretty crusty these days and their new pictures may look like they are wet or having some serious bad hair days.  Well they are.  It is amazing what a couple of weeks worth of puppy mush does to the coat and how crusty they can become.  I wash them with a wash cloth after each meal but it doesn't get it all out.  So with some help of friends we are having a big old fashioned puppy washing session on Sunday morning. 

I have my first 10 pound puppy in Vegas' litter and 6 pound puppy in Kenya's litter this morning.  Man do they love their food and are packing it away.  Normally I have what is called Weaner Feeders that isolates each puppy so that I can monitor how much food they are getting.  But it is impossible to do this with this many puppies.  So I am using the round bowls - two big bowls and two little bowls for the big puppies and the two round bowls for the big puppies.  It is quite the production 4 x a day.  I have to soak kibble for an hour before meal time.  Then I mix up the puppy formula with water first in the blender so it is good and mixed up.  With the little pups I add the kibble and mix it really good so it is a gruel.  With the bigger puppies since they have bigger teeth, I add some soaked kibble to the bottom of the food bowls and then slightly mix the kibble in with the formula and pour it over the kibble in the pan.  We are going through close to 18 cups of kibble a day for the puppies and lets not forget the formula.  But as they are growing I will start to incorporate some other things into their meals if they allow me the time to do it.

As I am making their food, they are screaming their fool heads off, anyone driving by would seriously think I was killing a puppy the way they are hollering.  I put the food back in the whelping boxes as it is easier to keep those clean and it keeps the big pups away from the little pups so they have a fair shake at eating their food.  I pick up the little pups and put them back first.  Then I open up one corner of the pen and call puppy puppy to see the pitter patter of little feet following me down the hall to the pen.  I then pick them up put them in and within minutes it is all gone.  Sometimes the little ones don't eat all of their food, so I will put the puppy that is scrambling for that last morsel of Kibble that is hidden somewhere on the bowl and let them into the other whelping box to clean up the little pups bowls.

Then it is a wash cloth in hand and carrying each puppy back to the living room as I wash their feet, belly and faces on the way.  Hey who needs a gym membership, I have the Susan Parr Puppy plan going.  Lifting, carrying, bending over, it is working wonders and I will say that I no longer dare to carry more than one big puppy at a time, they are just getting too big.

Today Susan and her friend Linda came to watch so I could attend my office Christmas Party, Tis the season or so everyone says.  Me, I am just trying to stay upright for another day.  I will save my conversation with Linda for tomorrow's blog.  Enjoy the Pictures

Happy 4th & 5th Week Birthday

How is this possible?  Where has the time gone, it is so hard to believe that I have been at this for five weeks already, although at times it feels like it has been forever, I know the time is going by very rapidly and before I know it they will be going to their new homes.

Today has been a big day for the puppies.  I managed to get the outside fencing up before the diluge of rain started and the big puppies got their first taste of being on real grass.  It wasn't for long but long enough for them to poop and pee and chase mom around for a drink from the milk bar.  Then they started to get cold and I rushed to bring them inside before the rain started.

I am pretty sure if the weatherman is correct we will need an Ark to get up here by this weekend.  It is supposed to be nasty weather, lots of rain, lots of wind and who knows what else.  I am prepared.  I have the generator on the porch, wood stacked next to the woodstove and we will manage without power if we do lose it over the next few days.  Knocking on wood that it doesn't happen, but very happy right now that we made those contingency plans early on in case it did.

Today the puppies had their first outside visitors and I think Linda and Gil were happy to have puppy kisses and were just a little overwhelmed at the sheer number of puppies at first.  But they both were happy to sit on the floor and let the pups climb all over them and got a sense of how sharp their little teeth are.  It is always so nice to meet the families and looking forward to meeting more of you as the time comes.

Larena came and we took pictures again.  We tried to get some sitting pictures of the big puppies, but some of them were just too tired to hold themselves up.  Some look like they were having bad hair days and it will be fun to look at them this evening on the computer.  As soon as I can I will update the pictures on the side bar for everyone.

Thankfully Fed Ex brought our order of formula today - I think I have just about wiped everyone in two towns out of what we have been using.  I buy 5 pound bags and most stores have 14 ounce cans.  Let's see 5 pounds lasts about a week and 14 ounces 1/2 a day - I was getting nervous and watching the fedex tracking very closely.  So I was happy to see him show up today, he is my hero and I need to get him a Christmas Card with a gift card for all he does.

Save the Washer

I have been trying to figure out how to reduce the amount of washing I am doing to prevent wear and tear on my washer and dryer and not overwhelm my septic system.  So Monday Night I went to Home Depot and picked up some colorful matting that pieces together, they didn't have enough for the entire puppy area, but at least had enough for half.  Yesterday morning it took me almost all morning to get it put together in such a way that the puppies couldn't eat the edges of it and that seemed to work really well. 

You can hear the little pitter patter of feet going across it and if you are fast and can pick up the poop before they manage to spread it from here to eternity all is well.  The bigger pups are really doing well with the poop boxes - well some of them.  Pink girl seems to think that I opened up the area just for her and the second poop box is her own personal bed, which makes it hard for the others to get in and actually use it for what it was intended for.  Some of the littles are doing well with it as well.  I have learned that when they wake up stand in the middle and run around and pick them up and put them in the poop boxes as soon as they look like they are going to do their business.  If not have paper towels in hand and pick it up and put in the Amazon box.

My Friend Susan came over to help yesterday so I could go out and get supplies.  As I was leaving her instructions she said "So basically I just need to keep picking up poop and putting it in the Amazon box"  Yep!  That's the plan.  She offered to take said box and re-tape it for her son to put on his doorstep in Seattle for the next porch pirate, ewwww.

I picked up more bedding and stopped at Home Depot on my way home and low and behold they had more of the matting out - so this morning I am going to try and finish the whole area for them.  At least it will be fun and colorful for the puppies and I think they are getting good footing on it.

Mom's are both doing well and when they go in - it is a frenzy to get to the nearest nipple.  Puppies don't care which mom they get they just go to the nearest one.  Mom's don't care which puppies they have and just nurse and clean what is closest to them.  It really is a beautiful sight to see these two girls working together for the welfare of all the babies.  Lady bug is the only one that is having a problem getting to a nipple, so I have started to take her out and have Kenya lay on the dog bed so that she can have her own one on one time with mom.  She is just too little to compete with her brothers and sisters, let alone her big cousins.

Larena is coming today so I can actually go to work for a couple of hours and I know she will be surprised at how much they have all grown.

Can you say mayhem

Today was the day, the day that all the puppies got to be together.  They had been eyeing each other between the gates and when my son and his girlfriend Erin showed up today, he felt that they needed to be together.  So we took down the barrier and let chaos ensue.  Everyone had to check out the other pups areas, we opened up the fencing to add extra room and Mr. Orange at one point thought he saw an opening to escape.  He kept going back to the spot hoping and praying that it would be the case but alas it was not to happen.

Some of the big puppies were bullies at first and liked the fact that little puppies cried out like squeaky toys.  With three of us watching we could distract them and give them a real toy to play with instead of chomping down on the little ones.  I will say that Turquoise and Brown were able to give it back just as easily as the big pups and eventually they were sleeping on each other, well most of them.  There is always that one puppy that cannot settle down - Orange, did I say that?  Yes orange boy is always the last one to fall asleep.

I spent the afternoon at work and then had to run out and try and find more formula, since my order hasn't arrived yet and we are down to not having enough for the next 24 hours.  When I came home, it made my heart soar, to see both Vegas and Kenya in the pen together with each other's puppies drinking from them.  Neither seemed to care who was drinking and they were both cleaning and caring for whomever they could reach.  I knew this would be the case, but until you actually see it for the first time, well it brought tears to my eyes.  Love, Love, Love my girls - they are amazing and the puppies will all benefit from having two moms instead of one.

John worked hard on the outside puppy area, bleaching the deck and getting it ready for pups, unfortunately looks like we have some wet weather coming in so not sure when they will ever get to go outside, but it is nice to know that it is ready when the time is right.

John and Erin took a gazillion pictures today which I haven't downloaded yet, but today's picture is a picture of pink girl I took yesterday

Heaven has a new Angel.

The last few days Mint girl has been crying out more than in the past.  I had planned on taking her into the vets office today to see if there was something going on that I wasn't aware of.  It seems there was and sometime during the night last night she passed away.  I don't  know the cause, whether she had a seizure, if her heart stopped, if somehow Kenya squished her in the night.  I will never know the cause, but I feel that sometimes mother nature knows best and I have to believe that things happen for a reason.

I can also say with all honesty that this has taken a huge toll on Kenya.  the last week has been hard on her.  Every time mint cried out or screamed, Kenya would look at me as if to ask for me to fix the problem and make her better.  She didn't want to spend as much time in the whelping box as I would have liked.  However today she has seemed much more relaxed and is actively wanting to be with her puppies again, so I do think she is at peace with this as well.

This morning was tough for me, but I poured myself into re-organizing the living room and making two puppy pens.  It was a challenge and I don't have enough panels for what I wanted to do, but with some improvising and bringing in a crate I have made it work.  My house has literally gone to the dogs and I am sure by the time January rolls around, I will be happy to have my home back.
 I brought the little puppies out around 1pm and they have actually been in the living room next to the big puppies all day.

Cindy and Brandon showed up this afternoon and they brought in a new big toy for when they are bigger, but the best thing was a huge stuffed Husky Dog that the big puppies just love.  They have been climbing all over it, chewing on it, trying to see if it had milk and I have to say we have gotten some of the cutest pictures of them today.  They have been also piling up on the common barrier to the little puppies and the little puppies have been on the other side.  I had originally thought I would keep them separated for another week, but the way they are interacting, I think they may do better to be together sooner rather than later.  I don't want them overrun by the bigger pups but at the same time, I think they will be just fine.  I know that when the time seems right, I will make the decision to put them together.

New Pictures are up

Larena came over yesterday afternoon and after feeding puppies we took pictures - amazing how much easier it is to take pictures when they are full and sleepy.  You will laugh, it looks like a couple of them could care less if their picture was taken or not.

Larena hadn't been to the house since Monday and was amazed at how much they have grown in just  a short amount of time.  The littles were climbing all over her and the bigs well they were chewing on her and loving the extra attention.

I have some people coming to the house this weekend, these are folks that have been here before so it is kind of a dry run for the big dogs to get used to people coming and going.  Once we have them over the excitement of new people then we can start having others come for visit's next week.  If you are interested in coming up - please send me a message so that I can get you the details of where I live and mark you on my calendar as I can only have so many people here at one time.

Enjoy the pictures and I will try and write more later, have to go into the office for a few hours this afternoon so that the place doesn't fall down while I am home playing with puppies.

Coffee Necter of the Gods

9am on my second cup of coffee and trying to motivate myself to clean the puppy pens and take a shower, yep my life has truly gone to the dogs, so far this morning I have been peed on, pooped on, but have not had anyone throw up on me and of course have been kissed numerous times by puppy tongues, so who doesn't want to start their day like that.

The puppies all slept through the night - whoo hoo!  Of course I fed them at midnight but didn't hear the first peep until about 7:30 this morning.  Then it was a mad rush to warm up a bottle for Kenya's pups.  Vegas went in and fed her babies while I worked on making their mush.  Kenya and I went back and she started to feed her babies while I let mint girl nurse on a bottle.  Then both girls were done nursing and wanted their breakfast.  Of course as I am nursing Mint, Dallas had to poke his head in the door about 28 times to see if I knew he was there and to let me know it was past breakfast time and just in case I didn't see him the last time he kept poking his head in the door with that look of I am starving, I haven't eaten in hours, can you not see that I am wasting away to nothing here.

Vegas polished off her breakfast in no time and was ever so hopeful that Kenya would leave her a morsel.  Sorry Vegas no leftovers for you.  Vegas makes one more lap into her puppy pen to clean up any possible gruel that may have made it on to one of her babies or possibly be left in the bottom of the bowl - sorry again baby girl, they are all little piggies.  Out everyone goes to do their business and I grab my first cup of coffee.  As my coffee is getting cold from not drinking it right away, I am topping off Kenya's pups with the bottle.  They did not get enough from mom this morning and after sleeping all night they are pretty hungry.  I warmed up my coffee in between getting another bottle so sitting her now enjoying my coffee feels like a luxury.

Kenya is pretty sick of feeding her pups, I want to hold off a couple more days to put them on mush, but I will have to make that call when she really tells me she is done.  The big puppies are now sleeping out the in the living room full time and they are loving their new area.  They are using the poop box more and more and this morning after they ate, I watched them all make their way over to it.  Some made it inside to do their business and others made it to the edge, I guess they felt that if their head was over the lip that they were doing it in the box. LOL!  I think today I am going to work on setting up the little pups living room area next to the big pups and will start to introduce them in short spurts as I did the big guys and see how they do.

Larena is coming this afternoon so we can take 3 and 4 week old pictures.  Just warning you the big puppies are what I call crunchy right now - in other words mush all over them which turns crunchy.  No reason to give them a bath until they can eat without wearing their food, I will wash them with a washcloth before we do pictures, but they are still going to be crunchy.

today's picture is purple girl

Lots of Transitions

Larena left yesterday and I am very sad to see her go, but we will manage.  My son came in the afternoon which allowed me to spend a few hours at the office working.  When I got back home, I think I spent the majority of the evening planning ahead for what was to happen in the evening.

It was a long day yesterday, Larena had woken me at 3am and I didn't take a nap, by the time I did the evening meal with the big puppies, gave the little pups a top off on the bottle and fed Vegas and Kenya it was 1130 at night.  I moved back into my spare bedroom (where Larena had been staying) and put the big pups back in the whelping box for the night, changed the bedding out front so when they woke in the morning I could put them in a clean area and proceeded to drop off into lala land.  I was so tired.

I left the girls in the house and at about 2am I think they wanted out.  I didn't hear a puppy squeak until 8am this morning.  One of the reasons this is so late getting out to everyone.  I have been rushing around this morning trying to feed everyone and I think I have it almost under control. 

Kenya pups are doing so well and I am starting to feel some teeth come through.  I no longer have them on the homemade formula and have switched them over the commercial brand so that when I start them on mush it will be an easier transition for them.  they are starting to really motor around the whelping box and I am curious to see who the first escapee will be, although they don't seem as interested in getting out of the whelping box as Vegas' babies did.

Vegas pups are loving the new bigger area in the living room.  They are sometimes using the poop bin I have for them and if I see them searching for a place to poop, I pick them up and put them in it.  I ended up changing the mixture to mostly pine pellets with a bit of alfalfa pellets.  My house was smelling like a barn and I decided a few of the alfalfa would give them the idea of grass and the pine smells much better overall.

I gave John my camera to take pictures yesterday, that is always interesting to see what he will come up with.  Today's photo is someone's foot, not sure who though.

I will continue to get myself on a routine and hoping I can get some work done from home today:)

First Gruel

Big Day yesterday at the house.  Started the morning by giving the big puppies milk in puppy food bowls instead of bottles since I wanted to give them gruel yesterday.  They lapped it up, spread it from here to there to everywhere and all over themselves.  They climbed over the bowls, had it on their belly's and proceeded to lick it off of each other before all was said and done.  Vegas came in and tried to clean them to the best of her abilities and I moved them one at a time, wiping them down with a washcloth as I went over to the big pen in the living room.

I then had to scrub their whelping box from top to bottom because they had formula everywhere.  I then went in to feed Kenya's babies and all they could do was focus on my shirt that was now soaked with formula as well, their little noses were twitching every which way.  Finally everyone was fed and I was able to take a shower so I didn't smell like formula.

The big puppies stayed in the living room all day and in the afternoon we mixed kibble in with their formula to make them gruel.  By now they were pros and knew what to do and they polished off every last drop, poor Vegas didn't get any spoils to clean up other than what was on the puppies.

My dad and Chaz came in the afternoon and everyone piled into Chaz's lap in both litters, he has such a way with the puppies and at the end of the day Vegas' babies were put back in the whelping box for nighttime to sleep.

Kenya's babies are growing by leaps and bounds and I wouldn't be surprised if when I weigh them this morning if a couple of them are not 3 pounds or at least very close to it.  I haven't felt any teeth yet, but Kenya is sitting more than laying down with them, which is hard for Mint girl. 

Kenya and I have a routine, she comes in and jumps on the bed in the whelping room, I then put Mint & Ladybug on her to suckle for 5 minutes and then have Kenya go into the box.  This gives mint a chance to nurse on mom without getting knocked off.  Then I get a bottle warmed up and let her drink from the bottle.  Ladybug continues to nurse off of mom and is getting bigger and stronger by the day.

Today is the last day Larena is here, tomorrow afternoon she heads off to her next house sitting job.  I will miss her tremendously and will have to get all the pups on a schedule that allows me to get some sleep.  I know my son can come in and help on Mondays and will start to see if anyone else wants to come in during the week for a few hours so I can get some rest and run errands.

I apologize, I forgot to post this yesterday - oops

New Pictures are Up

Yesterday was a very long and busy day for me, I had to go into work due to people being out sick so once Larena woke up, I made my way into the office for a few hours, getting home around 5pm to find that Larena had set up a small puppy area in the living room for Vegas' babies.

They are growing so fast and it is getting to be the time to introduce them to gruel.  I usually like to do that in a larger pen, so it is easier to clean up and they don't get it all over the whelping box.  This is actually 1/2 the size it will actually be when we bring in all the puppies together but it is perfect for getting them used to the idea that they cannot go and escape under the pig rails that they so like to do.  We have it attached to a large crate which has a blanket over it so they can escape and get in a cave, seems all puppies like having a cave or a dark place that they feel safe in.

We brought them out for about 45 minutes, sat in the middle with them and petted and let them climb all over us. Brought mom in so she could see and nurse them and they were tired afterwards.  Great time to take pictures is when puppies are tired.  I think it was the easiest photo session with the Big puppies yet, wham bam thank you ma'am and they were done.  After about 45 minutes we moved them back to the whelping box and they crashed big time.  It is pretty stimulating and I didn't want to over do it.  We will bring them out a couple more times today and see how they do.  I would like to introduce them to Gruel either later tonight or depending on how they do in the living room, it may be tomorrow.  I just know that it is time and Vegas will be happy for some help.

Kenya's puppies are pretty sure they are starving these days, they are sucking her dry as well.  She is such a good momma.  We are supplementing them with a bottle more and more and their eyes are getting more and more open.  Now when I go into the whelping box to assist Mint girl get on a nipple, the puppies gravitate to me instead of mom, looking for their bottle.  They are all growing like weeds and it will be no time before they are all together in one pen. 

Naps are Good

No Pictures for You -  not really, just delayed!  Yesterday there just wasn't enough time in the day.  Part of that is probably the 2 1/2 hour nap that we each took and the fact that I needed to go get dog food since the girls are eating me out of house and home. 

After that, since it is the last Thursday that Larena will be here at the house, she encouraged me to take Dallas to his evening Nose Work class which he was super excited about and totally rocked it.  Even found an extra hide that hadn't been picked up from a previous class, which was super awesome since he refused to leave until I paid him a cookie for finding the hide.  Considering he has missed three weeks of class, I think he was going to make up for it any way he could.

Kenya was beyond mad when I left with Dallas.  She likes Nose Work classes too and she refused to eat her dinner until Tigger (Larena's cat) threatened to eat it for her, then she decided she had better eat.  Soon enough, sweetheart, soon enough you will get to go back to class too.  Every dog in class had to smell me from one end to the other, because I smelled like puppies.  I had put a change of clothes and clean shoes in the RV so that I wouldn't bring anything back into the house from being at the training center.

I am super careful about not bringing anything into the house when I have puppies.  When people come to visit, they need to be wearing clean clothes that have not been around other dogs and all shoes must be taken off outside on the front porch.  Hands washed before ever coming in contact with the puppies.  If it's warmer and they are outside then I tell folks to wear older clothes that you don't mind if you get a bleach solution on, because I will be spraying the bottom of your shoes with a bleach solution.  I have heard horror stories about people losing entire litters because a visitor brought in parvo on the bottom of their shoes.  So better safe than sorry.

Kenya's puppies are doing the puppy frenzy when she comes into the box,  almost everyone's eyes are open now except for lady bug and I expect hers will open tomorrow.  Mint girl is definitely improving on antibiotics and I am hopeful that will continue to happen.  Today I watched her actually go in a somewhat straight line to mom and she was able to latch on and nurse without falling off, that in itself is a major thing.

Vegas puppies are just growing like weeds.  They have teeth now, lots and lots of teeth.  When I was weighing them yesterday, I was trying really hard to get them to stop moving so I let them suck on my finger and you can feel front and back molars coming in.  I am going to start them on puppy gruel Saturday afternoon I think.  I have to go to a funeral on Saturday and would prefer to do it in the morning, but don't want to leave Larena with the mess, so we will do it when I get back.

Larena kept hearing Vegas puppies yelp out and couldn't figure out what was going on.  Finally she was watching when it happened.  A puppy will be sound asleep and another puppy will start chewing on an ear or a leg or a tail and actually chomp down, causing the sleeping puppy to cry out.   They really do this after we have supplemented with a bottle.  You feed one, put it back in the box and the others can smell the milk - like hey, where did you get that, I want some, they are just getting so cute.

We will get pictures done today, I promise, still might be a nap involved and I will have to go into the office for a little bit, but we will manage to do pictures at some point today

Puppy picture of the day was Pink Girl falling asleep on the pig rail.

Happy 2 and 3 Week Birthday

Lady Bug is 2 pounds!  It's the little things that make me happy these days.  She is doing so well and is a tough little thing.  She gets latched on to mom and no matter how much the big ones push and try they cannot knock her off, which makes me so happy.  I have a feeling she is going to the feisty one of the group and she deserves that honor with everything we have been through.

I have been talking to quite a few breeder friends about Mint Girl, and one of my friends in Colorado had a puppy very similar to her, he ended up being deaf and is living the good life with her Vet.  She said that he had made a turn around when he was 4 months old when they had to put him on antibiotics for something else and she thought I should try antibiotics for Mint now to see if we can get her on the right path earlier.  I reached out to my vet, and she agreed that it certainly couldn't hurt her.  Not sure if it is hopeful thinking but Larena and I really think she is a little bit better and not throwing her head around as much, and is actually able to latch on to mom a little bit better after two doses.  I am trying anything and everything I can to give her a good quality of life and of course time will only tell.  Tonight I also dug out my little heart puppy plush toy that I have used on my singletons in the past.  It is a toy that has a little heart that you turn on and stuff inside the toy.  When she couldn't settle down, I put the toy down next to her and she fell right asleep.

The rest of the Kenya's babies are all thriving and doing well.  Their eyes are starting to peek open, they have the frenzy when mom comes into the box and Kenya is starting to sit when they nurse rather than lay down, which makes it hard for Mint, but she is managing.  They are also all outgrowing their collars so they will be changed today for when we do pictures.

The Big puppies, oh my gosh, what can I say.  They are getting to be a rowdy bunch.  They have been having a hard time settling down and I decided they are probably too warm.  Opened up a window in their room for a few minutes and they all crashed.    So I have moved the portable heater into the whelping room for the little puppies and turned down the thermostat in the house so it is more to the big pups and my pocketbook's liking.

They are getting more and more fun to watch, playing more, interacting with each other and all want to escape out of the whelping box.  My dad brought up new boards to go across so we can make the opening harder for them, but this also makes it harder for mom to get in and out too.  Vegas is super mom, apparently the 4th meal of the day is having a great impact on her milk because they hardly even want a bottle anymore,  I think we are down to topping off 3 or 4 times in a 24 hour period rather than after each feeding, so life is getting easier for me.

Today we will get new pictures for you and they will be up tomorrow.

Eyes are opening

We see some eyeballs starting to open up with the Littles.  All but Lady Bug are now over two pounds and I expect her to go over the 2 pound mark today.  They are all starting to walk like drunken sailors and it's so funny to see their little noses start to twitch when mom comes into the box and they try to get to her as fast as they can.   They are right on the mark of where the other litter was a week ago.

The Bigs, well what can I say, they are noisy, very, very noisy.  A couple of them have the hardest time settling down after mom feeds them and it doesn't seem to matter if we have topped them off with a bottle or not, they still have to grumble themselves to sleep, just like little kids that don't want to go to bed.    We are changing their bedding and toys twice a day and each new toy is an experience, they still are not sure of what they are, but they mouth them and like to lay on them.  They are also starting to recognize us and yesterday I saw a few tails wagging when I went to pick someone up

Not much to report today, all is well at Casa No Sleep, LOL

Teeth

I swear these pups are changing by the day - Orange boy has teeth poking through on the top and a few others are starting to poke through as well.  They are getting more and more active and playing, tails are starting to wag when they see me and I am now taking bets on who is going to be the first one out of the whelping box, my top three will be White, Pink or Green

This is the second whelping box that my dad threw together for me, so I don't have the boards yet to put into the opening as the puppies get bigger.  I told my dad yesterday that we need those and soon as I expect we will have an escapee in the next couple of days.

Larena had to go meet up with her next pet sitting gig yesterday - I am going to be so sad to see her leave on Sunday and my 28 year old son came to watch the pups so I could go into the office and at least pretend like I am still interested in what is going on.  My staff was very happy to see me and it was good to get out of the house for a few hours. 

I had to laugh at John when I got home, he meets me at the door - "They are all porkers - Man can they chow down and inhale the food"  "Mom, you do realize how big these puppies are, they are not going to stay in that whelping box for long, do you have a plan for moving them to the living room?  I think he thought it would be a cake walk to sit and watch puppies for a few hours, Haha!  Now he knows how poor Vegas feels.  I know when I top them off with a bottle they can suck down two ounces of food in nothing flat, makes me wonder how much they are taking from mom.  Poor girl is getting fed 4 times a day now and we just keep piling on the food.  I am constantly checking her weight and we keep increasing her food intake.  I will have to take a picture of one of her meals, it is a smorgasbord of anything and everything I can throw at her and she just inhales it all.

Yesterday in my stupor, I managed to knock over the little pups formula - Some of it splattered onto Vegas, all of it on the floor and cabinets, what a sticky mess that was.  Vegas had a look of what the hell - why did you throw that at me.  Then she realized what it was that had landed on the floor and she was on it.  I guess that is one way to get the kitchen floor mopped but it certainly wasn't what I had intended for that formula.

The Little pups are also growing by leaps and bounds and when they smell mom, the frenzy is real.  All of them except Mint and Lady Bug are over two pounds now and the two little ones are not far behind.  I keep expecting to start to see eyeballs and thinking any day now that should be happening.    Poor Larena was beside herself when she woke me tonight as Kenya had managed to lay down on top of Mint and she was so worried about her, but she doesn't look any worse for wear to me this morning.

Better than TV

It is amazing to watch these puppies change from day to day and I swear it is better entertainment than any TV show.  It's almost like you can put words into their mouths with the movement and grunting they do.

Blue boy grumbles when anyone touches him after he has fallen asleep as if to say "I am asleep leave me alone"  Orange boy is always the last one to settle down and acts like the toddler that is so tired they cannot stand themselves and trying to convince themselves they are not tired.  Little Pink Girl is the feisty one and will instigate play.   Larena and I are just having so much fun watching them interact with each other.  Orange boy has some teeth starting to poke through so I am sure it isn't going to be long before mom is going to be wanting more help feeding them.  Usually I don't start them on gruel until a little over three weeks and I had planned on next weekend starting them, we will see how Vegas fares and if I need to start earlier.

Kenya's babies are really starting to change by leaps and bounds too, they definitely know when she is in the whelping box with them and the frenzy starts, their eyes should start opening in the next few days.  Little Lady Bug has figured out how to get to the back teat and hang on for dear life, she isn't going to let the bigger puppies knock her off.  She is still the smallest weighing 1 pound 5 ounces last night and Grey boy and Yellow Girl are the largest hitting the two point mark last night.

Mint girl is getting stronger and can pretty much right herself with a lot of screaming and belly aching each time she turtles herself.  Interestingly enough if she finds herself off the heating pad and by herself she belly aches about it and one of the other puppies makes their way to her to keep her company.  I find that pretty amazing since they cannot hear or see yet, so for this to be happening surely is brotherly love.

My dad and Chaz came by last night..  Chaz is my developmentally disabled brother and he adores the puppies.  He likes to get into the whelping boxes and puppies just seem to know he is a good person and climb all over him.  Last night I think I counted 5 of Vegas' puppies in his lap at a given time and he cannot wait for Kenya's puppies eyes to open so he can get in that whelping box with them.  I asked him last night what was he going to do when they were all together and climbing all over him?  His answer was Love It.

A Visit From Cindy

Cindy and her son Brandon came up from Tacoma yesterday to spend the day with us.  Brandon loves Dallas and although he was very excited to spend time with the puppies he was really excited to spend time with Dallas and I think the feeling was mutual.  Dallas got to go for a much needed walk, he has been trying to play with Larena's cat Tigger and it hasn't been very productive for him.  So to go for a walk off leash and run and get some energy unleashed was a very good thing for him.  Then he got brushed and lots of cuddle time on the couch, to say he was a happy dog yesterday is an understatement.

Cindy could not believe how big everyone has gotten.  She is so happy and excited about these litters and she spent the majority of the day bouncing from one whelping box taking pictures to the other.  I took some time to go into town and pick up supplies for formula and some dog food and anything else that was planned for the day - well that just went out the window.  Larena spent the day with a girlfriend that was in town and she needed a day away as well, so all is good, except I didn't get my afternoon nap and my six hours of sleep just isn't cutting the mustard this morning.

Cindy and I trimmed toenails, do you know that 18 puppies x 4 feet x 4 toenails per foot = 288 toenails!  That's a lot of clipping.  I have been trying to do them periodically through the week, as someone is clawing me, I do them, but this was the first time I think we made a conscience effort to just go through all the puppies and get them all done.

Vegas' litter also got their first new toys yesterday.  We put four toys in the box and although they don't quite know what they are, I found them mouthing them or sleeping on them throughout the day.  We have a lot more, but since they are little pooping machines right now we figured we would only put out a few at a time so that we can rotate them through the washing machine.  They are getting so fun, they are starting to realize that they can make out shapes and mouth each other, I saw orange boy actually bounce this morning, fun times are coming.

Kenya's litter is continuing to get bigger and stronger and KK still doesn't really want to spend any time outside of the whelping box.  She is such a great mom and she is so dang proud of her babies.  I think she was super excited to see Cindy and could not wait for her to spend time with her in the box. 

Cindy adores both girls and at times they have spent time at her house, when I have been off on a trip.  Kenya was a singleton puppy and her and I have a special bond.  She loves me unconditionally and I did most of her showing as a puppy.  Cindy is the only other person Kenya will go off with, if I am anywhere within her sights and she is perfectly fine as long as she knows where I am.  If I am not there, it's not an issue, but there have been times when we had two Champions and Kenya all needed to be in the ring at the same time and we have had to pass off a champion to another handler so that either Cindy or I could stay on Kenya because God knows she won't go off with anyone else.  Cindy is also the person that gave her the nickname KK.

She also has a very special Bond with Vegas.  Although I picked Vegas out as my pick puppy from her litter, it was Cindy who said she was going to be a very special Show Dog and she felt she could be a Best In Show winner.  We still haven't done that, but they have accomplished so much more than I ever thought was possible.  Cindy wanted to take her to Westminster this last year and we did, with Vegas earning Select Bitch out of 56 dogs.  She was the youngest in the group and we had come the farthest to compete.  A this year's National Specialty Cindy and Vegas were the People's Choice Award for the Top 20 Competition and they Won Best Opposite Sex which was a huge honor and I could not be more proud of what they have accomplished in such a short time.  After puppies, Vegas will be in Doggie Boot camp to get herself back in Fighting Shape for the show ring and Cindy has high hopes that even though we will most likely miss four months of the new year due to being out of condition and losing coat, she is hopeful that we can get her into the Top 20 for a third straight year.

Today's picture was hard to decide - Cindy only took 197 pictures with my camera yesterday, so you may have a few days in a row of one of her pictures.

Trying to find my energy and getting organized

My dad called me yesterday and asked me how my day had gone.  Pretty much like this - Got up at 4am, Fed little puppies,  Fed Big Puppies, Fed Really Big Puppies (Dallas, Vegas & Kenya), Fed myself.  Weighed puppies, cleaned bedding, Fed Little puppies, Fed Big puppies, did some laundry, Fed Kenya and Vegas,  Ran into Town for an errand, Fed Little puppies, Fed Big Puppies, Took a Nap, Fed Little Puppies, Fed Big Puppies, Fed Really Big Puppies... Went to Bed... Really boring stuff.

I think it is all catching up with me, yesterday I was just exhausted and the act of driving into town was so tiring and I keep thinking this will get better and I will be able to do some work and I am sure I will soon, but right now, I am taking full advantage of Thanksgiving weekend.

The Big puppies are just growing so fast and are now starting to interact with each other, my goal for the day is to pull out some puppy toys and put them into the whelping box for them.  Vegas is being a good mom and I tell her she needs to go feed her puppies, she just looks at me, like really, do I have to.  They can suck down 3 ounces of formula in nothing flat so I can only imagine how she must feel.  I cannot start supplementing them with puppy food for another week and I am sure in her mind that cannot happen soon enough

Kenya's babies are also growing are starting to smell her when she comes into the whelping box.  We are supplementing them as well, not quite as much but just to give Kenya a bit of a break.  We have found it also helps Mint Girl, if we can put her on a bottle, she doesn't get knocked of a nipple as easy and she is much more content with a full belly.  Lady Bug has her favorite back nipple and I put her on it and she holds on for dear life, isn't going to let go for nothing.

The antibiotics are kicking in for Kenya and I think she is finally starting to feel better.  She is eating well which for her is a good thing.  She is a princess and feels that she needs to have a variety of food at all times, not just when she has babies.  I found the trick though - Goats Milk if I poor goats milk over her food she will eat every last morsel.

I ordered a big bag of puppy food so that I will have it on hand for next weekend when we start the babies out on mush and trying to stay ahead of the game in regards to what I need on hand.  I received the new puppy gating that I purchased for the living room and today I think I will try and set it up just to see what I need and how it will all work out.  I know I will need a couple of big tarps to put under everything and I need to go out and find my rabbit hutch liners that I use as Potty Boxes since the best time to start potty training them is when they make the move into the living room.  In the past I have used shavings and different types of pellets which were a pain in the ass.  Someone on a forum mentioned alfalfa pellets for the litter box and I think I might try that.  Seems to me that they would smell more like grass and they said they were less expensive than wood pellets, so now I just need to get down to the local feed store and see if I can get some.

The Day After

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving with family and friends and didn't eat too much.  Larena and I made a small turkey and somehow throughout the day managed to cook a full dinner for the two of us.  We ate it in spurts based on whatever was done at the time and both managed to get a two hour nap in the afternoon, which is a beautiful thing.

The Bigs and the Littles as we are calling them are doing great, I did not have to tube feed Lady Bug at all yesterday, she is getting feisty again and digs in for the back nipple on mom and won't let go.  I think she is going to make it which makes me so happy, she is so sweet and I just love her little Swiss Kiss on the back of her head.

Mint girl continues to thrive as well and all the littles are actually starting to smell mom when she comes in and make their way to her.  We did pictures yesterday and I will work on getting them updated on the blog.  We ended up changing poor Lt Blue Boy's Color collar again, so he started out at Maroon, then went to Lt Blue and is now Gold - We found the Lt Blue and Mint colors were just too close to each other and Gold will stand out more, especially when they are all in the same pen at a later date.

The Bigs are little pigs, OMG they can polish off two ounces of formula in a split second.  Let's just say that at 4:06 this morning I started to top them off after nursing on mom.   10 puppies, burping them after they are done and I was finished at 4:36 so I think they got this thing down.  Their eyes continue to open and brown.  I have never had a blue eye as it is a double recessive gene but their is always that worry that one will crop up and until those little peepers open, I tend to hold my breath praying that we won't have a blue eye, none in this litter.

Kenya is starting to do better and you can tell the antibiotics are kicking in, plus we found that left over formula and or Goats Milk on top of her food is the bomb and she will polish off every little bit that is in her bowl.  Vegas on the other hand will eat her food, Dallas' food if he has walked away and hover over Kenya in anticipation that she can have hers too.  Vegas loves her food and this being a mom thing is the best.  Three or four meals a day rather than two - YES, life is good in her book.

Happy Thanksgiving

We made it to one and two weeks of age - Yeah!  It's the little things in life to be thankful for.  Right now there are so many things I am thankful for.  I am thankful I have amazing girls who have had beautiful puppies and are perfectly fine helping each other mother.  I am thankful for Larena Harrison who insisted upon moving in with me for these last two weeks and for the next week so that I could get some rest.  I am thankful for my employee's and my dad, who have been keeping my business running and taking care of customers so that I could be home with babies, and I am thankful for my fantastic Vet who always seems to answer my texts and is always there for me.  There is more, but these are the top ones at this time.

Lady Bug continues to do well on the new formula.  I had to tube her again at 7 am yesterday and did it again at 7pm just before I went to bed, to be on the safe side.  She is gaining weight and has energy to actually get in and nurse on mom.  We have been topping her off with the formula and I think she may have turned a corner.  Hopefully I won't have to tube feed her today.

Mint girl is also doing well on the new formula and loves nursing off the bottle, I think it is easier for her, she still tends to throw herself to one side and gets herself turned upside down, but she is also getting stronger and has been able to right herself on more than one occasion.  I took a video of her yesterday and sent it to my mentor who agrees with me that I should have my doggie chiropractor look at her on the 4th of December when he is in town, she agrees that she could have something out of alignment that is throwing her off.  This seems like the first logical step in trying to fix whatever is ailing her.  In the meantime we continue to call her turtle and gotten to the point where we know her cry for help.

The older puppies haven't done so well on the new formula.  We were giving them a little bit mixed in with their other formula since we had some left over.  It had given them pretty stinky poops and poor Lime boy seemed very constipated yesterday and had a belly ache.  This is where I am so thankful for my vet.  I shot a video of him and she texted back to give him a warm water bath and rub his tummy in the water to see if that would help him.  It did, he totally relaxed in the bath and was just fine afterward, plus he was so much fluffier and clean.  Larena and I decided it probably wouldn't hurt any of the puppies at this stage of their life to have a warm water bath and so we are going to try and do one or two puppies a day over the next week, just to give them another experience and hopefully make it not so stressful when they have to have that real bath for the first time.

I hope you all have a very happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends.  People have offered to bring us food, but we are planning on cooking a small turkey today.  It won't be an elaborate dinner and we will most likely have to take turns cooking in between puppies, but we will manage and plus the girls will love having turkey mixed in with their meals.

At some point today we will also get new pictures of everyone and get those up tomorrow for you

Let There Be Light

In more ways than one - Vegas' babies eyes are opening and I think we have turned the corner with Lady Bug!

I was talking with a good friend of mine in town who is a Golden Breeder, she assisted reviving puppies during both C Sections and wanted to check on me and the babies and see how everyone was doing.  I told her what was happening with Lady Bug and she said, I am going to bring over my magic formula for her which she did.  We Tubed 9 cc's into her in the afternoon and between that and the sub Q fluids I had given her an hour before the formula, she seemed to be making progress.

I went to bed after she left around 8pm and Larena didn't wake me up until 4am, OMG, sleep is a beautiful thing.  She said that Lady Bug nursed on mom and she took a bottle from Larena with the magic formula all through the night and she was actually getting herself from the heating pad to mom to nurse.  Oh Happy Dance.  I just tubed her again so she doesn't fall backwards and we know how much she is getting and just checked on her, she is actually kneading the whelping pad as she sleeps so I think she may have turned the corner and I am hopeful that she will have gained some weight when I do morning weigh in at 8am.

Mint girl is also getting stronger and she can actually turn herself over when she gets on her back now, so that is also a good sign.

And over in the other Whelping Box we have eyeballs poking through little slits!  It is about to be a grand new world for these babies, a couple of the boys hit the three pound mark last night and they are all fat and happy babies.  Terri could not believe how big they were when she came by the house last night.  They certainly fit the image of rolly polly, fat and happy babies.

Life is good, I have had almost 8 hours of sleep and all babies are starting to thrive and do well, I do believe it is going to be a wonderful Thanksgiving at Casa Lavender Hill - oh wait - that's tomorrow.

Not Out of the Woods Yet

Lady Bug did much better yesterday after tubing her through the night.  She rallied, was nursing off of mom and we were able to supplement her with a bottle throughout the day.  She is still not gaining weight and tonight she is back to not thriving again.  I tube fed her at 1:30 this morning and will do so again at 3:30 and hoping that she pulls through this.  It is certainly taking a village and thank God for my village.

My son and his girlfriend came up yesterday, John worked outside and chopped wood, stacked it on the front porch, picked up my generator that had been at the shop getting a tune up for winter and loaded it on the back porch so now we are ready for any winter storms, should I lose power, it won't mean lugging 18 puppies and 2 moms to the motorhome to keep warm, LOL!  Not sure my motorhome could handle that.  Just having these little things done is a big relief, we had a big windstorm the other night and lights flickered off and on and I just kept thinking, please don't let the power go out, I have puppies.

Erin helped Larena with puppies, while I tried to catnap through the day.  I am pretty sure Erin thought she was in heaven and she is pretty smitten with a couple of Vegas' babies.  Orange boy climbed in her lap and slept for at least an hour on her legs.  She said she has quite a bit of free time and can come up more often in December when Larena has to leave us for a while.  I am not looking forward to that, she is my pet sitter and had taken on another assignment from the 9th of December to the 8th of January.  She said she can come up for about 3 hours a day during that time, but I am going to miss having her here.  As long as I can get these puppies of Kenya's thriving like Vegas' puppies before she leaves I should be ok with the folks that have offered to come up and help.

Vegas' puppies are doing awesome, we now have the major frenzy when mom comes into the box and it is interesting to watch them.  They know she is there and since their eyes are not open yet, their little noses just twitch and they stumble over each other like drunken sailors.  I think mom's odor must bounce off the sides of the whelping box because tonight I watched most of the puppies turn towards the box and then make an about face to follow scent to mom.  For those that do nose work with their dogs, you will understand what is happening and I find it very interesting to watch as this is taking place.  The sense of smell is an amazing thing.  Their pigment is coming in on their little noses and they are growing like weeds.

All of Kenya's babies are thriving and gaining weight except for  Lady Bug and Mint.  Mint at least will take the bottle when offered and she does get herself on a nipple, but continues to go around in circles and get herself upside down as a turtle, time will tell if she is going to be special needs or if this will correct itself.  I have a doggie chiropractor that is going to stop by early December and hopefully it will just be a minor adjustment needed from being in a squished in utero. 

I have not given up on Lady Bug, I will say I am getting much more confident in tube feeding, it still scares the crap out of me, but I will continue to do it as long as needed.  I had really hoped that when I went to bed yesterday that I would wake up to Larena telling me that she had gained weight and was holding her own, but that is not the case, so prayers are still needed for her.

Lady Bug

Yesterday was Dew Claw day for Kenya's litter, my vet wanted me to come in at noon, right during the Seahawk Game so I couldn't ask anyone to come and watch Vegas' litter while Larena and I took Kenya and the babies to the vet.  Normally I like to have someone in the car with mom while I am in the vets office getting the dew claws removed.   I didn't want to Leave Vegas' litter unattended so Larena stayed home, Kenya and I went in with her babies and I left the football game on the radio for Kenya to keep tabs on what was happening while I went in with the babies.  Kenya wasn't happy about me leaving with her babies but once I returned back with them all was right in her world again.

We only had two pups in this litter that had double rear dew claws, so I am thinking this is a dad thing, as I have never had them before and ended up with them on both sets of litters.  I debated about whether or not we should even take off Lady Bugs, she has been the smallest of the puppies and continues to lose weight which is not a good thing.  My vet looked her over and said yes we should take them off and she would give them all sub q fluids to help them get through this.

When we returned home, all pups were happily nursing on mom through the afternoon.  I went to bed early and Larena woke me at Midnight very concerned about Lady Bug, she just wasn't latching on to mom, wouldn't take a bottle or suckle from a sponge.  So glad she woke me and I have been in constant motion with that little girl from midnight to 5 this morning.  10 minutes on the heating pad, 10 minutes in my lap with a sponge dipped in formula and me simulating the sucking motion for her, then the heating pad, back to the sponge.  After an hour, I brought Vegas in, had her lay on the bed and put the puppy on her, she suckled on Vegas for a few minutes than ran out of energy.  Another hour of heating pad, sponge, heating pad, sponge, Vegas, heating pad, sponge, you get the idea.  At 5 am I had to break down and tube feed her, I hate tube feeding, but I am not going to lose this little girl, dammit, she is a fighter and I know it, I just need to get her over this hurdle.  After giving her 2 ounces of formula and on the heating pad for 10 minutes she seems to have more energy.  I have her back on mom for the time being and she is trying to suckle.  I will tube her again in another hour if she hasn't really latched on by then.

For those of you that don't know what tube feeding is, it is taking a small (very small in this case) tube and coaxing it down her throat into her belly and then attaching a syringe and slowly pushing the food directly into her stomach.  It doesn't hurt them, but the danger is getting it down the wrong pipe and putting the food into their lungs instead of their stomach.  I have had to do it in the past, I hate doing it and it scares the crap out of me every time I do it, so I will try anything else I can before resorting to those measures, but right now as I am typing next to the whelping box, she has renewed energy and is actually nursing on mom, which is a good thing.

Kenya is being amazing, she knows her baby isn't doing well and she knows we are trying to help.  She didn't even falter or hesitate when I brought Vegas into her room and put her baby on her, it was as if she knew this was what needed to happen.  Vegas knew she was needed and she keeps coming in to check on the babies every 1/2 hour or so to make sure she isn't needed again.  I cannot say enough, how much I love my girls, they are the absolute best.

I have a feeling it is going to be a long day watching lady bug and making sure she continues to thrive.  We sure could use everyone's prayers and I hope I can give you a better report tomorrow.

Today's picture is Lady Bug nursing on Vegas

Vegas to the Rescue

Lime Girl is getting stronger each day and can almost right herself back when she gets in the turtle position, so this is excellent news and I am hopeful that she will continue to improve and thrive.

Kenya's milk seems to have let down, this is also wonderful news.  Puppies tend to lose weight the first 48 to 72 hours and it is one of the hardest parts about breeding.  There is a fine line of supplementing the puppies with formula so they don't get too weak and yet not supplementing so that moms milk comes in.  It was an easy decision to make with Vegas, 10 puppies 8 teats, not enough no matter what I do.  With Kenya 8 puppies, 8 teats, good colostrum so I chose not to and they are small right now.  Yesterday I tried to supplement the three smaller girls with a bottle but they would not take it and I was getting worried with their weights - so Vegas came to the rescue.

Cindy was here and so she took Vegas out to the living room, I took one of Kenya's babies and we put her on Vegas to nurse.  Vegas wanted to clean her, but we wouldn't let her and she latched on for a good 15 minutes.  Then I took her back to Kenya, rubbing her on KK before I put her down.  KK wasn't worried a bit and we did that with the three smallest girls.  I think having mom's milk or in this case aunties milk was better than formula and it looks like they are starting to turn the corner, which is a good thing, considering they are getting their dew claws removed today.

Cindy helped clipped toenails for everyone and stayed with the babies so I could run out and do some errands.  I ended up changing some of the ribbons on Kenya's Litter so that we could tell them all apart when they are all going to be in the same pen at a later date.  Silver became Grey (because I didn't like the ribbon texture) Maroon became Lt Blue, Lavender became Turquoise.

Vegas' litter is continuing to grow and thrive, Boy what a difference a week makes on these guys, they now smell mom when she comes in and the frenzy to get to the milk bar is quite something.  Their eyes are still not open and I expect to start to see slits any day now, but they are trying to get up and walk around, they are very strong and it is quite funny when Vegas comes in the box.  Their little noses start twitching and they start moving towards the milk bar, they all clamber up for a nipple and inevitably someone gets knocked off and they roll down the pile and try again, wish I could get a video of them on here, but haven't figured out how to do that yet.  Still having problems just trying to change pictures, LOL

Today's picture is Lime boy in a milk coma

New Pictures

For the longest time I could not get these new pictures up - it kept saying invalid something or another and I finally decided to go to sleep and try again tonight, I ended up going to a different browser and then it would let me change the pictures - so there you have it.

I have labeled all the puppies at the beginning either V for Vegas or K for Kenya.  Of course the Vegas puppies are a week older and much larger.

Kenya is being an amazing mom, she has hardly left the whelping box, her milk is flowing and the babies are constantly on her, although they haven't started to gain yet, which is always the case and always worrisome.  I am reluctant to supplement, because I know she has enough milk for them and I know this is just what happens and I am hoping they can start gaining today before I take them in tomorrow for dew claw removal.

We have one little girl - Mint Girl who I am watching closely, I am hoping that she just got squished in utero and nothing else is going on.  She tends to put her head to one side and ends up on her back a lot, we have nicknamed her turtle for that reason.  Hopefully this will clear up and there isn't something neurologic going on or this can also be a sign of a deaf puppy.  I have never had this happen before and time is what we need to determine if it will get better or worse, in the meantime, she could use everyone's good thoughts and prayers for her to continue to thrive and get better.

Vegas' babies are getting fatter and bigger by the day, I swear I can just watch them growing.  She is getting better about spending time in the whelping box and we are not having to supplement as much, we still are supplementing but it doesn't need to be every two hours as we were before.  She is starting to feel much better and has a bounce in her step and earlier today she barked at me because she was hungry and wanted some food, nice to have my girl back.

Full House

Kenya and her babies are doing awesome!  She is so proud of herself and so happy to have eight babies of her own to clean and love on and they are clean and loved.  She has hardly moved an inch since she has been home, went out once to go potty and that was like pulling teeth to get her to come out of the whelping box.

I have a spare bedroom that has been my whelping room, it has the big whelping box and a bed and all of my supplies.  Next to that room is my office and that is where we put Vegas' whelping box.  I have a gate up between the two rooms and we kept Kenya away from Vegas while she was getting used to having puppies.  Yesterday, Vegas could care less if Kenya came into her room and only when Kenya climed into Vegas' whelping box this morning did Vegas show any signs of caring one way or another.  Now that Kenya has her babies, Vegas is going crazy, every time there is a peep coming from that room, she whines and wimpers and wants to go take care of those babies.  We have told her that she cannot and thought for a moment while Kenya was still out of it, we would let her look in and see that there were babies and Kenya was there and all was well.  Kenya gave a little growl to let her know these are mine - go away and I took Vegas out.  She is still not happy about it, but has been better the last few hours than she was earlier in the night.

Larena is still staying with me - Thank God.  I have been taking the night shift from 1 or 2 am (whenever Larena cannot stay awake any longer) until about 9 or 10am when she wakes up.  Then I take a nap for a couple of hours and she watches the babies, she takes a nap in the late afternoon and then I go to bed around 7 or 8pm until she wakes me at 1 or 2 in the morning.  It seems to be working.  I am getting used to being up all night, but unfortunately my clients are not happy with me and I am going to have to take some time to catch up on work, at least figure out what needs to be done, so my employee's can handle it while I am home with puppies.

Cindy came today and she was super excited to see the babies.  She was able to be there and help with the C section and to say the girls were happy to see her was an understatement.  She is coming back on Saturday so that I can go into the office for a few hours to see what is what.

Larena and I will take pictures of Kenya's babies this afternoon and I will get them up on this blog probably tomorrow night.

Today will be the Day

Yesterday I took Kenya into my vet and she did an ultrasound to make sure there was no problems with the babies.  All looked good, my vet thinks they are going to be large, heart rates were good and they were moving and shaking.  She felt that we should give Kenya one more night of trying to having these babies on her own and if nothing happened we would take them by c section today at 11:30 in the morning.

Nothing happened last night, so it looks like we will be doing a c section this morning.  Poor Kenya when I fed Dallas and Vegas she looked at me like, why can't I eat, I told her she was going to have surgery today so we could see her puppies and she just gave me the look and went and laid down on the couch.

I will post again after we get settled this afternoon and let you know how it all goes.

Update - Kenya had 4 boys and 4 girls by c section this afternoon.  Momma took some time to recover from the surgery but all are doing well and are home at this time.

Vegas is beside herself that there are new babies in the house and she wants them so badly, Kenya has already let her know to back off, these are her babies. 

Going to be a long night - will post more later

Status Quo

I wish I could say that Kenya is showing signs of starting labor but that is not the case.   She is panting some, but still eating, her temperature has not dropped and otherwise shows no indication that she is ready to have puppies.  This is the part I hate.  I know today is day 63, today is the day she should have her puppies and I will talk to my vet this morning after she is up and see what she thinks we should do.  I am tempted to wait one more day before going in and taking them and I would be ever so grateful if she would just start going into labor and have her puppies today.

Vegas on the meantime is tired of nursing babies.  She is attentive and will stay with them for a couple of hours and then she is like, can I go out on the porch and cool off now, I am hot and boobies hurt.  She has milk and is otherwise very attentive, making sure they are clean, but we are watching her because sometimes she gets excited to get in and out of the whelping box and I am afraid she is going to step on someone.

Yesterday we left the gate open and Kenya came and poked her head in, she wants these babies so badly, she watches intently when I am weighing them and hoping and praying that I will just put a puppy down for her to dote on.  Vegas could care less that she was in the room with us and actually left the room while Kenya had her head over the whelping box, I thought if she saw the babies it might kick start something in her that she needed to have hers any day now.

This morning I think I am finally kicking this head cold, best I have felt in 5 days.  Still not out of the woodwork yet on it, but making progress and my head isn't pounding.  Yesterday I think was the worst day for me, Larena kept shooing me off to bed, telling me I needed to get some rest and get better, she had things under control and I needed to sleep.  I am not sure what I would have done without her.

Today's picture is still white boy - it won't let me load a new picture for today, Sorry

Dew Claws, Double Dew Claws and No Dew Claws

Yesterday was a big day for the puppies.  My vet (who is amazing by the way) said to bring them in on Sunday - yes Sunday at 2pm and we would be able to do dew claws.  I think she actually prefers it this way, after hours, because I can go in back with her, where she has better lighting, hold the puppies and no one is around to bother her during the process.

This is the first time I had puppies with Double dew claws - two of them had knarley looking dew claws on the rear, and two others had what she called 1 1/2 dew claws, 2 that had normal dew claws and four that had none, again a first for me.  It will be interesting to see what Kenya's puppies produce and if this is a Cuervo trait or not.

She also checked over Vegas and decided we should put her on some antibiotics just to be on the safe side and gave me some medicam because she has been pretty uncomfortable the last couple of days.  I am checking her regularly and no redness on her teats but she gets really warm and wants to go outside, dig herself to China and lay in the dirt.  She starts digging and I tell her no and she just looks at me, like go ahead and turn your back because the minute you do, I am heading to China and you know it.  I have started to put some wet towels in the freezer and when she gets fussy like this, I have her lay on the couch and put a cold towel on her, which she relaxes and is happy about.  Everything is a learning curve and with each girl it seems to be something different.

I have been supplementing the puppies with formula, even though her milk is in, it is just not enough to feed these 10 babies.  We constantly have a list by the whelping box and mark down the time, the color and how much they are getting so that we can rotate them around, getting as much of mom's milk into them as possible but just topping them off with the formula.

Kenya is still not showing any signs of labor and is quite content to sleep on the couch right now, although I am pretty sure she was jealous that Vegas got a big bowl of ice cream and she didn't this morning.  I told her as soon as she has her babies I will give her a big bowl of ice cream too.  The girls need calcium and the ice cream is cooling, has some sugar which they need and who doesn't love Vanilla Ice Cream.

We had our first visitor today - my son and his girlfriend, he knows the ropes, only clean clothes, no shoes and wash your hands.  He had to laugh as he opened up the refrigerator and said - yep looks like a dog refrigerator, Are you taking care of yourself at all?  Point well taken as I am still coughing up a storm from this stupid airplane cold I got, but hopefully I am on the mend from that.

Picture today is White Boy

Pictures are Up

Yesterday we managed to get everyone's pictures, toenails were trimmed and Vegas' milk has come in, Life is good!  Vegas is a wonderful mom, she doesn't like leaving the whelping box and is very upset when her babies cry.  Let's just say they are very clean babies.

I am so happy her milk has come in, nothing like hearing the glunk, glunk, glunk of puppies drinking at the same time, it makes my heart sing.

I am also thankful since I ended up picking up some kind of airplane crud on my trip home and have been battling a nasty cold.  Larena has been wonderful in making me get caught up on my sleep and she has been doing most of the monitoring.  I think I am finally starting to turn the corner, which is a good thing as we get ready for Round 2 with Kenya.

Kenya's babies are starting to drop and she is looking larger, she is being such a good girl and she wants to be with Vegas' babies so bad.  We both make sure that we spend time with her and let her know that she is the queen of the universe, which she is pretty sure she is.

The above picture is of Light Pink Girl when she decided to snuggle on mom's leg yesterday.

2 Days Old

Sorry I haven't managed to get pictures up yet, hopefully that can happen today.  Yesterday we decided I better go out and get supplies while I could since before I know it, Kenya will be having her babies.

This has been a real balancing act, keeping Kenya away from Vegas' babies and yet having her be the princess that she is pretty sure she is and has come to expect to be treated as such.  Larena and I take turns taking naps and I let Kenya sleep with me so that she has some one on one time with mom.  I have also been trying to organize her whelping room and so have her with me when I am in there of course.

Vegas is being an excellent mom, one little peep and she is on it, trying to determine why her babies are crying.  Her milk still hasn't come in and we are still supplementing with a bottle.  Puppies always lose weight the first 24 hours after they come home, that is just the nature of the beast.  I am happy to say that last night no one lost any more weight, at least half of the puppies are back to their original weights and so I think we are on the right track.  I weigh puppies morning and night for the first two weeks so that I can make sure that no one is getting behind before it is too late.  I have a boy and a girl that are very vocal about their food.  The girl will happily take the bottle whenever we give it to her, but the boy has decided he doesn't want no stinking bottle, he wants a teat and he is going to be very vocal about it until he gets one.  Whenever we hear a peep we can pretty much tell at this point wether it is one of these two puppies and I will say that Red Girl is pretty much the noise maker at this time.

Today is trimming toenail day and when Larena gets up from her nap we will work on taking some pictures for everyone.

10 Beautiful Babies!!!

Well Vegas has outdone herself.  She was so tired and ready for them to come out.  She was the best patient and happy with anything my vet did in the process of getting ready.

I am glad I listened to my instincts, the largest boy was stuck in the birthing canal and could not move in either direction.  My vet had a heck of a time getting him dislodged and of course there were two others in the birthing canal right behind him that were also ready to come out.  One of those little girls took a long time to get revived and we never really did get her to squeek in the vets office, but now that we are home, she has found her voice and it is a loud one, LOL!

Within 30 minutes of putting her under, all babies were out - my excellent team of helpers rubbed and dried and help to revive and get the babies going.  Because the three puppies were stuck my vet had to make another incision to get them out and it took a long time to sew Vegas up properly.  She was very groggy for a long time and three hours after we walked in, we all left for home.

With some calcium in her system she has now taken to her puppies, milk still hasn't come in, but I am supplementing what she has and after going though every baby bottle in the house, I think I have found one that seems to be working for everyone, well almost everyone.

We have 6 boys and 4 girls, the smallest is red girl weighing 1 pound 2 ounces and the largest is green boy weighing 1 pound 8 ounces.  Overall Vegas was carrying 13.2 pounds of puppies around, no matter she was ready to be done with it.

My housesitter came back to the house with me and has offered to stay until we get this all down, Thank God for her.  After we got everyone settled, she let me take a four hour nap since I have been operating on not much sleep.  Now I have the late shift and she is sleeping.  We will rotate and get our routine down and I figure about the time that has happened, Kenya will have her babies and we will have to figure it all over again.

Kenya was quite beside herself that there were babies in the house, she was sure they should be hers, she checked her whelping box when she heard them and has not been happy with me for putting her outside for a little bit.  I want to give Vegas time to realize these are her babies before allowing Kenya to see them and I have a little gate system set up between the two rooms so that Kenya can get to her box without seeing Vegas in hers.

Goodnight and I will try and get some pictures up tomorrow for you.