Dew Claws Removed this morning

This morning we had an appointment to bring the puppies into the Vet for their dew claw removal.  I know some people do this themselves, but I would prefer to pay a professional to do it.  They have a ton more experience and will be faster and much more proficient than I could ever hope to be.  And at this point my vet bill is so high, having dew claws removed is not going to make that big of a difference.

My dad came over to the house and we tricked Ivie.  He took her outside on the back deck and had her with him while he drank his morning coffee and I boxed up the puppies and went out the front door to the van.  At the clinic, Christina took the puppies and checked them all over, gave them a big thumbs up and both her and Ashley were extremely pleased to see Orange girl doing so well.  As I waited in the front lobby people came in with their pets and wanted me to either hold them or pet them and I felt so badly for acting like a germaphobic but I just politely explained to them I had newborn pups that I was waiting for and I really couldn't pet their cute little dog for fear of their safety.  The whole procedure lasted about 30 minutes and I was back home, through the front door with the pups in their box without Ivie even realizing they had ever left.

But they were not happy campers for a good hour or two.  They were much more vocal and active than they have been and poor Ivie kept on licking them and could not figure out why they were crying.  After lunch they finally settled down and are doing much better now.

They are eating, once again.....they never stop really:)  And it is so funny to watch their little tails wag at such an early age.  They just go side to side as they are eating, it is very cute.  But watching them jockey for position is quite hilarious.  I really need to find my flip phone and see if I can video it.  You wouldn't believe the noise either.  Some of them even sound like they are barking when they get mad. 

Happy Birthday to Me

Ivie has given me the best possible birthday present ever!  These babies are so dang precious.  I think she might finally be starting to have more milk but still not nearly enough for these little porkers.  I am having to supplement them with a goat's milk  three to four times a day.

I have also come up with a system.  The puppies are being weighed twice a day ( I will embellish on that later) and depending on weight gain or loss from the last weigh in the top 5 gainers go into a box during feeding time and the ones that are not gaining as much get to have fresh nipples based on the lowest to the highest.  In other words the one that gains the least gets the biggest teat with the most milk.  After 10 minutes those 5 go into the box and the others get to have their time on mom.  While they are eating I start to top off the first 5 with a goats milk supplement.  I tell you this is like a science project but much more important.  My method seems to be working.  At this morning's weigh in, it was the first time I didn't have a weight loss and the two pups that gained the least were Yellow and Green at .9 ounces which is huge compared to some of the previous gains.  and the biggest chow hounds are Pink and Purple each gaining 1.8 ounces.  That is a lot in 12 hours.

Every time I feed I check their color rick rack to make sure it isn't too tight and last night had to change out a bunch of them.  I have a feeling I am going to go through quite a bit in the near future. My collie breeder friend had given me some small collars but I didn't like the snaps, I think I am going to play with them today and see if I cannot get them loosened up because it sure would be easier and I think they could probably wear them next week or maybe tomorrow at the rate they are going.

I also need to trim their little toe nails, man those things are sharp.  Anne said to do it in their sleep, easier said than done.  These guys are constantly moving and trying to trim moving targets is not easy.  You think about it there are a lot of little toe nails that need to be clipped.

The other fun adventure is weighing them.  I have a kitchen type of a scale and at first I had put a little plastic box on it and then put the puppies in the box.  Well that was a lesson in futality.  They would just climb over the sides.  So now I have a Zappos Shoe box on top of it.  The sides are too big and they cannot climb out, at least for the time being.  I am sure that day will be here before I am ready for it.  Once they are in the box they cannot be still for the 2 seconds it takes to get an accurate weight.  So I watch the weight go up and down and once a number pops up 3 or 4 times that is the one I go with.  Not sure how accurate my method is but it seems to be working.

As I look outside on this beautiful sunny day all I can see is my grass getting longer and longer.  Not sure when or how I will ever get it mowed but I am starting to see friends offer to come over and help, so maybe that day will be soon.

Puppies are doing well & Thriving

Anne went home yesterday afternoon and Ivie and I working on creating a routine.  When the puppies sleep so does she and I.  Yesterday she seemed to have figured this out all on her own, she came out of the box and looked into the spare bedroom as if to say come on mom let's take a nap, so we did.

She doesn't have enough milk for them all and I am having to supplement them with Goats Milk, which takes about an hour an a half from start to finish and I am doing this 4 times a day.  I am also keeping track of their weights 2 times a day and the puppies that are not gaining as much end up on the back nipples and the little porkers (namely the boys) are on the front ones.  Ivie at first would be watching every move I made with a pup when I took them out to feed and now she seems to know what is going on.  Plus I think she likes licking their faces before going back in the box to sleep.  Heather, my friend that helped whelp the puppies said I need to get her on Fenugreek as a milk supplement.  I started that yesterday and I don't know if it is wishful thinking on my part or if it is really working but it looks like she has more milk today than yesterday.  With this many puppies it is so important for her to get rest so she can replenish the milk and that is my number one goal.

Ivie is also being somewhat of a prima donna when it comes to her meals.  She has taken to spitting out the kibble.  This morning she wrinkled her nose at chicken breast but scarfed down about 1/2 a cup or more of Brandy's raw food mixture and a handful of goats milk cheese.  At this point I am just happy to have her eat anything and I would be a lot happier if she would eat more.  I took a big rib roast out of the freezer this morning and will throw it into a stew pot and see if that entices her at all.

Frodo is making out like a king in the food department.  When Ivie walks away from something he is right there to make sure that it is cleaned out good and proper for me to try something else.  I figure it won't hurt him, he has been on the skinny side and he is loving it.  Brandy so wanted to play this morning, she was being such a clown and comes back to the gate to the back part of the house and sits there and cocks her head from side to side, trying to figure out what is back there.  I figure I need to get Ivie through the next few days before I let Brandy come and peek at the puppies.  Gandalf really wants to see them.  He has sniffed me from one end to the other and when I brought him in last night he just layed on my lap as if to take it all in, he is such a sweet natured boy, I think these pups are going to have great aunts and uncles to watch over them as they grow up.  I will take more pictures tonight for everyone and try and put them up either here or on the website.

We have 10 Beautiful Babies

It turned out that Ivie Nesting was the sign I needed that babies were coming, sooner than we anticipated.  Ivie woke me at 1am on Tuesday night and I took her outside, little did I know that her water had broken.  She panted and just could not get comfortable.  I kept telling her to lay down and go to sleep.  I am not sure how much sleep I actually got that night but I can tell you it wasn't very much.

Anne had told me not to let her out on her own and to keep her on a leash for potty breaks, thank goodness otherwise I might have let her stay outside for a bit to stay calm and if so I am sure she would have had her babies in her hole.  As it was I was in the shower and came out to hear pink girl screaming her fool head off.  I was shocked, her temp hadn't dropped and we were a day early, OMG.  Panic set in.  Found Ivie and pink girl and another boy that was stillborn in the whelping box, and right behind pink girl comes purple girl.  I am in my bathrobe trying to get a towel and racing around collecting my supplies that I hadn't put in the room.  Trying to revive the boy and make sure that Purple and pink are ok, it was crazy.  I called my good friend Heather that lives about 3 minutes away and has bred Papillons and told her what was happening.  She came down and helped me get things organized.   I have to say Ivie was incredible, she hadn't seen Heather since she was a baby and Heather's 18 month old son came and was doing what toddler's do best and Ivie just took it all in stride.  Didn't care that Heather was in the whelping box helping her deliver her puppies or that Blake was making a ton of noise during the process.  After the second puppy I was able to call Anne and said something to the effect of "WE ARE HAVING PUPPIES NOW".  Anne had wanted to be here to assist but being 5 hours away that wasn't going to happen.  Instead she became my lifeline.  I would call and tell her when contractions had started and between her and Heather we were on a roll.

Auntie Linda came to the rescue as well.  She told work she had an emergency and just left, I am amazed she didn't get a ticket, it took her 2 hours to get here from Olympia and I can usually do that when there is no traffic and it is not summer time so I can only imagine what that road trip was like.  Linda is Miss Organization and she just came in and was able to get warm towels when we needed it and wrote down the important stuff like when puppies were born and how much they weighed and all that good stuff.  After the 8th puppy, Ivie started to get tired.  She had a contraction and then things stopped after a 1/2 an hour Linda and I packed puppies and Ivie up and took off to the vet.  As I was calling the Vet to tell them we were coming in, Anne was calling Linda to tell us to get going so we were all on the same page.. Everyone that is except the "New" receptionist at the vets office.  When I told her what was happening and we were coming in she tried to tell me that Dr. Wagner didn't have an opening until 430 and could I come in then.  I politely told her I was coming in NOW and if Dr. Wagner had an appointment, they could wait, this was an emergency, Go interrupt her NOW and tell her that I am on my way and to prep for surgery.  Apparently she did as I said because the whole staff was standing by ready and waiting.  They took another x ray and realized there were three more puppies so I told her to get those babies out and save Ivie.  Ivie was a trooper and seemed to know we were all helping her.  Orange girl was stuck and the problem child she did not want to come out and when she did Ashley the vet tech really did an amazing job reviving her and getting her moving.  Behind her was the biggest pup of the litter, Lime boy who weighed in at 1 lb 11 ounces so even if she had made it out, I am not sure he would have.

Ivie recovered nicely and we had to tube feed Orange girl she just didn't seem to have the sucking motion figured out.  Brought everyone back home and Linda made sure I had food and then drove home, because she really had to go back to work yesterday.  Wed night was a hard night, I was very worried about Orange girl and I tried many times through the night to get her to eat, tried bottle feeding and tried to tube feed her but I knew I just wasn't getting the tube down the right way.  After the 3rd time of trying and crying I told her dammit you have to eat, I am NOT going to lose you.  I put her back on Ivie and she started to suckle and eat.  I really cried then, throughout the night I would sleep for a bit when the puppies did and then check on her and she was doing awesome.  Anne showed up yesterday around noon and it was just great to have her here.  She checked on all the puppies and agreed with me they are beautifully marked.  She showed me how to supplement them to give Ivie a break and how important it was to get Ivie out of the box so she can replenish her milk.  I am not sure she is producing enough milk for these babies, but they all have gained weight with the supplement and are doing well.

Final count is 6 boys and 4 girls.  Girls are Pink, Purple, Yellow and Orange and boys are Blue, Green, Red, White, Lime and Teal.  Purple was the smallest at 14 ounces and Lime was the largest.  No wonder Ivie was as huge as she was.  She had about 15 pounds of puppies inside of her.

Anne made me go and sleep last night and whoever said sleep is overrated hasn't delivered puppies and worried about them the first night of their lives.  I am feeling much better and will take naps when the puppies take naps.  I also have a few friends that I think I can count on to come over periodically and let me take a good long nap.

I also thought I had an extra day and had planned on going into the office Wed morning at least for 1/2 the day.  I had some clients coming in for appointments and all of that went out the window very fast.  I think somewhere in the panic I did manage to call and tell them we were having puppies and to cancel my appointments.  My staff has been awesome and just picked up the pieces and taking care of everything.  I am glad I had not been working on new clients and actually had passed them all out to my employee's before I left Tuesday night.

Sorry this is such a big post but lots had happened and I just hadn't had time to write.  I will post more when I can.  Susan

We are Nesting

Yesterday I took Ivie in for new x rays but I am afraid to say that these were worse than the first set we did, which really made me angry that I had put her and the puppies through x rays twice to not have anything concrete.  To say I left the vets office in tears is an understatement.  I called my old vet who had retired from the clinic at home and felt really bad as their dog is very sick and they had been up all night with her.

Denny is a good friend and could tell I was upset and basically talked me off the fence.  He assured me that all would be fine and just let her do what Mother nature intended and if she has the slightest problems to call him and he will come out to the house.  Plus he reminded me that neither he nor the other two vets in the clinic were doing anything this weekend and I could call them and they could all be there within 10 minutes.  I felt better after talking to him and Anne, and we both are hoping it doesn't come to that.

Ivie is really not eating and has started to Nest.  My dad kept calling me throughout the day to tell me she was going to have her puppies on my bed, which I reminded him was not funny.  As he left he closed off my bedroom and when I cam home from work, I had a training class so I changed clothes and put Gandalf in the car, came back in to shut my bedroom.  I walked in to see a black dog covered in white feathers and feathers flying EVERYWHERE!  I wish I had had my camera.  I was only away for 2 minutes but that was all she needed to shred it.  I am sure it would have made a wonderful nest.

I really think she thinks she will have them outside in her hole that she has dug.  And last night at 1am she woke me to go out.  She really wanted to be in that hole last night, but I won't let her out of my sight when she is outside now.  I think the time is getting close.  I am already exhausted from no sleep 2 nights in a row and the puppies haven't even arrived....what have I gotten myself into?

No Room for Food

Poor Ivie, It seems the puppies are pushing on her stomach and for the first time this morning she did not want her breakfast.  She ate a small portion and then looked at me as if to say, I really do want it but I just cannot manage it.  I left for the Agility Trial this morning, and then after Brandy ran I brought her back home, and gave Ivie another scoop of food and that seemed to be just fine with her.  So it looks like she will now be getting four or five small meals a day rather than 2.

Dad came over this afternoon and the whelping box is put together and in the room.  Ivie was not too sure about it but thought it was pretty cool when I started feeding her steak in it.  Of course it didn't hurt that Brandy was doing agility in and out of the box, as was Frodo and even Bosco, my son's pug.  At one time we were all inside of it.  As the evening has gone on, she has gone back and looked in the room at least three times tonight to take a peak at her box as I keep telling her.  I wish we had, had time to paint it but at this point I no longer care what it looks like and I don't want the room smelling like paint so it is what it is.  I have posted a before and after picture of the room.  Please understand the before picture was when I knew it was all getting moved out and the room seemed to be a catch all for everything that needed to be out of the way.  The after picture just has the whelping box in the room and it looks huge, although it really isn't that big.  Maybe the fact that my dad used one of the old Travel Agency Signs for the side helps to make it look bigger than it really is.  Tomorrow night I will start sleeping in the room with her to get her used to the idea that this is her room, but somehow I sense she already knows that.

Is Waddeling a Word?

If so, Ivie has it down to a science.  Poor girl looks bigger today than she did two days ago, although when I measured her girth it still seems the same.

Yesterday I bought a horse stall mat to go in the bottom of the whelping box but it is about a 1/4 of an inch too big and so we are having to cut that off.  Have you ever tried to cut a horse stall mat, not an easy task I am telling you.  I got part of if cut and had to take a break, I figured it was time to post on the blog for sure and then I will go back and try to cut some more.  But I tried a test of pouring a cup of water on the mat and it just stayed in one puddle and didn't soak through, so I think this will be perfect for the puppies.  Newspapers in there to absorb the liquid that mom doesn't clean up and I think we are good to go.

This has been a tough weekend, because my kennel club is hosting an agility trial this weekend and I have been trying to run Brandy in excellent class.  For once the weather during our local agility trial is bernerly perfect for Brandy (cold, drizzling and breezy) and Yesterday she qualified in both Jumpers with Weaves as well as Standard for her first leg in Excellent class.  Today was not as good of a day for us but I was in excellent company, many top PNW handlers also did not qualify today as the courses were tough with lots of opportunities for dogs to go off course.

Plus I seem to be the kennel club member that has the best calming affect on novice agility handlers and I am having to be gate steward all three days when I am not running my dog.  Time that should be spent getting everything ready.  Actually everything is almost done and tomorrow after the agility trial dad said he would come by and between us we would get the rest of the whelping box together.

My new Day bed is arriving on Monday and I plan on starting to sleep in this room with Ivie to try and get her used to it for her big day....I guess I have procrastinated long enough the black stall mat is calling to me.