May 31 Pupdate

New pictures have been posted to Picasa thanks to our “village.” The puppies had a good long weekend and got lots of extra visitors and even met some kids.

I decided that it is highly unlikely that any of the puppies will need to be tube or bottle fed and decided to starting using the Esbilac powder that I had ‘just in case.” I will mix it into Jill’s food and their food when they start eating. Today, I mixed some up and put it into the puppy saucer to see how they did. They were all sleeping when I took it in there so I woke one up and put some on my finger to see if he would lick it off. Once he got a taste, he was all for it so I showed him where I was getting it and he climbed in to have some. I got another puppy and did the same thing with very similar results. The green girl woke up and got herself to the trough and started lapping it up. After that, I couldn’t really tell who was getting what but Cindi and LeeAnne took pictures. Jill decided that she was going to eat it too so some of the puppies decided to go for their regular fare. It sure smells awful. Jill and SammieDoodle cleaned them up and they tried to clean each other up, too. That was very cute even if it was messy. I suspect they will be starting in on some food before long.

They are getting much better at lurching around but when they climb up with their front feet, they don’t have a lot of balance.

Starting to make plans for surfaces and other environmental stimulation. It’s going to be time to take them outside before I know it so I need to plan, plan, plan. Jill has several locations scoped out for when we do take them out.

I’m tired so I’m going to go snuggle some puppies. Puppies breath to all.

Pupdate May 30

Big day here! We have TEETH. I’ve been so busy feeling where the front teeth are going to come in, they snuck in back, teeth. Every puppy has at least one barely broken though the surface and a couple of them have 2. They can definitely be felt but my sister says you can’t see them as white teeth back in there yet. We’ve all felt around on them though. They are chewing on each other a LOT though so I figure we are going to start having all kinds of little needle teeth before long. Maybe Jill will let Penny see them then ;-)


My niece and I worked on the crate pads for the puppies to take with them when they leave. They are mostly to give the puppies something cuddly with the scent of home on them so perfection isn’t quite as important. They will have been made with love by an almost 9 years old girl and her blind aunt (the puppies’ breeder.) Any seams that aren’t perfectly straight will just have to be overlooked. These are PWD puppies, they may well rip the things to shreds before they are grown (or after.)

We also worked on paw prints. The first set of dough we made was too wet. (Sounds like a Goldilocks story starting here doesn’t it.) I researched more recipes and we added a LOT more salt and had better results in the texture. Then we had interesting results while coloring them. Lime and Green turned out pretty close. Baby blue has a little turquoise tinge and my hands are quite bright blue to match Royal’s. Pink is a little pale and Purple finally had to have some juice from my blueberry cobbler added to get it to approach pruple (it was more lilac.) After I put their little paw prints into the clay, it was determines that while I can feel them, nicely. They are harder to see. So next time (if I don’t come up with another harebrained scheme – harebrained scheme suggestions welcome by the way) I will leave the dough plain and paint the paw prints afterward. The paw prints are sitting in the oven drying (the oven is off but the pilot light keeps it warm) at least overnight. I’ll let you know how they turn out.

The not-so-little Boobabies definitely move with a purpose towards things they see, be it another puppy or person or the occasional toy (and of course, their mother.) They also go to SammieDoodle when she is around. She loves to lick their faces and they seem to like it because they’ll follow her around and paw at her. They haven’t tried to nurse on her yet, though. Jill sometimes stands for them to nurse now and they can all reach up and eat while she stands there.

We had a partial weight watchers meeting while Debbie and Marta (dog friends)and (Dog) Cindi were here. We (and by we I mean they) took some head shots (with ribbons showing for Tamara) with their cameras that I should get to put on Picasa (and maybe Facebook) today after they give them to me. My sister was joking that they didn’t take that much concern with the pictures they took of their children. (I told her they didn’t have to decide which ones to keep.) And it’s apparently still hard to take a good picture of a black dog. I think Bruce is especially relieved that he hasn’t been asked to take pictures of the puppies yet.

Anyway, the only participants in the weight watchers meeting were Limey and Baby Blue and both of them came in at 5 pounds. Everybody kept saying how big they are and how heavy they feel. They are solid little puppies but they aren’t nearly as heavy as Jack, Jill and Sammie – even Indy has a few pounds on them ;-)

I’m sure tomorrow will be another big day so we are going to sing the 3 songs and go nighty, nighty, nighty. If any of you prospective puppy owners want different songs to be in their repertoire, let me know so I don’t just sing the one’s from when Jack was little (still part of the dogs’ bedtime ritual. Sounds crazy but it works like a charm when they need to settle down.)

May 28 Pupdate

Is it all puppies, just PWD puppies or just MY puppies that, no matter how large the space they have to sleep, they press right up against the side of the pen and even stick their little paws through? The little pink girl was using the lowest ‘rung’ of the ex pen as a head rest. I’m afraid one of these days, they are going to have little tin cups that they are rattling against the bars.

They seem to enjoy the kids and all of the company. Jill wasn’t too sure that Penny (my sister’s Boston Terror) was appropriately respectful so we had to enforce a neutral zone. Jill would have enforced it but I’m not sure Penny would have ever been the same again ;-) Jill actually wasn’t being mean but she didn’t want Penny to eyeball her puppies and Penny was so interested she couldn’t control herself.

The puppies’ Nana and Grandaddy came by to see them (and pick up my nephew and Penny) and were surprised by how big they had gotten. They were also pronounced very sweet. Jill watched them carefully to make sure they followed her standards of care. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the other day when Bruce had a puppy and when he put it back, Jill licked it all over like he had gotten it dirty. We’ve said that Jill has a lot of cat in her and that just proves it.

I have arranged the puppy area to start working on fastidious potty habits even though Jill still cleans it up. They are definitely choosing to leave the sleeping area to potty which is a step in the right direction.

My niece and I are going to try to make play dough paw prints tomorrow. We were a little too busy and tired today. So Nighty, nighty, nighty to the little puppies and all of you, too.

May 28 Pupdate

The world’s cutest little prisoners have had another big day being puppies. They’ve eaten and played and napped – several times in fact. They are doing well at moving away from the sleeping area to potty but at this point it’s just their preference, nothing trained. I’ll try to encourage it with the surfaces and then we’ll work more on training it. But since they are just 3 weeks old, we have plenty of time.

They absolutely love the vtech piano toy from Sammie’s litter. Jill even showed some interest in it yesterday. Bruce was watching the puppies play while he iced his shoulder and said they really got into it. I have heard it play more songs than I even knew it had. They have investigated the splunky water toy but it’s too big for them to pick up.

I think I feel little teeth way under their gums. They are mouthing a LOT more; on themselves, each other, our fingers. Very cute now, will not be nearly as pleasant when they get those little needle teeth. But it will still be cute. ;-)

Jill’s food can no longer be placed in the puppy pen. I’ve been putting it in there to minimize the mess since she isn’t eating in her crate for some of her meals. I heard an odd noise and Limey had his head in her bowl and was licking her raw food. My plan had been (unless they seemed like they needed more calories) to wait until they got teeth or she started puking for them. (Grossness alert – she regurgitates very digested food at first and progresses until she just warms it up for them. By the time they are 8 weeks old, if I don’t let her see me feed them, she’ll eat and then go puke it right up for them to eat.. Now you see why she needed some extra weight.)

Have I mentioned that I LOVE my washing machine? It’s new between this litter and the last and it is wonderfully handy. I can’t believe how much difference not having the agitator makes in extra room. It’s one of the HE ones but it is a top loader so I can soak as much as I want. It will soak for a couple of hours at least but I pause and then turn it off while it is soaking. Then I can throw more puppy linens in throughout the day and let it add more water (it has some kind of sensors) and then turn it off until it’s full. Even with the sensors, I have a serious aversion against running a partial load of laundry – it may not use as much water but it still takes electricity. Just one of my weird quirks. I’m the same about the dishwasher but that also requires more frequent unloading if you run it half full.

My sister and her family are to be here some time tonight. Puppies will get to see KIDS! Kids will get to see PUPPIES! Should be a win/win (or win/win/win.)

Puppy breath to all and to all a good night.

May 27 Pupdate - 3 weeks old

Good morning, good morning the little dogs said! And they've been happy and healthy all day long. Firm believers in eat drinking and being merry, they are.

They spent a quiet night in their newly expanded world. I don't know whether Jill ended up in the pool or not but it was there. I put it in the corner and blocked off the sides so the pupsters couldn't get behind it and get stuck.

I put some new toys in the pen: they have encountered all of them but haven't really reacted. They just go on about their little doggie business. The girls have all been on the vtech music toy that Spencer sent to Sammie's litter. It makes all kinds of noise and sings songs and lights up. I think some pieces of it move as well. The purple encountered it first and just walked around on it. The green girl sat in front of it and growled and sang and barked at it. Eventually, the pink girl played it. She actually sat in front of it and pawed it and then watched. I think the boys rolled over it during one of their wrestling sessions but didn't react noticeably.

They are starting to chew on each other and my fingers with obvious intent. They still like to waller in my hair, too. Occasionally, one of them will try to pounce but they aren't very coordinated so they fall over or end up going sideways and get distracted by another puppy.

They are 3 weeks old tonight. That calls for a weight watchers meeting. I am going to try to make pawprints. I had such a tough time trying it early with the last litter that I was waiting until these were older. I hope they turn out nice. They have such cute little paws. I think I have the right colors of lipstick to use. That may work better than the non0toxic paint I tried last time. I've also considered using salt dough clay but I haven't made that in a long time. My sister and her family are coming tomorrow night - maybe I'll wait and let my neice and nephew help with that.

The weight watchers meeting was pretty difficult tonight. They weren't sleepy and apparently I picked the same time to weigh them that JillyBean decided to feed them. Anyway, here are the results such as they all: Royal and Green came in at 4 lbs each; BabyBlue and Limey at 4.2 and the Pink and Purple girls are petite at 3.8 or 3.6 depending on which of the readings you trust. Approximately 24 lbs of adorableness.

I have to increase Jill's calories again. Poor thing has to eat and eat and eat and she is already starting to lose weight again anyway. No wonder she cleans up after the puppies so well - she needs every calorie she can find ;) (She's not actually starving and she doesn't eat dog poo otherwise; thank goodness. I don't know what I'd do with a dog that did - not let it kiss me that's for certain.) I put a few extra pounds on her before we bred her since I know she does this, I wanted her to have a little cushion, too. She doesn't even eat all of the food that I leave in the pen for her at night but she does eat her midnight snack so she's probably too busy sleeping to eat again.

I need to go get the toys out of the pen and get them ready to go nighty, nighty, nighty. Another day without a nap. Things are going to start getting ugly soon if I don't get a nap because I'm not getting my 9 hours at night. I stayed up this am because the cable guy was coming to change our phone to cable. He was supposed to be here between 8 and noon so he got here at 11:30. Then I had stuff to do in the afternoon and didn't get a nap. I am going to try to go to bed early tonight.

Birthday Puppy cuddles to all from some awfully cute, sweet baby dogs.

May 26 Pupdate

Hello to all,

It's been quite a busy day here today. After a healthy breakfast and the required quiet time (during which Jill fed the pupsters,) I took all of the big dogs out for a little exercise followed by showers. Jill trotted along just like she hadn't been spending the last 3 weeks in the whelping box and the week before that waiting around a motel room. She was ready to come back in to check on her babies.

Since the puppies have each gotten out of the pool, I decided we better get the area ready for puppies to be out and about. I put the puppy pool in the dog room while my mother-in-law and I cleaned the rubber room (that's the dogs' gated community.) I cleaned the floor and Bruce and I put down plastic and extra layer of rubber floor for the puppies' expanded world. And not a moment too soon. While I was setting up the ex pen area, I went in to check on the dogs and puppies and Jill was laying beside the pool with 3 of the puppies busily nursing away. Fortunately, no one had made any messes for me to clean up in there (Jill cleans up but I still clean up after them so I like it contained.)

Eventually, we got it arranged and I carried the puppies into their new room. They immediately checked out the area - lurched around; wrestled a little and decided to hang out at the edge of the ex pen and talk to their Grandma. She didn't realize that they were trying to get her attention. Some of them were even pawing through the gaps. I can't believe how much they already foucs on people.

Cindi (dog Cindi) came over this evening and they were clambering all over to say Hi. They were happy to be picked up but fussed when they were traded in on another puppy.

I love their new area, now I can sit in there with the puppies and they can climb all over me. They are really starting to mouth on things and lick faces when they are picked up. Cute and sweet, what a combination! And they have puppy breath on top of it all. Can't be beat.

I need to put the pool in the pen so Jill will have someplace to get away from them if she wants to in the night. I don't think they can get in it yet. When they can we'll have to make other arrangements. Until then it's a veritable puppy utopia. Puppy breath to all!

May 25 pupdate

So far today, none of the puppies have gotten out of the box by themselves. Royal and the brown girls (Green and Purple) were trying so I took each of them out alone. They don't move around much with that freedom - I think they may actually have been trying to get picked up. Spoiled much?

The little Pink girl has a definite penchant for playing ostrich (she has a very lax definition of sand though.) Starting with the night she was born, she likes having her head under something. It used to be that she preferred putting it under her mother's head or tail or leg. Now she makes do with burrowing under the bedding or sometimes the other puppies. If I am carrying her around, she likes to be up on my neck with her head under my hair. It's strictly a sleepytime thing for her; she doesn't hide when she's awake.

The puppies are definitely working at playing now. They play with each other and me. Of course they are incredibly cute doing it.

I had an impromptu weight watchers meeting today and Limey weighed in at 4 lbs! The other 2 boys were 3.8 and the girls were 3.4/3.6 Since the scale is not necessarily accurate for squirmy little puppies, I do it twice to make sure. At this rate, they will be too big for the talking kitchen scale when it comes in a couple of weeks.

Jill is spending more time on the couch now but she is right there if they make a noise like they need her. And she still feeds them a lot (I guess that's obvious given the results of the weight watchers meeting.) She sometimes just picks her head up to decide if they are going to need her or not but she's right there when it's potty time.

Sammie generally waits until I pick up a puppy to get close but she will make a pass by the box when Jill is feeling benevolent. I think I could train SammieDoodle to do anything if I let her see a puppy after she accomplished the task. She REALLY likes them.

Jack isn't particularly interested in them but he's not afraid of them either. Jill took his monkey paw and left it in the puppy box for some unknown reason today (maybe she thought that should be their toy for today.) When she left the box, Jack did go take it back but he didn't put a foot in the box to do it and he backed out as soon as he had a tooth on it. I'm not sure if the puppies were heading for it or not but I know they weren't there yet because he won't take anything from another dog. I don't know how much of that is his service dog training and how much of it is just innate. (Sammie and Indy can still take toys out of his mouth.) He's tolerant but he doesn't want to encourage them to get too interested in his toy or his flag.

I have some more chores to take care of before we all go nighty, nighty, nighty so I guess I'll wrap this entry up. Cyber puppy breath to all!

May 24 pupdate

The cutest puppies just keep getting cuter. I think they are also starting to wonder when I am going to figure out the right way to play duck, duck, goose ;-)

They come over to the side of the box when I approach (when their mother doesn't distract them on the other side.) They seem to want to be petted and loved on. Of course, I never do that so I have no idea why they would think that's going to happen - oops, my nose is poking my computer screen ;-)

I have had Bruce try a couple of things with them today. I just had him go over to the side of the box to see if they would respond it him. They all woke up and clambered over to see him. What good puppies!

I also had him howl to see if he good get them to respond. He can get Jill to howl with him if I am not around (especially if I take the other dogs and not her) - if I am around she keeps showing him where I am as if she doesn't know why he'd be unhappy. But I digress. Since Phoenix's (Jill's daughter) owner said her last litter of puppies didn't bark but would howl, I wanted to see what they'd do. They gathered around and sat up and looked at him but didn't howl along.

They are otherwise plenty vocal though. They mouth on each other and grumble and bark while they are walking and interacting with each other. They are pretty quiet when they get cuddled.

We've got some tribble action going on again today. The baby blue boy is making tribble noises and then giving little barks right now. He made a circle and then climbed on top of the pile of black puppies. The brown girls are separate and the boys were piling up on top of Pink. Apparently, Baby blue boy was just too much and she crawled out from the bottom of the pile. This caused more tribble action from Baby Blue boy.

So far, even though this litter seems a little more vocal than her last one, nobody is a screamer (fortunately.) The yellow boy (whose name has been changed to protect his identity - they seal juvenile records after all) from the last litter consistently squealed screamed or hollered whenever he was not pleased. He started the night they were born and didn't stop until after he left for his new home (where he immediately turned over a new leaf.) You'll notice that none of the puppies have a yellow collar this time. I bought it but it was to be the last color used and we didn't need it, thank goodness. In spite of that, I still miss him though ;-)

The puppies have 2 toys in the box today. They have the airkong donut ring and a little stuffed bear toy. I gave them the bear; Jill gave them the other toy. They seem to like sleeping on both of them. I also switched so a woven throw instead of the usual sheet. It gives them a little better traction and since Jill doesn't have to be in there with them all of the time now, she won't get too hot with it.

I scheduled their CERF appts today. Since we have to go to Columbus for that and they only do it certain days each week, I needed to plan ahead for that.

I guess that's all for now. Sending cyber puppy breath to all!

May 23

Today Jack, my PWD service dog guide turned 8 years old. I cannot believe he is 8. He doesn't either and spent the day in a blur of motion. He did a lot of retrieving and the puppies have been introduced to a monkey paw in the whelping box ;-)

It is also the 5th anniversary of getting Jill. We got her to play with Jack but she wasn't interested in that at all. So his 3rd birthday present turned out to not be so much for him. He hasn't complained and she really seems to like it here (she was 2 1/2 when we got her) so I guess PWD life is pretty good.

Cindi came by and we played with the puppies in between throwing Jack's toys. She took him and the 'old puppies' (Indy and SammieDoodlebug) up to the pond to play. I gave them showers when they returned and we dremeled toenails. The pupsters are still having theirs cut with people fingernail clippers - and that happened again today for them.

I think the puppies are starting to play with each other occasionally. They are not coordinated but they lurch around with a purpose. Sometimes that purpose is another puppy, sometimes they have to potty and usually it's to get to their mother to eat. They really like to eat.

None of them escaped from the box today so we haven't had to go on full lockdown yet ;-) I anticipate that happening soon though.

Have I mentioned that they are the cutest little things in existence? I can't keep going on about it though because it's Jack's birthday and therefore "It's all about Jack."

Puppy breath to you all

May 22 Pupdate

Another day with what have to be some of the cutest puppies on the face of the earth - I know, I say that with all of them but it's always true! I can't believe how fast they are growing. Tonight is the last night of puppy yoga (Early Neurological Stimulation.)

All eyes are open and everyone is getting around pretty well. They actually get up and walk away from where they were sleeping to go potty if Jill isn't making them go. She still cleans it up no matter where they go. Good girl she can do that as long as she wants.

Dog Cindi came over to visit with the puppies and big dogs this evening. She took some pictures which we will put on the Picasa site. She was amazed at how much they've changedand agrees that they are way too cute. SammieDoodle went home with her and Indy to have a play date. They can get a lot of exercise romping together and tomorrow we should get to take them out to play. One of us will stay with Jilly and the puppies so Jill doesn't feel neglected ;-)

Limey had today's milestone. He was the first one to get out of the whelping box. There are several others on their way so I definitely have to arrange things to prevent anybody getting out in the night. In a day or two, we'll do away with the boxes and save them until we use them outside with water.

We had a Weight Watchers meeting and the little Boogers (that's probably not a Boo name we want to use) have gained 3.6 lbs in the past 3 days. Each puppy gained 9.6 ounces which seems very strange but I guess if the scales aren't going to be really accurate at this level, it's not that big a deal. Pink and Purple weigh 3 lbs each; Green girl is 3.2; and the boys are neck and neck with Royal and Limey at 3.4; Baby Blue Boy is the biggest at 3.6. We have 14.5 MORE lbs o'puppies now than when they were born. I feed JillyBean and she feeds puppies. Guess we are both doing our job.

I made dog food for the big dogs today. Won't be long before I am making puppy gruel, too. I guess I'll need to start feeling for tooth development soon.

I think the puppies may recognize me now. I am not certain but will keep track to see if it continues. Imagine that, me tracking stuff the puppies do ;-) BTW there wasn't a 100% segregation of the brown girls from the other puppies but it did happen more than 70 % of the time. (I didn't set exact random times to check on them though. I just noted it when I did.) The percentage of time they ended up side by side while nursing is higher - almost 90.

I guess that's all for today. Nighty, nighty, nighty little pupper dogs. Sleep well. Still looking for a scratch and sniff site to post the puppy breath to the rest of you.

15 days old

Awfully darn cute puppies if I do say so myself. I can't manage to get anything done today because they are just so cute. I don't think they are doing anything new today but eyes are opening and they are lurching around the whelping box. They are lurching much better right now because I had to put the big fleecey pad in the whelping box. Jill made a really nice nest under the stairs outside - which means she got quite dirty and had to have a shower. She was very proud of her accomplishment. I guess she likes for me to know that she has plans just in case we don't run things the way she wants.

She's in a very digging phase - I've been leaving the second whelping box pool out with towels/blankets in it so she can dig there instead of in the floor. She was going into Jack's crate and digging on his canine cooler mat and I didn't want her to put holes in it. This seems to give her a more appropriate outlet.

BabyBlue Boy's collar got too small and had to come off. Right now, he is streaking along with Limey. Limey is getting a new collar after puppy yoga.

And I'm going to hang out with the puppies some more. Have I mentioned that they are very cute? I can't get over the barking.

Two weeks old

Two weeks old tonight, I can hardly believe it. I can't believe how much they have grown either.

Eyes are definitely opening. Jill has decided that they are starting to grow up and need some new challenges. Several times a day, she sits up to feed them so they have to lean up to reach. They can actually hold their heads up when we do 'downward dog' in puppy yoga. And they all get up on all 4 feets and lurch around too - the brown girls more so than the others.

Jill also decided that it's time to add some interest to the box. She looked around for just the right toy and put it in the box. She did that last time too. She picks out a toy that is fairly tactile and not too large and puts it in with them. It's not the same toy as last time -that one's long gone - but it's not toys she usually plays with either. The puppies have climbed over it and napped on it and when I changed the linens, I didn't put it back in with them. Wonder if she'll put the same one in tomorrow or a different one. If she chooses the same one, I think I'll put it away and see if she chooses something similar next.

Nobody did any barking today, they were pretty quiet. Awfully cute though. I may be prejudiced but I think they are about the sweetest, cutest puppies in existence. SammieDoodle thinks they are quite nice as well.

Happy 2 week birthday little pupsters!

May 19 pupdate

Big doings here today... eyes are starting to open on some of the puppies. Bruce could see it on BabyBlue Boy and I can feel it on several others.

Since my new talking scale (the good one that goes up to 8 lbs) hasn't even shipped yet (that is not a happy incident since I ordered it last Friday and it probably wouldn't have gotten shipped at all if I hadn't called,) we had to have another weight watchers meeting with the bathroom scale.

Results: We have 16 lbs of puppies. BabyBlue Boy is 3 lbs; Royal and Limey are somewhere between 2.8 and 3 (got varying results) and the girls are around 2.6 lbs each. Since we have the spreadsheet, we played fun with numbers and the purple girl wins with being 3.58 times her birth weight. Pink is the least only being 2.9 times her birth weight. I'd say they are all pretty healthy eaters.

The Green girl demonstrated her ability to bark today. They have to work up to it but they manage. They also seem to be able to hear some, when Jill took Jack's monkey paw (he let it get too close to her so she does the mean neighbor lady thing - it came in my yard so I'm keeping it) he barked to tell me she took his toy (Jack does NOT try to take things away from other dogs, even when it's his toy,) and the puppies started fussing. He wasn't near them either (Jill was napping outside the pen since they had been fed and cleaned and were sleeping.)

We have puppy yoga for a few more days and then I have to get ready for environmental stimulation and then at 4 weeks, they have to start meeting people -within my paranoid parameters of taking off shoes, washing hands and putting on smocks, etc. I can't beleive they'll be 2 weeks old tomorrow night. Jill's calorie count will have to go even higher!

Too bad I can't post puppy breath for all of you. I'll just have to sniff enough for everybody. Nighty, nighty, nighty say the little tick pupsters.

May 18 Pupdate

I put some new pictures on Picasa today. I took some first thing this morning because when I came checked on the puppies they were arranged like they or Jill were trying to spell out secret messages. If any of you can figure out what they are trying to say, let me know.

Other than trying to send secret messages and being cuddly, they didn't do a whole lot today. Several of them slept halfway up the wall of the whelping box. I don't know how that could be comfortable at all, especially since when they'd fall asleep and fall over and then just sleep wherever they landed.

Dog Cindi (as opposed to family member Cindy) came by this evening and we removed Jill's stitches. Jill was a very good girl for that. She wasn't too sure she wanted to share her puppies with Cindi so she watched closely to make certain that they were all there before Cindi left. Since all 6 of them are still there, we can all rest easy. Cindi even got to hear the puppies bark - Babyblue and Limey definitely did it. I'm not sure they are the only ones who have been barking.

We started to conduct a weight watchers meeting with the bathroom scale but most of the puppies were eating so I only weighed Royal. He weighed in at 2.6 lbs. It's almost time to do puppy yoga and go nighty, nighty, nighty.

May 17

Today was a pretty quiet day for the puppies. They spent the majority of the day lounging around sleeping. I know they are supposed to do that but it worries me when they are too quiet. They liven up plenty fast when they can reach Jill so I try not to worry.

Jill's doing a good job on consuming sufficient calories each day and it certainly seems that the puppies are consuming enough calories as well. They are pudgy little things and seem quite content.

No eyes are open yet. I am waiting until they do to look up when the last litters' eyes opened so I don't sit around counting the days until it "should' happen. Their little ears are working on it though.

Wonder what they will be up to tomorrow. I need to try to get some pictures. I don't think we've taken any in a while.

That's all for now.

May 16 Pupdate

Good morning, good morning the little dogs say! And the big dogs, too.

The Doodlebug has been wanting to get up VERY early (well early for us 6:30 or 7 am) - to see what the puppies are doing, I think. If I am going to get Jill to consume all of those calories, I have to start pretty early anyway and I am getting good at napping on the couch. Jack learned how to cuddle up and nap when we had the last litter (I can't believe that was 3 years ago) so he naps with me sometimes. If he doesn't curl up with me, Sammie does. (It's one of the few things when they defer to him - it may be all about Jack but the bitches definitely rule.)

The puppies little eyes and ears may not be working yet but their noses sure are. They were quietly (sleeping I suppose) hanging out in the whelping box and Jill had gone out to walk the plank. When she came back, Sammie walked by first and nothing happened but as soon as Jill got beside the whelping box, they started squeaking and scrambling in her direction.

They've reached another milestone - they seem to be able to poop on their own at least part of the time now. Jill is quick to clean it up (gross but SOO much nicer than a bitch that doesn't do it. Jill keeps nice clean puppies) but a couple of times she has gone in to get it after the fact.

Trimmed all of their toenails today. They were cooperative for the most part. The big dogs all need their nails done, too but we'll wait for Cindi to come and we'll Dremel them. The dogs are good for clipping, too but I always end up quicking at least one and they bleed everywhere. The dogs don't acknowledge the quicking, they don't like waiting around for the bleeding to stop.

Weight watchers results (with the not as accurate bathroom scale): The girls (pink, purple and green) 2 lbs each; Royal and Limey 2.2 lbs each and Babyblueboy 2.4 lbs. Nice big butterball puppies, growing like weeds.

Time for puppy yoga and nighty, nighty, nighty. Puppy breath to all and to all a good night.

May 15 Pupdate

The little ones were pretty quiet today. I managed to take a long nap on the couch beside them after Jill ate her first lunch. There's really no point in trying to call the meals anything she pretty much has to graze to get her calories.

I did give Jill a shower with all of the proper precautions. I didn't completely dry her hair but I did use the force dryer (not on any sensitive areas) and towels to get her to just damp. Before I bathed her, I put big woolly fleece pad in the whelping box so they didn't get cold and to soak up any moisture. None of the puppies got cold but it did help them get traction to climb. 3 of them decided they likes sleeping up the side but nobody climbed out. Baby blue boy came close but he was climbing on his mother. Jill is pretty clever about gently dislodging them so that they tumble where she wants them.

Jill's incision is healing nicely. It still feels and smells ok and I had Bruce look at it last night and it looked good. It won't be took long before it's time to remove her stitches.

Puppies are fat little butterballs, just the way I like them. Ears are opening but I don't think their eyes are yet. They are snuggly little babies, (also just the way I like them.) It's time for them to do puppy yoga and go nighty, nighty, nighty.

May 14 pupdate

The little pupsters ears are starting to change, they'll be able to hear before too long. I wonder if that will increase or decrease the noise they make. I can't tell anything about their eyes opening yet but I don't feel too closely because I don't want to damage the little eyes under there.

Puppy yoga is going well and the little buggers are getting good at climbing over each over and Jill. They have a tendency to be like little ticks (sorry Cindi) - they suck until they swell up and then fall off. They sleep where they land. The funny part is when they are in a pile and one of the lower puppies wriggles out or rolls over and the ones on the top of the pyramid roll off. A lot of the time, they don't even wake up when they tumble down. I can't believe how soundly they sleep.

I have been trying to make note of whether or not the brown puppies are together more than with the black puppies. Sometimes, they are but other times they are cuddled up with one of the other puppies. Who knows, I may even add it to my spreadsheet and check at regular intervals. Depends on how busy the puppies keep me ;-)

I've been trying to make sure I have all of the things I need for their environmental enrichment as their eyes and ears open. I may need to DVR some programs just for them. Obviously, I don't play video games but I may be able to find something similar. Or I may have to make a dvd of something on the internet for them. Amazing the things you can find on Youtube.

It's also amazing how many calories Jill needs every day to feed those puppies and she's not even at her peak. She is willing to eat whenever I offer but 4100 calories is a lot of food. I have to schedule it out to make sure she's getting enough. Jack and SammieDoodle get a little bite whenever Jill eats but Jack especially is surprised that I am not fixing a bowl for him too. As all of the dogs here will tell you (and sometimes Bruce might say so, too) it's all about Jack.

We've reached a milestone. Nobody did the night shift with the puppies, we slept in our bed with the baby monitor and there were no problems. Granted I didn't sleep as long as normal but I did get a morning nap on the couch, too so I'm probably not too grumpy. (Hey it's my blog and that's my story!)

Puppy yoga is progressing like clockwork - it goes very quickly but I guess since each thing is only a few seconds that's to be expected. I think it might be more difficult in a huge litter but I can keep track of these puppies pretty easily. Usually, I go in birth order but if some of them are eating, I'll change it a little. I only delay if Pink or Purple are the ones eating because they are the smaller ones. I also always do it near bedtime since that is when they were born. Plus it's easier without SammieDoodle trying to see what I am doing to make those puppies fuss. I think Jill recognizes it now; she doesn't supervise as closely but I don't try to take them far away to do it either.

Getting another big storm so I probably better get this posted in case the electricity goes off. Somehow, I don't think the MSU would think we needed to run the generator just for me to blog ;-)

Puppy breath dreams to all!

1 Week Old!

Happy 1 week birthday little pups! They've certainly grown and they can motor around the whelping box. So far, none of them have gotten out but their eyes aren't open yet either. I'll have to prepare the floor for more mobile puppies soon. We'll have the ex pen fort again before long.

There are a lot of new pictures on the picasa site now:
http://picasaweb.google.com/111692502274643589419 There are a couple of pictures of Jack and SammieDoodle too this time. Jack is the one with his head in the gate of the ex pen waiting for me to throw his monkey paw and SammieDoodlebug is in her spot on duty right outside the ex pen. She spends a lot of time there just in case she should be needed.

The weight watchers meetings are getting more difficult to conduct. 4 of the puppies got an ERR reading on the scale - it only goes up to 26 oz. I need to find another one like my old one. We are going to have to switch to the less accurate bathroom scale but I guess at this point, we don't really need to worry much. The other 2 are going to be too big for the scale in a day or less. They were eating when the meeting started - Bruce had to pull a couple off and you could hear the suction pop loose. They take their responsibility very seriously.


They were very quiet last night and since Bruce wasn't home to be on the night shift, I kept waking up to check on them for being too quiet.

The pupsters are all singing at the bar, you think they know they are Irish? One of them can bark already. I don't know which one it is and it doesn't happen often but it is actually a distinct little bark not like the baby alligator in distress call I expect to hear.

Puppy yoga, Jill's midnight snack (another puppy food and cheese omelet, yum!) and then we'll all try to go Nighty, nighty, nighty. I don't sing the 3 songs to these puppies yet because their ears aren't open but I figure it's only a matter of time.

Puppy breath to you all and to all a good night!

May 12 pupdate

The pupsters have had a very quiet day today. Of course, that makes me paranoid so I keep feeling to make sure they are breathing. I wonder if I will sleep even less tonight because they are quiet... Or maybe they've been saving it all up for a boisterous night.

I managed to get weights on all of them today but not all at the same time. The lime boy is the least cooperative and I think he is at the high end of my scales capabilities. Not a good combination to get it to tell me what he weighs. I may have to have Bruce weigh them with the fish scales unless I get results I am comfortable hearing with the bathroom scale (I've been using my kitchen scale.)

Anyway, the results of the weight watchers meetings are as follows:
Royal gained 2.3 oz; Pink gained 2.7 oz; Purple gained 2.1 oz (and is within .1oz of doubling in size); Babyblue gained 1.5 oz; Green gained 1.7 oz; and Lime gained 2.2 oz. We have just over 9 lbs of PWD puppies now. We started with just over 5 bs 6 days ago. Good job Jill and puppies.

Tomorrow night they will be a week old. Jill is apparently concerned again that we might not provide for the puppies (did she inherit the pound of prevention philosophy from me?) and is preparing alternate lodgings just in case. She did that with the last litter, too. She doesn't move the puppies or try to leave them; she just scouts out all of the potential locations when she goes out to walk the plank.

We had several big thunderstorms today. Too bad their little ears aren't open yet. I hope we can have a couple in June for 'environmental stimulation.' They got the vacuum cleaner run near them today but it's too early for that to do any good (for the puppies, it's good to have the floor clean, I guess.)

More tomorrow and until then, puppy breath to you all!

May 11 pupdate

Today is a big day here. I got my first whiff of puppy breath! I didn't notice it the other days but nobody had yawned right in my face yet either (do you think I was boring them?)

All of the black puppies' noses are completely black now. I had to change the collars on the brown girls and I think their noses are darker too but I can't really tell for certain. I'll have Bruce check when he gets home tonight. He has to help me hold a weight watchers meeting so he can look then.

Jill's incision seems to be healing well. It's way down in her cleavage so it's not easy to check or clean but she cooperates. She doesn't seem to be itching from her razor stubble as much now either. Her 5 o'clock shadow has progressed into big time George Michael long shave.

I discovered how to copy and paste into Blogspot so now I can write throughout the day (you'd think this would be a better entry in that case wouldn't you) and I downloaded Picasa so I don't have to do pictures 5 at a time. I think I have it set up so that it might be user friendly, it makes sense when you listen to it anyway -it's always important that your pictures sound good, isn't it ;-)

Pupsters were quieter through puppy yoga last night and a couple almost got off the cold towel before their time was up. May have to use a bigger towel so they don't wriggle away.

We have over 8 pounds of puppies now. We didn't weigh them yesterday but they've gained over 2 pounds in the last 2 days. No wonder their little collars needed changed. Purple girl weighs 19.2 oz so I'm not going to worry about her any more. Well, at least not more than I worry about all of them in general ;-)

Puppy breath to all of you!

May 10 pupdate

The puppies seem to be doing well. I had to loosen all of their collars so they must be growing. Maybe Bruce can help me with a weight watchers meeting tonight.

We had our first session of puppy yoga last night. Jill watched me very closely and checked each puppy as I returned it to her. She still lines them all up every time she gets in or out of the box so she doesn't step on anyone. I appreciate her not stepping on any of them and I'm sure they do as well.

Sammie the Doodlebug is still very concerned with the puppies. When they squeak, she goes on alert. Fortunately, Jill is a good enough dam that they don't need to squeak for long so Doodle can get some rest, too.

Mother and Paul came by on their way home today to look at the puppies. Jill was happy enough to see them but it's too early for her to be expected to share her puppies. Fortunately, they weren't expecting her to share.

Puppy yoga, then feed Jill her midnight snack (she's been having puppyfood and cheese omelets at night) and then I'll call it a day. I couldn't get the picasa page to work today so there aren't any new pictures on there. I'll let ya'll know when I get it going - not that I can promise any good ones, just that there will be pictures ;-) Or I may spend my time trying to figure out if there is a way to paste into here. Ctrl V doesn't work and I don't know what else to try.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers - even mothers of dogs. Jill is celebrating by being a really good dam. That's how she spends all of her days with puppies.

Sammie the Doodlebug is back home and begging to help with the puppies. So far, Jill hasn't taken her up on it but Sammie remains hopeful. Maybe she can help when they are running around with little needle teeth.

They all needed their toenails trimmed. I only did the nails on the front feet this time, though. I was closely supervised by Jill and Sammie. They didn't tell me what they thought of the job I did, obviously they aren't clicker trainers.

Tonight we will start Early Neurological Stimulation or Puppy Yoga. I'll be taking care of that before I call it a day. I expect resigned cooperation from the puppies and vigilant supervision from Jill.

Now for the results of todays weight watchers meeting: They still did some squiming but we got good readings on each puppy. All 3 boys now weigh over a pound each. The girls say that it's not nice to tell a lady's weight but I'm going to do that anyway. Pink and Green are closing in on a pound at 15.8 ounces each and the Purple pup is now 13.4 ounces. She's a determined eater - one of the few pictures I have on the Picasa page at this point is her sleeping (with another puppy on top of her) with the nipple still in her mouth.

They are noisy little eaters, I guess Jill doesn't start teaching table manners until later. I can't tell whether they are looking for a spot or just sucking really hard but like all puppy sounds, it's very sweet. Haven't smelled any puppy breath yet but I haven't checked vey closely yet. They might latch on to the end of my nose ;)

I may be closing in on the theme for the litter names. I like them to be phrases work with our kennel name - we pronounce the Allyn as All In. (For example, Sammie's registered name is Allyn the Drive.) Anyway I think we may use names that have Treat, Trick or Magic in them. I have a while to make the final decision since we don't have the litter registration yet. ;-)

Time for puppy yoga!

Pupdate 2 days old

I'm feeling much more rested today. Still have a lot of sleep to catch up on but I don't expect to do that until after the puppies are weaned and gone to their new homes and then I'll cry myself to sleep.

Jill and the puppies had a good night but Bruce (aka 'the daddy' or 'not the mama' as he calls himself to the dogs) didn't sleep a lot. He slept on one of the couches in the rubber room to be near Jilly and the whelping box. Jill was hot and/or hurting a little from her surgery so she wanted the fuzzy thing out of the box. She didn't want to lay on it but when she moved it, she worried that the puppies would get lost in the folds so she convinced the daddy to help her take it out. He said after that they settled in.

Jack and I slept up in the bed ;-). It's not feasible to put the whelping box in our room as it's upstairs and we have light grey carpeting (obviously we didn't have dogs or kids when we built the house.) Jack doesn't often sleep in the bed as he doesn't rest as much out of his crate (at least when I am home) since he is 'on call' out of his crate.

I've tried to have the weight watchers meeting several times but the pupsters are too wriggly for the scale to talk. Cindi brought some of the stuff for me to make Indy's food and took some pictures and helped conduct the meeting.

Here are the results:

• Royal 14.7 oz (up .7)
• Pink 13.6 (up .3)
• Purple 11.7 (up a full ounce -Good girl!)
• Baby blue 14.4 -14.7 (he was pretty squiggly so it was hard to get a reading even for someone who could see the scale)
• Green 13.7 (up .5 oz)
• Lime 15.3 (up .6 oz)

We'll play fun with numbers as we hold more weight watchers meetings. (I was a CPA after all, have to do something with those spreadsheets.)

Little pupsters are already pretty mobile. They can turn around and find their way back to the bar from anywhere in the box. Jill lines them up in the middle before she gets up to move to the other side. She doesn't take any chances on stepping on anyone. If they aren't all together when she gets back from walking the plank, she lines them up before she settles back in.

Some of them sing while they eat and they can be vocal when they feel the need but nothing like the consistent cries of ol yeller (from the last litter.) At least he didn't continue that in his new home.

Home!

I am running on next to no sleep and anyone who knows me at all realizes that isn't a good thing! Fortunately, there wasn't any hurling.

I stayed awake all night ( I know this because I checked my watch a lot. I bet Cindi is glad I have a tactile watch and didn't have to use a talking one.) Jill, of course, had things well under control but I am a firm believer that a pound of prevention is worth an ounce of cure so I had to keep feeling to make sure all of the puppies were in good spots.

Jill ate around 5 am, I ws supposed to keep it light in case the anesthesia made her nauseous. She was fine and told me she needed to eat for those puppies but that it really would be better if I handed her each bite so she didn't have to get up ;-) Cindi took her out to walk the plank (our euphemism/cue word for the dogs to potty - and yes, sometimes it does involve a plank.) Having a dog go on command is a wonderfully convenient thing but she needed to go anyway.

After we fed her and she fed the puppies, we packed up the last of our stuff and headed out for home. We took the Porty Wagon (the camper van) so we'd have room for all of our stuff (plus it has a toilet so I don't have to feel my way around potentially nasty public restrooms) and we set Jill and her new puppies up in her whelping box (wading pool.)

We had a pretty uneventful drive home and got here mid afternoon. I did have the good fortune to come home to a VERY clean house courtesy of my mother in law. Jack and Sammie Doodlebug were as happy to see me as I was to see them.

After we got Jill and the puppies settled in, Cindi stayed with them while I took Jack and Doodle out to play for a few minutes. We went up to the pond and they swam and retrieved for about 45 minutes and then I gave them showers. Jill insisted that they not be allowed to eyeball her puppies so I hung sheets on the ex pen for her.

Cindi took Sammie home with her so she could play with Indy and I waited for Bruce to get home so I could take a bath and go to bed. I don't even know if it was dark yet.

They're HEEEREE!

Jill's temperature dropped this afternoon and is dropping more and staying down. Called the theriongologist (that's a fun word to say) - take it again in 2 hours and call back. It was still down so we decided to go ahead and whelp the puppies tonight via c-section rather than trying to make it through the night on hopes (there would be no dreams because there is no chance I would've slept.)

Doing the c-section tonight was the right choice as the placentas showed that delivery was iminent. I'd hate to have lost any waiting around.

The delivery was exciting (and pretty fast.) I'm glad I had Brailled the stick on collars with numbers to put on them until we got the colored collars sorted out - I had a system for those and it was based on coat color and sex of the puppies. They didn't stick very well but did give us time to label the puppies.

Jilly and all of the puppies did quite well. Dr Greenfield delivered the left side puppies first and they were:

• 14 oz black wavy male with white markings (Royal)
• 13.3 oz black wavy female with white markings (Pink)
• 10.7 oz brown wavy girl with very little white markings (Purple) - A potential puppy for Indy's little sister

Then he moved to the right horn and we had:

• 14.5 oz black wavy male with white markings (Baby blue)
• 13.2 oz brown wavy girl with white markings (Green)
• and a big black wavy male with, you guessed it white markings 14.7 oz (Lime/Neon)

All of the puppies woke up well and waited in the incubator while Jill was put back together and woken up. We waited to see if she had enough of a progesterone drop to still be a good mother and either she did or, as we suspect, Jill would be a good mother no matter what. She was picking her head up winding her puppies in the incubator and as they got temperatures taken to make sure they were ready to nurse. One by one, she got her babies - only the litte purple girl had to wait a few extra minutes but she caught right on to the nursing thing when she was given the chance.

After they all nursed and peed (hey this is a blog about dogs, there will probably be lots of discussion about peeing and pooping,) we loaded them up to head back to the motel for the night. Cindi needed to sleep some for the big drive home. Hard to believe we were only gone 2 1/2 hours.

When I figure out where online to post all of our pictures, I'll post the link.

Waiting for puppies

Jill on day 61 of her pregnancy. Cindi took it but we haven't gotten to edit out the junque in the background. If you are expecting high quality pictures, you might want to find a blog by someone with some usable vision ;-)

We've been in Cleveland (well North Ridgeville but I think it's within spitting distance) since Saturday, May 1. Cindi brought Jill and me up for the xray and we are staying until we have puppies. Since Jill whelped her last litter 6 days early, we wanted to be here since we figure she'll go early again and we don't want to risk lsing any of the puppies if the labor is protracted.


The xray seems to show 6 puppies and they appear to be doing ok but not calcified enough to be born yet. They did a progesterone test and it had dropped significantly. Fortunately, they did the test in house (we came to Animal Clinic Northview; THE repro specialists) so we got the results in time to do something about it. A progesterone shot on Saturday night seemed to do the trick and we got another test and check Monday morning.


There followed several days of progesterone tests, hanging out in Cleveland (I think Cindi caught up on some of her missed sleep with daily naps) temperature monitoring and another progesterone shot. We were trying to hold her off until Friday afternoon (day 62) but her temperature dropped significantly Thursday afternoon and stayed down into the evening.


Somewhat as an aside, I sure miss Jack and Sammie the Doodlebug (missing my husband goes without saying.) I haven't gone this long without Jack since he finished his training to be my service dog guide. It's a lot harder to get by without him than I realize but the one time I did have to take Jill out without Cindi and I used the dreaded white cane, Jill did help me find the door and the turns and even the right room (that part helped since the motel room door did NOT have raised numbers or Braille. I had counted doors and we put the tag on the door to help as well.)

I'm not sure whether it was harder being without Jack or a computer that has JAWS (screenreader) AND an internet connection but the combination ofthe two was not at all pleasant. The motel had wifi but my computer quit recognizing the card a while back.