| 12/06 |
Great News, the vet confirmed
that Ellie is pregnant! |
| 12/29 |
Ellie at 7 weeks 2 days, 2 more weeks to go. She is definitely pregnant!
|
| 01/03 |
Ellie at 8 weeks, less than a week to go. |
| 01/07 |
Sunday am, all quiet. The
Whelp-wise equipment arrived yesterday so we are ready to go. Ellie looks a bit
strange as she had to have her sides shaved so the doppler can hear the
hearbeats. I didn't realize how thick her coat is and the clipper stopped
working so I resorted to a scissors and razor. You can tell I'm not a
hairdresser as the amount of hair missing on each side isn't the same. Now she
has some black dots on each side to mark where I heard heartbeats. I found 5 on
one side and 4 on the other. I need to spend more time this afternoon listening
to confirm what I heard. They were very active last night. |
| 01/08 |
Monday am, all quiet.
|
| 01/09 |
Tuesday am, Ellie is in labor and
expect puppies soon. |
| 01/09 |
Tuesday pm, it's all over. Ellie
barely let me get dressed this am before the first puppy was born. She was in
labor since 7pm last night and I didn't think she was ready at 9:30 this
morning. She had 8 pups in 2.5 hrs. My girlfriend from the Cities quickly drove
down to help. She arrived just after the first one was born. Ellie didn't even
let her get her whelping clothes on before the next one arrived. There are 5
girls, and 3 boys. Everyone is doing great. The extra heartbeat on the doppler
was probably one that I found on both the sides. Here are some pictures and a
movie. Picture 1 Movie Picture
2 Picture 3
Picture 4 |
| 01/10 |
Pups went in for dew claws today
and did well. Everyone has put on at least 1 oz since birth. Ellie is a being a
good mom and takes good care of her babies. Todays pictures
Picture 1
Picture 2 |
| 01/11 |
More movies and a picture.Pups
are doing well and gaining well too. You can tell how much wider their boies
are since they were born and that's only been 2 days. Here's the chart for
who's who and their weights. List is also in birth order.
| Color |
Sex |
Birth Wt |
Todays Wt |
| Blue |
Boy |
13.5 |
1lb 1.5 oz |
| Yellow |
Girl |
13.7 |
1lb 1.2 oz |
| White |
Girl |
13.8 |
1lb 0.5 oz |
| Green |
Boy |
11.3 |
15.0oz |
| Purple |
Girl |
12.6 |
15.5 oz |
| Black |
Girl |
13.7 |
1lb 1.3oz |
| Red |
Boy |
13.3 |
1lb 0.8oz |
| Brown |
Girl |
12.0 |
15.4 |
The brown girl and red boy are going
to be hard to tell apart, as the colors are not too far apart and pictures may
not capture the tone properly.
Today's pictures
Picture 1
Chowing down and once the milk runs out they move to their neighbors
nipple looking for more. Moving
around |
| 01/12 |
The camera operator was asleep on
the job so here are the days pictures a little late. All the pups are over 1lb
1oz now. Picture Movie |
| 01/13 |
All of the pups are over 1lb 3oz
today. Biggest pup was Blue boy at 1lb 6oz. They do like to eat.
Top View |
| 01/15 |
Everyone doing well.
Movie Picture Brown
girl with her nose in the rolled up towel. |
| 01/16 |
1 week today.
Picture I've had to change out or expand
the rick rack on most of the puppies. Blue boy is the biggest at 1lb 14.9oz,
Red boy is only .2 oz behind him. The smallest is still the Green boy at 1lb
9.5 oz. Everyone has more than doubled their birth weight. It won't be long
before the big pool will have to brought upstairs. Getting Crowded Last night was the first
night off the chair/floor and back in my bed. The pups were a bit fussy at 4am
and as I was trying to get everyone a nipple, the blue boy slithered his way
from below and came up between two pups that were latched on and just pushed
one of them aside. The first thing that came to mind was a shark moving in for
the kill. Maybe I need more sleep.... |
| 01/17 |
Glamour
Shots of a different kind |
| 01/18 |
Pile of pups
Yesterday the Green boy was not feeling well, he spiked a fever and
was very listless. He is now on antibiotics and feeling somewhat better. The
fever is still there but he is nursing and has not lost any weight. It may take
until noon today or even this evening to have the temp go down. If it is a
viral infection, that usually runs its course in 3-4 days. The main thing is
that he is still eating on his own and I think he rather likes that he gets the
rear teat everytime which produces the most milk. The rest of the pups are
growing like weeds.
The pups are now starting to get up on their legs a bit
more. I've also noticed that their eyes don't seem to be closed quite so
tightly. No eye lids starting to open yet. They do put their heads above the
edge of the poor and sort of sniff around. It's about time for a bigger pool.
|
| 01/20 10pm |
Red boy
watching TV. Too bad his eyes aren't open yet, but it looked like he
was watching. Green boy finally had a normal temp at 10pm tonight. He's eating
well and seems to feel almost back to normal. It took about 36 hrs to have the
temp go back to normal. I think we're out of the woods. |
| 01/21 |
The
crew About time for a new pool. Green boy is back to normal, yeah!!
And he put on a couple of ounces yesterday even with fighting a fever. The pups
are up on their legs even more and putting their heads up on the edge of the
pool and sniffing the surroundings. Moving
around more movement |
| 01/22 |
Playing The pups are starting to play with
each other, even with their eyes still closed. They are now in the big pool
with a lot more room. More room Got Milk? |
| 01/23 |
Two weeks today. Still nothing
showing that the eyes will be opening soon, not even the smallest slit is
showing on any of the pups. They are getting pretty good walking on their legs
for a few steps anyway. You can tell from the weights below that they have been
eating well.
| Color |
Sex |
Birth Wt |
Todays Wt |
| Blue |
Boy |
13.5 |
3lb 1.5 oz |
| Yellow |
Girl |
13.7 |
2lb 14.4 oz |
| White |
Girl |
13.8 |
3lb 1.0 oz |
| Green |
Boy |
11.3 |
2 lb 10.1 oz |
| Purple |
Girl |
12.6 |
2 lb 15.4 oz |
| Black |
Girl |
13.7 |
3lb 3.2 oz |
| Red |
Boy |
13.3 |
3lb 3.0 oz |
| Brown |
Girl |
12.0 |
2lb 13.2oz |
The black girl is the biggest by .2
ounces. Smallest is still green boy, but only by 3 ounces. Not bad since he had
been under the weather for a few days. |
| 01/24 |
Movie Day, still no signs of the
eyes opening up. Movie 1
Movie 2 Movie
3 |
| 01/25 |
More movies. The pups were
wormed today and the meds seems to have made them a bit whiney. Still nothing
happening with their eyes opening up. Blue boy
barking Swarm of pups
More whiney pups |
| 01/26 |
4 pups have their eyes open!!
It's like they opened up over night as they were not open last night. Blue
boy's eyes are opened the widest, followed by Brown girl, Black girl and Red
boy. The rest must be waiting until tomorrow I guess.
Very crowded
Movie 1 Movie 2 Movie
3 pups |
| 01/28 |
All the pups have their eyes
open! Green Boy and Yellow Girl's eyes are less wide open than the others. They
can hear loud noises on the TV or the vacuum cleaner. Another Glamour shot. It
took 10 tries to get a decent picture of the White girl - and the decent one
had her tongue out and eye closed. They had just gotten done eating and some
were too tired to look at the camera. Glamour Shot
II |
| 01/29 |
The pups have a new setup down
the basement that will expand when they need more room. I'm back at work
mornings which is a bummer. Picture 1
Picture 2 |
| 01/30 |
Three weeks today. I can feel
some bumps in their mouths where teeth will soon be popping up. Eyes are fully
open and they are using them. When I sit with them in their pen, they climb on
my lap or sit next to my leg and fall asleep. Black girl, Red boy and Blue boy
are still tenths of an ounce apart at 4lbs 8oz. Green boy is still the smallest
and should be hitting the 4lb mark in a couple of days. |
| 01/31 |
Time for a little goats milk and
baby cereal. They all did really well. White girl was the first to try it.
White girl lapping up the cereal.
Clean dish club
Messy face Yellow girl with a messy face.
Contented crusty pups. |
| 02/01 |
Lots of firsts on the first of
Feb. There are teeth coming through the gums. Nothing that will hurt yet, but
they are on the way. I felt them first on Blue boy last night and then checked
the others and they are all cutting teeth. I also noticed that their eyes have
already started to turn brown. It seems a little early but that's fine with me.
Everyone is over 4lbs. Red boy is out in the lead at 4lb 14oz, then black girl
at 4lb 11oz. Red boy has dropped to third place at 4lb 8oz, same as White girl.
Baby cereal two times today, tomorrow it will be 3xday.
Playing Rug Rats Rug
Rats escaped Swarming me
Snoozing on me |
| 02/03 |
The teeth are getting more
noticable and they have eating the cereal out of the dish down pat now. Lots of
movies. Red boy & duck
White with an itch
Green boy trying to escape.
Black girl & duck
Blue & Red
Yellow & Purple playing
Black girl & mom
Red boy & duck
Red boy & duck
Red boy White about to crash
White crashed |
| 02/04 |
Staying warm as it's below zero
as a high!! noticable and they have eating the cereal out of the dish down pat
now. Lots of movies. Pile of pups eating
|
| 02/06 |
4 weeks today. I usually take the
pups outside to play now, but will have to wait until next week so maybe the
temps will be close to 32. Purple girl lost her rick rack over night and when I
came home at lunch, yellow girl had lost hers. Time to move over to some small
collars. The pups must be playing with them. Singing for lunch
Playing
| Color |
Sex |
Birth Wt |
Todays Wt |
| Blue |
Boy |
13.5 |
5lb 14oz |
| Yellow |
Girl |
13.7 |
5lb 7oz |
| White |
Girl |
13.8 |
5lb 14oz |
| Green |
Boy |
11.3 |
5lb 4oz |
| Purple |
Girl |
12.6 |
5lb 10oz |
| Black |
Girl |
13.7 |
5lb 13oz |
| Red |
Boy |
13.3 |
6lb 3oz |
| Brown |
Girl |
12.0 |
5lb 8oz |
|
| 02/07 |
The pups love to sleep in
Garfield the cat bed or even just around it. White
girl snoozing |
| 02/09 |
More movies. The pups are getting
very steady on their feet. Mom doing
dishes. I lost track of who I had fed tonight and someone got an extra meal. I
think it may have been the Purple girl as she didn't play at all after and just
crashed in Garfield.
Red digging in Garfield while Brown
pulls at the camera strap. Playing
Working on show laces
Red playing Red again Unsure of new toy
Black playing
Green playing |
| 02/12 |
Two experiments, I gave the pups
some small bones and they wanted nothing to do with them. Chewing on their
litter mates must taste better. I also added a litter box for them. I think
yellow girl figured it out, not sure about the others.
Bones Litter box Purple girl is queen of the hill. |
| 02/13 |
5 weeks today. Everyone gained
about 2 lbs this past week. I will start softened puppy food in the next day.
Ellie isn't wanting to be with them that much anymore. I think the teeth are
getting to her. Blue playing
Green playing |
| 02/14 |
Several firsts today. The pups
were started on softened puppy food. Brown and Purple didn't appreciate the
change and would only eat it with some old food over the top. The rest chowed
down. The pups also went outside for the first time. It is still pretty cold,
but the sun was out.. They didn't seem to care. New way to eat
Outside |
| 02/16 |
Finally some warmer weather and
the pups were outside for a few more minutes. They do go outside after eating
to do their business, yeah! It's still pretty cold for them to be outside for
very long. Outside |
| 02/17 |
This time I brought home the
right kind of bones. The pups were very quiet, no biting each other for a
change. a few more minutes. New Bones
|
| 02/19 |
Finally, a 40 degree day! The
pups had a good time outside. In the dog house
More playing
Dog House Snake Tug-of-war |
| 02/20 |
6 weeks today. The pups love
going outside and playing. They are doing a good job of going potty outside.
Ellie still feeds them 3 - 4 times a day for a few mintues.
| Color |
Sex |
Todays Wt |
| Blue |
Boy |
10lb 3oz |
| Yellow |
Girl |
9lb 14oz |
| White |
Girl |
9lb 8oz |
| Green |
Boy |
9lb 6oz |
| Purple |
Girl |
10lb 3oz |
| Black |
Girl |
9lb 14oz |
| Red |
Boy |
10lb 3oz |
| Brown |
Girl |
9lb 7oz |
|
| 02/21 |
Another beautiful day and the
snow is melting fast. Running the fence line
|
| 02/22 |
Nice day to play outside.
Playing 1 Playing 2 Playing 31 Blue boy |
| 02/25 |
The big blizzard has hit. The
pups prefer the snow to yesterday's freezing rain. There is over a foot out
back and that's just in the low spots. It's going to be a while before this
stuff melts! Making a trail
Venturing out
Business in the snow
Snow Trek I
Snow Trek II |
| 02/27 |
7 weeks today. The pups had their
vet check and shots yesterday. Everyone got a clean bill of health. They did
well during the exam and didn't make a sound when they got their shot. The trip
is the car with 4 pups per crate was a bit noisey when we first started out.
The weights for the pups are very even, only .6 lb difference between the
biggest and smallest pups.
| Color |
Sex |
Todays Wt |
| Blue |
Boy |
11.8 lb |
| Yellow |
Girl |
11.6 lb |
| White |
Girl |
11.4 lb |
| Green |
Boy |
11.2 lb |
| Purple |
Girl |
11.8 lb |
| Black |
Girl |
11.6 lb |
| Red |
Boy |
11.6 lb |
| Brown |
Girl |
11.2 lb |
|
| 03/01 |
Busy week, the pups had their eye
check yesterday, everyone came back clear/normal. Another blizzard on the way.
Running Hiding in the box
Licking the snow off his brother
|
| 03/02 |
Still snowing. The snow is now at
the same level as the sill of the patio door and there is a big drift all along
the fence line. When they get behind the drift all I can see are the tips of
their tails. Behind the drift
Breaking thru the drift
Enjoying the snow |
| 03/03 |
Final Head
shots and Stacks
Ellie and the pups Ellie likes to visit
the pups to check out their bones and chews. Chewing with mom
Wanting to steal the bone |
| 03/05 |
Cold but sunny day. I had to take
this one through the door as I thought moving the door would make them move.
They didn't want to come in and were quite comfortable all hunkered down on the
bed. All Cozy
King of the box |
| 03/07 |
Another cold but sunny day. The
snow is starting to soften a little in the sun. Red boy got me this morning,
double breakfast and I didn't even know it until he finished his second bowl.
They got my glove and I'm not sure it's going to be the same.
Glove 1 Glove 2 Purple
girl watching the chaos |
| 03/08 |
No pictures today, but a picture
of the look on my face when I found 4 puppies wandering around the kitchen
would have been priceless. I carried 2 puppies downstairs and one came down the
stairs by himself. The Blue boy stayed at the top of the stairs. The other pups
were wandering around downstairs. A few piles of poop on the tile or tarp and
they had also gotten into an old sticky mousetrap. Yellow and Purple girl had
pieces of the trap on their sides one on the ear. A few plants in the extra
bedroom had been well trimmed. The Red boy had the most of the sticky stuff on
his legs and chest. They were very tired when I got them corraled. They must
have pushed on the pen and tipped an end up enough to be able to push through.
They are now double locked in!! The sticky mouse trap residue was the hardest
to remove. I tried alcohol and that did nothing. Then I tried some butter and
that took the stickiness away so the stuff could be combed or pulled off. Hot
Buttered Pups. |
| 03/09 |
The pups are starting to leave
for their new families. Green boy is in his new home, he will hopefully be
trained for Search and Rescue, Jr. Handling and Obedience. I forgot to take the
picture with his new family. Still working on a picture.
The Blue boy is
now called Bumper and makes his home in
WI. |
| 03/10 |
The rest of the pups left today.
The Yellow girl flew to the Seattle area where she will be a show girl, family
pet and Therapy dog. Cocoa Bear at the
airport with her new Dad. Cocoa Bear with a picture from her
home
The Brown girl is
now the playmate for two little girls and is called
Ginger
The Purple girl has a
toddler to play with and is called Daisy
|
| 03/11 |
The Black girl and the White girl
will be staying here at Karamar. I couldn't make a decision on which one to
keep, so I kept them both. I hope they will be following in their grandmother's
and mother's footsteps and also become Champions. The Black girl is Karamar
Cocoa Cabana (Lola) and White girl is Karamar Reese's PB No J (Reese). The Red
boy needed a name too, so he is now Rascal. Lola,
Rascal (Red boy) and Reese Rascal (Red
Boy) |
| 03/30 |
The Red boy is now sold.
Rascal (Red Boy) and his new owner
|
| 04/30 |
The month of April was a blur...
Two grandbabies born 4 days apart and 5,000 miles put on the van . Both Lola
and Reese went with me and now like riding in the car. The pups had their first
swim in the lake the end of April. The water as pretty cold but didn't seem to
bother any of the dogs. Swimming |
| 05/06 |
I thought I'd take pictures of
the girls through the patio door, but could not get both of them looking at me
at the same time. I usually got a picture like this instead of like this
one The longer I took pictures the more slime
on the door... |
| 06/13 |
Picture of Daisy (Purple girl) |
| 09/10 |
Picture of
Cocoa Bear (Yellow girl) |
