??!!??

2 pounds, 9 ounces.

I mean REALLY, can they keep growing like this???

Not that I,m complaining, it's great to have big strong healthy puppies, but Black and Red are over 2.5 lbs already! I've never had a puppy hit that before 2 weeks of age. Here.. look for yourself at Kachina's Kids and Boom'rs Babies.

What's New?

New Comments!

I didn't like the way Blogger handled comments so I switched to Haloscan. This means you no longer have to "log in" to leave a comment. Unfortunatly, it means I lost all the nice comments people have left over the last few weeks :(

New Gallery!

I created a Gallery of Pictures for the pups. At the end of each week I'll take all the pictures that have been posted here for the week and put them in the Gallery. There is a link to it over there >>>>> on the sidebar.

And in case anyone has not figured it out... individual pictures of the pups will always be bordered by their "color" so you can tell who is who.

New Picture!

Happy One Week Birthday

I can't believe Aliy's little Angels are a week old already!





Compare these pics to the ones from a week ago... look how fast they change!! I bet in next weeks "birthday" shots they'll have their eyes open.

Polar Pups

After several days of unhappy puppies each morning I discovered these girls get hot really easily.

The room I have the whelping box in gets morning sun. And even though the puppies are protected from the sun, the room does get warm pretty quickly. Not hot, just warm, about 76 degrees or so.

Well the pups don't want it above 72 and have been expressing their displeasure loudly and at great length each morning.

So now they get chilled wet wash cloths to lie on when it gets warm. The results are amazing. I can take a fussy, screaming, unhappy puppy and put her into a deep sound sleep in less than 30 seconds.

I have a feeling we'll be moving in the ice packs in a few weeks.

Milestones

The puppies got their first nail clip yesterday. Their little nails had gotten so sharp, they felt like little pin pricks, thay were tearing up poor Aliy's tummy. So yesterday afternoon they each got a nail clip. They were so brave, not a peep out of them!

I'm sure Aliy is happier. The only dwn side is that without their sharp little nails to dig into the bedding they are getting around a bit slower than they were. But, as you can see from the pictures, taken just seconds apart, they are still getting around, albeit more slowly.



We have our first two pound puppy! Red hit two pounds at this mornings weigh in.

Dewclaw Day

The puppies had their dewclaws removed today. Sometimes this can make for a fussy day but these guys took it all in stride. Dewclaws are vestigial 5th toes on the sides of the leg. Most sammie puppies have them, some pups are born with dewclaws on both front and rear legs, these girls had them only on the front paws.

The biggest reason for removing dewclaws is one of safety. Some dewclaws grow small and close to the leg and don't present a problem... others grow bigger and looser. The loose type dewclaws can easily become caught on things and get torn off. Removing them at birth is an easy and relatively painless process, removing or fixing a torn dewclaw in an adult dog requires surgery and anethesia, along with it's associated risks. Most breeders choose to remove them shortly after birth.

To remove them, my vet clamped them with a hemostat, scraped them off with a scalpel blade, then cauterized with a styptic pen. Over in seconds. After we got home each little girl got a dropperful of Rescue Remedy and went right to sleep for several hours. See, little Black isn't bothered by it a bit...



New Stuff

I added a couple new things to the page the last few days...just want to point them out to those interested... The puppies pedigree is now posted on the sidebar to the right. And there is a growth chart at the very bottom of the page, again with a link on the right sidebar. I simply can't believe how fast these guys are growing! Red has gained 11 ouunces in 4 days!!!

I think Aliy has taken to her motherhood role quite well...

Could she be any cuter?

The Disagreement.

Aliy and I are disagreeing on the proper way to keep the whelping box neat and tidy. *I* want Aliy to leave the towels I put down where I put them. *Aliy* wants to rearrange them and remove them.

The problem with that? The pups are turning grey from crawling over the newspapers which are under the twoels. They are also getting lost in the crumpled up towels. One almost got squished today when she disappeared under a towel and then Aliy almost sat on her!

The potential solution? I purchased some alternate bedding materials... a Velux blanket and a large piece of Polar Fleece. Both are big enough that I can put them completely under the edges of the box. Hopefully Aliy will leave them in place.

Other than this minor issue, Aliy is being a wonderful mom...

24 Hours Later

Like Mother , Like Daughter



Then: Yellow Girl (Aliy) lies across Mama Kachina's leg - March 2000.

Now: Yellow Girl lies across Mama Aliy's leg - June 2004.

Daily Routine.

Click the pic to see a bigger version. The pups did today pretty much what they will do for the next several weeks. Slept. Ate. Slept. Ate. Slept. Ate. You get the picture. They are actually very active little girls, crawling all over to the far corners of the whelping box to take their naps. Then when they wake up and can't find Aliy, they crawl around and cry until they either bump into Aliy or until someone (me) puts them back near her. Right now they can't hear and can't see, their only senses are smell and touch and it amazes me how good they really are at locating Aliy in the box.


Head Shot

Introducing......

The Girls

Yellow Girl     Black Girl





Purple Girl     Red Girl

See what A Bad Girl Purple is already - refusing to pose for her Birthday photo.

The first thing both my husband and I noticed about these pups was that they have ears! I am used to puppies that look like this the first week of their lives, with their ears plastered to their heads like little seals. Not these girls!

Details, details....
Aliy went into Labor about 5 am. About 6 am her first water sac broke and shortly after that I saw a little mouth and nose. But that was all. For about 10 minutes (seemed like hours!) that's ALL I saw. There was nothing I could do, nothing I could pull on, I just had to wait until Aliy felt like pushing some more. Kris kept me calm via the phone and suddenly we had a puppy. A girl. Yeah! Color Yellow in honor of her Mom Aliy, first born girl in Kachina's litter.

An hour later out popped another girl, this one came as as easy as could be. Color Black in honor of her Aunt Raven, second born girl in Kachina's litter.

Another hour, another girl, Purple, two hours later the last girl "color coded" Red.

So far they are delightful puppies. Quiet, good nursers, sound sleepers.. and... they already make me laugh with some of the things they have done. Black is very strong and has already climbed out of the ready box several times!

We took a quick trip to the vet earlier today, he pronounced them strong and healthy girls with clear lungs and strong heartbeats. I leave you with a picture of mama Aliy and her newborn babies...

Weighing in at 15.9 ozs...

RED GIRL!!!

4 girls. Wow! I am thrilled. Anyone who knows me knows I'd be happier with 4 girls than with 8 boys! Good job Aliy and good job Tiger (who determined the sex).

Pictures to come later....

And Purple Girl Makes 3.

Another girl (yeah!!) weighing in at 1 lb 0.6 oz! Both Purple and Black have grey pigment on their noses.

Another Girl!

Black Girl was born about 7:00.... 1 lb .02 oz

Yellow girl is 1 lb exactly.

It's a Girl!

Puppy Number One (Yellow Girl) arrived about 20 minutes ago!

How BORING Can We Be?

I think this email from my friend Mary pretty much sums up my day with Aliy so far...

Yawn. If the web cam was anymore BORING - Anne sleeping. Anne knitting. Anne eating. Aliy sleeping. Aliy knitting. Aliy eating. Is Kris there with you?

The answer to the last part, yes Kris was with me. For hours and hours we sat and stared at Aliy. About 4:00 we took her for a walk. While out we met my new (moved in yesterday-still no furniture) neighbors. Turns out they have and show poodles and are very well versed in the whelping of litters. So Kris was able to go home with a clean conscience knowing if I absolutely need help I have it right across the street.

It Was the Ice Cream

7am temp: 97.5

Yes, we have a temperature drop.

Last night I gave Aliy some ice cream around 8:30. (No, she's not spoiled or anything.) Checked her temp a half hour later, it was at 99.3. Two hour later it was at 99.2. Those were the lowest temps ever at night. And other than back on the 13th, the only time her temp has gotten lower as the day has gone on. At 5 am it was 98 and at 7 am 97.5. This is what I have been waiting for.

She was restless last night from about 10 until midnight... I treed having her stay in the whelping box but she just wanted to lay on the cool tile floor.

This morning it is obvious she has one thing on her mind, although I'm not sure she understands why.... Must. Get. To. Hole. Must. Get. To. Hole. Needless to say, she is not allowed out in the yard at this point without a leash on!

As I type this I am sitting with her in the whelping box. She has climbed onto my lap (which is making the typing tough) and she appears to just want some reassurance that all is well. Kris is on her way, hopefully puppies in a short time, although it vould be hours from now.

Nothing Exciting...

..... going on here.

7pm temp: 99.7

Aliy is trying to go out to The Hole everytime I let her out in the yard. At this point I'm not sure that is a good idea so I'm monitoring her outside time. Here she is backing out of it after I caught her there this afternoon:



Looks pretty much like the other hole picture doesn't it?


Actually we may possibly be seeing some progress on the way to puppies. (I've said THAT before and been wrong, haven't I?) Although there is no temperature drop, Aliy is obsessing about the hole. A good place to have puppies. I can tell that is what she is thinking. And she left about a spoonful of her dinner in the bowl tonight. We'll see how the night goes.

Right now my money is on Ginger, Imp and Rory in the "Guess When the Puppies Will Arrive" pool! But for that guess to be right we need to see some real progress SOON.

Where's the Aliy-Cam??

7am temp: 99.3 sigh....

I had to take the Aliy-Cam down for a while this morning.... I was trying to do some internet research (guess what subject??) and my outbound connection was so sloooooooow because I think all of my allotted connection speed was being used up by people trying to view the Aliy-Cam. Once I unplugged it, things sure speeded up from my end anyway!

The way my ISP guys explained it to me is that they don't limit my bandwidth per month (a good thing), but they do put a cap on how fast I can upload or download stuff. I think the cap is 512k which is pretty fast. If I understand that right, it means if I'm the only one accessing my connection I get the whole 512k. But if I'm trying to do something and someone else is coming in to view the Aliy-Cam, then we each only get 250k. If there are 10 people we'd each get 50k etc. Anyway that was my reasoning for taking it down temporarily.

In any case I'll have it back up later this morning.

In Aliy news there is **nothing** to report. At this point I think we can proclaim her the Most Boring Dog in the World.

Then Again I Could Be Wrong....

1pm temp: 100.1!

False alarm? Aliy wants to see me go crazy? Who knows? But her temp is back up again and she seems quite happy to just sleep away the day.

A couple people wrote and asked me about her temperature trend....I do not always post temps in messages, but I DO always put them in the temperature chart that is over there on the right sidebar >>>>>>> over there >>>>> that away >>>>>

I Think Today is the Day.

Or maybe the early hours of towmorrow.

Something is very different about Aliy today. Her eyes have a glazed look to them and she's just seems **different**. Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part. As I said yesterday, I'm ready.

I just finished putting the bedding in the box a little while ago. The whelping box is in the only part of the main floor of my house that is not over the basement. That means the floor is colder there than anywhere else. Usually this would not be an issue in June but we are having a cold snap right now....I don't think it was much above 55 here yesterday. And the ceramic tile floor in that room was very chilly to my bare feet this morning.

So to counteract the cold floor we have used layers. Ocver the tile we have first a piece of vinyl flooring. Then two blankets. Then a layer of newspapers followed by a layer of towels. We will go thru a LOT of newspapers in the next few weeks and wash a LOT of towels.

My friend Mary (the owner and breeder of Aliy's dad Yukie) says we will have puppies by 5 pm. I wouldn't mind if she could hold off until just a little later so that my friend Kris (owner of Aliy's "boyfriend" Tiger) could be here. Kris has been doing this a lot longer than I have, and has done it more often and a lot more recently!

I will take her temp again in another hour or so... will post it here when I do!

Anyone want to place their bets on when the pups will arrive? Leave a comment and tell me what you think!

Birthday Babies??

7am temp: 99.1 (hmmmmm again)

Today is my husband's birthday. He has said from the day we did the first breeding that Aliy's pups would be born on his birthday.

Why is he so convinced?

He says it's because "everyone is born on his birthday." And, in his family, he is right. He has a younger brother, a niece and a cousin or two all born on June 18. So it would be fitting for Aliy to have her pups today, wouldn't it?

But will she?

So far no BIG temperature drop. Yes, this morning it's the lowest it's been, and I did check it twice (poor Aliy!) to make sure it was not wrong. Occasionaly I guess there is a dog who does not experience the Big Drop we've been looking for. In fact, I heard from a friend who owns Aliy's half sister...she just had pups a couple months ago and there was no huge termperature drop beforehand, just a few degrees drop a few hours before the first pup came.

Something jsut seems "different" about Aliy this morning. I'd been waiting for the Big Drop before putting bedding down in the box, but I think if you check the Aliy-Cam in a few hours you may see bedding in the box. Just to be on the safe side.

I'm ready....

.... even though Aliy doesn't yet seem to be!

7am temp: 99.6
1pm temp: 99.3 (hmmmm......)

Whelping equipment is gathered and ready...



1) Ready Box - When a puppy is is born, once it is clean and breathing well, it will have a chance to nurse. But when another puppy begins to make it's arrival, the ones already "on the ground" will be placed in the ready box so that they are out of the way, safe and warm until Aliy is ready to focus on them again.

2) Heat Disk - warmed in the microwave, wrapped in a towel, this will keep the pups warm in the ready box.

3) Whelping Books - so I know what I'm doing!! The best of the best is The Whelping and Rearing of Puppies by Muriel Lee.

4) Scale - so we know how big the puppies are!

5) Colored Ribbons - so I can tell the pupies apart. Each one will get a different color and will be known for the first 9 weeks of their lives by that color. Aliy was Yellow Girl in her litter.

6) Thermometer - for taking temps if needed.

7) Scissor - for cutting ribbons.

8) Hemostat - in case an umbilical cord needs to be broken.

9) Towels - Whelping puppies is a messy business...

10) Alcohol - for sterilizing hemostats and thermometers

11) Room Thermometer- so we keep the whelping area warm enough. Should be at least 80 degrees.

12) Tube - for feeding if necessary. We hope it's not used.

13) Formula - again, hopefully not needed.

14) Syringe - For measuring formula if needed.

15) Light blubs in reflector shades - for warmth. 40 watt and 25 watt.

Now we wait......

GumDrops

7am temp: 99.4
1pm temp: 100.0

What do these....



....have to do with Aliy?

I discovered Aliy LOVES gum drops. On the other hand she hates to have her temperature taken and runs into her crate everytime I get the thermometer out. So we now have a special routine where I ask her if she wants a gumdrop. She comes out of her crate sniffs the gumdrop so she knows I really have it to give her. Then we do the temperature and she then gets her gumdrops. She's happy, I'm happy.

Day 57

7am temp: 100.0
1 pm temp: 100.4
7 pm temp: 100.4

The eve of her earliest due date and Aliy is wondering what is going on....



She spent the day quietly, resting mostly, with a few hunting forays into the back yard.

Aliy's Whelping Box

7pm temp: 100.0

Aliy's whelping box is where Aliy's puppies will be born and where they will spend the first few weeks of their life. Some people use kiddie wading pools as whelping boxes, some people build boxes and some people purchase them. I built the box Aliy will be using four years ago when Kachina had her litter.



It is made out of one 4 x 8 sheet of high grade plywood. The wood was cut into two 5 foot x 18 inch pieces, one 4 foot x 18 inch piece, one 4 foot x 10 inch piece and one 4 foot x 8 inch piece. In order to make it easy to wipe down, I covered the wood on all sides and edges with vinyl contact paper. I thought this would be a difficult process, but it was quite easy. In addition to being easy to clean, it looks nice!

The box is put together with metal angles and screws. There are three on each back corner and two on each front corner.



The front side of the box is hinged. This allows Aliy to easily get in and out while the puppies are small. When they get bigger, and start trying to climb out of the low side, it can be raised and latched in the upright position. Here's a picture of the hinges:



and the latch:



The box has no floor to it. Floors get dirty easily and are hard to clean. Instead of an attached floor the box is laid on a piece of vinyl flooring I picked up at Home Depot. Bedding is then placed over. the bedding ususally consists of a blanket, covered by newspapers which are then covered by towels. The towels are easy to wash and give the puppies good traction for crawling around.

Most whelping boxes have "pig rails" running around the inside edge. The purpose of the pig rail is to prevent the mom-dog from squishing a puppy up against the edge of the box. My pig rails are made out of easy to cut 2 inch PVC piping and pipe fittings. Using the PVC piping has 3 advantages to the usual attached-to-the-box pig rail. First it is easy to clean. Second it can be removed when it's no longer needed. Many pups quickly learn to use it as a ladder to climb out of the box. Aliy's great grandmother Glacie climbed out of her whelping box before her eyes were even open! The third advantage is that the pig rail helps keep the bedding in place. here's what the corner looks like:



Now you know more about whelping boxes than you ever though you could!

An X-Ray, a Bath and an Adjustment

7pm temp: 100.1

Aliy had a busy day. First we went off to the vet where she was xrayed. There were very clearly FOUR PUPPIES on the x-ray!

Then we went to the dog wash where ALiy got a pre-whelping bath so she will be clean when her puppies make their appearance into the world. There is a reason few recent pictures have been posted of Aliy here onher blog....she's been spending a lot of time excavating her hole and she's a been a bit less than clean. All that's changed now as she is looking beautiful again.

Then we went off to the chiropracter where both Aliy and I got adjusted. The doctor had said it would be a good thing to do the week or so before the pups were to arrive.

Aliy will start spending her nights in the whelping box tonight to get her used to the area.. so you might catch a picture of her in there if you check the Aliy-Cam early tomorrow morning, before 5:30 am MT!

Due Dates

7 am temp: 99.4 - looks like ALiy is one of those who has a naturally low temp. GOOD TO KNOW!

So what's the deal with calculating a due date for the puppies?? Aliy's due dates are June 14 - June 24. Here's how I came up with that.

In her book Canine Reproduction author Phyllis Holst says that the gestation period for a dog is 60 days from when fertilization occurs. 85% of all girls whelp their litter within one date of that target of 60 days. The problem with just using 60 days is that fertilization does not occur at the time of breeding, in fact it can occur as long as a week later!

Most whelping calendars use a target date of 63 days. Aliy was bred several times between April 17 and April 22, giving a target time period of June 19 - June 24. The trouble with that is that I have never had a girl go 63 days.

In her exellent book The Whelping and Rearing of Puppies, Muriel Lee suggests calculating the due date based on 58 days from the first breeding to 63 days from the last breeding. Using that "formula" I end up with with the due date range of June 14 - June 24.

Although I've had several long time breeders tell me June 14 is way too early, I just went back and checked the dates for Kachina's litter... she was bred January 17 and Jnuary 19. Aliy and her siblings were borm March 16, 2000, 58 days after the first breeding! If Aliy is like her mom, I need to have everything in place by June 14.

The Aliy-Cam is up!

I've added a link in the sidebar at right to the "Aliy-Cam". Pretty boring stuff for now. Just her whelping box.

7 PM temp: 100.4

Aliy's Temperature

7 AM: 99.8

So whats the deal with taking her temperture? That is how I will have an idea of when the pups are due to arrive. A normal temperature for a dog is around 101-102 degrees. But every dog is different and so I need to establish what is "normal" for Aliy. I'll do that over the next few days by taking her temperature several times during the day.

At somepoint in the next few weeks there will be a dramatic temperature drop. It may go as low as 96 degrees. Most dogs experience this temperature drop and it usually means pups are due within 24 hours. In some cases it may mean just a few hours! When Kachina's temperature dropped I had puppies in less than 10 hours.

Aside from using the temperature drop as an indicator that pups are due soon, it's important to monitor so that you know if there is a potential problem. If the temperature drops and stays down for a long period of time and there are no signs of labor, it may be an indication that there is a problem and that a Cesarian Section may be needed, or at the very least, a trip to the vet for check up.

I'll be positng Aliy's temperature on the sidebar over to the right regularly.

I JUST FELT A PUPPY KICKING!!!!!!

Very exciting. I find this to be one of the most amazing parts of the whole birth process. Aliy and I have been spending some quality time each night where she lies quietly and I try to feel a puppy move. Last night I tried for 15 minutes. Nothing. Tonight, within a minute of her lying down I felt it. Several times. I know I'll be spending waaaaayyyyy too much time over the next week just feeling puppies move around in her belly. :) :) :)

Aliy's Shopping Trip

Okay, Aliy did not really go shopping, I went shopping for her. And what did she get?

1) A new 10 second digital thermometer
2) A new jar of Petroleum Jelly (see #1).
3) A flannel sheet to be used on the floor of the whelping box.
4) A can of Esbilac Puppy Formula that we hope we never have to use.
5) A syringe to tube feed which we hope we don't have to do.
6) A WEB CAM!!!!! so we will have live puppy footage!!!

Still have to get the actual tube to put on the syringe in case tube feeding is neccesary. I am hoping the vet where I am getting her x-rayed willhave one he can give or sell to me.

Tomorrow I start taking Aliy's temperature twice daily. I'll explain about the whys of temperature taking in detail tomorrow.

And on Friday we set up the nursery (whelping box) and get Aliy x-rayed.

The countdown begins soon....

Milk!!

Aliy's milk is in!

I've been trying to feel puppies moving around for the last several days but so far haven't found anything. I sure wish I had a made a note on Kachina's puppy site when I first felt her pups moving around, but I didn't.

Bigger and Bigger

Aliy is starting to rapidly expand. I am beginning to think there MUST be more than just two or three pups inside her. But then again when Boom'r was pregnant, she got so big we were sure she had 10 and there were only 6. We'll know more on Friday when I have her x-rayed.

This and That....

Nothing major to report.... just a few details about what's going on with Aliy....

I switched her over from regular dog food to puppy food this week. She's now eating Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lover's Soul. She'll stay on that thru the rest of her pregnancy and thru the weaning of the pups. The pups will start on it when they are somewhere around 3 weeks old as well. I also increased the amount of food she's getting. Some people don't believe in increasing the amount of food the mom eats until after the pups are born, but Aliy is always so lean that I will feel better if she puts on a little extra weight now. There is no chance of her getting fat, trust me on that!

I have another dog show this weekend, right here in out hometown of Colorado Springs so no driving this weekend. Yeah!! This is the 4th weekend in a row of dog shows... we will be ready for a break. Plus we need to start getting all the little details taken care of before the pups come.

I will set up the whelping box and nursery area next week. I need to find some blanekts for the floor, need to make a run to GoodWill I guess. I also need to figure out what I'm going to do about newspapers... we no longer get the daily paper so I have no "stash" of papers to fill the whelping box with. I may need to go buy a few dozen the next couple Sundays!

Also need to buy a new thermometer this next week. Aliy's earliest due date is the 14th... I plan to start taking her temperature on the 10th so I have good "normal" baseline well before she has the pups. I've put a chart on the sidebar to the right so you can all follow along with us as we wait for the puppies to arrive.

I also need to get some ribbon or some markers to mark the pups when they are born so I can keep track of who is who.

Let's see what else... oh yeah need to schedule an appointment to get her x-rays... probably around the 10th or so.

That's it for now!

The Hole

There is a hole in my backyard. Okay there are actually many many holes in my backyard, but there is one of particular interest right now. Here is a picture of the hole from a few feet away:



Just an ordinary hole right? Look more closely...



There is a dog in that hole! Don't believe me? Okay, let's call her.... "Pumpkin, oh Pumpkin, come out come out where ever you are....."



I have noticed Aliy taking great interest in The Hole lately... I am sure she thinks it looks like the perfect place to have her puppies.

When Kachina was pregnant, there was similar hole. Around the last week of her pregnancy I used to watch Kachina and Pumpkin discussing the hole, then Pumpkin would go down into and dig, dig, dig. She'd come out and a very pregnant Kachina would go down, check out the hole and come back up an touch noses with Pumpkin. Pumpkin would then go down and dig, dig, dig some more. This process would repeat again and again. I was convinced that somehow they were communicating... that Kachina was giving Pumpkin directions on how to dig out the hole to her specifications... the perfect whelping den.

So far Aliy is receiving no assistance, but then again maybe this hole is already big to accommodate her needs?