Dec 20, 2012 They made a week!!!!

Hi All,

You may be able to see how much they have grown if you compare Ocean feeding during those first days and today. 

Blue boy looking so happy all by himself.

Puppy weights today are:

Green boy  - 316 grams

Blue boy    - 301 grams

Pink girl     - 249 grams (big gain here - went back to a couple of bottle feedings

Yellow girl - 268 grams

Red girl      - 267 grams

Cheers!!!

Dec 19, 2012

Hi all,

Puppies are doing well: eating, sleeping and pooping as they should be. Not much to report. I spend time watching them of course but it could easily get boring for you as the reader, I'm sure.

Just a quick update with weights.

Green boy - 272 grams
Blue boy   - 257 grams
Pink girl    - 213 grams
Yellow girl- 238 grams
Red girl     - 245 grams

All continue to eat well. I even got an extra hour of undesterbed sleep last night [warned you it would get boring, ;-)]

Everyone ready for the holidays?????

Dec 18, 2012 Day 6

Today was the expected date of birth for these 5 little puppies. And I am sure 'they are happier out than in', as Shrek would say.

It was a big day today for the crew. They had their first car ride and we were off for a vet visit. Tales and  dew claws were removed without much fuss from the puppies. In my mind, they have gone from puppies to little dogs. Usually, tales and dew claws are removed at about day 3 but because these little ones were so early I choose to wait a few extra days.

Green boy is literally standing on his head for breakfast this morning!!

Truly fat and happy.

Puppy weights today, after tales docked, are:

Green boy  - 245 grams

Blue boy    - 234 grams

Pink girl     - 204 grams

Yellow girl- 229 grams

Red girl     - 203 grams (Seems to have lost some headway on her weight)

Tales docked

Now my question is, is blue boy a black and tan or is he a stag red?

Red girl's ribbon is always coming off.  If she's not careful there will be no 'bling' in her future

Ocean has decided that the kids need some alone time. OK, she probably feels like she needs some alone time and is burying herself in her bedding just outside the whelping area.

Kim, has dropped of the puppy agility course and expects that the crew will be frolicking through the obstacles by early next week (I hope he's kidding). 

They are motoring around, primarily, by dragging themselves with their front legs and shoulders. They are all over the whelping area. We will set up the obstacles in the house somewhere once they are a bit bigger and I'm sure we will get some great video footage to share with everyone. 

I have to say that Kim has done an amazing job of this obstacle course, and all out of scrap materials. The 'A' frame (top left) is made out of metal frames and has screen door material under the small page wire attached to the frame. The bridge (bottom left) is suspended on metal chains, again with a metal frame, and seems to float. The teeter totter (centre) is a 2x6  levered over a short stack of 2x4s. The ladder is just as you see it.  Wow. Thanks Kim!!!!

That's it for today. Chat tomorrow,

Dec 17, 2012 Day 5

Good afternoon,

I am happy to say that all the pups have survived the first 4 days. They are not out of the woods yet as their critical time extends to 14 days. So here's hoping we are on the right track ;-)

I did some metric conversions for weights as some of our audience is using ounces instead of grams....

Birth weights:

Green boy - 136 grams = 4.80 oz
Blue boy   - 140 grams = 4.94 oz
Pink girl    - 118 grams = 4.16 oz
Yellow girl- 139 grams = 4.90 oz
Red girl    - 131 grams = 4.62 oz

Today's weights:

Green boy - 229 grams = 8.08 oz

Blue boy   - 213 grams = 7.51 oz

Pink girl    - 176 grams = 6.21 oz

Yellow girl- 202 grams = 7.13 oz

Red girl    - 210 grams = 7.14 oz

The Pink Girl continues to be smaller than the others but is maintaining her weight gains. I have not been substitute feeding because Ocean's milk is in and they almost drown when she lets it down. I know that there is enough to eat.

look how fat i am ;-)

Officially moved onto the pirate's lair blanket of fame

Cheers for today,

Dec 15, 2012 Day 3 and the Milk is in!!!

This is the look of happy, strong puppies. Look at that stretch for maximum suction!!! Look at those tails sticking straight out! Day 3 and Ocean's milk has come in. Happy day for me. Now the real growing starts!!! 

both Pink and Yellow girl are almost carbon copies of each other. Pink is just a little smaller (for now)

Weights for today are:
Green boy - 195 grams
Blue boy - 191 grams
Pink girl - 154 grams (not as much gain as I would like to see)
Yellow girl - 168 gram (a little slide here)
Red girl - 176 grams

I took 90 minute naps through the night last night. So very tired. Can see that getting up more often will have an impact on the puppy weight gains. Yawn, ok, I'll do it. Back to 1 hour plug the puppies in through the night. Good thing Tony gets up early and can take over in the mornings while I do some catch up zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Cheers,

Dec. 14, 2012 Day 2

Hi Everyone,

Thought I might share the whelping box set up with you today. 

Raising small  breeds is more than a little different than the larger breeds. For instance, the whelping box. If I put Ocean in the shepherd whelping box she and her pups would be lost in all that space. Pups would, potentially, fall off the heated area and quickly become hypothermic. So this is what I came up with: A foldable play pen. It is easily moved; takes up less space; is see through so I have clear line of sight at all times; tucks under my kitchen counter and is easily acquired, used, on Craig's list or other internet sale sites. 

As you can see, it is large enough to hold the bottom of a small kennel which is used here as the bed and has room for an area outside of it for Ocean to emergency pottie, eat or simply just stretch. The heating pad is large enough that it takes up the entire bottom of the small crate and there are no cold areas for the puppies to 'fall' into. Top left corner in the play pen photo shows a light connected to the play pen frame. The concept of the light is to mimic sunlight and activate vitamin D which is collected in the oils of the dogs' coat and consumed when they groom their coats. The significance of vitamin D is, it is essential in strong healthy bone development when combined with Calcium. Ocean has been under 'the light', so to speak, for her entire pregnancy.

Proud mama with all of the kids nestled in close to her.

Green boy today = 178 grams

Blue boy today = 183 grams

Pink girl today = 149 grams

Yellow girl today = 170 grams

Red girl today = 164 grams

finally, figuring out that there is something worthwhile here to latch on to ;-)

 As you can see, everyone is gaining weight. We didn't even have the usual dip in weight gain within the first 24 hours. I'm happy with that for sure ;-)

Cheers,

Dec 13, 2012 the first 24 hours

Hello again, 

Tying to catch up on the blog and keep up with puppy needs is time challenging. So here are individual photos of the 'kids' within the first 24 hours. I have a couple of show folks interested in puppies so I am trying to 'show stretch' the kids to show off their top lines. These photos do not do them justice. They are so squirmy. How does anyone get a great photo like this? Thanks to Michele who stopped by to hold these little guys.

born 140 grams today 159 grams

born 136 grams today 153 grams

Pink born 118 grams today 134 grams

Yellow born 139 grams today 156 grams

born 131 grams today 147 grams

It is nice to see that everyone is gaining weight. All this on a bottle. They are shiny and healthy looking, that's for sure.

Colour wise, it looks like all are stag red with the exception of teal blue boy who may be black and rust.

I believe that there are two and possibly three puppies available if anyone is interested, please contact us on the CanCzechdogs web page.

cheers for now ;-)

December 12, 2012 or 12-12-12 puppies!!!

Hi All,

Today we get to switch up gears. Ocean, our Miniature Pincher, delivered our 54th official litter!!!! This does not include all the surrogate litters we have delivered for others.  This is our third 'B' litter. This is however, the first time I have had a litter deliver unexpectedly at 57 days gestation! Premie puppies can be a challenge at the best of time but to be born 118 - 130 grams is really tiny.

Ocean was a trooper and delivered all 5 pups naturally, albeit on the living room couch! She showed no signs of labour or distress and just popped them out. Fortunately, both Tony and I were home that afternoon when she called out and popped out the first one!! All hands on deck!! Blankets, towels, scale, dental floss, scissors, etc all not yet out for the delivery were quickly at hand. Within 4 hours we had all 5 puppies on the ground and breathing.

Ocean was so interested in cleaning the little ones it was difficult to get them to latch on the teat. So for the first 36 hours, I bottle fed and re-introduced them to the notion that they should nurse. Finally, one at a time, they developed their rooting drives and began to nurse. I still am watching them like a hawk because, if you know Min Pins, they like to nest under the blankets. This would put the new born pups at risk because she could inadvertently lie on one or they could become lost in the blankets and unable to nurse. So sleep for me is a thing of the past.

For those of you that know me, I plan. I had my days organized prior to the due date of Dec 18 to the minute. With Christmas just around the corner and puppies due it was important for me to get everything prepared prior to the puppies arrival. I just needed to get through those last few shifts of work and then vacation time to get these puppies started. Well, as you can imaging, being a week early did not bode well with my organization of the minutes prior to delivery. I had contingency plans for the puppies to arrive as early as Saturday but Wednesday!!! Not such luck!!!

Needless to say, Mothers always raise to the occasion and make what ever is thrown at them doable. With this litter there was no exception. I did get to work. Tony did pick up more nursery hours than he is comfortable with and the kids have made it to day 3.

Ocean showing off her belly Dec 11 and me not believing it can get any bigger!!!

Off the couch and into the whelping box with her new charges. And she is more than a little protective.

green boy      - 136 grams
dark teal boy - 140 grams
pink girl        - 118 grams
yellow girl     - 139 grams
red girl           - 131 grams

Sept 21, 2012 Tony has too much free time on his hands.....

I go off for a couple of days to visit friends in the interior of BC.... Tony is left at home to his own devices.... and no they didn't include housework ;-(

All kidding aside, this is kinda cute.  Vader will be going south in October so we need to film as much of him as we can.... Can you believe that he is only 14 weeks old. Even I am impressed...

August 28th, 2012 11 weeks old

Hi all,

Ari continues to be our household star. Primarily because she is the only puppy here now... and that's ok with me.

She is starting to do basic obedience with Tony. Always fun and always with reward. Sit, down, speak and the agility course. Using an agility course with a puppy is a tricky thing. There has to be enough stimulant of new ideas and not so much as to risk future bone or spine development.  So having said that, she only gets a few minutes a day on the agility course but she is doing fantastic. She was startled with the teeter-totter when it hit the ground and made a huge bang.  She has worked that out though. She slides, yes slides, down the baby slide and then runs herself through the tunnel and over the swing bridge. Sometimes she waits for Tony.

Her next big trick is learning to sleep outside in the kennel. Poor baby, leaving the crate beside the bed... She's been a trouper and has been quiet through the night. She is growing like a weed. Eats and then looks for more. She uses her front paws like hands. Grabs things and moves them around the kitchen. Wow, these guys are fun.

We were planning to update with a video but our young friend ended up in hospital again for another open heart surgery so I was busy supporting family and friends. I hear it will rain on Wednesday and Thursday this week soooo, we will have to wait until week 12 to get a video done. Ari may be too big to demonstrate her slide by then ;-(   Sorry all.


Hug your kids today like you might loose them tomorrow.... you never know how close that call is until it hits you!

August 2, 2012 since I'm messing with the calendar of events timeline....

just wanted to share a message from Miss Heather:


HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Guys :)
I wanted to take a moment ( now that I have some ) to send a BIG THANK-YOU to the both of you & Bobi & Rush for producing such a quality dog. Our boy Rip is assuming his rule around the home just as we had hoped. Although the first couple of nights were ruff for all involved we pulled through with flying colours & are moving on now with the rest of life. He is attracting much attention from anybody who lays eyes on him & I've even had an offer from a friend to trade their child for the puppy ( still trying to decide who is getting the better deal ;) lol ... He has already brought 2 different unknown people to tears over their last shepherd. If you were still breeding I'm sure Rip could have sold a litter for you with just a look into peoples eyes. Very Powerful dogs to invoke such emotions in people, it's probably why we knew we couldn't go without having one in our lives again. The timing couldn't have been better, so with that I want to say THANKS again & hopefully see you for some training & fun.


Oh yaaa alomost forgot Abraxas is a God higher than that of the Christian God & Devil & combines all entities into one being. Also The word is found in Gnostic texts such as the Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit, It was engraved on certain antique gemstones, called on that account Abraxas stones, which were used as amulets or charms. Opinions abound on Abraxas, who in recent centuries has been claimed to be both an Egyptian god and a demon.^[3] The Swiss Psychologist Carl Jung wrote a short Gnostic treatise in 1916 called The Seven Sermons to the Dead, which called Abraxas a God higher than the Christian God and Devil, that combines all opposites into one Being.

Our first night was okay he was quiet from 1130 to 130 & 141 till 515.

Leica on the other hand who was in a separate floor of the house & separate end went off like an alarm clock every hour on the hour :( 

enjoy ;-)

Aug 18, 2012 Video

Hi all,

I got a bit carried away with the excitement of August 19 and didn't post this in order. Sorry to those of you that tweak on this kind of stuff.

Ari went out to play with Vader at Kim and Sandy's place on Saturday morning.... leave Tony and Kim alone with a little time, a video camera and a couple of puppies and see what happens....

Have fun ;-D

August 19, 2012 10 weeks

Today we went out to a charity event that married two ideas - I was looking for a patient and family experience for my dialysis patients that would give them a day away from their realities and Danny, now of the Virtue Foundation, was looking at starting a foundation - together the annual event has been called the Renal Rodeo for the past 10 years. It is not a rodeo in the traditional sense... but rather a stunt rodeo that has volunteers from the stunt and movie industry... how cool is that???? Up until this year the only way to get an invite to this event was to know someone that was on hemodialysis in the Fraser Valley. This year we opened the doors to share with Big Brothers and Sisters and the Zajac Ranch.

I hope you enjoy some of the photos that came out clear enough to upload.

working high above the crowds this lady from 'Underground Circus' here in
Vancouver demonstrates a Cirque d solie type silks performance

we go to all lengths for exposure. Here Above the Law (Able) is meeting 18 month old Billy the grizzly bear.

Billy

Ari, too, gets introduced to Billy

Danny works grandson of the 'Black Stallion' from movie fame

wrestlers were on hand to delight the crowds and put smiles where they belong

Billy with Mark and Dawn from Beyond Bears have been a part of this event for 9 of the 10 years. This is Billy's first experience with a crowd of people like this. 

can you believe, 18 months and he's already taller than I am?  He is so soft. And look at those nails!!! 

If you look way in the back there are Ari and Able watching the motor cycle stunts and explosions below

I was talking and missed the fire cannon going off with this performance, the puppies just kept on playing

Danny's son, Clayton, is set on fire and walks around by the crowd. It is not possible to tell you how hot he is. The flames don't touch his hands because of flame retardant material, remember this is Hollywood dreams they are sharing

ok so there is an elephant prop from another movie and Able has to peek at the world from this vantage point

Ari is enjoying the memorabilia too. My camera misses so many awesome shots because there is such a delay on the flash ;-(

Tony and Ari with some sort of stage coach

the twisted sisters posing on the same stage coach

Tony and Ari on the more traditional western stage coach

and we have the new rides too!!! the girls are sitting off the road side here while these quads and motorcycles preform their stunts. I thought of running out of the way a couple of times but not them....

to end the afternoon's entertainment they have some huge, loud explosions.  here is a sequence....  watch for the horses running off in the distance
For anyone of the Neon Rider generation, this was where it was filmed.

on the veranda of the big house there are guests enjoying the hospitalities of Danny and Charlotte's famous post event BBQ

And the puppies just played through all this noise and ground shaking. Sometimes I swear they are deaf...

There was so much more to see and be a part of that I don't have photos for but the day was exhausting for the puppies. Ari actually tried to crawl up into the back of the car to get to her crate so she could nap. Tony and I got home and had a 3 hour nap.

A big THANK YOU to Danny and Charlotte Virtue and the Virtue Foundation, Eli - Danny's right hand man, Mark and Dawn of Beyond Bears, the many stunt volunteers that entertained us throughout the day, the volunteers that manned the BBQ and fed all of us, the Vancouver Ambulance Service that kept a just in case ambulance on hand for the day, the volunteers that organized the volunteers and handed out t-shirts to all and the patients, families and staff that came out to make sure this was the best show ever!!!