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