Gluttony and Visitors

Perhaps this should have been the piglet litter? Two of the biggest, fastest-gaining pups have had a bit of diarrhea the last two days. The rest of the pups were fine and these two (Mako and Tiger) both acted fine and seemed to be nursing every single time I went to check on the gang. Stoker has been happy as can be to drink lots of "lactating bitch formula" and eat as many meals as I can give her. Each time she eats, she heads straight back to the babies to let them have a nice long drink.

Thinking that perhaps gluttony was the culprit to the baby's upset tummies, I've stopped giving Stoker her formula and haven't given her as many snacks during the day today. Stoker has cut down how frequently she is feeding them to a more reasonable 3-4 hour interval and viola!, no more loose stools from the babies. That's a relief.

Ginny and Dick Lane came to visit today. Ginny and Dick are looking forward to sharing their lives with one of the boy puppies. They live south of Florence and have a long drive to get here, but were in the area taking friends to the airport and asked if they could come by. I cautioned them that the babies still aren't terribly entertaining, but they enjoyed getting to cuddle with them and experience the magical smell of puppy breath. The pups are getting livelier by the minute and should be awfully cute and fun by next weekend.

Supernatural Beings?

When I've seen litters of pups in perfect rows, lined up with their heads all facing the same directions, I always assumed the breeders did that to get a cool photo. None of our litters of pups have done that, until now.....

You will notice that they are lined up in similar color order too with the Parti pup, followed by the two blacks, followed by the two irish-marked..... Angel, Reef, Mako, Hammerhead, Blue, Tiger.

All the pups eyes are open and at least one of the babies passed the 3 lb mark this morning.

Head shots from our morning photo shoot are blurry, so we'll try again when I get home from work this PM and post them to the website.

New Developments

In the last two or three days the babies are starting to walk. They don't walk WELL, mind you, but it definately isn't crawling any more either. They hoist themselves up on their front legs and do this robotic little duck walk as they move about the box now.

As we suspected, Mako was the first pup whose eyes opened. Well, I should say "eye" actually since the right one is a bit open while the left eye is just a slit still. I'm not sure if it is because he is starting to be able to see a bit, but twice in the past two days he has gone to the veeerrrrryyyy edge of the whelping box to poo before rejoining the rest of the pack to nurse. Good boy!

96 Tiny Toenails

...that is how many our friend Jessie clipped when she came for dinner last night. Poor Stoker's tummy was getting red and chapped from nursing puppies kneading on her with their sharp little toenails. Jessie did the honors on many of the toenail trims when Stoker and her siblings were babies, so I invited her over for the dinner of her choice if she would oblige with canine pedicures.

In between home-made Macaroni and Cheese and Apple Pie, Jess trimmed toenails on all six puppies, Stoker, Decker and Tabasco (our African Grey Parrot). I'm pleased to announce that all the canines were reasonably cooperative, with Tabasco being the only one that growled and tried to bite for her nail trim and wing clipping.

Except for Angel, the pups are all sporting colored rick-rack to help identify them.
Angel (parti-colored girl) no rick-rack
Mako - yellow
Hammerhead - lime green
Blue - light blue
Tiger - hot pink
Reef - rainbow

The pups color and markings will change a lot over the next 6 weeks and beyond. Blue and Tiger already have signs that much of their white will be ticking in. Blue's markings remind me a bit of how Stoker looked as a pup. Check out the progression from lots of white to lots of ticking when Stoker was a pup:

Stages of Development

The hungry little sharks have now all doubled their birth weight. It's amazing to see the change in vigor and activity in a one week period. When newborn, they crawl slowly and with less intent and Stoker licked and stimulated them frequently to rouse them to nurse. No need to do that any more! Any movement in thewhelping box has them hunting for dinner and they crawl rapidly and with purpose to track Stoker down.

The puppies are in the "neonatal period" right now and this period lasts for about the first two weeks of life. During this period the puppies and the mother are best kept in a low stress, controlled environment with specific exposure to defined stressors.

Keep an eye out on the website tomorrow for updated head shots of the babies. In the meantime, I've posted current photos of each pup here as well.

Gaining Weight, Stoker's Drinking Problem and Scheduling Appointments

All of the pups have passed the one pound mark as of yesterday (12/18). We'll continue to weigh them daily for another week, then weekly after that.

Yesterday, I worked all day while Jan minded the house and dogs (he was waiting for the cable guy too). None of our dogs drink all that much water on a routine basis. Since they are fed a raw diet, they get lots more liquid in their diet than kibble fed dogs, so it's not usually a concern. Stoker hasn't upped her water intake since she has had the pups, and that is a minor problem. I've been plying her with a lactating bitch supplement and chicken broth to get her to drink enough. If she doesn't drink enough fluids, she can't make enough milk for the pups.

At one point after I got home from work the pups were nursing and ran out of milk before they ran out of appetite. Guessing that she might be a little dehydrated, I pushed some of the "yummy" fluids that she likes and within a short period of time she had plenty of milk again. I'll have to hit the grocery store today to stock back up on evaporated milk and low sodium chicken broth as we're going through it like crazy.

Before they go to their forever homes, the pups will have lots of appointments for vaccinations, eye exams, temperament tests, etc. Although it is too far in advance to schedule many of these appointments, I have already e-mailed nationally acclaimed puppy evaluator and AKC judge Pat Hastings to set up an appointment for the pup's structural evaluation when they are older. We're fortunate that Pat lives in Aloha, Oregon and is very accessible to us. Pat likes to do the evaluations as close to their 8 week birthday as possible, and since her schedule is quite busy it pays to schedule with her well in advance.

No More Declaws

Stoker and the babies had an eventful morning, as we had an appointment at the vet to have dewclaws removed.

We remove dewclaws on our pups because I have seen too many dogs over the years (especially in coated breeds) where the dewclaw is forgotten, never trimmed, and grows back into the carpal pad, causing an abrasion there. Dewclaws also seem more prone to get caught on things, and can become torn and injured. At this age, the bones that make up the toes are tiny and soft so that snipping them off is easy. If done at the proper age (3-4 days) there should be very little, if any, pain and bleeding. (most pups just give a little squeak).

I think the drive to the vet and back was more traumatic than the actual procedure itself. These guys are going to need a bigger box for their next outing for sure, and I had actually bundled them up so well (wrapping the box with towels and putting a microwaveable heat disk in with them) that they were complaining on the way home because they were too HOT.

Little Piggies

Four of the babies are now over 1 pound in weight and all gained weight except for Mako (one of the biggest gainers the first two days), who stayed the same. We'll keep an eye on him today to make sure he elbows up to the milk bar for regular meals.

Reef, who was a bit of a slow starter, gained over 1-1/2 ounces yesterday. He's always been one of the heavier pups, but I think his longer time in the birth process had him a little tired for the first couple of days.

From now to day 16 we will be usinging some neurological stimulation techniques with the puppies, following the guidelines of the BioSensor program. The program involves handling of each pup once per day using the following exercises (each exercise lasts from 3-5 seconds):
1. Tactical stimulation (between toes) - tickle with Q-tip
2. Head held erect
3. Head pointed down
4. Supine position
5. Thermal stimulation. - place on cool damp towel

Five benefits have been observed in canines that were exposed to the Bio Sensor stimulation exercises. The benefits noted were:

1. Improved cardio vascular performance (heart rate)
2. Stronger heart beats
3. Stronger adrenal glands
4. More tolerance to stress and
5. Greater resistance to disease.

I used these techniques with Stoker and her littermates and feel like the pups that I have interacted with from this litter handle stress very well. Since Addisons disease (an inherited disease that causes the adrenal glands to deteriorate) is a concern in PWDs, it seems that strengthening adrenal glands by using these exercises with the pups might be of benefit.

The Morning Routine

The washing machine is running in the background as I type, and it will get lots of wear and tear over the next couple of months. The morning routine is mostly cleaning and making sure everyone is okay. Everyone has their own idea on how to set up a whelping box etc, but this worked well for us with Chili's litter several years ago. Here's the "photo pictorial":

The Weigh In.

The whelping box gets emptied out 'til all you see is the bedroom carpet and the heating pad. We keep this under the center of the box on medium heat. The pups will seek heat and move toward the pad and Stoker can lay around the outside of the box where it is cooler.

Next, we put in a freshly washed rug. The cord for the heating pad runs under the rubber backed rug and the control is outside the box

The "pig rail", which prevents the Momma dog from squishing a puppy between her body and the side of the box by accident, goes back in next.

Finally, the thermometer to make sure things are nice and toasty for the pups, but not TOO hot for Ms. Stokey.

Stoker waiting not-so-patiently for us to restore order! You can see the end of the futon to the left and some stored artwork (this is the back bedroom which doubles as a storage room, after all) to the right.

Renovation is complete and order is restored.

Grandma Chili checks to make sure we haven't left any puppies behind and that we've completed the procedure correctly.

Reef Again

Finally, a photo of Reef.

Settling In

In this photo from Yesterday afternoon, you can see that Stoker is starting to relax into her maternal duties. She didn't want to lay flat on her side for the first 36 hours, so the pups were only able to get easy access to a few nipples at a time. Now she is laying on her side and using the box railing as a head rest.

After Jan left for work yesterday, all was fine until poor Stoker started having diarrhea. The first bout didn't look too bad, but the second time I let her out I decided a visit to the vet to have her checked was in order. She had been trembling a bit and panting - just really agaitated. Her tummy also sounded like a volcano about to erupt and it was making her anxious with the pups too. A quick trip to the vet found a healthy mom who had probably just ingested too much rich stuff over the last day. They gave her some sub-Q fluids to make sure she did not get dehydrated and sent her home with instructions to feed her small amounts of a bland diet. She's been getting chicken breast and boiled potato in increasing quantities since then and it seems to suit her just fine.

Jan slept in the whelping room last night and after a brief trip into work in the evening with a splitting headache, I came home, ate dinner and slept for 11 hours straight. I'm feeling MUCH better this morning.

After Jan has had his coffee and we have time to wake up a bit, we'll start the morning routine of putting a fresh rug in the whelping box, weighing the pups and just generally freshening things up. Maybe I'll take some photos of the routine and post them later, along with a photo of Reef.

Even More Sleep Deprived

I'm always anxious during the babies first week, especially with a new Momma. I left for a few hours yesterday evening to teach some classes, then came home to relax a bit before beginning a nightlong vigil with Stoker and the pups. Why is it that mother dogs and their babies are always so much more active and chatty during the night? Once again I didn't get much sleep as the pups seemed to be nursing in shifts and then taking turns fussing until Stoker cleaned them.

We weighed the gang this AM before Jan left for work and the good news is that all the pups gained weight in the last 24 hours. Weight gains ranged from half an ounce to 2.8 ounces. I'll try to make sure that the pup that gained the least gets lots of encouragement to nurse today.

Steady weight gain is a sign that the pups are healthy and that none of them are chilled or having difficulty nursing.

More later.

Peaceful Brood

Stoker looks tired but serene with her new batch of babies. We'll give them all time to rest a bit, then freshen up the whelping box with a clean new rug for Mom and babies to lay on.

Reef

6th Puppy
Black
Curly
Male
13.25 ounces
Born 10:54 AM

With the puppies coming at pretty regular intervals of around 25 minutes, this little guy had us worried since he took almost 2-1/2 hours. Fortunately my friend Lisa just had a litter of pups recently and had some Calphosan and Oxytocin and was able to escape from Pup-A-Razzi to fly home to her house and then deliver the supplies to me. Thanks Heather for holding down the fort at Pup while Lisa was on her mission. One shot of Calphosan was enough to get the contractions started again and bring the last baby into the world.

He's got a good set of lungs on him, but Jan had to work to encourage him to nurse. No obvious signs of a defect, so we'll keep our fingers crossed that he is just a little tired from his late arrival.

I'll take his photo later.

The "Ready" Box

A towel lined box with a heating pad keeps the first four snug and safe while Stoker is tending to "Tiger". Five born and one to go. Keep it up Stokie!

Tiger

5th Puppy
Female
Curly
Born 8:32
13.25 ounces

This puppy is all black on the top, but it looks like her bottom half was dipped in white paint.

Blue

4th Puppy
Female
Curly
Born 8:07
12.75 ounces

Hammerhead

3rd Puppy
Male
wavy
9.5 ounces
born 7:46 AM

Mako

2nd Puppy
Male
Curly
12.5 ounces
born at 7:24

Angel

1st Puppy
Curly
Female
11.75 ounces
Born at 6:37

We have Puppies! - the 1st three

Stoker did lots of digging while was at work last night, but settled down for a nap on the couch while Jan and I watched TV until 11:00 PM. We both went to bed after that, Jan in the bedroom and myself and Stoker in the room where the whelping box is. Luckily Jan seemed to get some good sleep because Stoker and I got NONE! Stokie paced and dug nests and went in and out the dog door ('til I blocked it off for fear she would have a puppy in the outdoor run) and got up and down off the futon and.... Well, you get the picture.

She got increasingly agitated until I finally woke Jan up at around 5:00 AM and told him I thought that surely the first puppy was not too far off. As all my close friends will tell you, Jan is a WAY better/calmer puppy midwife than I am. I clear out and write down pertinent information and provide supplies and he assists the Momma dog. Jan sent me off to catch a little sleep until the first arrival and woke me just in time for our first puppy at 6:37 this AM!

Allowing for errors in sex and coat type due to lots of frantic activity and a slightly stressy mom (settling down nicely after puppy #3):

The first pup was a female, 11.75 ounces and with parti-color (lots of white) markings. It looks like there is dark skin under the hair, so I bet she will tick in like her mom. She looks to be curly. Her litter name is "Angel".

Second pup is a male, 12.5 ounces, born at 7:24 and mostly black. He looks curly too. His litter name is "Mako".

Third puppy is also a male, 9.5 ounces and lightly Irish marked (collar, stomach, muzzle/blaze). He looks wavy. His litter name is "Hammerhead". Hmm, perhaps because his marking reminded us of Decker....

As you can see, the litter names will all be different shark varieties. Stay tuned for more updates. Chili has been helping and very nosy (and Stoker doesn't seem to mind), while Decker is staying clear of the chaos out in the living room.

Still Waiting...

Stoker went in for an x-ray on Monday so we could get a more accurate count of how many pups to expect. The x-ray showed six pups, one more than we spotted on the ultrasound. It's always amazing to see the x-ray of a pregnant bitch. All those puppy skeletons seem to take up the entire insides of the Momma dog!

I took her for a walk after the vet appointment and then left her home for Jan to watch while I went to agility class with Chili and Decker.

On Tuesday, Decker and Chili were scheduled for chiropractor appointments. They get quite a bit of wear and tear on their bodies with all the activities they do and preventative maintenance sure beats having them get injured and needing to be patched back together again. When the chiropractor heard that Stoker was pregant she suggested a less intensive adjustment would be good for her too, as it should help her have the puppies easier. I was all for that, so Stoker got an adjustment as well.

This morning, Stoker was the last to clean her breakfast bowl and usually she is the first. I fed her lunch, and she wanted to be fussed over and hand-fed. I brought her home a little early this PM since she seems just a little stressy and was shivering a little bit now and again when I would check on her. Now that she is home, she is sleeping peacefully, of course! I'll take her temperature before I feel comfortable heading back down to teach classes this evening and leaving her in Jan's care.

The Taking of the Temperature

Oh the indignity of it all! Lucky Stoker gets to have her temperature taken every morning and evening between now and when the puppies come. Generally pregnant bitches during the last trimester will have a baseline temperature somewhat below what is normal. A significant rise in temperature, followed by a dramatic drop to under 98.4 F usually indicates that labor will begin within about 24 hours. Taking Stoker's temperature can help give us some advance warning of when the puppies may make their appearance.

Stoker has a Big Booty

We went for a fitness walk on Monday despite the torrential rain and wind. Stoker got dolled up in Decker's rainsuit and didn't mind the weather at all.

Stoker hadn't been to work with me for about five days, and I brought her in with me yesterday (Tuesday). Hopefully Stoker couldn't understand what was being said as I had comments ranging from "boy, her butt is getting really wide!" to "hey, she's starting to waddle"!

She got a haircut today. I trimmed her Jacket and legs to about 1-inch long and shaved her rear shorter. This short lion trim should be quite practical for her maternity leave. When I get her home tonight, I will have Jan hold her on her back for me so I can clip her belly short. I got some before and after photos from her haircut and I'll post them as soon as I have a chance to upload them.

Tummy Shots

Stoker is getting almost twice as much food as she usually does. We've been careful not to increase her food intake to the point that she is overweight, because she needs to be fit to whelp the puppies. Her ribs are still easily felt, so she is a good weight despite the high volume of food she is consuming!

The photo at the left shows Stoker reclining on the couch on Sunday 11/25/07, while the photo to the right was taken today. In the photos, I don't think she looks all that much bigger, but in "person" she looks like she has swallowed a volley-ball! Her looks are deceiving because the jacket of her lion trim falls right around her waistline, but when you put your hands on her, she has no waist at all.

I am hoping to run into Portland tomorrow to stock up on Chicken wings at the meat wholesaler. We buy them 30 pounds at a time throughout the year as one of the meat sources in the dog's diet. The wings were Chili's favorite protein source when she was nursing her litter so we want to make sure we have plenty on hand.

Keep an eye out for continued updates as things progress.

Lots to be thankful for...

Chili's birthday is the day after Thanksgiving (23rd) and we are very thankful to have her. She is an excellent snuggler but also has the pizazz to be fun to play with in obedience, water work and agility. Without Chili, there would be no Stoker and no puppies this fall, so we are thankful for her for that too.

With three weeks of pregnancy to go, Stoker is doing well and her appetite is still good. She doesn't have much of a waist anymore, but still looks comfortable and is quite active. It is during the last third of pregnancy that the pups do most of their growing, so I expect she will start increasing in girth pretty quickly.

Stoker will start getting a bit of extra food and foods with increased nutrient density in upcoming weeks. As the pups get larger and take up more space, she'll get smaller, but more frequent meals with concentrated foods like meat, eggs, liver, etc.

Nesting

Since Stoker's pregnancy was confirmed last Monday, Jan and I have been talking about what needs to be accomplished around the house in order to make the back room ready for puppies and the rest of the house ready for all the human guests that puppies bring.

Today, we began clearing out the back bedroom. This room seems to end up doubling as a storage room for us. We ended the day by loading the van with some items from the garage, back room and yard that needed disposal at the dump, and the "elephant" as we lovingly call our Honda Element, with items for Goodwill.

After we finished our dump run (Stoker went with us and mooched biscuits from the transfer station attendants), I spent some time at the computer ordering some puppy related items (new mats for the whelping box, a scale and a microwaveable heating disk).

The photos in the slideshow are of Kilo and Stoker. The last photo is of Stoker's ultrasound. Can you see the two pups on the ultrasound? The others were camera shy...