Scarlett's Puppies Eyes Open

We have taken the puppies outside to give them a taste of our wonderful weather this week.  They love playing in the grass, hanging out with mom (Scarlett) and wrestling with each other.   

Some of them just want to chill and sleep on the soft grass.  You can see them checking us out and trying to decide if we are good playmates.  They are getting used to our smells and love the fact that we are taking care of them.  We will be moving them on to mush as a stage to moving them on to solid food in a couple of weeks.  They will also be going on car trips to get used to new experiences, people, and places.  This coming week we begin the worming process and in a few weeks we will begin to immunize them.  Until they are immunized we can 't let them out to play in public places, but we can hold them and take them to stores and other places where they will meet new people.  

 They love to cuddle and wrestle with each other.  We want to help them to love to be with people as much as they enjoy each other.  We will keep you up to speed with our adventures.  Check back soon.

Scarlett's Puppies at a week old

Scarlett gave birth a week ago.  She has been a wonderful mom and has been faithfully feeding her puppies and their growth shows it.  The puppies have all just about doubled their weight.  They are no longer newborns, but are now puppies who are crawling around and smelling for their mom.

We are introducing them to sounds, people, and touch.  We are working hard to make sure that they get used to having people around.  The boys and I are spending time with them all day long.  They are getting to know our smells and are comfortable with us holding them.  When we first started holding them they would cry for mom and wiggle out of our hands.  Now they are willing to settle down in our hands or on our lap and sleep.  Next we will work on introducing them to other people, sounds, and smells.  When they open their eyes we will move them downstairs to the puppy room where they can have a safe and warm environment and have access to outdoors where they can play and romp.

I am posting some pictures that show the various puppies and how they are growing.  Enjoy!

We have puppies!!!

Last evening Scarlett and Seeker delivered 8 beautiful puppies.  We have reds, apricots, and light apricots.  We have six beautiful boys and two stunning girls.  Scarlett is feeding them and cleaning them.  When we take her out to potty she does what she needs to quickly and then runs to the door of the house and cries to get back inside to her puppies.

She is very happy with her puppies and we are glad to have them.  They are soaking up our love and enjoying themselves.  We love to hold them and to watch them.  

We will send more information out when we  can.

Steve

Meggie's Ultrasound

We went to the Vet today to have an ultrasound performed to verify that Meggie is indeed pregnant and to get a general sense of how many puppies.  

The Vet confirmed that Meggie is indeed pregnant!  He also said that she has 6-8 puppies!  She will be delivering somewhere around July 25th.  That means that Scarlett, who will deliver in the next days (hopefully not on Saturday when we have Ann's funeral) will deliver around the time we say goodbye to Ann and Meggie might deliver on what would have been our 31st anniversary (July 25th which is the due date).  

It is really good that we have these puppies on the way.  After the funeral things will have to get to a new "normal" for the family living in Newberg.  All the family and friends will have to get back to their "normal" lives and will leave en mass starting Sunday.  We will have a collection of puppies to love on while we adjust to our new lives.

I have relied on Ann to keep in mind the various things we need to do with the puppies: veterinary care, socialization, etc.  We did the work, but Ann was able to focus on the timing and the steps to do.  Now we will have to set up the schedule and keep up with all the details.

I do know that these puppies will be well cared for, and greatly loved as we raise this first couple of litters without Ann.  It will be hard to send them to their new families, but a bit of Ann will go with each of them.  

Keep checking back for updates.  We will post pictures as soon as Scarlett delivers and we will keep you up to speed with the last four weeks of Meggie's pregnancy.

Steve

Scarlett and Seeker Puppies make their debut!

                             

Scarlett had her ultrasound today and the vet showed us that not only is she pregnant, she has at least eight puppies and they are large and healthy.  For those of you with deposits on these puppies, we know for certain that they are growing and that in four weeks we will be able to introduce you to the puppies in this litter!  We do not yet know the gender, color, personality, and final count of the puppies, but we do know that Scarlett is carrying at least as many puppies as we have deposits.  We will even take a couple more deposits at this point because we have a good sense that Scarlett is going to deliver eight to ten puppies (her last two litters were 10 each).

If you want to get on the puppy list for this litter, contact us quickly because we know these puppies will go fast.

Here are pictures of previous puppies these two have produced.

  

Scarlett will deliver in about four weeks.  We will keep everyone up to date with all the events leading up to her  delivery.  Keep checking back in!

Steve

Meggie has ovulated and hopefully pregnant!

We got news today from our vet that Meggie's progesterone test this morning proves that she has ovulated.  The level was 10.7.  As I mentioned in the previous blog, once she passes 5.0 she has ovulated and then in a couple of days she is fertile and ready to become pregnant.  Well, today she was well past the 5.0 and she has been bred three times in the past three days (twice today alone because she and Seeker decided to have a second encounter while we weren't watching ;-).  

That means that Meggie is most likely becoming pregnant as I write this blog.  Today is the perfect day for breeding and having a healthy litter.  That means that all of you who have put deposits in on this litter can celebrate.  Nine weeks from now we will be introducing the litter to you all and we will begin that magical time of frequent updates on the little ones.  

Scarlett is going in for her ultrasound (at four weeks) next Tuesday and we will be letting all of those who are waiting for her puppies know of the news of confirmed pregnancy and likely number of puppies who will be making their entrance in the next four weeks.  July will be a busy time at our home.  We will have a bunch of puppies making their happy noises and getting lots of love from us.  

Stay tuned.  Lots of puppies on the way!

Steve

Meggie and Seeker honeymoon

I want to let you all know that we have bred Meggie with Seeker.  We have been tracking Meggie's progesterone levels.  Monday a week ago she was at .02 and Saturday she was at 1.3.  She ovulates when her progesterone level reaches 5.  

We also watch her behavior.  Yesterday she was crying to be around our male puppy who is not mature, but is an intact male.  She followed him around the house and was "flagging" him (raising her tail and waving her rear end in his face) and trying to entice him into some romance.  I knew it was time to bring our mature male, Seeker, into the dance.  I picked Seeker up today from his guardian home and brought him home.  Meggie was very interested and the two had a "tie" almost immediately.  A tie is when the two  have a successful breeding.  This tie was very peaceful and both dogs were equally interested in each other.  This was a great breeding. 

We will follow up with another progesterone test and then follow up breedings every couple of days.  The importance of the progesterone test is to tell us that Meggie has indeed crossed the "5.0" barrier so we know that she has indeed ovulated.  Once we know when she ovulated we can gauge when the puppies will be born.  We are looking forward to this litter.  One puppy will become a breeder in North Carolina, and one will be a breeder in Holland.  Four others will be pets in other parts of the country.  

Scarlett continues to have an uneventful pregnancy.  We have he ultrasound to confirm pregnancy and number of puppies.  That test will be run on May 29th.  Once we get the results we will post that on our web page blog and will also contact all those who have put down deposits on the puppies.  It is going to be about four weeks later that we have the puppies born.  Exciting days ahead!!