No more pups!

This post is rather late in coming, seeing as all of Galena's pups went to their new homes in mid-January! This was actually the first time (out of 12 litters) that every single pup went to their new homes within a two-day period. It was kind of weird not having one or two left for an extra few days - but nice, at the same time!

We are happy to report that four of the pups stayed here in Ottawa, while the other two went to Toronto.

We are expecting Galena, Phoenix, Harmony and Topaz to go into heat sometime in March or April so it's on the horizon... We will for sure breed Galena for her last litter - most likely to Chino again. And the plan is to definitely breed Harmony for her first litter. Then it will depend on timing whether we breed Topaz or Phoenix - the goal is to minimize overlap, but have three litters this spring/summer as looking after dogs and pups will be my daughter's main summer job. 

In the mantime, we are planning a doodle romp on Sunday March 6 - if you are thinking of getting a DragonRam puppy, contact me and we'd be happy to have you join us at a romp so you can meet all the great dogs!

Seven weeks old!

Beautiful girl "Evrial"

Big boy "Moose"

Happy siblings

What's up?

Gold boy "Peeta"

Curious pups

Happy New Year Doodles!

We hope that everyone had a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year celebration. 

So here we are, January 2016, and the pups are entering into a very eventful period of their as yet short life. On Monday they will get their first vaccinations and checkup at the vet. On Wednesday they will visit my son's school first thing in the morning, and later that day the dog behaviourist will come and run them through the temperament assessment.  We expect to receive the results by Thursday evening or early Friday, so that puppy allocation can take place over the weekend. Then it will be just one short week until they head to their new forever homes!

Here are several shots of the pups at 6 weeks of age, taken of them playing in our "puppy corner." Enjoy!

 

Puppy pix

These were supposed to be included in last Tuesday's "Five weeks old" post, but I didn't have them handy when I published the post and was too preoccupied to add them very quickly. Some of you will have seen these photos on Facebook already. But here they are for the blogger-minded!

Beautiful girl!

Little boy

Big boy

Caramel & white boy

All caramel boy

All chocolate boy

 

Five weeks old!

The pups are five weeks old today!

In the past week they have really blossomed. They are now full-fledged, active, playful little dogs. We have shifted from the whelping box to a crate (doors open so they can come and go at will) with a pee pad nearby for business and they are being mildly successful at doing their business on the pad. (We put on a spray that encourages them to "go" there.)

 We are feeding them puppy food mash (kibble soaked in water), and a few of them are starting to get some teeth, so within a couple weeks they will graduate to dry food. While they still nurse, last night when I put the pan of food in their corner and then mama jumped in, a few of them stuck with the mash rather than rushing over to get mama-food.

We have placed the Adventure Box in their corner as well - a 30" x 30" x 24" tall frame with toys, stuffies, and other items dangling from the top, giving them things to play with, touch, and hear. As they move around these items and touch them, they are exposed to a variety of textures and noises, the idea being to familiarize them with various stimuli so they become accustomed to a variety of sounds and feelings and are more able to deal with the stress of new situations.

In addition, my kids have had various friends come over during the past week, and we've had several prospective adopting families come visit the pups, so they have had lots of interaction with people. This is always a good stimulus for them. It helps them get used to being handled by many different people and to learn to play with people. And they are always tired out and sleep well afterwards!

Four of the puppies are now reserved, leaving just two available. We have at least one family still considering it, and have had a couple more inquiries, so we are hopeful they will all find homes by the time they are ready to leave in mid-January.

Four weeks old!

The puppies turned four weeks old today. Wow, what a change in even just the last few days! Suddenly they are reall little dogs! Today for the first time they all managed to climb out of and back into the whelping box and spent a good bit of time running around the puppy corner, squeaking for Mama and finding new places to pee. (Joy-not!) 

Big boys

  

Gold boy

From just barely opening their eyes less than two weeks ago, to just barely managing to stand and walk, to being able not just to walk but even run over the slippery vinyl floor - they sure have made progress. 

Happy boy

Little boy

We gave them some "real" food for the first time today - puppy kibble softened in hot water until it turns into mush, seeing as they do not as yet have any teeth. That will be the next big development - by the time they turn five weeks, most of them will have the beginnings of a few teeth poking through, meaning the transition to solid food will be well begun. 

Snuggly boy

We sold a second puppy this past week, so there are now four remaining. The temperament assessment is scheduled for January 7, 2016 - just over three weeks away.

Almost three weeks old!

Time sure does fly. The pups are approaching three weeks of age already, and growing like weeds. 

Over the past week their eyes and ears have started to open, bringing the world to life in a whole new way for them. So far, their vision and hearing is still developing, so the acuity is far from good. But it is improving daily!

We've had them out of the litter box a couple of times, on a rug just outside the box, where they can try out their wobbly legs and explore a wee bit more of the world.

Over the next two weeks the changes will be just as dramatic - their legs will grow stronger and they'll start to really walk and even run, and they'll start to get qjite playful. Just in time for Christmas!

One week old!!

Galena's pups are now one week (and two days!) old, and growing like crazy. They have already more than doubled their birth weight. Whereas at birth they fit easily into the palm of one hand, now they are overlowing!! While their activities are still pretty much limited to nursing, sleeping, and pooping, I've seen them wriggling around and even getting up on their legs momentarily before giving out and resorting to crawling once again. Soon their eyes and ears will open and they will start getting serious about walking. We always really enjoy that phase of development!

Grow, babies, grow!

They don't fit in one hand anymore!

We have puppies!!

I am pleased to announce that Galena surprised us this afternoon by giving birth to SIX beautiful babies. Our vet had counted five on the ultrasound with, she said, maybe a sixth but she thought the sixth was more likely a partially resorbed embryo as it was much smaller and less well-defined. As it turns out, one of the pups is much smaller than the others; maybe that was him.

We have:

• Puppy #1: male, 234g, caramel with a small white spot on his chest, born around 2:35
• Puppy #2: male, 248g, solid chocolate, born at 2:45
• Puppy #3: male, 274g, caramel with a white star on his forehead, born at 2:50
• Puppy #4: male, 190g, chocolate (phantom?) with a tiny white spot on his chest, born at 3:33
• Puppy #5: female, 263g, chocolate phantom, born at 3:57
• Puppy #6: male, 290g, chocolate (phantom?) with a large white patch on his chest, born at 4:24

This measn that the winner of the Guess How Many Puppies contest is Kathleen, sho guessed six puppies with the first born on 17 Nov at 3:30pm. That's less than an hour ort from when the first one actually arrived. Congrats Kathleen! A $10 Timmy's card will be winging its way to you shortly. 

And congrats to Galena and Cumin Chino, who made some beautiful babies together!

If you know anyone who is thinking of getting a puppy, send them our way. Several of these pups are still available.

Pregnancy confirmed!

(Revised Nov 2 to indicate the correct number of puppies!)

I am extremely pleased to announce that YES! Galena is pregnant.

It was with bated breath that we stood around the ultrasound machine yesterday afternoon, waiting for the verdict.

And there they were… one, two, three, four, FIVE puppies on the way!

That narrows down the possible winners of the Guess How Many Puppies contest to Patrice, Donna and Monica. All that remains to be seen is when the first one comes popping out, sometimes between 16-20 November if my prognostication is correct.

Just another month to go…

Last call - Guess how many puppies

Pumpkins are popping up on porches everywhere, and ghosts and witches are going wild. But at our house, our thoughts are turning to puppies popping out pretty painlessly.

Okay, enough alliteration.

This is your LAST CHANCE to submit your guesses for our Guess How Many Puppies Contest! Galena’s ultrasound is this afternoon, and I expect to post the results early tomorrow morning. So get with it!!

Will she have more than the 8 in her first litter, or less than the 6 in her second?

Will it be November 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 – or will she surprise us by waiting longer?

Will the pups start popping at 2pm, 5pm, 8pm, or later?

What do you think?

(I’m not even going to ask the big question – did she get pregnant this time? OF COURSE SHE DID!!)

You have until 6am TOMORROW to send in your guesses for a chance to win a $10 Timmy’s or Chapter’s gift card.

Pop to it!