Pictures of puppies!!

 Note that these pictures are a bit old - as in they were from one week old and the pups are now three weeks old and have their eyes open and are walking a bit. We will take more pictures and upost them soon (ish). 

Belated birth announcement

Sorry for the delay, folks - I had eye surgery and am not seeing well at all so my kids are now helping me to get this post up finally!!!!

WE HAVE PUPPIES!!!

They were born three weeks ago  - yes, that's right, they're already 3 weeks old. The birth date was August 29 - so we ow know that Galena's favourite umber is 29 - her last litter was born on Jauary 29. 

There are 8 puppies. - one solid chocolate  female, 1 solid caramel female, one chocoalte parti female, ad 5 caramel parti - 3 male, 2 female. 

First to arrive was the solid chocolate girl. She is calm and quiet and loves to give kisses.

 Next out was the chocolate parti.She has a mostly chocolate head with a white blaze down the middle and a white muzzle. She is bouncy and quiet at the same time, and is very playful and fun.

Third was the caramel  solid girl She has a white blaze down her forehead as well, as well as white o her toes and chest. She is very fun and silly and bouncy, and extremely playful.

 The next one to arrive was one of the male caramel partis. He has a small saddle on his back and a dot of colour on his forehead as well as of colour covering bot eyes. He is quiet and sometimes a little whiny but very sweet and likes giving kisses. He is the second lragest of the pups and eats a lot.

 The fifth was another male, who does not have very many spots He has one spot on his back and two near his rear end as well as similar markings on his head to his older brother.He is quiet if he's not hungry but lets you and mama know when he wants to eat. he sleeps a lot and likes to tackle his sisters but they usually win because they are bigger than him.

  Then another female arrived who was the smallest at birth but is now second smallest. She has a half saddle and a big spot on her rear end and again similar head markings.This girl is very quiet and super super sweet and very adventurous.

  The second-last was another female who is very pale with hardly any colour markings on her at all, just a faint band of colour around her head and small saddle, but the markings are quite pale and not too much darker tan the white.She is really playful, active and likes to run around but she also is feisty and pushes the others away to get the best milk.

  Finally the last was the third male, who was and continues to be the largest of the lot. He is very big and very very playful s well as calm and sweet-tempered.

Now at three weeks of age they have opened their eyes about a week ago and are starting to toddle around on their four legs like real puppies, though they still stumble and fall a lot. We are just now beginning to feed them a little bit of soft mush to supplement what  they get from mama, who for her part is eating voraciously to produce enough milk to feed eight hungry babes.

In our next post we will give you a bnuch of pictures. 

Reminder of September Doodle Romp

Don't forget the Doodle Romp this Saturday 7 September afternoon from 4 to 6 pm. As we did in August we will again set up our agility equipment in the field by the nearby school and and meet in the school paring lot. Everyone who wants can take a run or three at the equipment and test their paws out! 

Puppies are welcome (well, not the one-week-old babies but any pup age 8 weeks or older!) as we can set the jumps at any height. 

Hope to see you there!

Last trimester

Galena has now entered her final "trimester" (last 3 weeks) of gestation.  now the pups are pretty much fully formed - just a few litle "details" left, including calcification of the skeleton and finishing off toes and fur colour. Most of what they wil be doing for the next 3 weeks or so is growing a LOT bigger so they are big enough to move around and face the big wide world (with Mama's love and protection for the first few weeks at least!).

She is definitely showing signs of pregnancy now wit a slightly swelling belly and teats - these will all get rounder by te time she gives birth!

It may not be a full 3 weeks yet - she was a few days early with her first litter, so I for one am expecting the pups to arrive before the end of August.

Stay tuned!

Doodle Romp reminder`

Don't forget the Doodle Romp this Sunday 11 August afternoon from 4 to 6 pm. Given the situation in the locale we usually use, we will meet at a nearby school and then cross the grounds to the hydro easement behind the school (details have been sent to confirmed attendees and DragonRam puppy owners). We will set up our agility equipment in the nearby field, start the Romp there with a chance for all interested dogs and their people to try their hand (or paw) at this sport, ehtn walk around a bit and - if the weather`s nice and people bring their stuff - enjoy a picnic supper at the site.  

We have 2 bar jumps, a tire jump, a weave pole set, pause box, tunnel and chute.Don't forget that we can set the jumps at any height so even the pups an participate. 

Hope to see you there!

Galena's ulrasound!

Galena had her ultrasound last night to confirm her pregnancy. At five weeks’ gestation (out of nine) she is beginning to show signs of pregnancy – picky eating, tummy filling out a tad. The pups are still very small – a bit less than an inch long – but in the next 3-4 weeks they will grow like crazy.

At this stage in their development, the embryos have fully formed nervous systems, eyes covered by eyelids, other facial features, lengthening leg buds with the beginnings of toes, and sexual characteristics. (So if we could see really well on the ultrasound we might be able to tell how many females vs. males, but it’s too fuzzy and the characteristics are not as obvious as on humans. It’s more a question of “Is the little bump closer to the navel (male) or to the tail (girl)?” than “what does it look like?”) Over the course of the next two weeks they will complete their skeletal development, gain pigmentation (fur and skin colour), and form fully developed limbs and heads. After that it will just be a matter of gaining size so they are real for the real world out there!

So how many are there? Well, we counted 8 puppy blobs (maybe 7). Which means that – provided we didn’t miss one on the ultrasound and and none of them is lost between now and then – the finalists in the “Guess How Many Puppies Contest” has been narrowed down to Tristan or possibly Amélie or Suzanne (or me - but I wouldn`t actually give myself a prize). We’ll need to wait for whelping to see who has guessed the closest time and date for a final winner. And, of course, whether the ultrasound was accurate or it’s actually those who guessed Y or Z puppies who are the finalists!!

Puppy development

Galena is now entering the second “trimester” of her gestation. Except in her case it’s weeks 4‑6, not months 4‑6. At this stage the signs of pregnancy are minimal. She may be starting to get picky with her eating (she was VERY picky with her first pregnancy!) but other than that you’d never know she was expecting.

The pups are still very very tiny – little more than oval-shaped cell clusters, albeit with a developed nervous system, that have implanted into the uterine wall – with as of yet no real puppy characteristics. That will happen quickly over the next three weeks, and by the time she enters her final “trimester” the foetuses will actually look like very tiny puppies with most of their characteristics quite well formed. The third “trimester” is devoted to completing the final development, calcification of the skeleton, and a whole lot of general growth.

In two more weeks we’ll take her for an ultrasound to count how many puppies she’s carrying. Stay tuned!