Phoenix puppies - two weeks old!

It's amazing how much development can happen in the space of severn short days! Phoenix's pups are growing by leaps and bounds - they now range from 600-800g, almost three times their birth weight!

Their eyes are almost all open - just the last-born still has eyes mostly shut. Ears are also opening. This opens a whole new world of sensation to the little doods. They still rely mostly on smell and touch, but over the coming days and weeks they will start to use their vision and, in particular, hearing, more and more as those senses gain in acuity and precision.

Their leg muscles are also growing stronger bit by bit. They cannot yet stand but they are starting to try! When they crawl, they on occasion manage to lift their bodies off the ground for a fraction of a second, as opposed to simply "swimming" like little alligators.

And we have seen the first signs of play! Two puppies interacting in a way beyond just crawling over each other, but actually responding to the actions of the other. It is too cute,and will continue tokeep us entertained as they become more and more like real little dogs.

Puppy development - First month

Topaz has completed the first month of gestation. In my posts about Phoenix's gestation, I've referred to the first, second, and third "trimester," to relate the 9-week canine pregnancy with the 9-month human one. However, with dogs the scientists and doctors actually tend to divide the gestation period into two parts of about a month each.

The first month is embryonic development. This covers fertilization, implantation of the morule in the uterine wall, and the initial stages of development before the embryo starts to really take the form of a dog. In this early stage, the nervous system is formed (brain, spinal corn, nerves). The basic shape changes from round to elongated, with a head-bump at one end and a narrow body-tail at the other. By the end of the first month the embryos are about 14-18mm in length. Up until this time the embryos are still somewhat susceptible to malformation and resorption by the mother's body.

Puppy embryo

 Changes in the dam are generally limited to fussy eating and perhaps some intensified affection or possibly moodiness. Physical changes (belly swelling or mammary gland development) are not noticeable yet.

Phoenix puppies - First week

Phoenix's puppies are now one week old! They remain very much like little squirmy sausage-alligoators, "swimming" across the blankets to get where they want to go, still blind and functionally deaf but very cute nonetheless!! They are growing very well and have roughly double their weight in the past week.

 

Phoenix is a very quiet and attentive mama, not overly protective but still alert to any danger. She does not want the other big dogs to come near her puppies, but is quite happy to accept human visitors. So far we have had only fairly well-known people come to our house so she has not had any cause for alarm by the presence of strangers. Starting next week we will allow less well-known individuals to come, though puppy visits should wait until the pups are at least 4 weeks old and more like real little dogs.

 

Here are some photos to help satisfy the need for soft cuddlies!

 

Black phantom female

 

 

Chocolate phantom female 

 

Caramel/apricot female

 

 

Caramel male (lighter) 

 

 

Caramel male (darker) 

 

 

Chocolate phantom male 

 

Phoenix's puppies have arrived!!

Phoenix is now the proud mama of SIX puppies!!They were born yesterday, March 17.
We were monitoring her temperature since Friday evening. A drop in temperature to below 100 F on Sunday morning that persisted until Sunday evening indicated that we could expect the puppies to arrive within the next 24 hours. I waited up with her until 11pm, then went to bed to get a bit of sleep. Phoenix was rather unsettled all night, going into and out of the crate in my bedroom, jumping up on the bed and asking for snuggles or licking any appendage of mine she could get at. Around 3:00 she became even more restless and agitated, so at 3:15 I got out of bed and took her into the whelping box in our kitchen puppy corner.

At 4:00 I woke the kids, who had insisted on being woken in time to be of assistance (they are mid-woofs in training!) and not just once the puppies were actually popping out! We all waited, bunled up in blankets and slippers in the cold kitchen, drinking hot chocolate and giving Phoenix all the attention she sought as her labour continued. The kids were starting to worry that the pups might not arrive before they had to leave for school. But a temperature rise to above 100 F around 5am indicated the pups should start coming very soon, within the hour. And indeed, shortly before 6am the first one arrived, birthed by my son. My daughter assisted with the second birth some 40 minutes later, and then they alternated until they had to catch the school bus at 7:35, leaving me to handle the final birth on my own.

We have
Puppy #1 - born at 5:49 - M - caramel/apricot - 230g
Puppy #2 - born at 6:30 - M - chocolate phantom - 203g
Puppy #3 - born at 6:41 - F - caramel/apricot - 200g
Puppy #4 - born at 6:50 - M - caramel/apricot - 225g
Puppy #5 - born at 7:18 - F - black phantom - 197g
Puppy #6 - born at 7:45 - F - chocolate phantom - 230g
**note: the difference between caramel and apricot is essentially that the caramel have brown noses and the apricot have black noses. As this pigment isn't always evident immediately, we will wait until we are sure which is which before declaring "caramel" or "apricot" for those pups.

The winner of our Guess How Many Puppies contest (the Phoenix edition) is Suzanne W (mama to Matilda, one the pups from Galena's first litter), who guessed 6 puppies with the first arriving March 16 at 10:20!! (My son actually guessed a time 2 hours closer, but I have a policy that if a family member wins, the next closest non-family member also receives a prize.)

Mama and babies are all doing well. Phoenix is an attentive and caring mama.
Stay tuned for updates about once a week!

P.S. Forgive the bad quality of these photos - taken on my iPhone in a rush before I left for work.

Guess How Many Puppies: Topaz edition

Since we're having two litters this spring, we have another round of our Guess How Many Puppies contest - this one for Topaz's litter, due around May 9.

Here's a reminder of the rules: Your guess should indicate how many puppies you think Topaz will have, and what date and time you think the first puppy will arrive. The winner is the person who gets the number of puppiesright and is closest to the actual date and time.The prize is your choice of a $10 Timmy's or Chapters gift card. (Only one guess per person.) (If a member of my immediate family happens to have the closest guess, the next closest non-family member will also be declared winner and receive a prize.)

The following info will help you make an educated guess.

Number of pups

• Topaz was one of five puppies. Her mother, Amore, had small litters (3-5), but Amore'herself was one of 9 pups.
• This is Topaz's first litter. First litters are often smaller  than subsequent ones.
• Topaz is about 18-20 lbs, so a bit on the small side.

Date / time of first birth

• Topaz ovulated on March 8. Gestation is about 9 weeks so her due date is May 10, give or take 3-4 days (close to Mother's Day!). Most of our mamas have whelped either early or right on time. This is Topaz's first litter so we can't provide any past info. Best to stick with the +/-4 days average - between May 6 and May 13.. 
• Dogs can deliver any time of day or night. Our previous 9 litters have mostly arrived in the later afternoon or early evening, with just one in the wee hours of the morning and one around an early breakfast time.
• Another interesting observation - our litters have arrived on Jan 29, Mar 9, Mar 17, April 19, May 21, Aug 6, Sep 1, and Nov 25. Notice a pattern? All but one on odd-numbered days of the month. I'm sure there's some scientific basis for that (lol!)  

Deadline: April 8 (TBC) at 10pm

Topaz's ultrasound, giving us a rough puppy count, will take place around April 8, in the late afternoon or early evening. As it will take a bit of time to post the results, the deadline for guesses is a few hours later. (We'll update the deadline date once the ultrasound has been scheduled.)

Prize

Your choice of a $10 Timmy's or Chapters gift card.

Submit your guesses to me via e-mail (roma@dragonramdoodles.com) or as a comment to this post, or on our Facebook page (Dragon Ram Doodles). Once I've received a few I'll post them on the blog. (Limit of one guess per person!)

Happy puppy guesses!

Final stages of puppy development

Phoenix's gestation period is almost over. Now at 8 weeks, the puppies could be born any time and be viable.

During week 7, development of organs is almost complete. From now on the main focus is gaining size and weight to give them a better chance at survival outside the womb.Near the end of week 7 the bones calcify and can be seen on an x-ray.

By the end of week 8 the pups have sprouted fur. They have completed their prenatal development and are ready for birth. A few organs - notably eyes and ears - continue to develop for up to 2 weeks post-partum, but otherwise they are all there. It's getting pretty crowded and we can see movement in the form of ripples along the belly when the pups move inside, and feel their little bodies - especially the heads. They have maneuvered into position for optimal birth - mostly head-first, but feet-first is also not uncommon and not dangerous for pups (it's being born with the spine to the bottom instead of top that can be problematic).

Late foetal development

 Phoenix is noticeably uncomfortable now. She is getting ready to give birth - nosing around the house, snuffling and pawing at blankets. We will be setting the whelping box up in the next couple of days so she can get used to it and know where to go when the big day comes.

Stay tuned for a birth announcement any day now!

Topaz's upcoming litter

Our second spring litter will be from Topaz, our dark apricot girl who is Amore's daughter from her final litter. Topaz is about 20 lbs and 15" at the shoulder, and she turns 2 in mid-April. She came into heat in early March and was bred to Canadian Doodles Donovan, a black phantom boy who carries parti.

Topaz

Both Donovan and Topaz carry parti, and Donovan also carries cream. This means we will have another lovely rainbow litter, full of little gold/caramel/apricot/red, chocolate and black babes, with about one quarter of them parti. Topaz doesn't carry phantom, however, so there won't be any phantom puppies in the litter but they all will be phantom carriers.

Donovan

We expect to keep back one or two females from this litter as potential future breeders. Our top choices will be chocolate parti, dark apricot and black parti - to help us towards our goal of specializing in black phantoms and dark apricots/reds down the road.

We are expecting Topaz's babies to arrive around May 9- about three weeks after her second birthday.Topaz's ultrasound will take place the second week of April to confirm pregnancy and get a preliminary puppy count.

If you are interested in one of these pups, please contact me by e-mail (roma@dragonramdoodles.com). Deposits will be accepted following the ultrasound.