DNA

Today was pretty quiet. Tiffin continues to improve and today she wanted to spend time away from the puppies when they were sleeping. She still isn't eating as much as I would like her to so we ordered 100 pounds of raw food. I think this will encourage her to eat more. She will be finished with the antibiotics soon so I think her tummy will feel better then.

Today the puppies had ENS in the morning, weighing in the afternoon and ESI in the evening. Plus some snuggles in between. ENS is going well. They are not struggling as much now. The weight gain is steady.  The reaction to the scents is not dramatic. Only one seemed to be interested in the scent today which was vanilla. Two of them turned away and the rest didn't show any reaction at all. 

Still jumping through hoops with the AKC. They have the information they need but not on the correct form. So now they want the frozen semen collection report which is the same information as the freezing report. After this is sent to them, they will have the information in triplicate. I hope this is sufficient. 

So today the DNA swabs arrived. I use VGL at UC Davis. I believe they are the most reputable and efficient DNA testing lab. For those of you who don't know I DNA the puppies for a genetic mutation that affects the Dalmatian breed.  Most Dalmatians have a genetic mutation called hyperuricosuria. This is a metabolic defect that can in some instances cause a Dal to form bladder stones. It is not a huge problem in the breed but it is a huge problem for the individual dog who is a stone former. Unless one or both of the parents have at least one copy of the normal gene all the puppies will have the mutation. Because Tiffin has one copy of the normal gene she will not be affected with hyperuricosuria. Dogs that have either 1 or 2 copies of the gene are called LUA dals which stands for Low Uric Acid. All other Dals are called HUA, you guessed it, High Uric Acid. I will swab the cheeks of each puppy and send the swabs in and hopefully the results will be favorable for LUA. Now here is the clincher. Although the LUA pups will have this health benefit they may not be quite as pretty. Time will tell. It is recommended that the pups be 3 weeks old before testing.

Here are a few pictures from today.

Blizzard red collar boy and of course bunny

Swabs

Puppy Love or Bunny Love 

Last night was great. Tiffin didn't make me get up other than to let her out to potty until 8AM! It felt good to sleep in. It was a busy day for the puppies. They had ENS first. Then in the afternoon they all got a pedicure. My eyes are not as good as they once were and seeing those itty-bitty nails was hard. I ordered a magnifier to fit over my reg glasses so I could see them better. Even with that I managed to clip one a little too short. I felt like a monster. The fact that they were squirming didn't make it any easier. 

Then I get an email from AKC saying they couldn't register the litter because they didn't have a freeze report. The Veterinarian hospital where the semen was collected and stored for 11 years was the same place where the insemination took place, and all that info was on the 2-page litter application I submitted. However, that wasn't good enough, so I had to send the freeze report. Now I am waiting to see if there are other hoops to jump through. Silly me.  I thought I had all that covered when the repo vet that did the insemination filled in her part of the form and the semen owner filled in her part of the form and Chris and I the co-owners of Tiffin filled in our part of the form. 

After I decided that I could do nothing more about the registration issue I went back to watching puppy TV. This evening I introduced another scent. Today they got to smell lavender. Five of the seven sniffed and two turned away. Interesting to see how they respond. 

Here are a few pictures from today.

Here is a face shot of Blizzard

And this is Polar

 Spots

My day started at 4:30 AM when I was awakened by a stuffed bunny shoved in my face. Tiffin wanted out. I did ENS early because I had a new adventure for the pups to try. I started ESI which stands for Early Scent Identification. This is something new for me, but I believe some of the Golden breeders have been doing this with their litters. Here is what I learned about it.

Early Scent Introduction is a concept developed by Dr Gayle Watkins, a Golden Retriever breeder, scientist, researcher and competitor in a range of dog sports.

When?

Perform these exercises once a day from days 3-16.

What you need
13 scents
Pen and paper

How many?

Use a selection of 13 natural scents, no chemicals or meat products. You can use herbs and spices, things from your garden, or training items to make up your collection of scents to introduce.



Hold the scent in front of the puppy’s nose for 5 seconds per day.

Make a note of the responses to each scent;

+ is a positive response when the puppy actively tries to sniff the scent.

0 is a neutral response when the puppy does not respond in any way.

– is a negative response when the puppy turns its head away from the scent.



ESI should be performed at a different time of day to ENS. If the puppies are feeling mild stress from the ENS, you do not want them to associate that stress with the novel scents you are introducing.

Why?

Scent is the way puppies experience the world. Introducing natural scents early on can help:
Introduce puppies to new scents in a controlled way.
Improves scenting ability in later life.
Enhances confidence and stability as adults.
Reduce behavioral issues in the long term



Research has shown that when puppies are exposed to scent at this early age, they have an association and a recognition towards that specific scent.

If your puppy is likely to be used for a service role, detection role or perhaps as a working gun dog, then you can introduce them to “job specific” scents and increase their association with that scent, even at this age.

Today was the first day I tried this with the puppies. It is day four but yesterday was way too stressful for them. They had ENS in the morning and then a car ride to get their dewclaws removed. I didn't think another thing was using good judgement. So today, the first scent I used was birch. Because I have never tried this before I did not know what to expect. Only a couple of them responded at all. I'm sure they and I will learn this together.

Tiffin was nice enough to let me take a 2-hour nap in the afternoon! She is doing much better but I am having a hard time getting her to eat. On a happy note, the little patched girl Shiver gained an ounce today!!!!!

I didn't take many pictures but here are a couple. As you can almost see spots are starting to peek through. 

The heat light makes the pictures look yellow

Happy momma

Welcome back Tiffin 

Today was a turnaround busy day. Tiffin seems to be herself again. She was a litter better last night and today she was much better. She wagged her tail for the first time since this all began. Of course, I feel better too because I actually got some sleep. 

The morning started with ENS. For those of you who are unfamiliar the initials stand for Early Neurological Stimulation. It involves 5 exercised which last from 3 to 5 seconds on each puppy everyday from day 3 to day 16. If you would like to read about it here is a link explaining it. The 5 exercised are:

1. Tactical stimulation (between toes)
2. Head held erect
3. Head pointed down
4. Supine position
5. Thermal stimulation

At the suggestion of a friend (Thanks Sue) I made a cover for part of the whelping box. She seems to like it because she hasn't come out of the whelping box since we covered part of it. It makes sense that dogs would like the den effect.

This afternoon the pups had their dewclaws removed. It is always a hard decision to make but for me the good outweighs the bad regarding removal. 

All the puppies are gaining weigh except Shiver the patch girl. She is not thin looking, and she is strong and active but not gaining like the rest. I try to make sure she gets a good spot at the milk bar, but the bigger pups push her out. 

I made a cheat sheet with the collar color and puppy name to make it easier to remember who is who. This first picture is Shiver the smallest one and the second picture is Tundra the biggest one.

Below are a couple pictures of a very content Tiffin. Notice the bunny in each picture of her.

Finally, the cheat sheet.

Three puppies and a bunny

 Today has been very tiring and I wonder what I was thinking when I though it would be a good idea to raise a litter again. I'm sure in a couple of days when Tiffin is doing better I will feel differently. Some sleep would be nice too. Tiffin is still not back to normal. It appears that after the puppies nurse her calcium level drops and she turns into a shivering frantic dog. Today the Vet made not one but two house calls to check on her. Love my Vet! When Tiffin is frantic she does strange things which brings me to 3 puppies and a bunny.

I went into the kitchen for a badly needed cup of coffee and sat down at the table for a while.  When I went back into the puppy room, I found 3 puppies, a bunny and Tiffin all on the bed. I hate it when she picks them up because that makes them scream and then when they scream she panics and drops them and the whole thing gets overwhelming for all of us. Oh did I mention that she is still oozing yucky stuff from the oxytocin shot all over the bed. However, right now she is laying there feeding them and the whole picture is so beautiful that I get emotional just looking at her.

Here are a couple pics I took today.

 The bunny

We made it through the first day but there were challenges. First let me say that Tiffin insists that she has 8 puppies. This darn rabbit is her favorite toy and she gets weird when she can't find it. It has been washed until the fur is coming off of it and it is quite worn out, but she loves it. I thought that I could sneak it away from her since she has the pups to contend with. Big mistake. She wouldn't settle until I gave it back to her. I won't make that mistake again.

So, during the night she became restless and started acting strange. She was shaking and crying and wanted to go out many times. But heck who sleeps with a new litter anyway. So by morning she was frantic. I thought perhaps eclampsia, so I gave her some calcium and called the Vet. Fortunately for me I have a wonderful vet who said bring her right in. Thanks again, Dr Mellissa Voll-Stouffer! It seems that although her calcium levels were lower than we would like not low enough to cause this problem. An x-ray confirmed that there was still a placenta or part of one in her uterus. Now that that is taken care of Tiffin is back to her sweet happy self! Me, I am a tired mess but at least I had time for a shower!

I am happy to report all 7 puppies gained weight and are either eating or sleeping. Quiet puppies are a good thing!

 I did manage to get the litter registration papers sent to AKC. Unfortunately, an AI with frozen semen litter can't be done online. 

So, this is a day in the life of a dog breeder. Here are a few pictures from today. That is Avalanche sleeping with the bunny.

They're Here!

What a two day ride we were on.  On Thursday Tiffin started first stage labor at 11 AM. This went on until Friday at 4AM. She didn't understand what was happening and she kept wanting to go out because she thought she had to potty. She tried but nothing happened. Then at 4:41AM her water broke followed by the first puppy at 4:48AM. He is a big patch male weighing in at 14.92 oz. His name is Chill. 

Then we waited for over an hour for #2 to arrive at 5:52AM He came into world weighing 17.14 oz. His name is Tundra and he is wearing a blue collar.

The third puppy arrived at 6:26AM weighing 15 oz. He is wearing a red collar, and his name is Blizzard.

Finally, a girl! At 7:11AM Arctic made her appearance. She is a big girl weighing 13.97 oz. She is wearing a yellow collar.

At 8:20AM another girl a patched one. She weighed 13.47 oz. She is the smallest puppy and her name is Shiver.

Then at 9:15AM the third girl made an appearance. She weighed in at 13:51 oz. She is wearing a green collar, and her name is Polar.

The last puppy to arrive came an hour later at 10:15AM. He weighed 15.03 oz. Another boy and a very pretty one at that. He is wearing a white collar, and his name is Avalanche.

Unfortunately, there are no liver puppies. I am pleased however at what a wonderful mother Tiffin is. It took a long time for the puppies to make their way into the birth canal but once there she gave two or three pushes and out, they came.

They are strong and robust and made their way to the milk bar in short order. All are sleeping and Tiffin is a tired and happy girl.