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.

It's beginning to look a lot like puppies! Only a couple days to go and I believe we are ready. I have a bed in the whelping, room once again compliments of Chris. Everything else I might need is set up on the table beside the whelping box. Her temperature hasn't begun to drop so she isn't ready yet, but she is uncomfortable. Here are some pictures. This will be the last blog post until the pups arrive.

Today was an exciting day for us. Tiffin was x-rayed to get a count of puppies we should expect. It looks like seven is the consensus. 

Thanks to good friend and co-breeder Chris I think I have triple the amount of everything I might need. 

Tiffin has been trying out different places in the house to find one that might be better than the one I have prepared for her. She is uncomfortable eating her meals, so she is now eating three smaller meats and a couple snacks in between. Of course, Maks is all for that because he is getting snacks too. Here are some pictures we took today and of course the x-ray pic.

Six weeks into the pregnancy

Tiffin was impregnated by surgical AI. It was a bit risky since there was not a lot of frozen assets to be had. Our fingers were crossed that the implantation took. I am so happy we will be getting puppies due December 8th. Thank you, Linda Davis, for taking a chance on Tiffin and me. My fingers are crossed that there will be a puppy that catches your eye.