New Puppy Pictures

When I took the puppies to Joan's on Monday, Barb was there and we took pictures of the boys. Actually, I took video of the boys and extracted these pictures from the videos. From the top: T-Bone, Jack, Spot (two photos), Girly Man

Puppies on Vacation

The puppies took a little trip to IL today for their 2 week vacation. Joan Atkinson is taking care of the little punks while I go off to CA for my Team in Training event. Since they are gone, I may be able to have more time to edit some of the videos I have of them. There's more of the playtime video and we took some video at Joan's today. Of course, the puppies wouldn't hold still to be stacked for still photos, so Barb suggested taking video. Maybe I can pull a decent still from the videos. I will post the new videos when I are able to get them finished.

The Great Hayfield

Ok, so the lawn needs to be mowed... I did a little with the reel mower, but it's tough to get that to chew through the overgrown weeds.

The puppies were out today for about 3.5 hours. They're pooped now! :-)

I thought maybe I could put the litter box back into their pen and they would use it as a toilet and not a bed. No such luck... This is a photo from earlier, but the "toilet" has a similar appearance tonight.

The Great Outdoors

Tonight we took them out into the side yard. The lawn is in pretty dire need of mowing, so it was a challenge for them to move about well. I was going to take some more video, but my batteries were dying. I need to figure out where the rechargeables are and get them charged. Monday, the puppies move to Joan's house. She has generously agreed to take them when I am in San Diego for my Team in Training event.

We'll take some more pictures on Monday, when I meet Barb at Joan's. This will be the first time Barb's seen the litter. We'll see who she likes...

Puppy (Mama and Grampy) Playtime

I wanted to get the puppies across the living room last night, so I decided to let them walk. It was supposed to be like a little puppy parade. As you can see from the video, that plan didn't exactly pan out. Spot was in the other room for quite awhile after they were allowed out of "their room." Of course, at the end of the video, Marvin has to be where he believes he belongs - in the middle of things! :-) Sorry for the "Criminal Minds" audio in the background. There's much more video of the puppies, so maybe I will put more of it together and post it. Tomorrow we will try to take stills of the boys.

Finally New Pictures!

I tried to use their new-found luring skills to get them to "self-stack." Clearly, it didn't work well. :-) They were four weeks old yesterday.
Pictures from top (two shots of each): T-Bone, Jack, Spot, Girly Man

Puppy Playtime

Yesterday was the first time I witnessed the puppies' attempt at playing. Elapsed time was about 7 minutes before everybody was too tired to continue. The orange tint in the video is from the heat lamp.

More Pictures

We decided to take photos outside today. It was sunny and I thought that a light flashing in newly opened eyes might not be such a good thing. As it turns out, it probably wouldn't have been a big deal. Little Smackwater Jack is still the most active - the three big guys are slugs. Hopefully, things will be better when they can actually master walking!

Pictures at one week

The little guy remains quite small. He's still strong and is not losing weight, but he's not gaining at the rate of his big brothers. We took photos of the guys on the 8th day after their birth. (It was supposed to be on the 7th, but I don't think they really changed that much.)

The Dog Park...and the little guy

Well, not the little guy at the dog park!

Yesterday, I had been given a couple of suggestions for getting the little guy to nurse off of Giggles more than he had been. I tried both of them (at the same time) and supplemented him a couple of times and his weight stayed the same. :-( He still acts ok - he doesn't seem weak or anything. He just doesn't seem to be able to latch on to a nipple and hang on. I decided to get a different nipple for his bottle. The nipple I have allows a large amount of formula through will little effort. Maybe if the new nipple forces him to work harder, he will be able to work as hard as he needs to work to get milk from Giggles. I figure it's worth a shot!

As for the dog park, part of the idea of taking 1/2 days off work was that I would be able to attend to Gig and the babies early; take Busy and Marvin to the park; come home and shower and be on my way to work. So, today I took the older dogs to the dog park. The plan was that I would be able to walk for my TNT training, while the dogs would be able to run around. I spent more time turning around and looking for what Marvin was doing (to see if I had to pick anything up) than walking. :-( I put in less that 2 miles. I would have been better off taking my 2 mile out and back from home! Plus, there was a young large mixed breed that harassed Busy and then Marvin. (I think some sort of "doodle," but whether a person is compassionate and rescues a mixed breed or pays way too much money for a "doodle" from a "breeder," it's still a mixed breed.) It looked like the dog was an adolescent and didn't understand that "F Off" from a little dog means "back off." For him it seemed to mean, "I want to play - please whack me in the head with your giant paw." The owner seemed to be offended when both Busy and Marvin snapped at the dog on different occasions, after they had each growled at him for being obnoxious.

I guess tomorrow I will walk them on the out & back and maybe stop at the local dog park (this is one I drove to) for a spin around the park on the way home (when they might be slightly tired).

The Little Guy

The second born puppy was significantly smaller than the other 3. The first one was a whopper and the 3rd and 4th puppies were also close to that size. Since Giggles is a first-time mom, I have been sleeping on an uncomfortable bed in the room where the whelping box sits. Wednesday night, I woke up several times to the squeaks of puppies. I opened my eyes to see what Giggles was doing with/about the noise. For the most part, she was good about trying to solve whatever problem the puppy was complaining about. There was a time or two that more than one puppy was squeaking and poor Gig looked a little overwhelmed. She made it through, though (and so did the puppies :-)).

Thursday night was quieter or I was just that much more tired that I slept through most of the squeaking. When I awoke Friday morning, I heard 3 squeaks coming from the smallest puppy, who was under the pig rail and out of the warmth of the heat lamp. I picked him up and he was a little on the chilly side - and kind of limp. I was encouraged when he moved. So, I called the vet clinic and spoke to a tech, who advised that I give him some Karo syrup and take him into the clinic. I gave him some straight Karo and some diluted with warm water. By the time we got to the clinic, he had perked up some. Dr. Orchard gave him a quick exam - no cleft palate or other reasons he might not be able to nurse. He has been supplemented several times a day since Friday. He nurses from Giggles, but he doesn't seem to be able to stay on a nipple. I'm using a bottle to supplement him and he has no trouble sucking from that nipple. He's significantly smaller than the other puppies - he's 6.25 oz and the others are 13-14 oz. However, he's active (as active as a 4-day-old puppy is) and seeks out Giggles (or anything else that's warm). So, as long as he hangs in there, he will be a small one. I looked back at the records from Marvin's litter and this puppy's smaller than Marvin was at his age. I hope his feet all point in the same direction when he gets older (or that he doesn't have any major faults) - he'll probably be a 13" dog. :-)

The Babies Arrived!

I'm a little red-in-the-face about this, as I told several people that of the 4 puppies Giggles produced, 3 were boys and there was one girl. Giggles delivered at the vet's office, with the assistance of some oxytocin. The first puppy (the "girl") was born a little on the blue side, so I think the vet just glanced at the tell-tale parts as she was making sure the puppy decided to breathe and such. The first puppy was the biggest, so it was easy to identify without verifying the gender. After I got home (and took a nap), I decided to take photos of the puppies. I was going to go in birth order and took what I thought was the first born and turned it over and it was a boy. So, I chose another and another and the last one - they were all boys. So, we have 4 boys instead of having a girl in the bunch.

Giggles is being an excellent mother, although she wasn't sure she wanted anything to do with the first one. By the time the last one was born, she cleaned the puppy and chewed off the cord.

On the way home, I was thinking of what to call them (as a group - while they're here) and thought of "Katrina & the Waves" (even though the "Waves" weren't a 3-man back-up group - I don't think...) and then I thought of Gladys Knight and the Pips - since the boys were smaller than the "girl." Now I guess they need to be the Temptations (were there 4 of them?) or the 4 Musketeers. ;-)

Sad Little (Big) Giggles

Poor little Gig, the bigger she gets, the sadder she looks. Her first due date is in 12 days and her eyes lack the joy they usually emit. She shows moments of "brightness," usually when there's food around, but she's not interested in playing. She must be having some chemical changes in her body - Marvin thinks she's in season again (always hopeful) and Busy checked her out yesterday.

She's Getting Chunkier

Here's Giggles on the bed behind the computer. She's looking a little round nowadays.

Running Agility with "Buns in the Oven"

Yesterday there was a NADAC-style fun match at Mad City Dog Training I entered all three of the dogs in something. Marv (the puppies' grandsire) did ok, but I didn't press my luck and run him in the second round of touch & go (all tunnels and contact obstacles). Giggles ran well, although she got a little tired in her second run (the video). Sharon, who was shooting the video, is right on when she says that Giggles is getting tired. Busy ran weavers (all tunnels and weave poles) really well. All in all it was a good day at MCDT for me and my Beagles. :-)

Little Lumpy Bumps

Today is the 28th day after Giggles had her first date with Hobie. That's the magic day for feeling little baby bumps in a dog. Mary was able to feel 3 little lumpy bumps, although she said there could be more up under Giggles' rib cage that she couldn't feel. ;-)

A Few Signs

Giggles is pretty early into her pregnancy to know for sure if she has puppies in there. Besides the widening of her ribcage, she is also having some mammary changes. At 28 days, Mary can palpate her and feel for little bumps in her uterus. I will update more as the weeks wear on and she has more changes.

The End of the Innocence

Ok, maybe the title's a little dramatic. This blog is a record of Giggles' (CH Starbuck Torbay Funny Girl) first litter of puppies. The sire of the litter is Hobie (Ch Scentini Hang Ten). Giggles apparently was happy to give her "innocence" away, after determining that Hobie was an ok guy. She was bred several times between February 16th and February 21st, when I picked her up.

It's been 3 weeks since her first breeding and she looks a little wider through the ribcage. I remember seeing that when I worked for a Golden Retriever breeder. The first time a maiden bitch is bred, her body has to make room for the puppies to grow. Giggles' isn't really acting differently and doesn't seem to be having any "morning sickness." Busy (Giggles' granny) was fine throughout her pregnancy, too, as far as gastric upset was concerned.

I will post pictures of both Giggles and Hobie later. And I will try to keep up with this blog - I've never been very good at writing on a regular basis.