| | April 14 2009 Gypsy pups Recent Comments Facebook 2009-05-13 2:56 AM Hello everyone. I have just loaded pictures of the puppies after being moved into their first pen from the whelping pool. They are coming along great. I started them on blender food (kibble mixed with Esbilac 2nd Step, and warm water, ground up in a blender). Their teeth are in and they have progressed to just soaked kibble now. I no longer am blending it up like soup for them. They make huge strides between the 3rd and 4th week. Lots happens for them that week of their life. They start to walk more than crawl, they can hear and see, and they can start to eat semi-solid kibble. I will put a bowl in the pen tomorrow with dry kibble in it, plus the soaked food. They will be on solid kibble by the end of this week probably. I like to have them on dry food as soon as possible. it's much easier to tell if anything is wrong with them once I can regulate their stools. It is also easier for you to tell if they have anything going on if they are eating dry kibble. I am trying to load another video of them in their pen. it have failed to load 3 times so far. I just need to be patient with You Tube. I've had a couple of the videos fail lately. I don't do anything different. I just try them again and again, and they finally load. I have to use a 3rd party to load them to Fotki. Wish I could load them directly from my computer to Fotki but they need them to be hosted somewhere on the web first. I might try a different site other that You Tube if I continue to have problems with them. I used Google before, but they no longer let you load videos there. The pups are doing very well. If all goes well, you should be able to plan a short visit to see them this weekend. They won't be downstairs in the larger pens yet, but you will be able to at least come to see them and pick them up for a cuddle. <gryn> Call me and let me know if you want to see them. I want to get puppy customers here first to see their pups. If you call, PLEASE leave your phone number. It makes it so much easier for me to call you back. If you get a chance, go to www.americannaturalpremium.com to see if there is a dealer in your area that carries the kibble that your puppy will be eating when they leave here. This is a Wisconsin based dog food company and they are growing fast. The owner continues to sign new distributors, so check his web site often to see if he has a distributor in your area, or even e-mail the company. Natural Balance is also a good, all natural, dog food that you could try. If you are already feeding a premium dog food, that is great. You will be given about 4 1/2 pounds of this dog food when you leave, so you will be able to transition your puppy over to another food the first week you get your puppy home. There is a distributor in Whitewater if you want to stop and buy a large bag on your way home, too. They aren't open on Sunday and they close around 4:00 on Saturdays. The name of the store is M.E. & My Pets. AMNP only comes in 12 lb. and 40 lb. bags, so I fill a zip lock bag for you. A gallon bag holds about 4 1/2 pounds of kibble. Hope to talk with you all very soon. Take care and have a great Wednesday! Val and the chocolate crew, or The Brown Sea. 2009-05-05 2:56 PM Hello. Not much to tell today except that the dear little puppies decided to be up and barking last night. They are just so enjoying being able to hear each other and to chew on each other. Can't really chew on each other yet - no teeth. There was a funny moment yesterday though. After I got the puppy video loaded, I was playing it here in the office. The puppies heard it and started to bark and growl, and when the part came when I said, "here pup, pup, pup", all 5 of my chocolate girls, and Kona, came running in here. They all got excited, looking around for more pups. Oh my! Guess I need to turn down the sound the next time. :o) The pups were up a lot last night, like I said, and today they are sleeping a lot. I decided to start blender food tomorrow and to try and get some things done downstairs. Not much else to tell you about the puppies today. During the day, I spend a lot of time in the puppy room or holding a puppy. In the evenings when I can't find Matthew, he is usually in the puppy room, holding a puppy. They are like magnets. We just can't resist the little darlings. So far, Abbey hasn't tried to get into the pool with the pups. Abbey is Christie's daughter and takes after her mother. She just loves to be where puppies are. I'm sure when I put an extra pool in the family room, Abbey will be giving them a lot of attention. The females are so good with each other, thank goodness. I will post if anything new and exciting happens. I will post pictures once they get their first meal of blender food. That is always a fun, and messy, time. Have a great afternoon. Val Gypsy and the pups The chocolate girls, Kona, and Otis - the PBGV 2009-05-04 1:06 PM Good afternoon everyone. Here we are already, the 5th month of 2009. Do you feel like you missed a month or two? I am just thrilled to see green grass, flowers, and the SUN! The chocolate girls seem happy to get outside and roll in the dirt, dig a little in the tunnel they are creating to the neighbors (just kidding), and to be able to find strange things in the yard, left over from a long yucky winter. Have you had to mow your grass yet? The pups are just doing super. I am loading a 4 minute video to U Tube right now. I think you will like it if it ever gets finished. I will upload it to My Videos as soon as it finishes. I am excited to have you see the pups walking and starting to play with each other a little bit. They can now see each other and HEAR each other. They watch us when we walk into the room. I really think they are a bit advanced for not even being 3 weeks old. I have to tell you about Gypsy. You might have noticed the stuffed hedgehogs in the pool in the last pictures. Well, my young (4 years) female, Hannah, loves to carry the hedgehogs around in her mouth. She always has to have something that she wants us to throw for her to retrieve. I started to see these little things in the pool with the pups. I thought Hannah was taking them in there and dropping them for the pups. I kept removing them and would throw them into the family room. Sometimes I would go in the puppy room to find 3 or 4 of them in with the pups, plus a stuffed lamb. I finally took them into the family room and selected special places to put them, just so I could figure out who was taking presents in for the pups. Well, I was sitting watching TV and also watching the puppy cam attached to the other TV. I saw Gypsy get into the pool and drop something. Sure enough, I went in there and she was pushing the hedgehog around with her nose, just like it was another puppy. She laid down and snuggled it under her chin. Mystery solved <gryn> and she will now collect any that she finds in the house. She is very selective and only takes in the hedgehogs and the one small lamb. She is such a sweetie pie. I went to the AKC show in Jefferson over the weekend. Mary Jo now owns 3 puppies that she got from me and her daughter shows Belgian Tervurens (spelling prolly incorrect). Eileen has a 9 month old male puppy that is just awesome. By the end of the day he had collected 4 ribbons and points toward his major already. He beat older dogs and just performed so beautifully. Congratulations to Eileen from Orland Park. You did such a fantastic job with Tower. A PBGV won the hound group and a 7 month old puppy won the puppy hound group. I was interested in them because I am fostering a PBGV for a friend that is going through Chemotherapy. Their personalities are very different from the Lab personality that I am so used to. They are a "pack dog" though and he seems very very happy here, having all the girls to play with. They have accepted him, and even have gotten used to the crazy growley, howley, low bark that he has. I didn't get the opportunity to watch the Labs on Sunday because the Tervs were showing in a different building. I didn't even see many. The schedule looked like there were a lot of classes on Saturday for them. When I got home of course, all clothes and shoes came off in the garage and it was an immediate trip to the shower. I felt bad that my friends couldn't come to the house between the morning and late afternoon championship classes, but I just don't let people in until the pups are older, and especially after being at such a large dog show. You might also want to think about the first time you take your puppy to the Vet. Many sick dogs could come in to the Vet the day you are in there, so be a little cautious with your little one. (this is mother hen talking) Well, it's a beautiful day and I think I need a little of that sunshine. Time for a short walk to the woods to see if there are any migrating Warblers back there. One of my friends saw an Oriole today while we were talking on the phone. She also has Rose Breasted Grosbeaks and Hummers. I haven't seen any of them, except Bluebirds. It's time to put out some oranges. Have a great day. I will give the pups a hug and a cuddle for you. Hope you enjoy the short video when it gets loaded. Bye Val, Gypsy and her pups the chocolate girls, Kona, and Otis too 2009-05-01 9:54 PM Check out the puppy video I just loaded. It is the first one made of Gypsy feeding the pups. Turn up your sound to hear them. :o) Look under My Videos on the left hand side of your screen. enjoy! Val 2009-04-27 12:20 PM Hello everyone. Sorry for a little space here in posting. Not much happens the first week with the pups. Around the 10th to 14 day mark though, these little ones have more than doubled their birth weight and Saturday, the 25th, their eyes started to open. Oh, most of them can get up on those little legs already and walk a few steps. They can't see or hear, but they can sure find Gypsy in a hurry. <gryn> This is Monday and those little eyes continue to open. They won't be able to see very well at first, as the eyes will be blurry. Soon they will see shapes though. Puppies are born with their ears closed, so they can't hear yet. That will happen soon enough. I already play a radio for Gypsy. The really cool thing is when they first hear the bird clock in their room. I have already trimmed all those tiny nails on their toes. That was a fun job with those wiggly little bodies. It's a great chance to put the pups on their backs and scratch their tummies and give them some extra cuddling time. I will worm them this coming week for the first time. I weighed the pups on Saturday on our new digital scale. I have a wonderful puppy scale but it isn't digital. This one actually goes up to 400 pounds and it's only about 14 x 14 inches. You can set a container on it to hold other items (like pups) and set it not to weigh the container. .My puppy scale cost three times what this new one cost. Matt came home with this one that he happened to see when in Sam's getting office supplies. He couldn't pass it up and I sure am happy with him for getting it. Having a scale like this happens because so many of us sell on Ebay and other sites on the Internet. I didn't imagine ever having a digital scale in the house that would operate with a remote, and be able to weigh 400 pounds, not that my pups will need anything over 20 pounds before they leave. :o) My puppy scale was much harder to adjust, and harder to read, but it was thee puppy scale to have (last month). I'm in sort of a down mood today (I will post another entry for the reason) so I'm going for a walk in the woods with a couple of the dogs before I change the puppy papers again. I have more pictures but I'm having a bit of a problem getting them loaded to the site. Keep watching though. Take care and stay well until next time..... Val 2009-04-27 12:42 PM I had to say goodbye today to my wonderful old Candlewood's Cash On The Line daughter, Erin's Edge Christie Brown. Christie was almost 12 years old and was one of the most regal, intelligent, and loving Labs that I have had the pleasure of sharing my life with. Christie was born on October 15, 1997. Since I am also a Libra, I know she was true to the characteristics of her birth sign. She was never confrontational with other dogs and welcomed all visitors, canine or human. She loved her puppies and would also care for all the other litters born in the house. If she had a litter at the same time as another female, I would often find her in their pen or outside nursing the other pups. She didn't care. She just loved pups and she would help to clean up after all the puppies that were ever born here. We called her Grandma Christie most of the time. Christie's health started to really deteriorate this past 6 months or so. She had several cysts on her body and a growth in one of her mammary glands. I made the decision last year not to put her through any more surgery in her life, since she was already an old dog. I watched my first Abbey go through surgeries due to Cancer and radiation treatments up at UW Vet hospital and the entire process was long and very painful for her. I saw her suffer through some very bad times during recuperation of having her left jaw removed, her tail docked, and being very ill from the radiation treatments. I vowed never to watch another of my girls suffer so much and only have a limited outcome for time left to be with us. Christie deserved to enjoy her remaining time with us as long as she wasn't in pain and was still happy. The past few weeks have just been so hard to watch Christie start the gradual decline in her health. She only wanted to eat her kibble if I fed her by hand and then last week would only eat canned food, but she was still eating pretty good. What was really hard was when I set up the puppy room for Gypsy. As soon as I put the pool down and had the room ready for Gypsy, Christie took it over. She would not sleep anywhere else but in the pool and she truly believed she was having puppies. The tumor started to grow in her mammary gland and it stimulated her milk to come in. We had to set up another pool in our bedroom two days before Gypsy had her pups, just so Christie would stay upstairs in that pool. I think when Gypsy finally had her pups, Christie realized that she wasn't the one having pups and it was like she just got so sad about it. We did take the pups up to see her and she snuggled them just like she always did with any of the litters. I will miss Christie forever and I know that all of my puppy family that owns one of her many pups will always remember that regal lady they met when they picked up their puppies. Christie lives on in all her pups and also in her daughters Abbey and Indee Did It. Indee will be coming back to take her mother's place and I bet she has puppies just as wonderful as her mother did. God Bless You Christie. We love you, and the chocolate girls have been looking for you today. Val 2009-04-15 6:02 PM Hello everyone. Welcome to Gypsy's journal for her new pups. Gypsy had her pups yesterday, Tuesday, April 14, 2009. Her temperature started to drop the previous evening, usually meaning that a female will have her pups within 24 hours of the first drop in her temperature. Gyp became more uncomfortable as the day progressed, and being the "velcro dog" that she is, wouldn't leave my side. That meant spending many moments listening to her heavy panting <gryn>. (It's all worth it) A female will clean when getting close to having her pups, so that meant many visits outside also, and me with a flashlight as it became dark outside. You never want to leave them outside alone once birth is that close, or during. Did I mention that we got rain here that night, turning into sleety snow? She was really uncomfortable around 10:00 p.m. and started having her first puppy at 12:35 a.m. (that is Tuesday Morning). I just looked at the records. She had 3 female's in a row, 3 males after that, and then another female, and then the very late male that wasn't born until after 10:30 p.m. Tuesday evening. He was a bit of a surprise. I had already given her Oxytocin and she just seemed so calm to still have another puppy in there. Can't ever guess just what a female will do during labor. Well, it is now Wednesday and the puppies have already been to the Vet (JAMC in Janesville) and had their dew claws removed. The Vet said every one of them looked great. My first pictures were taken of the first 7 pups, thinking she was done, so I'll have to get some taken of all of them now. For now I need to catch up on some rest while Matt can be in the house watching the puppy camera in the family room. Oh yes, BTW, I do set up my puppy camera so we can go to the sofa for a few breaks and watch the little pups on another tv in the family room. I can also watch them from upstairs in the dining room. That is about it for now. Mom and pups are doing great. Check the photo album for updates. I will try to get a few pictures in there every few days. Take care everyone and enjoy the puppy pictures along with your family and friends. Val and the Chocolate girls | | |
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