Rider
BPIS BISS MBIS GChEx Am GCh Butterblac Rider at Freestyle WC
Hips: Good
Elbows: OFA Normal
Patellas: Normal
Eyes: Clear
July 27, 2007 - June 2018
Pure for black
Cricket
GCh Kistryl Toffee CD RE
Hips: Good
Elbows: OFA Normal
Patellas: Normal
Eyes: Clear (gonioscopy
mildly affected)
DOB: April 14, 2018
Liver, carries yellow
Cricket whelped a litter of 10 puppies on March 12th from 12:45 until 6:10 am. She was massive, so I shouldn't be surprised there were so many puppies. As expected, they are all black. All puppies are thriving!
Cricket didn't have any trouble birthing them, and is already doing an excellent job mothering them. She's settling in now for a well deserved rest.
The breeding was done using frozen semen. I drove back and forth to Red Deer during the extreme cold snap to have Cricket bred artifically at the repro clinic. It was well worth the effort because we ended up with 10 of Rider's babies.
Here's a funny fact: Rider (the sire to this litter) is Angus' dad (the sire for our previous litter), which makes these new babies aunties and uncles to our previours litter.
I'll update this page weekly, so make srue to check back in.
Week 1
The puppies hae had a busy week eating, sleeping, and growing. Everyone continues to thrive.
Cricket has been busy nursing, mothering, and getting rinsed off in the bath tub. She has been busy digging a den for her puppies in a flower bed every chance she gets. Because the weather has recently warmed up and the snow is beginning to melt, it's a muddy mess outside. We come by our kennel name quite honestly.
Even though the puppies don't do much at this point, it has been a very busy week as I keep them supervised at all times. Puppies can easily die accidently if their dam lays on them. My mom cleared her schedule for the week to help me with the younger kids and puppy supervision which was such a gift.
The puppies get nail trims every 3 days. They've also been introduced to some new smells this week in order to give them some etra stimulation while their ears and eyes are still closed.
Week 2
The puppies continue to spend their days eating and sleeping. They are growing quickly and I've been having to let their collars out regularly. I can no longer put them all in the warming box while I clean their pen because of how big they've gotten.
Towards the end of the week their eyes began to open. They are beginning to get their feet up under them and are starting to walk rather than crawl. Nobody has yet escaped the whelping box, but I did catch Red in the act and then added another board to the entrerance.
Cricket continues to be a great mom. She is enjoying taking breaks from the puppies now that they are a little older. In her free time, she likes to head outside to dig a burrow for the puppies.
I continue to sleep in the whelping room at night to make sure nobody accidentally gets squished during a nighttime feeding. I'm counting down the days until I can head back to my soft bed (1 more week!).
Week 3
There were many changes in the whelping room this week. The puppies continued to grow and change. They are walking well now and a few have outgrown their first collars. Their fur is much longer now, and their collars are often hidden behind it. They have been mouthing on our hands, the toys in their whelping box, and the another. While they still spend the bulk of their time eating and sleeping, they are starting to spend some time awake now.
The biggest news of the week is that I introduced potty boxes to their pen early this week and have begun training them to go to the bathroom in them. While it is still very early, there have already been many successes and I'm very proud of them. While it is extra work to potty train them right now, it will be well worth the effort as it will be much less mess for me in upcoming weeks, and the puppies will be half-ways house trained by the time they go home to their new families.
It's been a challenge to get enough food into Cricket, considering the amount of milk she is producing. She's currently eating 3x her normal daily amount, and I would like to increase it even more. Some of the puppies are beginning to show some interest in her food.
Week 4
It's been a big week for the puppies. Towards the end of the week, they had their first solid foods. It was a few days earlier than I normally introduce solids, but milk productions seems to be a bit lower than I needed it to be. They were ecstatic though, and enjoyed meals of both raw food and kibble that had been soaked and blended. Puppies this age make an absolute mess when they eat - so they look a bit greasy in the outdoor photos (which is why they look a bit greasy in the outdoor photos).
The 2nd exciting milestone for the puppies was their first trip into the great outdoors. It needed to be 10 degrees in order to take them out this week, and we ended up getting a last little mini winter, which delayed the first outing longer than I would have liked. As soon as it hit 10 degrees though, we had them outside for their first romp.
Their sharp little puppy teeth have emerged, and they are working on their jaw strength now. They bite on everything, including our toes and one another. Occasionally, we hear a puppy screaming because a litter mate is chomping down on a tail or ear. This is all part of the process for them to learn bite inhibition though.
And finally, the puppies seem to be completely potty trained when in their pen. They were at about a 98% success rate by 3 weeks, which is extremely impressive. They are very smart and clean puppies. Now to get them using the portable potty box in the kitchen consistently...
Week 5
The puppies have continued to be so exceptional at litter training that we expanded their pen early this week. They are continuing to enjoy regular time outside. They enjoyed a number of fun visitors this week, including Liz. Liz (Blazingstar) is co-breeding the litter and came to meet the crew. She helped me take the weekly portraits and we stacked the puppies for the first time while she was here. They're going to need a bit more practice before they're good at stacking.
The puppies have hearty appetites and enjoy eating their solid foods. Cricket is getting up only once during the night to feed them now. I'm trimming their nails approximately every 5 days at this point.
It's hard to believe we're past the half way point now.
Week 6
Week 6 always catches me a bit off guard because there is so much to do. It's been extremely busy around here. This week, we stacked the puppies for the first time and practiced a number of times throughout the week. We've been crate training (so far they are not fans), and the puppies had their first baths. They were also introduced to a Snow Goose wing one at a time, which they thought was a pile of fun. It was sweet to watch them get so excited by the way it smelled and at the feeling of feathers in their mouths. They had new visitors again this week, and enjoy biting toes every chance they get.
There will be many of new things next week as well.
The light blue puppy has had a little bump growing near his eye. I took him in to the vet and was told to continue watching it for now. Hopefully it will clear up on its own. If not, the vet will be able to treat it or remove it, but he's too young to have anything done just yet.
Week 7
We've been busy this week! The biggest news is that later in the week, the puppies were moved from our living room into a much bigger pen in our basement. They now have easy access to an outdoor puppy yard. I'm getting them outside every few hours so they can go to the bathroom out there rather than in their litter box.
We've been taking the puppies out for adventure walks every day. They aren't phenomenal followers at this point, so it feels a little like hearing cats. I keep reminding myself that things are going to come together soon and they will absolutely get the hang of it.
We've also been doing regular car rides, which they aren't very impressed by at this point :)
