To read about the pregnancy go to Litter 2009.  

March 22, 2009

Only four puppies left from the litter.  Bluette (Light Blue Girl) is going home tomorrow, weather permitting.  She can only fly if the temperature is higher than 45, and the rest of the week doesn't look good.

I thought some photos of puppies and friends from the other night would be something to see - the last of the puppy pack together.

March 21, 2009

Puppies are going home starting today.  Actually one left late last night - Purple Boy "Prince", four are leaving today.   They are ready to go to new homes and Mama Nicki is ready to say "goodbye".  The last 2-3 days she has been really losing interest.

We've been working on housebreaking but it is "hit" and (oops) "miss".  It's difficult to catch puppies in the act when there are nine of them and they sneak into the corners or behind furniture.  The worst offenders are the ones that pee on the beds!  Means I have to do a lot of cleaning of those too. 

I came home yesterday from getting a health certificate for Light Blue Girl ("Bluette") who is heading to to Virginia on Monday and found that they had decided to "eat" the linoleum that I've used for their pen floor.  A very large chunk had been removed and torn up (not really eaten).  This morning I cut off the eaten end and now they have a smaller pen.  But that should be OK, since by tonight there will be four and after Monday only three.

I still have one little girl left.  A nice show puppy.  I'll be posting more info on her later.

March 15, 2009

Puppies got their first shot yesterday, the 5-way puppy shot to cover Distemper, Parvo, Parainfluenza and Adenovirus.  They also now are permanently ID'ed with a microchip.  They were very good puppies.  It was an "assembly line", with me taking 3 crates in my van, 3 puppies to a crate.  They were weighed, photographed, then vaccinated, checked over and chipped.  The chipping is the worst.  It is such a big needle for a little puppy.  Most cried, but were fine 10 seconds later.  Bluette had a broken nail and the vet removed it.  All were pronounced nice and healthy.  The crates were still clean when we got back home - yeah!

Now we countdown to going home time.  First puppies will be leaving next weekend.

March 13, 2009

Puppies are really competing now for food when I put it down and the smaller ones have a hard time getting in there!  I upped the food amount again yesterday.  Just on the weekend pups were getting 4 1/2 cups per meal, now they're getting 6 cups.  It finally seems to be enough (for now).  When I send them home they should be getting 3/4 per meal three times a day.  Floyd and Orange may need a cup.

Puppies have been enjoying playing with and in the big basket here.  In this shot Monty, Floyd and Dandy are sharing it.  Pups inside the basket defend it and themselves from attack by puppies on the outside!

I thought the photo of the four pups was so cute (Shorty, Monty, Blaze and Prince).  What appears to be a dirty spot on Shorty is actually her hair.  I don't know whether it will always be dark or drop out like the dark hair on the tail.  I've been told it's a brindling effect, a legacy coloration in Ridgebacks not seen very often.  Nicki has two spots in a similar area where the hair is a slightly darker red.  But this dark spot is more obvious.

March 12, 2009

I'm thinking of authoring a new Fitness Book - the 8-week Puppy Fitness Plan guaranteed to take at least 5 lbs off and tone up your body without changing your diet or other exercise routines.  I've taken off at least that much weight since these guys were born and have improved my legs (lots of squats) and arms (lots of puppy lifts).  

Still just over a week to go before the first head to their new homes.  They'll be getting their first shots on Saturday as well as a checkup and microchips.

The weather has its effect on puppies.  This morning it was still cold outside so with their first potty break at mid-morning, they came back in within 20 minutes.  This afternoon was different.  They're now exploring the entire fenced area, with Light Blue (Bluette) leading the pack.  At one point I only counted 8 puppies including a recount.  Then I saw her on the other side of the fence going towards the driveway.  She squeezed through the small gap in the fence beside the garage.  Once she saw Jacques she ran right to him.  Thank goodness he was there!  He brought her back and I found something to block the access.  She is always the first puppy to try something new (and usually naughty).

March 6, 2009

It's been a very busy couple of weeks.  The puppies were moved from the whelping box to a pen setup in the main area of the basement.  It took them a couple of days to adjust, but they adapted to their new environment just fine.

Mom no longer worries about them trying to nurse and is now having fun playing with them.  Occasionally, she'll discipline one but they get it.  They have discovered the fun of having the run of the basement, and I'm having fun locating any "oopses" that happen!  They thought paper in the pen was for shredding, and when I ran out and used puppy pee pads they delighted in creating a white storm of torn up padding!  So much for THAT idea.

The pups are now venturing outside and I finally got all nine at once out Saturday morning - just in time for the switch to Daylight Savings Time.   Now it's too dark in the morning again.  But they enjoy being out in the warm sunshine during the day.  In fact, it's hard to get them back in again!

While Nicki enjoys the pups the other dogs still aren't too sure.  I try to avoid putting Sunny into a situation where she's trying to avoid them.  She easily loses her footing now.  Elton dashes out the dog door and as far away from them as possible.  He won't come in if they are out of the pen!  Having said that, he sunned outside with them (although quite a few feet away from them).  Wyatt  tries to play with them one on one.  If he's around several, he makes sure he has an exit strategy.

It was Puppy Central on Sunday, as several families came to visit their puppies, as well as a few friends.  We took an opportunity to stack puppies (easier said than done) and look at structure.  Mostly they were trying their hardest to get all the yogurt they could!

Just one little girl now is looking for a nice home - one that can show her!  Everyone else is placed now.

February 26, 2009

Nicki is now seriously weaning the puppies.  She doesn't willingly let them nurse when they want.  She'll only nurse them once or twice a day.  At the same time, if they try, she growls at them if she can't move away.  Already you can see the impact.  They come up to her for affection, and try for milk second!  Her warning growl is not the same as I've heard her use when she is warning off Wyatt or one of the other dogs.  She's still cleaning up after them, but I'm trying to discourage this behavior!  The puppies are eating solid foods so the nursing isn't crucial.  Having said that, I'm a firm believer in letting mom nurse pups as long as she wants to.  Nature's own is still best and there may be some other benefit to mom's milk even at nearly 5 weeks old.

February 23, 2009

Wow, it was quite a weekend, with six families coming to visit the puppies.  Several are now spoken for, but 4 nice show prospect puppies are still available.  Showing is not the huge Westminster deal or Eukanuba extravaganza you see on TV.  It's generally done at local shows - of which there are many in Colorado.  It's even better with Ridgebacks, since the owner-handler is competitive with the big-name handler, unlike some other breeds, and nearly everyone in the ring is an owner- or breeder-handler!  There is some training required (of handler and dog), but the sport is not as demanding as formal obedience or agility.  And the dogs love getting all that food ("bait") in the ring.

One family brought toys for the puppies, another little girl drew a picture for Nicki and the Puppies.  Brinklee also drew a picture when she and her family first came over to meet my adults.  Three families brought their cameras and took photos.   I'll share a couple here:

In addition, Jeff and Amanda brought their video camera.  See the video Jeff made of their visit with the puppies --> 

February 19, 2009

I started the pups on the next phase of weaning - real puppy food!  But it isn't just dumped in the dish.  Puppy food is soaked with goat's milk and water for at least a couple hours, then blended with egg yolks and a little yogurt.  Then the puppies dig in.  As soon as one batch is eaten I start on the next.  Nicki is beginning to dry up and doesn't really want to feed them any more.  I can't blame her.  They have very good teeth now.  But she's quite happy to clean up the leftovers!  I'm now feeding 4 times a day and that will continue until they go home in four weeks.  Now's the time the work REALLY starts.

They're getting out of the whelping box easily if they want to, but mostly they don't want to - only if Mom is there and they're hungry.  I watched one boy crawl back in - or rather he tried, got stuck halfway and finally pulled himself over after complaining loudly about being stuck!  They're a lot of fun now.  I haven't set up the pen yet.  As long as they're happy in the box, it's easier on us.

For "enrichment" they now have a few toys, but their favorite activity is challenging each other, wrestling and barking.   They also try to keep themselves relatively clean.  When I remove them from the box to clean up, they take the opportunity outside the box to pee and poop.  I have an old dog blanket down, so that's the prime area, but the linoleum works well too in their opinion.  A couple more weeks and we'll try to get them to follow us outside.

February 16, 2009

I've added photos of each puppy to the Puppy Pics page today.  They gobbled up every spec of food in the two feedings today.  I made the puppy gruel thicker with more baby rice cereal starting last night.  They definitely liked having more substance.

Mom likes playing with them now that they don't pester her all the time for food!

February 15, 2009

The puppies nails were getting hooks on the end and doing a nice job of scratching each other, Mom and us!  This afternoon we got the nail clippers out (human type) and cut back the nails on each puppy.  Some puppies were very calm about the whole thing and others put up quite a fight.  Purple Boy was the biggest "wuss".  

Yesterday Patty came over and we checked each puppy for dermoids.  She's as pleased with this litter as I am.  We didn't find any, but there is one pup she's a little suspicious of, so we'll keep checking that one. 

Now that their "puppy fuzz" is falling out and their coats are changing it is easier to see the quality of ridges.  The biggest boy - Pink Floyd - has one crown well down the ridge, so he's going to be a pet pup.  A couple of other ridges may turn out imperfect but it's still a little hard to tell.

February 14, 2009

Puppies turned three weeks old yesterday.  They're now getting "puppy gruel" 3 times a day.  They don't finish it all off.  Mom takes care of the leftovers and makes sure the food is cleaned off each puppy.  Puppy gruel consists of goats milk, yogurt, egg yolks and baby rice cereal.  The big dogs get cooked egg whites.  Everyone loves puppy weaning time!

Nicki sometimes allows the other dogs to come in and visit, but I only allow it when I can supervise.  I prefer to make sure everyone stays nice while I can watch.   Nicki spends a lot of time with the rest of the pack.  This will become more the norm.  She already doesn't like staying all night with the pups.  I have a cardboard box in the puppy room that I used to put them in while I cleaned.  They're way too big for it now, but Mom has now torn it up a couple times in frustration overnight.

The biggest puppies are now 5 lbs, but all are gaining weight nicely.  Their heads are becoming more like a little dog's and their expressions are wonderful, with ears forward now and eyes wide open.  Some of them have very dark faces (masks).  I'm a little surprised at this.  While neither Nicki nor Remy are particularly dark faced, it is in Nicki's lines (see her brother Wyatt's photos), so I guess it's a dominant trait.   Several have become very good at exercising their lungs if they're unhappy about something.  It's beginning to get easier to distinguish each one and look for features that will make some contenders in the show ring.  But they still all look really great on the whole.  Their teeth are definitely coming in.  No wonder Mom doesn't want to stay with them!

February 10, 2009

Puppies are really getting around now.   And getting very noisy when they don't get FOOD.  They've started licking and chewing on things (like my fingers) even though their teeth are just beginning to come through.  I'm going to see if they can lap tonite.  I'll whip up some puppy weaning formula and do each one individually.

Puppies at play!

February 7, 2009

Puppies turned two weeks old yesterday.  They are definitely beginning to motor around and if Mom gets near them, they clamor for food.  They can throw a real tantrum too!  Blue girl is very good at this.  They are playing together a little and still like to form that triangular puppy pile in a corner.  When I weighed them today, the smallest was just under 3 lbs.  The biggest is now Pink boy, by a hair.

Individual puppy pics are now available here.

February 5, 2009

As of this morning only three puppies still hadn't opened their eyes.  But they're beginning to get up their feet and interact with each other - you might even call it play!  But Mom is still the main draw.

Mom spends less time in the box with them now.  She cleans and feeds them, but may spend a couple of hours hanging out in my office with the other dogs.  She's doing a lot better after her bout of sickness.

When I cleaned the box this morning, I put down a couple of towels on the floor to give them a different experience.  A couple strayed off the towels onto the linoleum, but could not get traction.  It's good for them to try out different surfaces.  Here's pictures of them on the towels, then back in the box.  It was so funny how they huddled into this formation on the towels.

So who's in what collar?

Black - Girl
Blue - Girl - she's dark and has a great big white patch on her chest
Yellow - Girl - has the short ridge making her a pet quality puppy for sure!
Light Blue - Girl - she looks like the dainty one.
Orange - Girl - BIG girl, but very nice too.
Green - Boy, has a white patch
Pink - Boy (sorry about the collar!), also has a white patch
Purple - Boy
Red - Boy, also with a patch

February 3, 2009

Puppies are growing, growing!  As I'd expect.  Orange Girl now tips the scale at 3 lbs 2 oz.  The smallest is 2 lbs 3 oz.  But all are gaining weight.  Puppy size doesn't equate to adult size necessarily.  "Pixie" from Sunny's second litter started life at 8 oz, and at four weeks still wasn't 3 lbs, but he became Wyatt and tips the scales at 97 lbs.   Nicki was about 2 lbs at this age.

Nicki herself wasn't feeling very good yesterday.   She got a bad case of diarrhea, then vomited twice yesterday morning.  She had to have her sutures removed anyway so we checked her out at the vet's.  She's now on pro-biotics (can't give other medicine when she's nursing), and seems to be doing better today.  I wasn't happy spending two hours early yesterday cleaning up.  I think she really needed to go, wasn't able to leave the puppy room, then stressed out about the entire affair.  I cut her food back to 6 cups for now since it's likely that her system can't cope with all the additional nutrition.  I'll watch her to make sure she doesn't get too thin.

I've been checking for dermoids.  No sign of any so far.  The puppies' eyes look like they'll be opening any time now.  It's typically day 12-14 in my lines.

Yellow Girl's (aka "Shorty") eyes opened this afternoon.  She's the smallest.  I don't know why but the smallest always seems to be the first to open their eyes.

January 30, 2009

Happy week birthday to these pups!  Puppies got new collars last nite.  I tied rick-rack on each one.  Mom is now spending time away from them.  We "stole" a puppy at a time from the pile and held it while we watched TV nearby as she slept in the box with the rest.  The more handling they get, the better.  Mom is also getting better at letting me pick one up while she watches, but I still have to crate her to move them around and clean the box.

January 28, 2009

The stretchy bands will have to be changed out in the next couple of days.  Already the pups are out-growing them.  Every pup has gained 4-5 ounces and one has gained 7!  What a pig.  A boy of course - Red Boy.  But he isn't the top contender.  That title goes to Orange Girl who is now over 2 lbs.  It's so nice when everyone is thriving.  They have very good lungs and are beginning already to growl a little and maybe bark.

Mom cleans and feeds and is feeling pretty good now.  She's also quite hungry now up to about 7-8 cups of food instead of her usual 3.

January 26, 2009

This morning when I weighed the puppies, I found that each had put on anywhere from 2 - 4 oz. since Saturday.

Of course today was the coldest it's been for quite some time, and I had the puppies scheduled at the vet's for a look over and dew claw removal.  The logistics of getting infant puppies away from Mom for a couple hours takes planning.  I gave her a lunchtime meal in her crate (in a room away from the whelping box), then closed the door and put the puppies in a box.  Before that, I pulled the SUV out of the garage and started it, putting the heater on maximum to warm it up.  The boxed puppies went out another door where Mom couldn't see, were put into the SUV and away we went.  No complaints from Nicki as I left!  By the time we got to the vet I was ready for short-sleeves, the SUV was so warm and toasty!

Each puppy was checked by the vet.  No immediate health issues were seen.  Fat, happy and complaining as they had the dews removed.  At this age, it's relatively painless, since the bone isn't calcified yet.  Each puppy went right back to sleep in the puppy pile.  I started the SUV again, paid the bill, then took the puppies home again.  Within 90 minutes from leaving the house, the pups were back home and Mom joined them in the box giving each one a cleaning and check over.

Nicki is being a very good Mom, doesn't leave them often.  These first couple days I have to drag her away to go potty.  She has no problem leaving them briefly to eat!

Later that day

Rather than use rick-rack, I found a big assortments of stretchy hair bands that fit just great over the puppies heads and around their necks.  After banding them all, I then weighed each one and looked at ridges and other markings.  All puppies weighed between 18 and 22 oz.  Very nice size.  At the vets we thought we had 6 girls and 3 boys, but I just noted down 5 girls and 4 boys.  All the ridges are really nice except one short one and possibly one single crown.  Now that they are dry it's hard to see the definition.  When the bands get too tight, I'll take them off and revert to rick-rack.  By then I won't be fighting Mama Dog to look at each puppy.  In a few days I'll check for dermoids.

January 24, 2009

Puppies are now a day old!   Here's the first photo of new Mom Nicki and her family.  All are strong and healthy.  Every puppy has a ridge and a couple have some nice white markings on their chests.  When I picked them up this morning to clean, I was amazed at how fat they already are.  Can't wait to see what they weigh.