Elsie is here with us and being her happy, joyful self. The x-ray showed five pups growing and once born I will be contacting my applicants to see who is still interested in a pup. Most of the pups should be black and tan phantoms but we won't know for sure until they are born!
Stay tuned. :+)
Skye has returned to her guardians and they are so, so happy to have their 'little girl' back home with them. Skye and her family will be visiting again on Thursday, (our daughter is her guardian) and I am sure the pups will be happy to see her. :+)
The pups are eating well three times a day and don't really miss their mom as the other girls see them daily, plus our grand-daughters, and our family from California go in the outside pen to play and pat them daily.
I hope all of you are enjoying this marvelous weather - I know we are!
Pics of the pups in their outside pen:
As you can see, there is plenty of entertainment here to stimulate investigation. Nothing, however, is better for these pups then when our four grand-daughters come over to cuddle and play with them. :+)
Pics for their six week old shots continue with the Fourth of July theme and are below:
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| Red Girl weighs 4 lbs. - Continues to be the biggest 'mini' in the litter. |
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| Blue Boy is at 3 1/4 lbs. and seems to have a 'gentlemen-ly' personality. |
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| Green Girl is at 3 1/2 lbs and holds her own with the group. |
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| A 'mini-mini' Brown Boy weighs 2 1/2 lbs. Sweet like a Whoopie Pie. |
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| Purple Girl is 3 lbs. and has a waggy, waggy tail! |
I can't do videos but my sister in law was able to do one and put it on my FB page. I hope the Skye litter owners will be able to go there to see it - wicked cute!! :+)
The pups have graduated to eating puppy food mush. They still want to nurse from mommy during the day when the opportunity presents itself but now I close their gate at night. Skye does not mind at all and is very cooperative about eliminating nighttime feedings. :+) My plan is that Skye returns to her guardian home on June 27th if the weaning goes well.
This week, I will work on changing their potty area. They have done very well but now is the time to step it up a bit and provide them with pellets in a tray now that their poops look more like tiny tootsie rolls. Then they will have short stints in their small pup pen outdoors to adjust to a new setting - weather permitting. The adults will be able to see them through the fencing which provides both stimulation and protection from 'sky' predators like hawks and such.
This week's photo shoot is bringing in the excitement of our nation's celebration of the Fourth of July! It is a holiday we all enjoy. :+)
Well, weren't the pups excited to meet their 'company' today. None were scared or shy. All had wagging tails and happy faces.
They really are so small, they look like 'wind up' toys. :+) Skye loved having more pats from new people and the pups enjoyed every minute of it - I hope their potential new owners did too! :+)
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The pups are just beginning to drink a milk mixture from a bowl. They are not truly excited about it yet but each day they are exposed to it, they enjoy it more. Hopefully, in another week they will be looking forward to it and Skye can then be weaned and go back to her guardians.
I do enjoy watching them play with each other a bit - it does not last long and before you know it, they all collapse for a nap. :+). Some of them actually seek out the potty area to do their toileting as well! Such little creatures doing bathroom duty makes me smile. (the small things in life, huh?)
Lovely day to take pics! :+)
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| Green Girl has just as many curly frills as the Marigold she is next to. 2 1/2 lbs. |
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| Stoic as ever, Blue Boy just posed for me. 2 1/2 lbs. |
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| Just look at those waves on Purple Girl! 2 1/2 lbs. |
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| This little tyke continues to be the smallest in the litter. Brown Boy at 2 lbs. |
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| Red Girl seems to say 'Take the pic already!' Just a smidgen under 3 lbs. |
It won't be long before these pups will be outdoors in the small 'Introduction' pen. I have prepared it already but they are still a bit too small yet. In another week, I think they will enjoy the new playground. Also, our grand-daughters will be here to entertain them! Lots of new experiences coming up!
Today, I put out the pups on the Pup Room floor just to see how they would do. I put down some pee pads so that they would have decent footing. Naturally, Winnie had to come in to visit with them as she is obsessed with these pups!
Thought you might enjoy a few pics of the outing. :+)
It was nice to see that none of them showed any shyness at all being in a strange new footing or space. I was very pleased. This will be done daily as they emerge from neonates to puppydom! Hope you enjoy. Skye is happy to have her own personal nanny in Winnie. They get along fabulously well. :+)
Since Skye has had her babies, our new puppy, Winnie McPhee, has been soooo interested. I would find her staring and trying to mingle with the pups and would shoo her away.
To Skye's credit, she never growled at Winnie but kept a watchful eye on the six month old's curiosity. This is what I captured today.
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| This is NOT Skye, it is Winnie. She just loves being with these pups and routinely goes into the pen to clean and cuddle with them. Skye is delighted to have her personal 'nanny' tend to her pups as she takes a break. Trust me. this is not normal for moms of young pups to allow a six month old pup tend to her litter - most are VERY protective and that is NORMAL behavior. Odd things happen often in the breeding arena and this is one of them. Happily, all are comfortable with the arrangements. :+) |
The pups are doing great in the Pup Room. They wiggle around and have even started to mouth to mouth 'play wrestle'. It is a very cute stage. :+). Momma Skye is doing well and pups are gaining nicely.
Now, I always have visitors come around the fourth week. They are always quite shy at that time but it is good for them to begin to meet strangers. They are 4 weeks on June 15th. I have a graduation party to go to out of town on June 18 & 19, so no visits those days. June 20 thru 23, I can schedule visits BUT our California family is coming to visit with us from June 24 thru July 2nd, so no visits during those days - SORRY! I am planning for pup Pick Up Day on Saturday, JULY 23, so you still have lots of time to come and play with pups!
These pics were taken on my deck when we had a bit of sun this morning.
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| 'Wanna snuggle"? Brown Collar Boy - 1 1/2 lbs. at 3 weeks. So far, the smallest. |
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| 'I am Red Collar Girl - who are you"? 2 1/2 lbs. at 3 weeks. |
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| 'Hey! What are you doing'? Blue Collar Boy at 3 weeks. Weighs 2 lbs. |
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| 'Can we talk'? Purple Collar Girl - 3 weeks and 2 lbs. |
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| 'So, what's happening?' Green Collar Girl weighs 2 pounds as well at three weeks. |
Typically, pups are moved from under my desk in the office, to the Pup Room where the sunlight and room accommodations suit the pups better for development. This happens between 2 and 2 & 1/2 weeks. On Sunday, I had contemplated cleaning up the room and making the arrangements. However, early in the morning, I heard some anxious squeaks coming from my office and checked to find Miss Red Collar out of the whelping pool and on the floor! Well, that kicked up my plans to get them moved asap! So, I went into a cleaning and arranging frenzy and the deed was done in warp speed! :+) Here are the results:
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| Their new bedroom awaits. |
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| Skye enjoys the bigger surroundings and happily jumps in to show her babies how roomy it is. |
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| A couple of pups zero in for a snack. |
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| There is a plexiglas barrier that Skye needs to jump over. This keeps the pups inside and provides a small barrier to detract Winnie from excessively visiting the pups - she ADORES them! Skye had to 'dig up' the bedding FIRST, then jumped over the barrier to take a nap while being able to watch the pups. Clearly, Skye likes to leave a messy 'bed' when she leaves. :+( |
she is indeed pregnant! :+)
Those who have sent in applications and read my AnnaBlog, should contact me via email if you are still interested in having a pup from this litter. Early information is that Elsie will whelp in late June or early July with pups probably going home in early September - THESE ARE ESTIMATES!
I expect these pups to be around 25 lbs. - large miniatures and several of them to be phantom marked as both parents carry the genes for this pattern. Duckie, the sire is a chocolate/tan phantom but Elsie doesn't carry the chocolate gene, so a good number of them may be Black and Tan phantoms like the pup below.
There could be some solids as they did have some apricots with their first mating, but I would not count on it. You can read about Duckie and Elsie's first litter together on the AnnaBlog by looking under the LABELS INDEX on the right - (it is alphabetical). ELSIE X DUCKIE 24. :+)
Sorry for the delay but I was under the weather yesterday and took it easy. Feeling much better today and I am sure all of you are anxious for the updated pics.
All is going well here. The pups continue to gain weight and Skye is doing her job well. She does allow any of the 'house' females to go see her pups and has no fear or concerns that they might hurt the babes. I sometimes think Skye would carry a sign saying 'Help needed to nurse or clean up messes, please apply'! :+). I do find Skye tucked up onto my pillow in the middle of night when she takes a break from the pups but at the first little squeak, she bounds down stairs to check them out. Most of the time, I find Winnie, Daisy or Gunny in my office giving Skye kudos for doing a good job. :+).
I think Skye is of the mind that 'It takes a community to raise a child'.