Hello!!
Last Wednesday Chelah gave birth to 7 beautiful red and blonde puppies!! :D Puppies are generally born between days 56 and 63 of their gestation period. During that time we keep a close eye on Chelah. At 5am on the 15th she woke me up. She was going into labor. She did a bit of nesting in her whelping box, which she went to all by herself - good memory! ;) She also did a lot of resting that day. The first puppy finally arrived at 5:35pm! A female, red, and weighing TEN ounces! (That seemed big!) The next 4 puppies came one per hour and weighed 8oz, 7oz, 8oz and 5ounces. If you've read any of the other posts, you know that Chelah always gives birth to one puppy outside. This litter was not any different. Chelah left her whelping box and I followed her outside. She probably had to pee, but she also gave birth to a 5oz. puppy. (Who we will later name Little #2) Twenty-five minutes later she gave birth another 5oz puppy who struggled right away. He had trouble latching to nurse. This is where my husband and our granddaughter stepped up and worked and worked with "Little #1". Meanwhile, Chelah gave birth to the last puppy fifteen minutes later weighing 7oz. By 10:30 Chelah got her bath and we settled in. Our granddaughter who helped with all of Chelah's litters <3 agreed to sleep on the sofa in the whelping room (normally known as my "quiet room"). She got up a couple of times to check on Chelah and making sure the Littles were eating. Shortly after the stuggling puppy was born my husband ran to town to get formula to supplement with a syringe if necessary. We tried some formula right that night. In the morning I was relieved that Little #1 had lived through the night. Throughtout the next day we stayed by their sides and tried to supplement Little #1. At that time Little #2 seemed to be holding his own, although I always made sure that he wasn't being pushed out by the others. On Friday morning I noticed that Little #2 was struggling. I was shocked! Had I not been diligent enough to make sure he was getting in there to drink because I was so focused on Little #1? I supplemented them both at 8:30am. I already had a scheduled appointment with our veterinary to have their dewclaws removed at 12:20 that afternoon, so I requested a consultation also. I packed all 7 of the puppies into a canvas bag and off we went with them over my shoulder. At the vet clinic the technicians and the office staff got to ooh and ahhh over the tiny, quiet puppies. :) The doctor checked out Little #1 who had a weak heart rate and fluid on his lungs. He checked on Little #2 as well. He then advised me how to give them the best chance. He gathered some tools (Dextrose to give them a boost before nursing so they would have energy to nurse, and additional puppy nursing bottles) and a reminder with a chart about how much and how often to feed them supplementally. That night I was planning to sleep in with the puppies, but at 1am I was in tears. They had both lost weight and were starting to be more unsettled. They had been quiet like the others up to that point. I woke up my husband who very kindly got up and patiently knelt down beside the puppies trying to get them to latch and praying silently over them. I sat in the rocking chair shedding some tears of discouragement (and maybe a little emotional exhaustion?) and doing my own praying. Friends of ours and friends of theirs were also praying for the puppies. <3 For the next 2 days we tried everything. My husband was on night duty Saturday all night as I was "on duty" for my parents who needed around the clock care this week due to a surgery. On Sunday morning when I got home the puppies were crying. :((( They had been crying and my husband had been doing all he could including just holding them close to him. They looked kind of pathetic. And they were suffering. :( Thier lack of growth compared to the other 5 who I barely had had a chance to pay any attention to was so visible. We discussed (maybe I should say that we agonized over) what to do. Do we let them suffer or take them to be euthenized? Would they die within an hour or suffer for many hours or all day? We called the on-call vet was already at the clinic with ohter emergencies and could fit us in since we were only 5 minutes away anyhow. We took both puppies in and in tears watched her give them pain medicine. They settled right down and a few minutes later she euthenized them. It was very emotional and our vet was very kind and empathetic. It was also a relief to not hear them suffering. It has been a very emotional several days. As for an update on the others, our daughter Briele will be posting pictures for us tomorrow when she gets a chance. (She has 4 little children of her own and 2 CUTE puppies - "granndoggers" of Chelah, actually) :D They are all doing beautifully. Yesterday they weighed between 9 and 13 ounces! I weighed the smallest one again this morning (maybe a little obsession or PTSD kicking in here?) and he was up to 11.1 ounces today. (Whew!) It's been lovely to be able to sit and spend time with the 5 sweet puppies that we now have. 2 are already spoken for, but we and Briele still have puppies who will be ready to go to their new homes in July and June respectively. You can get ahold of us on our Contact Us page if you're looking for the best dog ever. ;)
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We believe that our Chelah is expecting her last litter. After this she will be retired. Less work and more going on walks and outings with us!! :D
We're hoping that new puppies will arrive between May 14 and May 21, 2024. Let us know if you're interested in getting on the waiting list. You can see our contact email and phone numbers under the MORE tab and under CONTACT US. Look at these sweet babies! I have to tell you about the delivery of these puppies! On Sunday, we had relatives here from Colorado, so we went out to brunch. I had taken Chelah's temperature and it was dropping. But that could still mean a few days wait. Plus, puppies are usually born around Day 63 of their gestation. Sunday was Day 60. We had a few things to do that day, and weren't super concerned about Chelah because she seemed her normal happy (and excited) self when I mentioned going on a walk! To be on the safe side though, we asked our granddaughter (Gdtr) who lives within walking distance to check on her now and then. I had complete confidence that she could totally handle the whole birthing if necessary. (She's 13 years old and has helped me with every litter of Chelah's.) We got home at 5pm and I took Chelah with me to take a short nap. After about an hour I was woken up by some noise of other family coming over to watch football. I took Chelah out and it seemed that she was pushing! That didn't make much sense because it hadn't been preceded by several hours of normal labor signs like licking, panting, digging... She came back inside, did some digging in her whelping box and seemed pretty restless. I followed her around the house for just a few minutes and we went back to our "Quiet Room" where the whelping box is. By 6:30 she simply (and quickly) pushed out puppy #1. I was amazed! The Colorado company missed seeing the puppies by 2 hours. :/ They were pretty excited for us, as they had been home before us (around 4:30) and picked up a little liquid on the floor. We're all thinking now that that was her water breaking. Puppy #1 (8 ounces) was a brown/red boy. We had used 2 different males to breed Chelah this time, once each. The first male is a phantom merle and quite beautiful with varied colors. The second is Alfie, who we used for the last litter. All of his puppies look like him: Red. After 2 hours, a brown/red girl (Puppy #2. 10 ounces) was born! Followed by another brown/red boy (Puppy #3. 7 ounces) just 10 minutes later! Another 2 hours went by, family went home but (Gdtr) stayed with her overnight bag to help me out. At 10:35 Chelah wanted to go out. (Gdtr) and I followed her with a flashlight and papertowels. Yup, she had Puppy #4 outside. (8 ounces) (Why does she always have to have one outside?!? It wasn't even out of it's sac when she scooped it into her mouth and we followed her up the stairs and back through the house to the Quiet Room. This one was a darker brown/red girl!! 45 minutes later Chelah gave birth to a tiny (relatively speaking) girl. (Puppy #5) She weighed 5 ounces!! (These newborn puppies can fit in the palm of your hand.) And ten minutes after that (We think! Things were happening pretty fast!) another boy, (Puppy #6) was born. All brownish/reddish! And then in another ten minutes, at 11:50pm another GIRL was born! (Puppy #7) In the January litter we had only 1 girl, so we were happy for more. (By the way, one of the puppies from that litter was also born outside - in about 5" of wet snow!) We only had time to weigh puppy #7 who came in at 6 ounces. Well, it was getting late. (Insert a yawn) All was well. 7 puppies is quite a large litter. We were plenty pleased. But we could feel at least one more puppy...we thought. We thought about resting, or (Gdtr) crocheting...and finally (Gdtr) went to bed. But not for long. It seemed anytime we would think about doing something else another puppy would be born. So, I quickly turned on the light in the hallway to alert (Gdtr) and at 12:45 another girl (same color again) was born. (Puppy #8!!) While (Gdtr) was suctioning out that puppy's nose and mouth, I said to her, "Do you have the newest born puppy there?" Because there was ANOTHER one!! I don't even know the time of the birth of that one! It was crazy. (Puppy #9) Another boy weighing 8 ounces. Wow! I feel so blessed and humbled. I had been praying for these puppies because Chelah has recently turned 7, and I didn't have any idea how this would go. She did seem larger earlier than usual...what did it mean? Would there be more? Would there be less? Would they be larger, smaller? Would there be any trouble? Trusting God is a learning process, and I personally go back and forth with letting my concerns go, and picking them up. As I thought ahead to even breeding her again I thought and prayed about the decision. But, there are still no guarentees that everything will go fine...which is why I am humbled. This litter is beautiful and perfect. Every puppy is doing so well, and Chelah is amazing. And I still got most of a good night's sleep! I even took my mother's advice to let God watch over the puppies and to go to my own bed and sleep the rest of the night. Everyone did FINE! My husband checked on them before he went to work allowing me to sleep in a little. This is one of my favorite times - their first few days - when the Mamma does all the work ;) and I keep a close eye to make sure that everyone is eating. I am equally blessed to have a son-in-law who can hold down the fort very well at our other business so that I can devote time and attention being home with all of the new babies and my sweet Chelah, making her eggs and chicken and giving her lots of usual love. This is the first time that Chelah left the puppies long enough for me to get a photo of just them!! :D
We are SO looking forward to having another litter of puppies!
We are especially excited to see what colors we get this time. We used Alfie, (red color) to breed Chelah with on the second day, (Same stud as the previous litter) and Vegas (who is a phantom merle) on the first day. The puppies are expected in the last week of THIS MONTH (September 2023). It's been since January that we've had newborn puppies, so Chelah has been hanging out with us this summer at the pool and recently on the boat, besides taking walks with me (and sometimes our neighbor and her dog) almost every day. <3 Some of our dear friends got our only female from the January litter. They visited us this summer, so Luna also joined us on our walks and training sessions. She is beautiful and STRONG!! She was also full of energy, but totally housebroken. Chelah and she got along quite well, although Chelah did take on the "mom role" a couple of times and put Luna in her place. I am so excited to share that Chelah had 7 beautiful puppies one week ago today. <3 We used a different stud this time and got ALL red (some are blonde/red) puppies. It's going to be a litter harder to tell them apart this time! There are 6 males and 1 female.
Chelah did AMAZING during labor and delivery. We also had good help here from my granddaughter who is 12 years old. :) Three of the puppies have deposits at this time, but 4 are still available. They are one week old today, as i said, and they are growing every day. It's been a busy time, so I was a little slow at getting pictures up here. Check them out under Available Puppies!! This is the weekend that our 9 puppies have been and are going to their forever homes.
We have been so happy with the families that are taking the puppies!! It will be bittersweet making the nursery back into my study. I've had such good help from my husband, children and grandchildren to care for the puppies during this busy time. We hope to have another litter when the next time arrives. <3 Today is April 19, 2022 and we have NINE puppies!!
We knew we were expecting a snow storm and puppies last evening! This morning around 5am the first puppy was born. Our granddaughter had spent the night in anticipation of the event. She has been a trememdous help ALL DAY! Chelah was a real trooper. She's an amazing, attentive mom, and birthed these babies easily. This time we sat back a little and watched her do her job. (AKA I was a little more relaxed this time. ;)) All of the puppies weigh between 6 and 8 ounces today. We are relieved not to have a "runt" this time. One puppy was actually born outside. I don't know why Chelah suddenly had to go "out" for this puppy, but I followed her with towels in hand, and we slogged through 5" of wet snow. I "caught" the puppy and we promptly went straight back into the house, although I had to convince Chelah to let me carry it, as she took it in her mouth and was heading back to the house with me. After puppy number 8 was born, I thought she was finished, gave her a bath and settled in. But my granddaughter was right, she gave birth to one more puppy just before noon. All are doing very well this evening. I'm looking forward to a full (more or less) night's sleep. Last night was pretty long. Thanks to my husband and my granddaughter I did get 2 naps in today. Feeling Grateful to God for our 9 extra blessings. Dawn Yayyyy! We are expecting a litter of puppies in about 6 more weeks!! If you're interested in purchasing a puppy, you can get on our wait list by reaching out to us from our Contact Us page.
All of our puppies were sold from the summer of 2021 litter. There is some possibility that we will have a litter in the early winter. Feel free to visit the Contact Us page and send an email to inquire more or get on a notification email list.
We still have 4 precious puppies available.
2 males (mostly black) and 2 females (1 red, 1 blonde with white). Actually, our website was hacked and the contact information had been changed, so if anyone was trying to contact us, about puppies, we didn't know it. Hopefully it's fixed now. :) |
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