Cold, cold morning

It's 21 degrees outside.  Everyone is snuggled up inside.  Puppies have just eaten and are almost back to sleep. 

 A bigger dog is crowding into a wee bit of sun streaming into the kitchen...

Some are stretched out on the floor-

It's just good to be inside!

.

Update: Vanilla and pups

Both Vanilla and her two puppies are doing great!  They spend all their time snuggled up with her or each other!

It's happening!

(Taken yesterday)

So it is 8:01 am and Vanilla is in labor.  My plan was to get up early, go into town & do a bit of shopping.... Change of plans!

Now!  I will keep you posted as puppies come.

It's now 9:57.  First puppy had to be pulled out...a breech delivery and a dry puppy at birth.  Bless his little soul- I could not get him to take a first breath after 15 minutes of trying.  Hoping for a live pup next...

Good news!  Next pup born at 12:07 is fine!  A healthy boy marked just like his mom...already nursing.

Next little male was born at 12:57...just fine!

So now nothing new.  It has been many hours and no delivery.  There is a puppy in the birth canal but now it's a medical emergency " failure to progress" and we are off to the vet's office.  I tried several different things after talking with Dr. Henry but we feel the puppy's presentation may be a problem.  It feels like the front legs which should be under the pup's chin are instead back under its belly.  So instead of coming in a diving position Vanilla has to pass it with shoulder blades extended--- close to impossible.

Merry Christmas!!!

Blackie---my mischievous horse.

Little lone girl went to her family just before the 25th and they sent a lovely picture of her with one of the children....such a sweet home.  They were a repeat home, had a puppy years ago from us.  That's my favorite home for a puppy!!  She had such a precious spirit and was so loving.  

  Looks like Vanilla is pregnant.  We saw a few little "dots" on the ultrasound and will prepare for puppies due in January.  Hopefully the weather will be more seasonal than the 80's we are in now.  All the dogs have thick coats now even though the hair is short and today, all tongues are out!   Her first due date is Jan. 15th and her last date is Jan. 22nd.  She is sleeping here on the cool kitchen floor all stretched out and I see her belly is much much bigger.   Hoping for a better outcome than the last litter with a c-section.  She should deliver naturally this time.  Again, Merry Christmas!  Kristina

PS.  Posting some wintry pictures to get me in the mood....

 My old girl, long gone, Sugar.

 Snow at night.

 Salty when she was just a pup.

 Gypsy's first snow.

 Same day with Vanilla--both of these girls were just teenagers!

 Our other horse, Pandora

 All we need is a sled...

 Salty and her pup, Vanilla

 Max in a bad mood 'cause it snowed overnight.

 A little puppy we had several years ago---her name now is Seaweed.

 Spicey was eating snow.

 The morning after a big snow.

 Puppies having fun in the snow.

Beautiful tree all dressed up!

Growing up a little

It's not been too busy with this litter!  Lily's puppy has moved to the kitchen area to get a feel for human life and all that goes on in a family.  She's shy but cute and cuddly.  Of course she has no brothers and sisters to snuggle with and socialize with so we have to be the substitutes for that by holding and loving on her more and more now.  She doesn't know she is lonely and that's some of an advantage for a family who takes her...she will not go through the withdrawal of siblings like other puppies go through when they are separated.  She's about to cut teeth and so soon she will start eating foods....you can see her silly yawn and the little teeth poking through--

Blessed by a birth

Last night it happened.  Lily had her litter, even if it's only one puppy it's still a litter!  Sweet girl had only one.  I'm thankful it went just fine and both mom and pup are wonderful.  I have delivered on puppy in a c-section before so it's way better than that.  The little female puppy was born about 7:30 and Lily went to motherhood like a duck to water.  We waited and hoped she would continue on and at least have one more but then a hungry Lily showed me she was most likely done when she downed a can of dog food waiting for her at the end of labor.  (they normally won't eat during labor--she had refused her normally favorite food earlier that morning --a boiled egg)

It's been a while....

So finally we have confirmed pregnancy in Lily!  

We did an ultrasound and saw puppies we thought, on both Lily and something looking like a pregnancy in Salty but now they are down to about 10-15 days and we definitely have puppies in Lily...Salty...probably not.  Which makes me wonder about her or Max.  Salty has missed a pregnancy a few times, she actually is the hardest dog for me to breed successfully.  She has an irregular heat cycle and very little signs when she is in heat so we almost always are caught off guard when she starts standing.  Max is now getting up in age, he is almost 7 ---I thought he was 8---and his eyesight is failing some at night.  He got out in the dark behind the electric fence and couldn't see the wire. He did have a nasty bite in the eye when he was 5 (Juice, my deceased male dog, bit him in the face several times one day while they were fighting)

 Lily was an easy catch this time.  I felt her puppies moving yesterday.  She will be the best mother dog...very attentive and loving.  We are doing a "profile" on her personality. There is a  website I will link you to -----Dognition----and you can play these games with your dog and it will form a personality/intelligence profile on your dog...VERY COOL and interesting.  So far we found that Lily is very bonded to me (and people) and is very collaborative --she wants my input for solving problems.  I will try to paste her profile:

Now that's nice and small!  Well, if you want to read it I'm not sure how to do that....microscope?  I just wanted to show you the format mainly...its a neat website.  I have only completed the first two games so I don't know her final "score" yet.  Oh and I have a "share" link for that site too...so they can see I shared with friends....invitation from Kris & Lily  (....if two people actually sign up we get a pet hub tag or something free)  

Another dog that is so dear to me is Gingerbread.  We actually call her Little because she was so tiny for so long.  She had a severe case of pneumonia as a teen-puppy and was so close to death that we really always feel she was just loaned to us.  I still wonder what her lungs will look like when she has her chest x rayed  in January.  I would love to raise puppies from her but that will depend on how much she has healed.  I won't put her through that unless she gets a green light from our vet...the scans will tell all.