We have slowly progressed over the loss of the purple pup. The remaining pups are doing remarkably well. The smallest pups are the pink, white and red dogs which are within an oz of each other and only a couple behind the rest of the pack. The pack moves around the whelp box with surprising ease, at times almost appearing to stand on all four legs. Here is a pic of the pack and mom.
The litter Nursing
…P
Today started out horrible! One of the puppies passed away. I found the puppy with the purple collar, dead underneath the rail at 7am. I last checked the puppies at 5am and all eight where fine. I’ve been sleeping on the couch next to the whelping box for the last four days. I found the puppy under the rail behind Wendy, but it should have been protected from Wendy accidentally laying on or rolling on top of it. We were very upset. The purple bitch appeared healty and active, so it death is a mystery. Just the day before I had spoken to Deb about watching out to make sure Wendy did not roll onto a puppy. When I checked the puppies at 5am, I physically counted all eight and had to move one out of the corner to get the full count. My daughter had named this one Mason, after JMU where she is a student. I don’t have the heart to tell her.
The rest of the puppies are fine, gaining from .5 to 1.5 oz each.
…P
We made it through the first night. I got a few cat naps in between checking on the puppies. Took their weight and most gained from .5 to 2.0 oz, except for the white puppy, which held it’s weight constant at 16 oz. The puppies look great and eating well. None appear sickly and all are moving around the whelping box. Here is a picture of each puppy in order of there birth
Bitch, born at 4:57pm, Wt 15.5 oz
Dog, Born at 5:25pm, Wt 17.6 oz
Bitch, Born 5:44pm, Wt 14.8 oz
Bitch, Born 5:56pm, Wt 16.0 oz
Dog, Born 6:56pm, Wt 17.3 oz
Dog, Born 7:28pm, Wt 16.0 oz
Dog, Born 7:59pm, Wt 13.0 oz
Here they are all together.
All puppies taking a nap
Here is the litter and Mom lined up!
The feeding line
…P
Wow, what a day! The event started Friday evening when Wendy’s body temperature drop of 1.2 deg F from the morning reading. Around 10pm, Wendy started nesting in the whelping box. She moved the towels around the inside perimeter of the box and she started digging into the floor. Around 12:30am she started panting and was very restless for the remainder of the night. In the morning, her temperature had dropped to to 98.5 deg F.She refused food and made multiple trips to the potty to clear out her colon. At around 4pm, after a trip to the potty, she had stringy fluid discharge from her vulva. The cervix plug had come out. At 4;57pm, the first puppy was born and the last, eight, puppy came at 7:59, very unexpectedly, since we only saw seven on the X-Ray. Her is a picture on mom with her litter.
Eight Puppies Born, 4 Male and 4 Female
The puppies weight ranged from 13 oz for the last one born to 17.6 oz for the first male born. All look heathly and moving about very well.
…P
On Monday we went to Dr. Dove for the pre-whelp X-Ray. Wendy’s weight was 80 lbs or about 10% more than normal. The Dr took three X-Ray views and it appears only seven puppies could be discerned.
Today we visited Dr. Dove for Wendy’s ultrasond exam. I would have been happy with 4-6 possible puppies. In the first ultrasound image there were 4 embryo masses visible, see image below.
After further exam he found four more for a total of 8. If we’re lucky, maybe all will develop and produce a healty litter. The due date is November 28. We have an X-ray scheduled for November 22nd to determine the exact number. Check back for more information over the next 5 weeks.
…P
Well it’s been a while since my last post and alot has happened. The last few months has been frantic getting ready to breed Wendy. I evaluated many stud dogs and narrowed my search down to two from several handsome and accomplished dogs. Special thanks to Sussie Karlström from Kennel Almanza for recommending Sune and to Ulla for recommending Bamse from Kennel Gunways. More about Bamse in later BLOG postings.
In July, I contacted Tomas Casserborg, in Sweden, about a breeding with his Flat-Coat, CH Almanza Wild at Heart, “Sune”. He agreed to the breeding, but summer in Sweden is vacation time for most and Tomas’s girl friend was expecting their first child, so other priorities took precedence. By first of September, it was time to press forward in earnest. I had estimated Wendy’s next heat would come after labor day and I wasn’t sure if the collection would make it in time. On the 14th, Tomas informed me they had located a bitch in season to stimulate Sune and the collection was planned for the 15th. On Sept 18th, Wendy went into heat. This was going to be close. We starting measuring Progesterone levels immediately, See Graph below, to see how the cycle was progressing.
I had previously decided to work with Dr. Robert Dove of the Companion Animal Clinic in Gainesville, VA for this breeding. Dr. Dove has a great reputation as a reproductive vet in our area. Based on Wendy’s progesterone readings, the Doc and I agreed that the evening of Tuesday the 28th and Wednesday the 29th would be the best times for the AI with frozen semen. Only the collection was still in Sweden!
The shipment left Uppsala, by FedEx, on Monday afternoon Sept 27 and made it to Newark Airport by Tuesday morning EDT. Everything was moving along great. Then a clearance delay threaten to hold everything up. I immediately got on the phone with FedEx to help resolve the paper work issue. I managed to provide them the missing information, but then was told the shipment would have to wait until a Custom’s Agents arrived that evening. I found a very helpful supervisor, at FedEx, that managed to find an agent in the morning to release the package. By then however, we had missed the daily shuttle flight from Newark to Dulles. Again, I pleaded with FedEx to expedite the shipment and they agreed to have a courier drive it to Gainesville, VA directly. Wow, I’ll never ship with anyone else again. They estimated the shipment would arrive about 6pm that evening and by 6:15 the driver was dropping off the container at the vets office. Wendy and I were there waiting. Thirty minutes later, we were done with the first breeding and on our way home.
We returned the next day for the second breeding and now we wait until Oct 25 for the Ultrasound exam to determine is Wendy is pregnant.
…P
On Saturday, July 10th, Morgan was awarded his final point to complete the AKC breed championship at the Upper Marlboro Kennel Club Show under Judge Elizabeth Muthard. He recieved his final point by defeating two very nice regular class dogs. He also went Best of Winners. I could tell he was also happy to finish, because he kept wanting to chase after the photographers squeaky toy and wouldn’t hold still for his picture.
I am very happy to finish both dogs this year. I am not fully conferable in the breed ring and would rather be out in the field training or trialing. There are to many variables out of my control in the breed ring. With Morgan, however, it was actually fun and I looked forward to the shows.
I now have three Flat-Coat Champions living at home, all healthy and resting at the moment. At least until I get up from this chair.
…P
On July 4th, 2010 at the Rock Creek Kennel Club Show, Morgan won Winner’s Dog and Best of Winners under Judge Thomas J. Feneis. Morgan was awarded the cross over points from the bitches major. I spoke briefly with the judge while waiting for the show pictures and he said Morgan had a very nice head, good topline and smooth movement. Morgan now has 12 of 15 points required for breed championship and both major wins.
…P
At the Chambersburg Area KC Show on Friday 4/11/08, Wendy took Reserve Winners Bitch under Judge Betsy Horn Humer. However, Wendy did not place on Saturday at the Harrisburg KC Show. The judge was Wendy Willhauck (Provisional) with only one previous judging assignment for Flat-Coats.
…P
