Welcome to the Hogwarts Litter!

 After an all-night waiting session on Platform 9 3/4, the Hogwarts Express pulled into the station and whisked us off to Hogsmeade station where we were able to help Synnie welcome into the world 3 beautiful puppies! 

You may be asking yourself "Hogwarts? Why this theme?" and it's a very good question. When I entered the world of dog shows, conformation, and breeding, the one underlying concern I heard from many places was "Where's our next generation? Who's going to take over when we're gone?" I made a decision along the way that whatever I learned, I was going to work hard to pass along to the next generation. That means young people who have a passion for everything dogs whether it be training, medicine, breeding, you name it. If I had learned, I would teach them. If I was learning, I would bring them along. As such, through my very good friend Renee (who has been MY instructor in all things dog and is a breeder herself), I've been introduced to several young people whom I've helped and they've helped me. Together we've grown.

Well, it so happens that during this breeding time I happen to have a very young friend whose enthusiasm for all things dogs puts mine to shame (of course she's gotten a head start from her Grandma Cheryl, who is not only a breeder but also a good friend of mine). My Synnie Bunz loves to show and she needed someone with just the kind of enthusiasm that young Savannah has. With Grandma's blessing, we paired the two up and they have excelled in their relationship together. SO much so that I am now minced meat to Synnie. Haha! With that relationship, I put Savannah's name on Synnie so she could take her in the Juniors ring where they both shine and excel together. They have received so many nice compliments from judges and other Samoyed breeders that my heart swells with love. To quickly bring us to the end of this long story, with Savannah being an owner on Synnie, that means that with this breeding, she is now a breeder in the AKC world. She has taken her job very seriously and has been with Synnie through whelping and raising of puppies. I am so excited to be a part of a team with her Grandma Cheryl in mentoring her in this doggy world.

So, enough of that. I know you want to see puppies. So here are some pictures from the whelping day. You will also see in here another Junior I've been mentoring (Lizzy) who is now a freshman in college and is majoring in Animal Sciences. She's not sure yet if she's going to take her education all the way to veterinary school, but I'm sure that no matter what she does, it will be great!

Lizzy and Savannah taking care of newborn puppy

Synnie the good momma!

She loves her AJ because he spoils her!

Facts for the puppies:

• Green Boy : 14.1 oz : born at 11:47 am
• Blue Boy : 14.1 oz : born at 12:07 pm
• Yellow Girl : 11.9 oz : born at 12:17 pm

And to answer the unanswered question "Why Hogwarts?" It's because Savannah's most favorite thing in all the world right now (besides puppies) is Harry Potter. So this litter theme is picked in honor of her. Stay tuned because in a few weeks we're going to play the "name game" and brainstorm some future registered names for these beauties.

Here we go again!

 The health tests have been done. The stud has been chosen. The breeding has occurred. And now, we wait. Our little Miss Synnie Bunz (CH Bilrost's Dark Side of the Rainbow) will hopefully have some little bunz in the ovenz soon. We should know by the end of October if our breeding this week to Blizzard (CH Wintermist's Rock'N On Thin Ice) will bring us the pitter-patter of little paws around Thanksgiving time.

Synnie

Blizzard

Structure and Attitude! These little ones are going to be smashing in the ring!

Firecracker Litter - Week 2

Sunday:

Nine days old today. Can you believe it? Purple Girl had me in stitches last night. For some reason, she decided she needed to do laps around the puppy pile of Yellow Girl and Green Boy. And it wasn't just one lap but several. Definitely too funny. 😉

With today being day 9, we are oh-so-close to their eyes opening! The pigment around their eyes is coming in and I get so excited at the idea of being able to peer into their little peepers. Uncle Chewie decided he needed to bark at their squeaking this morning and had to be warned that if he didn't stop, I was going to put the fleece back in place so he couldn't see. Before too long, these little carpet crawlers are going to be running after him wanting to play. 😂 Won't be so fun to bark at them then. Haha!

Tuesday:

Whenever the little ones start squeaking, I'm turning to the sounds just to confirm they're okay. Today, I turned just in time to see Orange Girl and Yellow Girl coming right over the top of Momma Mars' neck from the back side to the milk bar side (Mars was laying on her side). Oh my goodness! Such smart little girls! They are now happily filling their tummies, waving their little tails in the air.

 Wednesday:

Every morning, Mars seems to like waking the puppies up about 5:30am. Don't know why that is, but she does. She's quiet about taking care of them in the middle of the night. Anyway, this morning when she woke them up, Orange Girl was off exploring and not squeaking about not finding momma and the milk bar. When I looked a little closer . . . I saw she had her eyes open! That's two sweet little puppy girls with their eyes open! Han and Chewie better watch out because these little ankle biters are going to want to play soon. 💝

Firecracker Litter - Week 1

Welcome to the Firecracker Litter!

This litter is special to me because it is the first litter I have done on my own in my own home with only guidance from my mentors from afar. It is also special to me because these puppies are from my heart girl, Mars (Bilrost's Out of this World).

On July 6th, 2019, after a lengthy night of labor, Mars whelped 5 puppies, 2 boys and 3 girls. They were born as follows:

4:00am - Red Boy makes his debut, feet first, ready to take on the world. Right away, he has shown us his Independent Thinker side. When offered a nipple for nursing, he turned it down. Then he turned down a second nipple offering. Putting him down next to his momma, our little man headed straight for the milk bar on his own and latched right on until his belly was full and his momma had licked him clean.

4:55am - Green Boy makes his debut, also feet first. This little guy, landing on his feet, is ready to take on whatever the world throws at him. As the largest of the litter, he was vocal from the start about things, but takes the time to cuddle up to his favorite sister, Purple Girl.

5:15am - Orange Girl comes screaming in head first! She's a confident lady, who loves the pets and isn't afraid to head out around the whelping area on her own. She loves her milk comas as much as her siblings and makes sure she has a front row to the milk bar.

6:05am - Yellow Girl, petite in appearance only, heads into the world. Her arrival was soft and sweet and while she's generous to a point, she has quickly learned the game of milk bar musical-nipples (like musical chairs only at the milk bar) and after being bounced off her nipple a few times, she now holds on tight and isn't afraid to bump one of her siblings off.

6:55am - Purple Girl, gentle and sweet, arrived with smiles and cuddles for all. Her favorite sibling is Green Boy and I often find them cuddling together, basking in their milk comas, waiting for Momma Mars to come along and wake them up with her cold nose and licks of cleanliness.

While there isn't much to see about the puppies right now, they are growing quickly. At 1 week old, they have all more than doubled their weight to over 1.5lbs. They have just started barking in their sleep and their little squeaks are just adorable. In a few more days their eyes will be open and the work that they're putting in right now of getting their legs underneath themselves (yes, you can actually seem them trying to stand on their legs instead of just pushing around the whelping area) will yield them fun romps with each other in all those puppy games that make us giggle.

For your enjoyment, here are a few photos so far:

FIRSTS Litter - Week 6 Photos

It's not unusual for a breeder to take photos of their litters when they reach a point of their early growth when they can stand and you can see the structure of the puppy. And it's also not unusual for them to do this several weeks in a row. Some are even able to do it every week of a puppy's life with them just to document their growth and cuteness. I must admit that things here have been hectic, so we're just now getting the "posed, professional type" photos done. Anyway, without further fanfare, here are the Week 6 photos of the FIRSTS litter.

Niwot N Photo51's Hippocratic Prognosticator (Galen):  [for a very interesting read, look up "Galen" on Wikipedia and read about this early doctor with many firsts]

Niwot N Photo51's First Ride to the Stars (Valya):

FIRSTS Litter - Week 5

Note: all but the last post before this one indicated that there were videos. Blogger doesn't seem to like to put videos in. In the last post and this one, there are links below the videos you can click to actually see the video.

The puppies turned 5 weeks old on Monday. It doesn't seem like that long ago, but then again my brain keeps trying to add a week to their age. I guess that's what I get for being gone for 2 weeks in the middle, I suppose.

In stereo butt wash...

Photos and videos now come fewer due to having to be on top of their every move. These adventurous little ones like to run fast, chew on everything, and bite each other. We had an incident tonight where Blue Girl bit a little too hard on Green Boy's foot. Not the first time they've bitten each other too hard. We do our best to redirect and Mars and Synnie both step in and redirect as well.

Some new milestones for them . . .

We are starting to stabilize a 3-meals-a-day schedule. This helps in being able to sleep all night for the humans. Bedtime is usually around 10pm to 11pm. They eat dinner first, then we wear them out with playtime. When they start wanting to lay down or start wandering back to the puppy room, we put a fresh, frozen bottle of water in their beds and they go and curl up on the bottle for the night. This usually gets us to about 7am, when they're up and crying from their litter box pen wanting out. I made the mistake one night of not latching the pen to the crate and not securing the second pen that keeps the big dogs out of the room. As I was walking down the hall, I saw two little white streaks come running out of the room between the legs of Mars and Synnie headed for the living room where the toys are.

 

Puppies play with Momma Mars

They have figured out chicken wings and are able to pull the meat off the bone. It took them a bit and the first time I offered them last week I think was a bit too soon. They gnawed on them last week, but this week they're putting them between their feet and pulling the chicken off the bone. Once the bone is clean of the meat, they chew on the joint ends with their back teeth until they're tired out and give up. Mars, Synnie and Lilly don't mind them giving up because that means they get to eat the leftover bones. Green Boy is possessive about his chicken wing. When Blue Girl comes sneaking in trying to take it, he gives her a little growl and turns away from her so she can't steal it. He definitely loves his chicken. We started giving them their chicken in Fly's crate where there was lots of room. Right now they are still small enough they can fit through the bars on the crate. Blue Girl, with her first chicken wing of the day yesterday, decided she was going to bring her wing out of the crate and to the toy area. Not only did she get out of the crate stealthily, but she ran like the wind from the crate, through the litter box, to the toy area with her chicken. I didn't catch it at first until I noticed Mars had a chicken wing in her mouth. She had taken it from Blue Girl. I promptly confiscated it and put Blue and her chicken back in the crate with Green.

Being a mom is such hard work.

Both have also figured out the joys of going potty outside. We took them to Amanda's brother's house so they could play with the kids. We were out front in the yard and both puppies pottied and got lots of praise. When we came home, each one got some individual time outside to walk around in the grass and explore. This morning when they awoke from their first nap, I tried putting them in the potty box to go potty and neither of them were having any of that. They both went to the xpen keeping them from going down the stairs and started crying. And the more you ignore it, the louder it got. So, I put them down in the kitchen, thinking that's where they wanted to be. Nope. They sat at the door to the outside and cried some more. Well, that's that then. One at a time, I took each puppy outside to the grass. They followed me around, explored some, picked up a few leaves and shook them to death, and then yep, they went potty! Is there such a thing as self-potty-training dogs?

 "Woooo! I love you, Zack!"

We went on our first outing to visit children. And yes, it was a DRAMA FEST! They cried ALL.THE.WAY.THERE. Then they played with Amanda's nephews for a while and fell asleep. Green Boy found his place on the coffee table and Blue Girl snuggled up next to the couch. When they woke up, we went outside for more playtime. The neighborhood boys came by and spent time snuggling them until the puppies got too cold (is that even possible for puppies who sleep on frozen water bottles?). So we bundled them back up in the car and took off for home. And yes, they cried ALL.THE.WAY.HOME. Reminds me of the nursery rhyme "This little piggy" I used to do with my kids when they were little and I'd grab and wiggle their toes.

A soccer player . . . that's what Amanda said Green Boy reminds her of. When Blue bit his rear leg earlier while rough playing, he was crying OH SO LOUDLY! And he wouldn't walk, would hold up his rear leg and HOWL! Oh! The drama of it! So I put him to bed with his ice bottle so he could rest for a while away from her and 2 hours later, he wakes up and comes strutting out of the puppy room like nothing has happened.  Life with puppies is never dull.

Time to play the name game. If you are on Facebook, check out my page and help me brainstorm names for Blue Girl.

FIRSTS Litter - Day 26

My apologies for the long delay. After 2 weeks of being gone from both the puppies and my employment, I’ve been playing catch up on all fronts including sleep. Hopefully today’s update will bring you as many smiles as I have had this week with them. Some new things you’ll notice in the photos is that there are two puppy beds, one for each puppy. We have also moved from sleeping in a puppy pen to sleeping in a crate, along with a litter box.

It has been a long week of growth, giggles, and small sleeping windows. Mars is producing less milk and the appetites of our little fur balls is growing. They are now eating a ground chuck and goat milk mixture at least 3 times per day. They also have discovered that they have teeth. No one with uncovered toes on the floor is safe. These sharp mouths are also causing Mars to tell them they’re no longer welcome at the milk bar. It won’t be long now and they will be completely weaned. Technically, right now they are weaned and just suckle on Mars for comfort. I think it’s a two way street between Mars and the puppies.

 

Synnie is also starting to play with the puppies more. Blue girl this morning was pouncing and growling at her. Mars is okay with this although she does sometimes try to growl at Synnie while they’re playing. I remind her that she didn’t want to play with them, so Synnie is filling in. They like to tug and pull on the toys and they’re starting to try to explore more. They are both using the potty box, although not always on their own. But simply placing them back in the box and telling them to go potty seems to do the trick. This morning, they both also pooped in the box, for which we had a HUGE party. 

 

Link to Video

With their newly found teeth, it won’t be long now that they’ll be getting chicken wings to chew on (putting the wings in the fridge to thaw now). We’ll also be starting with a small water dish this weekend now that they have the coordination to lap up liquids. This week will also be when we give them their second dose of dewormer, the first dose having been administered 2 weeks ago. 

Link to Video

They are also exploring more. They are slipping out into the hallway from the puppy room at full speed when they think I’m not looking. Part of me is thankful there are only two of them to chase after. Blue girl is rather quick on her feet when she makes the decision to run. She’s also just as stubborn as her momma when it comes to not doing what she wants. I think yesterday she and I had multiple standoffs about the potty box. I put her in. She runs out. I put her in. She runs out. Sometimes she wins. Sometimes I win. 

They both also like to play together. And they take turns playing rough and dirty. I’ve had to get after them both about biting too hard, both legs and ears. And Amanda has had to get after Green Boy for biting Blue Girl’s tail. Neither of them seem to have a fearful personality at all. Heaven help us all. BUT, when it's time for a nap (or bedtime at night), they are learning that with a nice ice cold frozen water bottle or ice pack, dream time comes and everyone has some peace.

Link to Video

And after putting the puppies down for a morning nap today, Mars and Synnie reminded me of what life with Sammies is all about as they played chase up and down the hall (which is a no-no in Mama Amanda’s house) and when I wasn’t looking, I think they slipped into her room to play smack down on her bed. I’m sure this is retribution for keeping them locked in our room last night. But I have to tell you, in doing so, I discovered that the puppies will sleep all night without interruption when Mars isn’t allowed to wake them up. Now I know who to blame for my 2-hours-at-a-time sleeping pattern from this week. Anyway, after their running in the hall while the puppies were trying to sleep, I came down the hall and happened upon this site. No idea what it means and the two of them have left it there all day.