Lots of visitors...

The magicians had six visitors today. Sandy and her daughter, Samantha, arrived first. All of the puppies were full of energy and would rather be eating than be held and kissed. Judy and her daughter, Robin, and grandson, Ben, kept them busy for a few hours and by the time Goretta arrived they were so tired that when you picked each puppy up and it snuggled into your hands and just kept sleeping.


Here is Ben with Mr. Blue.


You will have to guess who is who - the collars got tight so we took them off. Don't worry we know which puppy is which :)


Samantha and Sandy holding Ms. Purple and Mr. Blue respectively.

The best day yet!

Today was a very relaxing day. Marcy took all the dogs home except Drake. Dart's temperature was down to 101 and stayed there all day. All of the puppies are eating well, gaining weight and really energetic - getting up on all fours to get around the box. Their eyes are beginning to open so we will not be using any flash cameras until their eyes are totally open.
You can see from the photos above - purple on top and yellow below - how relaxed the puppies are :)

Dart is being a wonderful mom. She lets Drake into the room, she even allows him to check out the whelping box, but keeps a careful eye on him.

Sandy came to visit and groomed Dart and Drake while she was here. Later in the day Karen Lechner came to visit (don't tell Goose he missed her - she is a favorite of his)

Hope we are not boring you all to death with all the photos - check out the new ones!

The Ups and Downs

Right now the ups and downs have to do with Dart's temperature. Over the last few days she has been battling a low-grade fever. We put her on some meds and are taking her temperature every hour and things seem to be under control.

Of course one of the real ups when having a litter is the new friends we make along the way. This weekend Richard, Margrit and Keira came to visit the pups. After they met all six dogs they came in to see the pups. They fell in love with every one of them within a minute. The pups have also had visits from Elise Schonberger and her friend Karen as well as Phyllis Covino who tried to sneak one out in her pocket.

The pups continue to thrive - doing what they do, eat, sleep and get cleaned, which you can see in this video.

Meanwhile new photos and video are up on the smugmug site. Just click on Ms. Pink on the right to access them. Enjoy!

Visitors and gifts...

Sandy arrived bearing gifts for the puppies that she and Lee Clark got along with a few from Anne Paul, too. She showed me all the cute things and we placed them back in the bag and set them to the side. Dart immediately hopped out of the whelping box and stuck her head in the bag and took a toy as if to say, "Forget the kids, I love toys!!!" Here she is with one of them.



Here are Miss Yellow and Miss Pink resting after a busy day with visitors. My mom and dad arrived to visit for a while.
Phyllis Covino, Cindy Groveman and Sandy also spent lots of time spoiling the babies, oh, wait, you cannot spoil five-day old babies, you just revel in them!

There are lots more photos and a few videos posted from today.

All is well...

Yesterday was a busy day. I felt that Miss Pink was not comfortable - very fussy and not wanting to eat much. Off to the vet's office to be sure. The vet felt she got a chill so we spent the last 24 hours keeping her warm to raise her temperature. While Cindy held her on her lap with the heating pad I dealt with another possible problem, mastitis. We put compresses on Dart's rear teats and massaged them to get them more supple. Marcy stayed over and set the alarm to treat Dart every hour last night. The puppies wanted the front nipples, for an easy meal, so we kept either vet wrap or a shirt on Dart so the puppies were forced to nurse on the rear nipples. This morning Dart was much, much better with puppies happily nursing. Miss Pink was hungry and sufficiently heated. When we put her under a towel she crawled out quickly which she would do if she was too warm :)

At this point, except for a lack of sleep, all is well.

Check the recent photos - they have been sorted so the most recent photos come up on the first page.

Enjoy!

And For Their First Trick ...

... as our friend Carol said, the Magicians arrived two days early.

Dart woke me up at 7:12 yesterday morning - clearly she was having contractions. I thought I must be seeing things, because she was not due until Saturday according to our calculation using her LH peak. Marcy was on her way to Hartford, Connecticut, so I called Gayle who said they are probably Braxton Hicks contractions. Having seen Dart's labor before I told Gayle I thought she was in hard labor. Gayle said she was on her way. I then called my friends Cindy Groveman and Sandy Washburn to see if they would be able to come and lend a hand.

Before either of them arrived, at 7:27 Miss Pink showed up, weighing in at 14.75 ounces. Cindy arrived shortly thereafter, just in time to escort Miss Purple into the world, who arrived at 7:59 weighing in 12.25 oz. A little while later Sandy showed up just in time to see our only boy, Mr. Blue, arrive at 8:43. He weighed in at 15.125 oz. At 10:22 Miss Yellow showed up weighing in at 12 oz.

For the second time in a row, Gayle missed Dart's whelping, even though she cleared her schedule early, knowing how quickly Dart delivered the Comedians. Dart has always been a girl who does things her way, and with whelping she is no different. She is an incredible mother.

We look forward to keeping you posted with photos and video of the Magicians over the next eight weeks.

Planning...

Last winter my co-breeder, Gayle Watkins, and I decided to breed Dart (Gaylan's Fly Like the Wind JH AX MXJ WC OD VC CCA) to Renee Schulte's lovely boy, Rocky, (Wynwood's Wild Card SH CCA). We then patiently waited for Dart to come into season. On May 21st I headed to Michigan for the breeding. The drive was worth it since I got to visit old friends, make new ones and watch some talented dogs work in the field.

Dart being confirmed pregnant was the icing on the cake! Dart is due on July 23rd and that cannot come soon enough for me! I just love raising puppies. Dart being a wonderful mother makes the entire experience joyful! While waiting we've been busy training, keeping Dart fit and getting the the room ready for whelping. Check back from time to time, we'll keep you posted...