The Road to Puppies

Ok, I'm sorry, I really stink!

Sun, 18 May 2008 08:07:19 GMT

I have been so bad....I am a failure as a Blogger but I am doing a GREAT job with the babies!
THey have opened their eyes , are walking somewhat well, they are barking a bit and tonight they were playing with some TOYS!!!
Here are some pics from the last few days.
Emerald girl is well over 7 pounds now at 22 days old; the others are high five and six pounds.

Seriously Slacking in Updates

Sun, 11 May 2008 06:06:53 GMT

Ok, the puppies are now competing in Rally -O..ok, SLIGHT exaggeration but I HAVE been very remiss in updating, I just have so much to do with these little ones, the computer time is short.
The puppies are now 15 days old!
Here are some updated pics though, finally!!!!
The puppies are becoming Weebles ( remember those??)...except they DO fall down.... :) They will have their eyes open momentarily; I can see them TRYING; it is so cute!!

Puppies 9 days old

Mon, 05 May 2008 03:28:52 GMT

Oh, man, I cannot tell you how cute these little buggers are getting; every day getting cuter by the second!
I have so many things I wanted to try to remember to write here, but I'm so overtired etc. I can not really remember them.
But, the puppies just developed "Puppy Breath" in the last few days, and their fur has "puppy smell", which it didn't have before. Also, they are "trying" to open their eyes or so it seems; I've never seem anything more endearing as a tiny 2 ound wrinkled looking head, trying to open it's eyes. I know that's not what they are REALLY doing....but, their little wrinkles above their eyes will work; as if they can't get them open but want to...they are soo helpless and sweet; they slither aroudnt he box; like the Grinch when he is stealing the Who's Christmas tree, in the animated Grinch special. Sooo freaking CUTE!!
Patience is very tender with them she kisses them and worries over them; she is patient when they take forever to nurse...they nurse, then fall asleep; then wake up and nurse again...they push very hard and make slurpy noises...they are growing tremendously, we have several over three pounds and all at least 2.5 pounds as of now.

6 Days old!

Fri, 02 May 2008 00:05:16 GMT

Hi, people who read this blog;
I'm sorry I haven't been on but , well...

PUPPIES!
They are six days old, they are all growing well and Patience is being very cute with them. She spends most of her time in the Nursery with them; not in the box but just outside it; she likes to look in at them once in a while. When we are in the room with them ( which is nearly constantly), we ill have the puppies with her and she is interested in them, she licked a few today even; although she is above cleaning them at this point. She goes to sleep when they nurse on her and we have many long sesions of nursing/ sleeping/ nursings that are spaced out so as to give her breaks to go out, eat and drink etc.
Here are a few pics of the family:

Can't Date this Entry without the help of the computer to tell me what the date is!

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 17:54:09 GMT

OKAY! Sigh!! This is nutty!! It's fun, it's AWESOME, it's really CRAZY how awesome it is...but the hours are TOUGH ; the ringin of alarms every time I fall asleep it seems...nightimes are the worst; but once we're up it's better; and it's great to see the puppies doing better. I was worried at first; they were just so tiny, and P. didn't have her milk yet; ( because remember, colostrum is NOT milk...LOL); they wouldn't take the bottle and their urine was very dark yellow, and they weren't gaining; they were sucking forever and just never getting happy and full etc. But we started some oxytocin injections and her milk came in pretty well; now I think she's good in that regard and the puppies are showing the evidence of that; all gaining now ; all getting round bellies after eating; and yesterday we had the first episode of them eating and dropping off, and falling asleep in between her legs and ample boobs; under chin etc. ( no, camera was in wrong room). Because she had a c section, and didn't go through "labor", she doesn't know what the hell these little parasitic things ARE and why she should care about them. She was afraid of them, and ran away when we went to get her, to nurse them. She made me feel so sad for her; I've never had her look at me the way she did a few times this weekend; she was so confused. I have been overtired admittedly, but it brought me to tears ona few occasions!! But I'm THRILLED to say that each and every nursing gets better in all regards; both in the thriftiness of the puppies and in the tenderness with which Patience is allowing them to nurse. She now falls asleep as soon as they start, and they all sleep together for an hour or so afterwards. But when she decides she's DONE, you better be RIGHT THERE to throw yourself ON the puppies before she crushes them; she gets up like a horse in a stall full of blind geriatric mini -schnauzers. Typical of mastiffs; not a slight on HER at all. Just the nature of the beast. Same with the peeing and pooping of the puppies; she hasn't licked them yet. Thats' ok, at the rate she's going I expect she will. And I'd rather pee and poop them mostly anyway; most breeders do; otherwise how do you know if everyone is peeing and pooping, and what their stools are like etc.? Imagine having a baby and never having the information that the contents of each diaper yields? Crazy. So, sorry if I already said this; but right now she is voluntarily in the puppy room without having been brought by the collar into it. I DID gate her in once she went in; but she is laying down next to the box, chewing her old rubber hamburger, and looking in once in a while. So, off to the shower. I have time to do ONE task in between each puppy session. This one will be hygiene. Next one, food. ( Not for me, for Patience. LOL) Then later I'll have a Lean Cuisine Lemongrass Chicken.

April 25th, Happy Birthday, Opies!!

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 23:26:49 GMT

I can't even write a blog about this; right now!
This is Patience on her way in for her C- section.
We are both exhausted from the stress but happy and having fun with the tiny Opies. There are two boys and five girls. The girls are all bigger than the boys. Don't worry, everyone will catch up I'm sure! But it IS funny!
Here are a few pics! I will try to keep as up to date as possible; but it will be tough. I will also at some point soon, write about the whole event yesterday.
Thanks for everyone'swell wishes!! I'm just SOO relieved she is ok, and it's OVER. Sigh!!

Day 58- ARGH!!

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 03:47:04 GMT

Ok, everything's FINE, but I'm going out of my SKIN basically!! So, today it was going to be a "GO"; we were advised that it would be fine to go ahead and do it today by her repro vet; the last little item we were waiting on was her progesterone from this a. which needed to be below 2.0, and we were all assuming it was just a formality to wait and it would definately be below 2. REsults from am. don't come in til around5 pm, so we twiddled thumbs through the afternoon , with the surgery setup all in place for her, right down to her catheter tape being torn and placed etc....LOL...results came back, 3.2!! It came UP instead of down~!~ So, apparently yesterday's was a fluctuation; we didn't do the section today; she's acting great/normal/ etc. Her temp. has remained the same throughout, exactly the same in fact all week. My luck she'll go into labor overnight!!LOL!! So, we do another prog tomorrow am., and possibly another in the pm. We still don't know when the exact day ( or night!) will be. She's fine though! :)

Day 57- First Progesterone

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:47:25 GMT

Hi all! Well, Patience was very nesty yesterday afternoon and was trying to mother an empty Pepsi bottle.
She was acting sort of nervous, etc.
This am., she had a big string of thick clear mucus ; and the progesterone we did this am. came back at 5 pm and was already 2.1!!!
So, it looks as if she may go a day early, as early as tomorrow! In fact, her repro vet said she would go ahead and plan on having it done tomorrow; it would be "safe" to do so...but if we are willing to hang in there and wait for some signs of early labor, we can do that too..we are sending another progesterone tomorrow am and will get the results by five again. We will either be doing the section at that time ( tomorrow evening ); or perhaps before; if she goes into labor tonight or tomorrow! Her repro vet said she could begin tonight.
She could still be at 2.1 tomorrow, in which case it would probably be Friday. At any rate, it doesn't look like it will hold off til the weekend!
Getting so close!!

Day 56

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:07:50 GMT

Tomorrow we begin tracking her progesterones, looking for the number to fall to around 2.0; which tells us it's time to do the c section.
The blood goes out to a lab and we get the results around dinnertime the same day.

I'll write more after today is over; I have a bunch of little normal chores to do today and will be probably blowing most of them off in favor of laying aorund with P. , which I have been doing a ton of. She is so extra smooshable right now! Can't get anything else done because of her smoosh factor, which is running so very high.

The house is going to hell in a handbasket; and only destined to get worse. LOL.
We did the pond yesterday and the fish are happier (ok, VISIBLE) now. Alexander, my big koi, is 19 inches long this year! Patience was so funny, I'm not sure she's ever seen the fish before for some reason!! When we had them out of the water to measure them, and then put them in buckets while we cleaned the pond; she was ALL concerned about them and nervously looking into the buckets....it was so funny! She was super wrinkled and creeping up to each bucket, peeking over the edge in SneakMastiff Mode....really cute stuff.
Again, the cuteness!! :)

About a week to go.

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 06:38:51 GMT

( How gorgeous is she???)

Okay, well; there's only SO much preparation you can DO; really....before you get to the point where you are just itching with excitement! I'm really exited and also nervous. Patience is beautiful and wonderful; feeling fabulous if a little "stuffed"; but truly seems not to feel uncomfortable at all.
I put the thermometer in the whelping box and have the heat lamp on now, to test it out. As predicted, some cats are finding their way there and enjoying the fry warmer effect.
I am now checking her temperature once a day , too. So far it's around 100.9.
She had a tiny dermatitis on her belly, under her udders ( which are so baggy now, there's no air circulation ). I was amazed that one treatment with some Malaseb pads and Gold Bond powder cleared it all up. Honestly, overnight!
More later.

Day 50!

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:20:56 GMT

(SAD FACE! Not thrilled with the box.)
( Waah!) When I came home, I was actually startled by how big she seemed....her boobs seem bigger than yesterday. I am now contemplating taking an xray on Sunday to see how many are in there; because it is looking more and more like this section may happen on a Sunday, and I would like to know how many puppy resuscitators I will need to coerce into coming in to work on their days off. LOL!
She got a belated shower gift today from one of our docs; a new fleece pad with a puppfy border around it. She is a fleece sucker, so she is nursing on it right now. She is so cute, so sweet and so damn adorable; she just is precious! Now, as well as in general.
Here she was this weekend, in her whelping box...waiting for me to say she can come out. I don't foresee her spending a ton of time in there. She wasn't thrilled with it. Maybe once it has babies in it, it will be more enticing. Or not! We're prepared to do it all, if need be. Whatever her Highness wishes!

The Bar is OPEN;

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:54:46 GMT

...we're just waiting for the PATRONS!! ( or, Patience has her MILK!!! YIPPEE!!!) What a relief for me; I was worrying over what to do if it didn't come "in" in time for the puppies....now I'm hoping this means she'll have plenty! I hope it isn't TOO early.....now, I'll worry about THAT! The other thing, I THINK I saw a puppy MOVE today. Twice. CRAZINESS!! As we get closer, things seem to be moving even faster each day. She is eating really well now and getting very big in her belly. Her udders are really hangy now, and ( evidently) filling with milk as I inadvertently discovered during a session of Heavy Petting that was going on out in the grass this afternoon. ( guilty as charged). The box is usually filled with cats ; it gets lovely afternoon sun and the cats feel like they are in the Fry Warmer at McDonalds. ( EDIT: Luckily I have good friends who know more than I do ! Erica Tortorella ( Lexington Mastiffs) has pointed out to me that what I saw was not milk per se, but colostrum. The actual milk will come down later, after the puppies have had the colostrum. I always thought that colostrum was just "super milk" ; the first milk they get which is full of the anitbodies etc. that they desperately need to have. I didn't know that it really looked different than milk, and was not present at the same TIME as milk...apparently when they have colostrum, the puppies eat straight colostrum and not milk; which is very different from milk..which I DID know; ( raise your hand if you are not confused yet). At any rate, I'm thinking, colostrum = good. Puppies getting colostrum = good. I'm not thinking about milk. Because apparently , that was NOT milk I saw. And, it would be too early for milk. Ok, I need a glass of wine after THAT, to hell with milk anyhoo!

Day 47; the Shower is over!

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 04:08:43 GMT

Well, it's the day after the shower; somehow I am still awake at this hour although very tired! The shower was AWESOME and a highly recommend you all having them for your puppies! We had so much fun, with all of our cool animal friends; had great food ( thank you Sara and Auntie !!); pretty decorations, great and useful gifties; we played a game where we had to clicker train eachother!! It was really fun and waaaaay better than a baby shower, IMO!!
I had some wine, and boy did I WHINE when I had to get up at 6 am to go to work today. Ugh. Luckily it was an easy day; and everything went well at work.
Patience is REALLY starting to look pregnant. We've got about two weeks, or possibly less; depending upon her progesterones and how fast they fall. Ron took some pics of us today and I'll put them up later today.
I also have to take pics of the favors I made for everyone, they are adorable!! I am a regular Martha Stewart. Just don't look at my house. LOL
I can't believe how big she is; in the last few days she's blown up. And her appetite is getting really good; unusual for her.
I can't believe it, here they come, it's getting so close! Sigh!!

Pikachu and friends at the Shower. The pugs are wearing "Mini Owen" and "Mini P." signs. (Yes, we are mentally ill.)
I made this cake for the Shower.. Owen is the one on the left..
She's luscious!!

Day 43

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:24:01 GMT

Here is cute P., she is wearing her pregnancy very stylishly; I think she hardly looks pregnant but friends who haven't seen her in a few weeks really see a difference. She certainly isn't acting any differently, except that she has made herself a little nest under the deck. I told her veterinarian about this development and he commented that he thought that that was DEFINATELY cute.

Day 41

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:26:33 GMT

Ok, the scale is FINE and working great. I guess it is super sensitive, and I was setting it on the floor on a rug. It needs to be on an absolutely FLAT surface ie: countertop. As soon as I did that, it worked fine. Phew!
Patience is so cute, I have to say. Yesterday she was out in the fenced year for wee-wees. I went to get her and couldn't find her!!! I was yelling and running around like a nut. Got Ron out to help...he instantly goes, "Her she is!" LOL. She has apparently begun making a NEST ( thank God we found it) in a terrible place...she could BARELY get out, herself....LOL....she was under the deck, ( a normal place for my dogs) but UNDER the STAIRS she has dug herself a cozy and invisible nest..in which NOT to have her puppies, unbeknownst to HER. Now that we are WISE to her. LOL

We went and picked up the Box....it is soooo beautiful!! I told Nancy, this is the nicest piece of furniture we have now. It is furniture grade wood, stained and very shiny with polyeurethane ( sp??). It has" love marks" from 20 years of little mastiff teeth.
Not only did Owen grow up in it, but his predecessors as well! It has quite a history!!
I am having fun planning for this litter. We have all sorts of high hopes ( which may dissipate as the work load actually becomes a reality, I am well aware!) of all sorts of things we want to do with the babies. Our Auntie and dog trainer Heather wants to Puppy Aptitude Test them; and I have been reading some books on raising performance puppies, with clicker based training from the age of five weeks or so! I would love to have them have a little basis in training when they leave me here.
We are going to do some Rule of 7's type stuff for their social and neurological development as well as coordination and confidence.
I'm going to really try to give them as much of myself as I can, and set them up for success as much as possible!
Ron is working on the Baby Room......the debris field is...smaller.....it will get there, I'm sure; and everything will be in place and ready when it needs to be.
Patience is my bitch; NOT my Virtue!!!!
Here she is at Day 41, relaxing in her bean bed.

Day 38

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:49:40 GMT

Patience is getting thicker looking, I think....she is getting more Booby Hang-Down... This weekend , ron and I are going on a little road trip, to Owen's Grandma's house, to pick up the whelping box and some other items! Owen's puppies will be raised in the same box as their Daddy! Isn't that cute?? Ron has been working on clearing out his ...umm..."office??" for use as "the Nursery". Thank God for Puppies!! His room is a disaster zone; and apparently it has taken Puppies to motivate him to clean it out. I've been working on gathering the different things we'll need. I ordered a scale on Ebay, it arrived yesterday but does not work correctly!! I have emailed the seller and hopefully it will get remedied. Pain in the butt!! And it scared the crap out of me at first, I was epxecting it to work, so I weighed Pikachu who weighs 15 pounds and it said 10 pounds! My heart dropped, I thought, Holy COW, she looks fine, acting fine, how could she have lost five pounds??!!! ( and where is my defibrillator when I need it??) So, I weighed a pound of butter...said 12 oz..then, I tried Pikachu again...10 pounds...zeroed it, tried again, 15 pounds, some oz.!! Anyway, I won't take you through EACH animal; LOL because I DID try them ALL....and none were right. So, need to deal with that.

Day 35 But Who's Counting..

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:04:50 GMT

Well, not much to report lately! We looked at them again today; her repro vet had wanted to have a look again via ultrasound, to make sure she was "holding on" to the puppies and not resorbing them. Last week we saw one sac that was "non viable" or empty looking; and we needed to look again to see that this was not a "trend". The little puppies were all looking good, in their respective sacs, and the "empty" one was gone or at least not able to be found. There appeared to be no signs of resorption. We also saw a puppy we hadn't seen last week, because it was positioned very high up and under/behind her spleen. Dr. HWSRN said that perhaps the "Empty sac" wasn't even really a non viable fetus, but the very bottom of the sac that was holding the High Up puppy we saw today. So, long story short, everything looks totally normal and fine! Patience enjoyed the visit as always; getting handfuls of Dr. Becker's Liver Treats from the big Head Honcho at work; drooling on some people's lunches in the lunch room, and nibbling tiny biscuits while standing still for her ultrasound. Don't be asking me for counts, I'm not thinking about counts and have no concern regarding counts until the babies are all out and Patience is up and awake. I was worried about her not eating well, but Dr. HWSRN very DIPLOMATICALLY and gently advised me that Patience has plenty of...umm.."reserves" , I think he said... and I shouldn't worry about her eating three meals a day at this point. That's it for now. M.C.

Day 33

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:24:15 GMT

Okay, only two more days before the beginning of week 6; and she still really does NOT look pregnant to me! I'm attributing this to the fact that she is a young, lithe filly of a thing who has never been stretched out by a previous litter????
I'm sure she's FINE but I do wish she's look a little more...well, pregnant!

I was supposed to get some pics of her this weekend, but I need a new Sandisk ; for one...and, for two...she looks like she did last week ANYWAY!!!
At least I now know how to add pics to the Blog.
She liked her Mommy Stew last night; then this am. ate only half...she is sunbathing now.
I got some work done on the contract last night and have begun to harass Ron to get the puppy room cleaned out- it's full of his "stuff" right now, which I am neither allowed to throw out or move without his say so.
So, as nagging is one of my talents, I am certainly willing to provide whatever nagging motivation is required!

Tired Just Thinking About It

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 02:58:57 GMT

Okay, for some reason today I am extremely TIRED! LOL
I guess it's been a somewhat busy week and there has been alot of excitement in the air, haven't been sleeping alot as my mind is constantly on Patience, the puppies, all of the stuff I need to do etc etc.!
Patience still doesn't look particulary pregnant, although she looks "nice"; has a fairly full figure ( which for mastiffs is a good thing). She is somewhat persnikkity about her puppy food. I am caving ( this early!!) LOL and am boiling up some nice beef for her; I'm going to make a big vat of delicious and nutritious dog stew to add to her puppy food. When we mix things in, she removes the mix-ins and eats them...stew is hard to remove though, and usually the stew idea works well for her.
Then I'll have some cereal, or one of those frozen pretzels in the freezer for my OWN dinner.
I thought I felt a puppy last night!! Hmmm....

Day 30 of Pregnancy

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 05:08:35 GMT

Okay, we are at Day 30 today. According to a timeline that Sherry sent me, which she got from someone else, who apparently breeds chihuahuas...during this week ( or more succinctly, from days 29-35) the puppies will develop toes, whisker buds, and claws. The fetuses will begin to look like dogs, gender can be determined; eyes close ( previously they were open).
Patience is still acting normal, we are waiting for her to realize that she is in a delicate state; but we are not expecting her to slow down much. She has two speeds; ON and OFF.
This weekend I will be putting together the contracts (GROAN, God help me!!) I can't tell you how I've dreaded that, like homework. LOL
The other news is that my best friend and doggie Auntie, Heather, is throwing a Puppy Shower for Patience!!
Any ideas on decorations, favors , or things we should ask for as gifts; appreciated!
What can you never have enough of ( besides puppies) when having puppies? Ok, besides SLEEP ....
Here is baby Gorgeous herself, resting her big head on my lap and looking at me adoringly....or wishfully.....hoping I'll put another Cheeto garnish on the rest of her dinner, so the poor dear can eat. Sigh. Later dudes!