puppy happenings portuguese water dog

The last 24 hours has been a challenge for the little ones. It started with one getting loose stool then led to all of them having some level or another of diarrhea. Which is horrible for the puppies. We spent yesterday at the vets and are giving antibiotics to mom and pups. Its amazing no one can tell you what it is. Its just a bug, milk from the mom, something mom ate that didnt settle with their tummies, or, or , or... Its not what it is at this point its what to do for them. Fluids, antibiotics, probiotics and make sure they are nursing and gaining weight which they all are up to this point. I was up with them all night to make sure everyone got correct milk, fluids, and clean bums before it gets all over everyone. We have three above a pound and rest are closing in fast. Silver is starting to show through the white on some of them. They had a rough day yesterday but hanging tough..

FEB17

They are all hanging in there and it takes three days for the labs to process the fluids that were drawn/collected at the vet on monday so I should know something by tomorrow. I have given all of them fluids for dehydration because of the loose stool and everyone is gaining weight which is the mystery to the vets. I spent the day scrubbing all the floors, front porch, and then moved the puppies out in heated box and did the same with whelping room. Which I did prior to their arrival. My puppy nanny and I bathed everyone of them plus mom. plus my four. Yes, this is the youngest I have ever groomed a water dog so they will be very trained for a lifetime of grooming after this. Complete with a hair dryer so they wouldnt get cold. If it was a virus I have lysoled, cleaned every possible thing in the house, porches, etc... Since mom never got anythingn or any of my big guys its probabily not the case but I have to do everything to keep them safe/healthy. In all the years of breeding I have never had this happen. Read about it, heard about it but here we are. The great news. Every one but Parti boy is above 1 pound which is the big mystery. Usually puppies who are sick dont gain weight or nurse. This bunch nurses 24/7 if momma luna lets them. Maybe that is why despite loose stool they are doing great. They are so darn cute and I think in the long run will be more social than any other group I have ever had because usually the first two weeks AI do as little touching as possible and let momma do her magic but this group has been handled lots and no longer squak when I pick them up which is normal they immediately look to cuddle next ot my neck and purrrrrrr like kittens when they are cuddling.

Feb18,2010

Just got the test results from my regular vet and confired with my Repro/obgyn Vet with results. Puppies have some bacteria. All dogs have it in their intestinal tract and its very common. Its found in the ground all over the place, stagninent water, eating uncooked meat.. etc which is where many older dogs get it from (mom). In most cases just a natural part of intestinal tract and our environment.... BUT when it gets out of balance it can cause diahrrea. Which can be severe because of electrolyte balance and dehydration. Actually truth be told the vet told us when we left on Monday that the diaharrea would more than likely kill them before we got the test results back in three days. When he took their temps they litterally blew out to his clothes 12 inches away. Now having a diagnosis of what it is Dr Brett said I caught it very early since their was no blood in the stool. Just lots of water... It shook me to the core when he gave me directions of how to bring a dead puppy back to him for an autopsy. I have spent the last 72 hours giving antibiotics/ sub cue fluids/ probiotics to get their intestinal tracts back in order. If an adult dog gets this it usually goes a way with 24 hours of loose stool and no meds. Just extreme because they are so small. The found aNIH article that in one study of puppy litters 94% have the bacteria. How we are blessed that my long time vet got us in almost immediately, got the right antibiotic with out knowing the cause, having the ability to give fluids with a big needle on a little crying puppy, and puppy nanny brittany to hold them, love them after grandma jodi sticks them. Trooper Luna for cleaning poopy bottoms, and nursing like she too is on a mission. I wont relax until they reached 2 weeks, but my obgyn vet said if they are gaining weight, nursing and its getting better then stay the course. They should ALL pull through with vigilance. The other positive is that they have had tests for everything under the sun and are healthy as horses besides the "bug". Also as my regular vet laughed and said WE are all a tough bunch and have done well to get through this. 7 more days of antibiotics and hopefully this will just be a story to tell and a reminder that I keep our house on lockdown to protect them. Always be vigilant because they are fragile the first 2/3 weeks of life. The crew is blessed today..
Feb19,2010
Move over Carls Junior we have the ONE PLUS pounders puppy club instead of the one pound super burger. Parti was the last one to pass one pound but remember he was the smallest at birth and all have met a milestone of doubling++++ birth weight in one week... despite having loose stool. I cant imagine how big they would be with out our round of diharrea. The vet has them on 2 cc of of amoxicillian for the next 7 days. Its human medication.. cherry flavor to be exact. Everyone seems to enjoy the taste. They are also getting yogurt with probiotics mixed in to put good bacteria back into the intestinal track since antibiotics wipes out all bacteria. I will put up photos of them eating yogurt its hysterical and would make the best got milk commercial in the world. We had a good night and I cant wait until tomorrow to sleep and not have to get up at 5:00 to go to work. After getting up at least 5-6 times a night to check babies. Its like having a newborn baby at home times 8. If ones awake eventually they all get awake and cry. The last several days has made me appreciate the crying ... its a great sign of a hungry puppy looking for a seat at the lunch counter.

My little ones (oakley/Glennie) are protesting for more attention. I have lived in this room with the little ones most of the time. They got my briefcase off the counter and pulled out the essays from school that I brought home to grade. Oakley brought me one in her mouth and glennie sat in the middle of them wagging her tail. Gabe/Shania were sitting on the couch with the look of wisdom telling them we told you that wasnt a good idea. I took the paper from oakley and told her how good she was to bring her treasure to me because I want her to always bring to my hand anything in her mouth. Then I made them go outside while I talked to myself and picked them all up. I guess the excuse that my dog ate my homework/essay is true this time. Lots of happy 7th graders will be getting and A this time around.... :-)))

Feb 22,2010

Sunday was a great day for the little ones. I keep very accurate records of weight/ growth/ developmental milestones for each litter and this litter is right there with all the rest. Amazing after the week we had last week. They are all pushing 2lbs. Moving all over the place. In the middle of the night last night I got my first attempt at a bark.. Dont know who it was but they were fighting for a spot at the lunch conter with a sibling. Almost all ears are down, and they are eating like horses. Actually they are in thier kneading phase.. That is when they knead the teets with their front feet like a baker would a loaf of bread. Its an adujustment for luna and she is in uber mommy mode and much more relaxed as a mom. I actually left them for about 45 minutes on saturday to take a stool samples to the vet. She was asleep in the box with them when I left and the same when I got back. Luna, like her mom, is a picky eater. Its nice to see that like her mom she got out of it with her first litter also. Luna ate almost 6 cups of food yesterday plus yogurt and a little vanilla ice cream. Hagen das is her favorite... Her normal food intake is about 1 1/2 cups per day.

In case you dont know at this age they cannot go potty unless mom stimulates them. She then cleans them up and consumes the excrement. SOOOO its hard to get stool samples when she is getting quicker at cleaning them. Last night I got our first solid poooooo from 2 of them. The rest have pudding consistency poo. It may sound gross but you can tell lots about a dogs health by the stool samples. I was very excited and had to leave sarah a celebratory call that we had solid poo... That means bacteria is gone... They have the cherry amoxicillian until thursday then we will be putting more probiotics back into their food to get the good bacteria in the intestinal track again. Unfortunately anitibiotics kills all bacteria not just the bad stuff. Just waiting for the eyes to start to open. This is a nice group of puppies so far... all I can look at is bone, head pieces , muzzles and stops. Definately got show quality in the mix...

FEB 24,2010
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Geepers, Peepers, where you get those eyes.... Yes we have eyes open on... Green, Blue, Pinky, Parti, and yellow boy are wide open and the rest have winky eyes... They actually open from the inside of the eye, closest to nose, outwards so they get little cracks then they bust open. This group, excpet blue boy skipped the slits and just opened up. Last night blue boy was the only one with cracks and then this morning there they were. It so exciting. I put my elbows in the box and the open eyed ones moved to me, looked up like what is that.   They can only see light/dark/movement and it will take up to 8-9 weeks for them to get full clarity, depth perception. They are all crabbing even green boy with the big belly. At lunch today Little pinky got her self up to scurry as quick as she could towards what she thought was her mom. She bonked into the pig rail ( tubing around the whelping box to keep mom from laying on them), fell over and laid there for a few seconds got up and turned the other way.. Only to plow into the dog pile of brothers and sisters. Its like watching a baby stare at something with amazement for the first time. They are doing awesome with weight gain everyone gained 2 ounces over night. Green is over 2 lbs and purple girl is 1/2 ounce under. The train is back on track and chugging along.

Feb, 26
Wow we are having crab walking races around the whelping box. yesterday pinky and blue boy both did full laps without mom in the box. They arent walking like dogs yet but they are diligently working on getting their legs underneath them, balancing and finding their way around with out clear vision.   They are just starting what I call ... "I think I am a dog phase" where they do a very funny growl bark to summon their mom back to the box. They have learned if they do it long enough, loud enough mom will come running. Purple and mom had an exchange yesterday.  Luna thought purple was talking to her and did a woo woo right back to her.
The activity level and size are changing daily. They are also moving away from the pile to go potty when mom isnt there to clean them which is right on tract to start potty training at 3 weeks. They dont walk well at that age but I still provide them a place to go potty outside the whelping area. I give them toys, room to explore at three weeks. The changes from 3-5 weeks are the largest growth times for them..   Poo report is awesome.. It s the first time I have been excited to clean up poo this morning. All formed and correct. They have been off the antibiotics for almost three days now so I am very pleased that is behind us, as the vets said it would be. Luna is doing most of the work until 3 weeks then I start doing most of the cleaning, training, etc... The fun parts of breeding, training, learning personalities. etc...

March 3. Happy Three week birthday...

Its been a week since I wrote anything because things have been hopping at work/home... The dreaded CSAP testing has begun so life as we know it is out of schedule. Thank goodness Grandma Sarah is able to come over and be puppy nanny. WEll where to begin... we are all walking, all over 2 lbs, all sitting up, all playing and the cutest part (except in the middle of the night) they have all figured out they are doggies. Which means they try to bark, howl, growl bark, at diffferent times of course. At least three of them can hear because when I clap my hands or whistle 3 of them alert and look up.   The rest follow suit. They are chow hounds so poor luna is eating 5-6 cups of food, atleast 100 ounces of water, and warm chicken broth trying to keep up with them. I am sure her human momma sarah is bringing her goodies during the day when I am at work also..

In the week three pictures you will see BLUE eyes ... that is what color they are when they open they slowly turn brown. That is the cue to us that they can see clearly. I am laughing as I write this because this is the funny time... Lack of coordination, trying to bark, and putting their mouths all over everything, heads, ears, and muzzles.   They explore the world with their mouths. I love putting my upper body in the box with my elbows on the floor. THey all huddle round and try to nurse my arms. Also a sign that they can see objects but not to clearly. Little gold girl was nursing green boys foot this morning, and Yellow was nursing his sisters ear (pink). Purple girl came running at me in the box , only to bonk her head into the pig rail, fall over and growl bark at the wall of the box.   I had to laugh out loud at her.   So far I couldnt be more pleased with their temprements. That is why I used Leo again he is rock solid and produces that in his get. WHAT A GREAT LITTER...   They may have started a little slow but they are all on par if not ahead of momma lunas litter.

Happy 4 week birthday!!! 3/10

Well things are getting crazy around here. WE are barking, crying for mom, chasing each other.. barking at new noises and like all the other litters before hiding in the corner of the box huddled like they are preparing for a hurricane when I play the noises tape. Its part of socialization that I do ... they hear lots of noises. Which was a big hit with the older dogs who howled at the sirens, barked at the thunder and poor oakley just ran from the doggie door to the whelping box trying to decide if she should hide with the babies or howl with the big dogs. We are eating a rich mixture of goats milk, yogurt, corn syrup, probiotics, mayonaise, and egg whites with baby food rice cereal. Well lets see we are licking it off each other, the pans, the floor, sitting in it and the best part is momma Luna, and grandma shania know what it is so they are patiently waiting outside the box to clean up any leftovers.  Despite my best efforts of cleaning them up with damp cloth they are kind of like my 7th grade boys when they try to use gel on their hair for the first time... globs of hair stuck together and bonded with sticky slop of some kind.  I havent started them on any water soaked kibble because we have NO TEETH yet... That is a good thing because they way they mob their mother I am sure when they get them she will be finished nursing.   We are working on..... Potty training, socialization, nosie introduction, weaning from mom, exploring the new world with our mouths, being held, put on our backs, making eye contact, nails clipped, brushed and before everyone arrives for the first visit a bath of some kind. Its like having 8 babies to clean after each feeding but they arent in a high chair they are rolling in the bowl, sitting in the slop, And then laying on top of a sibling who is covered in the sticky mess spreads it to everyone else... I have pictures to put up on thursday.. They are starting to show personalities and for the first time this morning orange boy, gold girl grabbed the bottom of my sweatpants and held on (gummed on ) for a few minutes. AHHHH the beginning of cutting teeth and "water dog" mouthiness.. All is well and the next few days are the funniest for me as a breeder... they are developing their personalities and we all get to meet the new families. They get mass socialization which is soooo important to developing who they will become as adults...

WOW what a great 24 hours we have had.... We met lots of forever family members and loved every second of it. Grandma Jodi got more than three hours sleep for the first time since we were born... we were so tired after all the visiting, smiling, posing, and giving kisses that we could barely eat our late night snack with out falling a sleep in the bowl. Bling Bling AKA gold was so tired she just slept through dinner. Orange boy fell asleep with his head on the bowl. Green boy was so tired he just stood up and peed on the rug then laid back down next too it.. Grandma Jodi took the rug out after he did that so all of us had to wake up. Grandma Jodi said something about having K9 teeth and that we had to start eating "big dog" food soaked in goats milk.. Yellow boy said yahooooo and Blue boys wanted some right away. Now that we have been out of our box we cry and push on the fence to be with the big dogs.. Grandma Jodi opened the pen today and said go free little ones... Bling Bling and purple girl were first to run out. Big babies ran right to grandma Jodi in the kitchen. Orange boy stayed in the box on the rug doing his best belly boy pose sleeping. Half sister oakley kept play bowing and barking at purple girl to play with her but purple girl just cried. BUT yellow boy, silver boy tried to play with her but ended up being slobbered on the back of their necks and batted with her paws. Grandma shania laid on the floor (with mommy above her on the couch) and played with everyone. She even bumped sissy oakley for being a little to ruff with us. Everytime we cried grandma shania licked our heads and pushed us back towards our box. Grandma Jodi just told us that we were safe and it was good for us to go to new places. Something about she doesnt pick up cry babies... because that is teaching us that if we scream we get our way .. If its not hurting us we need to explore the world and be confident. Pink girl was trying to go out the doggie door with blue boy and grandma jodi said it was too cold for us outside with the big dogs. While we were out silver boy put his legs in the big dogs water bowl.. Grandma jodi got excited and said he loves water like his mommy, grandpa and grandma... She said something about putting a swimming pool in the basement for us in a few weeks.. We dont know what that is but grandma jodi and mommy luna were very excited about it... All is well with the crew.. today..

Well the canines are in.... During our living room jaunt we were trying to untie grandma jodis shoes, Our real grandpa Gabes ears.. He is silly we were biting him and all he did was clean our faces.... Grandma Jodi had to put sissy oakley in her crate because she was swatting us with her paws and pulling on our ears. Just like we do but she is a GIANT compared to us. Grandma jodi tried to put us in the tray to weigh us but she said something about having big butts and we didnt fit. So she got out the big dog scale. Mommy Luna showed us how it was done ... she weighed 38 1/2 pounds. Then sissy oakley weighed 30 lbs. Grandma shania weighed 42 lbs. Grandpa Gabe weighed 40 lbs and auntie glennie got on the scale and it said ERROR.. Grandma Jodi said something about a mini pony. Green weighed 4.11, Blue 4.2, Pink 3.10, Yellow 4.7, Orange 4.2, Gold 3.15, Purple 4.7, and silver 4.0. Comparing that to birth weights its amazing how big we are getting. We played in the living room and dining room. Grandma Jodi said purple was a bad girl because she kept running over to oakleys crate and teasing her. She barked and cried because she was in the time out and couldnt play with us. We had two accidents on the floor and bling bling got stuck under the couch. Other than that we had fun now we are sound a sleep in the box.. Tomorrow grandma jodi said we are going into the yard to play after school. She said we have to pose for pictures on our first trip outside so maybe she will put them on OUR website for everyone to see. All is calm with the crew..

March22,2010
I cant believe its been a week since an update.. Lets see we have moved them from the living room to the dining room its a lot closer to the door. Its hard to get 8 of them across the floor to the door with out someone piddling on the floor. They now have thier big dog crate up with an xpen. The whelping box is gone and with it was a total rebellion. I guess partial.. some of them are like momma luna and love the big crate... its their safe/cave to rest in... They cried most of the night saturday. The funniest was blue boy who could have posed for a picture entitled howling at the moon... porty style that is.. he cried and when that didnt work he whipped his little head back and did his best grandpa gabe howl. Orange boy would pause his crying long enough to allow blue a solo. Thank good ness sunday night was much better... I can attribute that to the open house and lots of hands playing with them they were exhausted. We are on a very structured schedule now... up at 5 am out to potty for 20 minutes while I clean pen up... (only 1 poopy this morning which is awesome). Then in and fed that takes about 1/2 hour. Out to potty again and then back in pen ... off to work for me. 3 hours later outside for potty and lunch. Then another 3 hours and outside to play with big dogs and dinner.. I pick up water at 7:00 and last feeding is 5:00 pm. They protested the new schedule in the middle of the night they were hungry but we are focused on potty training and eating when it is presented..
Grandma shania is playing with them on the floor each night.. she has it down to an art ... Grandpa gabe cleans faces and poor auntie glennie was being nursed or a darn good try at nursing by blue boy... she had the funniest look on her face... like what is he doing? am I supposed to stand for this. It takes a village and at my house it is certainly a family affair.... Oakley is still being too rough so if I am watching her she gets to play but if not they are outside and she is with me. I personally thinks she likes that anyway. Things are great with the crew...