Pupdate 10/29/13

Lots of new developments this week:

We have TEETH!  Everyone but Winston has popped their little teeth through their gums, and I expect his to pop through any day now.

We have WALKING!  All the pups are quite adept at getting around now.  They still stagger quite a bit, but each day their balance and coordination improves.  Look out world, here they come!

We have PLAYING!  The pups are starting to be quite interactive with each other with lots of slow-motion 'zombie' chewing on each others ears and legs and heads.  They are getting more and more interactive and vocal with each other...wagging tails, growling, barking, etc....they're quickly turning into little dogs.

They also are more interactive with us...chewing on hands, shoes, etc., and wagging tails as they do so.

We have REAL FOOD!  As you'll see from the pics below, they've begun to eat canned food.  All seem to like it, including Winston, who gets some mixed into his milk formula, which makes for really messy, chunky feeding times, but so fun to watch.

We have LITTER BOXES!  We've begun putting the pups into their doggy litter trays whenever they wake up, and they are starting to use them like little champs.  We've included a few pictures of our whelping kennel set-up below.

 Miss Fabienne - napping after a long day.

 Jules has found a favorite, comfy perch against the side of the whelping pool.  (We actually have broken down the pool in the whelping pen, and are now allowing free movement in the pen as you'll see below.)

 Soooo sleepy.

 Timmy taking a break from watching over pups.  He has been especially interested in this litter, and greets them each morning with an enthusiastic play-bow.  He can't wait for them to grow up a bit more and be loose in the house to play with.

 Winston Wolf, having his sponge feeding - Chunky Style, with canned food mixed into the milk formula.

Winston Wolf

 

 Esmerelda Villalobos giving us a biiiiigggg stretch.

 Marsellus Wallace (top) and Vincent Vega.

Two 'aerial' shots of the whelping pen.  We set it up between our couches in the living room.

 Fabienne trying some canned food.

 "Hmmmm.  This is pretty tasty."

Clockwise from top:  Vincent Vega, Marsellus Wallace, Esmerelda Villalobos, Fabienne, Jules.

 They really chowed down - eating more than half of the can!

 Momma Spicy and her pal, Lychee Berry.

Timmy, Bella, and Lychee..."Taking care of puppies is exhausting!"

And finally, another past pup pic update.  Here's Stone (HT-Runrig Pauli), from our very first litter, hanging out with Chanel, his greyhound housemate.  I love those Halloween eyes!:

Pulp Fiction litter Pupdate 10/21/13

As promised...here are some of the latest shots of the Pulp Fiction litter.  We've got open eyes on Vincent Vega, Marsellus Wallace, Jules, and Esmerelda Villalobos.  That means no pictures with flash on the camera for a week or so, to protect those sensitive, newly opened eyes.  We expect eyes to pop open any day now on Fabienne and Winston.  :)

Proud Momma - Spicy & Winston

 Marsellus, Jules, Fabienne, and Winston in a whippet puppy pile.

 Spicy, Jules (winning the prize for most creative nursing position), Fabienne, and Mr. Vincent Vega.

 Biggest & Smallest - Vincent Vega & Winston Wolf

 Marsellus Wallace, Fabienne, & Esmerelda Villalobos - great examples of their interesting color variations.

Spicy and Vincent Vega - doing the 'mother otter and pup' impression.

 

More Spicy & Vincent Vega snuggles.

Esmerelda Villalobos (BIG yawn!) and Winston Wolf (BIG stretch!)

Also...one more Past Puppy pic:

Larry (HT Larry's Wonton Takeout) and his little sis, Penny (HT Worth Every Penne, from the recent Mambo Italiano Litter) on their favorite perch:

I can't believe how similar this pic is to one of each of their mom's a few years ago:

Polliwog (Larry's mom) and Bella (Penne's mom) perching on the arm of the couch.

Past Puppy Update 10/21/13

October marks the birthdays of our 2 'Chinese Delights' litters, as well as the birth of the new Pulp Fiction Litter.

We got some great reports and pictures of the Chinese Delights I & II pups on their birthdays:

 Here's Cheyenne (HT Snow Pea of Cheyenne) basking like a princess in the sun. 

 And Jett Jr. (HT Mu Xu Jett)...looking just like his dad, our Jett...he's very aptly named!

 And here's Larry (HT Larry's Wonton Take Out), enjoying his birthday treat.

Last but not least - here's a new non-birthday shot of Leopold (HT Lestate Presto) having a true-love, whippet snuggle with his big sis, Addie.

Pulp Fiction Litter Pupdate 10/19/13

New pictures coming soon!  You won't believe how they've all grown.  Eyes should start popping open this coming weekend & early next week.  Their little noses are turning black, and they are all fat, round, and happy.

They are beginning to take their first staggering attempts at walking, which is really quite funny to watch.  Spicy gives a rather alarmed glance at any pup who is attempting to walk around and then sort of rolls her eyes in mock disgust at their unsteady, goofy struggles.

Even little Winston is making slow but steady weight gains and is also stagger-walking about quite enthusiastically.  We now also know what is going on with him.  He has a cleft palate, which prevents him from nursing normally.  It took this long to diagnose since he is so tiny, and the roof of his mouth continues to change.

So now we face our first real dilemma as breeders.  In the not-so-distant past, euthanasia was the most common recommendation for a CP (cleft palate) puppy.  Surgery is possible, but often unsuccessful.

However, lately many people have realized that getting a CP puppy through the first 4 to 9 weeks is the toughest, and then many of these dogs can lead a normal life - without surgical intervention.  From what we've read online, the only real restriction, or 'special care' that will be required for him as he gets bigger is that he can have dry food only.

Of course, getting him to the age where he can eat dry food safely is the trick.  So, we have decided to continue to keep helping little Winston along, as long as he wants to keep on fighting. 

Today is also Spicy & the whole Chinese Delights II Litter's 2nd birthday.  We got a great picture of her brother, Jett Jr., who lives in Florida.  I'll be posting pics soon!

Pulp Fiction Pupdate 10/13/13

Winston Update:  For some reason, Winston has never nursed normally, so all feedings are coming from the humans.  We are feeding him every 1.5 to 2 hours, and the same through the night.  He continues to have a lot of spirit and otherwise acts pretty much the same as the other puppies.  After the pups were born, it took us about 18 hours to figure out that he wasn't getting any milk from his attempts to nurse, since he looks like he's trying, but doesn't seem to be able to draw milk from Spicy.

We have some guardedly optimistic news to report today about Winston.  Ken figured out a new & better method of feeding him yesterday, and so we are able to get more food to him in a faster, more efficient way.

This means that at today's weigh-in he didn't lose any more ground, and he actually surpassed his birth weight for the first time (he was born at 259 grams).  For the first six days, he was losing weight each day, in spite of a lot of work to feed him.  Yesterday morning, he was a dismal 217 grams.   Today he was 261 grams, which is still so tiny, but makes for a good gain for one day!

The other pups continue to gain each day by leaps and bounds.  To give you a comparison, Vincent Vega weighed in at 680 grams today.

So...while he's had a good 24+ hours, little Winston has a long way to go.  Here he is pictured with Jen feeding him with a cosmetic sponge and dropper:

When we pick him up to feed him, he yells and squirms with excitement and even makes little happy nursing sounds while sucking on his sponge as we painstakingly drop milk from the dropper into his mouth, one drop at a time.

His Grandma, Polliwog, is in charge of cleaning him while Jen feeds him - a job she takes very seriously.

When he's not being served by his human servants, Winston is in the whelping box with Spicy (whom he loves to snuggle), and his brothers and sisters.  He also snuggles in with the puppy piles, in spite of being nearly 3 times smaller than they are.

And for some continued good news and fun, we have finally been able to get enough rest and have some time to get some great pics of the puppies and their buddies:

 Monty says:  "I'm too sexy for these puppies."

 The arrival of pups meets with Uncle Buck's approval - because he 

knows he gets to pirate the canned dog food!

 Marbles says, "Er Mer Gerd!  More Puppies?!!!"

 Jules was a real ham for the camera all day.

 It's still impossible to tell what shade of red the pups will turn out to be, but here's an interesting contrast between Jules' current color and Spicy.

 Esmerelda Villalobos, hanging out with Spicy.  (Also pictured - a bit of Marsellus Wallace's rear.)

Jules - lounging on the veranda.

 Another nice shot of Esmerelda Villalobos' cool color and pattern.

 Marsellus Wallace - sporting a perfect little triangle spanking spot.

Jules - "I'm the Foot [blanking] Master.  I don't be tickling, or nothing." 

(Pulp Fiction movie quote edited for language)

 And another great Jules shot.  

We're saving this one to show to future girlfriends & embarrass him with it.

 The two gals - Esmerelda Villalobos (top) and Fabienne.

 Vincent Vega (left), hanging out with Marsellus Wallace.

"Why, that IS a tasty beverage."

Jules, Marcellus Wallace, and Fabienne.

 Spicy Duck's tragic demise.

Actually, we can also use this pic to start playing 

the new game that's sweeping the nation:  "Where's Winston?"

Pupdate 10/11/13

Apologies for slow updates on the Pulp Fiction Litter. 

On top of all the fun (but hectic) activities of caring for a new litter of puppies, little Winston Wolf is continuing to struggle, needing hand feeding every 2 hours.

But he has a LOT of fight for such a small pup (his happy, healthy & porky littermates are now twice his size!), so we are fighting right along with him.

As soon as things settle a bit and Jen can get some sleep, we promise new pictures and updates.

Introducing the "Pulp Fiction" Litter - born 10/06/13

They've arrived!  The "Pulp Fiction" Litter (Horsetooth Runrig Feynman, RN, OTR x Horsetooth Spicy Duck, RN) arrived on 10/06/13.

Six pups - 4 boys & 2 girls.  5 red & whites and 1 black and white...

"Esmerelda Villalobos":   White and Red Parti female
"Vincent Vega":  Black and White male
"Fabienne":  Red and White female
"Winston Wolf":  Red and White male
"Jules Winnfield":  Red and White male
"Marsellus Wallace":  Red and White male
 
Momma Spicy is doing great with her first litter - she's a natural mother.  Winston is a little guy, so he's getting extra feedings on the bottle, and we're watching him closely.

Here are a few pics of their arrival last night, and a few more today with them cleaned up and ready for action.  Stay tuned for updates.