Puppy Journal

This is the latest installment of Sheila Miller’s “Puppy Journal", covering the progress of a new litter of field spaniels — one of which will be ours, and the next agility champion! You can read the previous installments here and here. We’ve named our new puppy: Miki (pronounced MEE-kee) — Hawai’ian for fast, agile, and alert. Pretty good for an agility champion, eh?

And now without further delay — the puppy journal:

My how time flies. Has it been 10 days now? Everyone is doing well. The puppies have more than doubled their weight. They weigh between 1 pound, 10 ounces (the two black males) and 2 pounds (the two girls). The other two boys fall in between but are closer to the girls' weight. Picabo is also doing well and is keeping her weight and attitude up.

10 years ago when I first started breeding dogs, a CBR friend of mine told me, “The first three weeks are easy. The dam does all of the work. Just keep her clean and fed.” True, the work right now isn’t physical but it is stressful. There is that little worry always in the back of your head about puppies not gaining weight, getting cold or squished and not getting handled enough. They receive mild stress every day in the form of a series of 5, 5-second exercises. The pads of each foot are tickled with a cosmetic brush. They are held vertically (and I look at their sealed eyes), on their back in my hands (and I look at their umbilicus and the pads of their feet), held head down and finally placed on a cool surface. The mild stress boosts their developing immune system, oxygenates their tissues, and helps their neurons make connections as they attempt to right themselves. The things I look for are the first signs of an eye infection, umbilical hernia, and pigment to cover those white toes! The pigment is there!! :-) I am also looking for Cosmo’s perfect feet. His first puppies with Picabo have nice feet but they aren’t his (and he got his from his daddy Spicer and I think he got his from his daddy Roger). Right now it looks like one of the black boys might have the “squishy” pads I’m looking for. On my “to do” list with the puppies is to put them in rick rack. Because of the gender and color split I have, it is very easy to tell the puppies apart. Well, if you pick them up. I need to color code them so I can ID them from a distance. That comes in handy when they become more interactive and I keep track of what they do. They can do a lot right now. They can root, they can crawl, they can snuffle your ears and sleep their twitchy sleep in the crook of your arm. They have a wide range of vocalizations. They “purr", cry on occasion and even bark (though they don’t open their mouths so it is muffled and very endearing). I love these puppies. :-)

As for Picabo, she is much like a puppy herself. I take her outside, not just put outside, to relieve herself. I swear I have a permanent poop bag on my right hand. As long as I am outside (in my pj’s, parka, and flashlight) walking her up and down the yard, I might as well pick up whatever poop is out there. The longer I am outside, the longer she is out getting some exercise and fresh air. I pick up her poop for two reasons: two of my dogs have developed a “taste” for hers and for quality control. I have become quite an expert on her poop as each bowel movement determines her next meal. Her base food is Iams Puppy with either meat, eggs, cheese, yogurt, bran, or whole wheat bread added to it. Two of her meals are soaked in one half cup of Goat’s Milk Esbilac. The result so far is a bitch who is keeping up her weight and pooping well (I can pick it up). After every trip outside, she gets (in this order) her face washed, boobs washed, discharges wiped away and butt wiped. Once a day I comb her out. She is getting kind of itchy (she is starting to shed) so tomorrow night I am going to give her a bath with oatmeal shampoo.

I have to tell you about Monday (President’s Day) and the ongoing saga of my Dura-Whelp. I went to Winnemucca for my weekly shopping. I couldn’t get my film developed because one place had their machine torn down for maintenance and the other place was closed because of the holiday (but I was able to get the van’s tires rotated!). I went to Wal-Mart and was irritated that part of the parking was fenced off and torn out (Super Wal-Mart is coming). I pulled my van up to the newly set up outside garden area and there they were with a little new snow drifted around them - plastic wading pools! My puppies were born one week too late. Oh well, I went inside for paper and plastic products, dog food, and Velcro. They had 3” wide industrial strength Velcro in your choice of adhesive or nonadhesive. I grabbed the adhesive because I needed the one side to stick to the Dura-Whelp. I also bought 2 1/2 yards of fleece so I could make two extra beds for the Dura-Whelp. I thought I was so smart. I would cut the Velcro in squares, stick the loop end to the Dura-Whelp and sew the fuzzy end to the fleece. Oh, the adhesive! The adhesive! It gummed up my sewing machine needle. I had to keep wiping the goo off the needle with rubbing alcohol. My poor Pfaff. It was never meant for crafts. :-( I finished the job and put a note inside my machine that said, “Gummed up”. I will deal with it the next time I use the machine. The sad part is that I already resolved the shifting bedding problem I had with the command, “Don’t dig”. When Picabo has the urge to dig, she leaves the box and scratches up a blanket I left on the floor. Oh that hindsight! I should have bought one package of adhesive Velcro for the box and one package of nonadhesive Velcro for the fleece. And forget “industrial strength”. It is so hard to peel off that the fleece will tear long before these puppies are weaned. LOL

I promise I am trying to get pictures! :-)

Sheila Miller

Wolftree Acres

Nevada, USA