Myshka

I imported a girl from Russia in November. She is a blue and a very wild, funny girl. I took her and Coug to four days of shows in Spokane and Couer d'Alene.  We arrived home last night. My intent was to get the girls ready to go into the show ring for the National Specialty coming up in a few days, June 12-17. My plans were perfect for Coug. She became more and more sure of herself daily. Myshka on the other hand never calmed down. BUT, she earned a point her first day, her first dog show. She went on to take Reserve the next day and the last day, but also earned her first major on Sarurday!!!!  I think it was a 5 point major too!  Wow!  I surely hope that she can calm down for the Specialty though. The judge may not be as forgiving!

Can't seem to get the iPad to work getting pictures. Sorry.

Muppy weighs almost two pounds, is trucking around on the slippery floor, bringing me toys for playing tug, and growling plenty when I pick her up.  She does fall asleep in my lap after crawling up my legs. She eats some slurry and seems to like that and her teeth are coming in!  Hard to get anything else done for watching her!

Later,

The Char Curmudgen

Muppy

Well, you know the story of Muppy's litter.  She and her sister weighed just 2.2 oz.  I was a coward and didn't have the heart to put on here that Squirt died after just a few days.  I kind of wonder if mom lay on her and smothered her, but one can't ever tell.  It is just a darn sad thing....

On the other hand, Cake, now Muppy, for Miracle Puppy, is feisty and fighting to make it.  She has gained weight and is now hovering around 5 oz.  She went to dog class today, even though she didn't go in.  I want to make it so that she never gets car sick, so she is going to start taking trips here and there.  She was a trooper.

If Muppy is well conformed, she will be my puppy, after all, that is what breeders breed for, ourselves.  If she isn't up to my high standards, she has a home.  She could still be a show dog and I might not want her.  They are still perfectly fine, even if they aren't show dogs.  Breeders have to look for the very best to breed so that we weed out the genes we don't want.  Doesn't mean the puppy is bad, just not great.

I have a boy I co-bred, seventeen weeks old, that needs a great home.  I am getting a girl back that has been bred and I will have her litter to place if the breeding took and then there is Pip and her litter, if that litter took.  It will be a few weeks before I am sure if those girls pregnancies took.  So, you can see that delay is the word, but not depression.  You who are on the list are going to get a puppy!!!  I will not believe it if there are two such disaster litters in a row!!!  It could happen, but itsn't likely to.

It is very hot here in the Pacific NW today.  Whew!  Muppy and Zinger, her mother, were in the shade the entire time they were at dog class.  No melted puppies here!

Believe it or not, I took pictures of Muppy minutes ago with my iPad on which I am typing this blog entry.  I cannot make the pictures come onto the screen.  This picture has nothing to do with Muppy, besides being a close relative, i.e. a sibling from another litter, but the iPad will not let me use any of the pictures I picked.  Sorry.  I need the computer set up.  Maybe soon, for sure when I get to Hawaii.....  The second picture below is of Zinger.  See how pretty she is?

So, I will leave you with the thought that you can beg for a picture over the phone and over the phone give me your email address, or come fix this silly machine that won't do as I ask!!!  360-477-1869

Later,
Curmudgeonly Charlotte

Three days old

The two miracle babies are doing fine.  Of course I was worried until this morning.  They were either losing weight or staying the same weight and, even though I know that is normal for newborns, because they were sooooo small, I worried, big time.  Anyway, this morning they had both gained tenths of an ounce.  Cake is 2.5 oz and Squirt got back to her birth weight of 2.2 oz.  Thank heavens.  That being said, Kathleen and I are still staying up all night long hooking them on to the nipples, etc. It is paying off!!!!  Thank goodness.

The babies, when they were born, had ribs that were quite visible.  I knew they were doing better when the ribs started disappearing.  That happened before the weight went up, so I knew they were improving.  It is still worrisome watching these babies and it will carry on for a bit.  They aren't out of the woods yet, not by any means.  We'll be up many nights to come, but, of course, it is worth it.

I figure that these two babies, being held and handled as much as they are being held, etc., are going to be the sweetest things in the world.

Today we start the neurological stimulation exercises, days 3 to 16.  This includes the smell stimulation.  Watch out!  Smart puppies being raised!

For now, the blog will continue some other day, from the hopeful curmudgeon

Zinger's new puppies

Well, Zinger did have puppies.  April 27th.  She was bred to Bravo, a beautifully made boy in Toledo, Ohio and the progesterone levels said that the babies would be due April 25th.  My reconing was April 26.  Those days came and went and I was worried.  I wasn't worried because she was "late," but because Zinger's girth kept getting smaller over the last one to two weeks.  I was afraid that she was resorbing puppies, some or all.  I took her in for an x-ray on the 26th and there were pictures of two or three puppies and a bunch of "stuff" that the vet could not identify.  Hmmmmmm.  Next morning, there was black, wet stuff on one of her bedding blankets.  Muconium, so, where was the puppy/!!!!  On the floor, a tiny, black thing.  Sad.  A mostly resorbed puppy.  Two more came out over the next hour and I decided to take her in to the vet as she was NOT having contractions that I could feel and I could not feel kicking babies.  Had only felt one baby kick one time during this entire pregnancy.  Not good.

The cesarian section showed lots of "stuff" in her uterus, BUT, two live babies, both girls.  They each weighed 2.2 ounces when we got them home, we being myself and Chris Harrington who had come out to see babies be born.  Instead she went through this ordeal with me and has steadfastly held on and is helping put and keep these babies on the nipples day and night.  They still haven't achieved a weight over their birth weight, but are maintaining.  Amazingly tiny baby girls, one has a white spot on her chest that looks like a crab, so she is Crabcakes, Cake for short and the other has a spouting whale as her white spot, so she is Squirt.  They are beautiful, but TINY and lots of work.

Kathleen and Kate arrived last night and will spend the weekend and help me keep them eating.  Chris must go home this morning.  We'll miss her, but she may come back to see babies be born when Pip has her litter, IF her breeding took.  One can never tell.

This disaster and miracle, that we even have two alive, means that many people on my list will either have to wait for a puppy from Pip or onward down the line, or find a puppy somewhere else and the ones to whom I have spoken so far are crushed, but understand.  Nature rules.

We will never know why this happened.  Nature doesn't always tell us those things.  Sad but true.

Hugs to all on the list, to Chris for all her help, to Kathleen and Kate for their help and to luck that we have two sweet, TINY girls so save.

More later,
The ever hopeful curmudgeon, Charlotte

Chaos

So, the house is a mess, boxes and clutter everywhere.  Leaving for Hawaii in September, after I get to see my friend from England.  Yes, the dogs will go with me.  Meanwhile, we will have puppies at the end of April.  Zinger's last litter.  Maybe we'll have a Pip litter too.  We'll see about that one.

Pip is doing well in NoseWork as are Zinger, Myshka, and Coug.  Pip is ready for NW3 (and I wish I were,) Zinger is ready for NW2, and Myshka and Coug are ready to be introduced to scent.  Myshka is going to be another crazy Pip, and Coug is going to be another careful, or more careful, Jeri.  Can't get enough, none of us.  We will practice with Sherilyn and Nancy this afternoon, even though we are supposed to get up to five inches of rain today!!!!!  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Pip gets into one of two NW3 trials coming up.

I just got a new car for Hawaii, a white Prius, like millions of other Priuses out there.  I will enjoy the good gasoline mileage I'll get and I will like all the "apps" the car has, like telling me if there is a car in my blind spot, etc.  Don't want any accidents with my precious babies in the car!!!

So, no pictures today, unless you want old ones.  "Soon" I'll put up pictures of PUPPIES!!!

Don't get too wet and stay warmtoday!

Best,
The Curmudgeon

Excuses, excuses!!!!

Leaving a sixteen year practice is hard and time consuming.  These puppies have not gotten their share of pictures being taken.  Poor babies. 

They are beautiful and sweet and wild and playful and smart.  It is hard to walk through the kitchen where they grab the cuff of my pants and hold on for dear life!  Little rascals!  They LOVE the moving toys, sit in the bowl chair, glide on the skate board, run over the teeter totter, etc.  It is fun to watch them learn physics first hand.  It is truly amazing to watch.

My last day of work as a dermatologist will be Nov. 12th.  Then I will have more time to write on the blog and take more pictures and do lots more things!  Probably won't get to Hawaii permanently until spring.  I get to go for Thanksgiving though.  Yippee!!!

These pictures on the orange were taken yesterday.  I thought that is was pretty cute how they were napping on their mother.  She seemd to like it too.

These pictures were taken minutes ago.  They are stocking up on kibble so that they won't starve to death!  They always think that is their fate, as do all puppies!

We will know next week where they will be going.  Exciting!!!

Off to NoseWork for Jeri today.  Yesterday was Pip and Zinger's turn.

The crotchity curmudgeon signs off for today.  I hope that you enjoy the pictrures!

Good hearts

The babies are growing.  I took them to the vet's yesterday to make sure that the tiny one didn't have a heart murmur.  Yes, there was a reason.  She is gaining so slowly that I have been worried.    They all have good hearts.  Thank goodness!

But, where are the pictures, you ask?  I'll see if I can make this work to get the pictures on the blog.

I have been BUSY,  as busy as I've ever been, trying to get out of the office in time for the other guy to take over the pratice.  Very complicated and time consuming.  We are trying to do everything at once, it seems.  At least I can now sleep knowing that my patients will have someone to take care of them.

Kathleen and I are holding the big puppies away from the nipple that tiny girl, Dish, is using.  We also feed her peanut butter and a slurry of chicken, Esbilac, etc.  She is gaining at molasses speed.

earlier pictures

Still a little one down at thebottom on the left in the picture below..  Less than one quarter the size of the biggest one!  This picture taken today.

These are all I could get to stay on.  Crazy computers.  They hate me and I don't like them much better!