BAER Test Day

On Saturday the pups had their hearing confirmed by BAER test. We are very fortunate in this area to have one of the most experienced BAER testers in the country. Not only is Dr. Williams an expert BAER tester, she makes house calls.

I'm extremely please that all the pups can hear in both ears.

Lavender relaxing

Light Green waits for her turn to be tested

Dark Blue

Puppies napping during the day

Photographing pups

Photographing puppies is not as easy as you might think. When they are awake they don't often sit stay still long enough for me to get a good shot.

Here is Blue coming to check out the camera.

Here is Barry playing with a ball. He still looks very white but more spots can be seen now.

The pups still sleep a lot. I can get lots of pictures of them napping.

Mostly the pups like to sleep with their heads tucked under. But I was able to get this cute shot of Blue's face as he naps next to his sister Sky.

Pink likes to be on the top of the heap.

That means some one else is on the bottom of the heap. In this case it is Redford.

Growing and Getting Teeth

It is amazing how fast puppies grow. They have teeth now and eat puppy mush. But DeeDee is still nursing them.

Solid Food

The puppies began eating solid food this week. They are still nursing but now get puppy chow with water added and ground up in a blender until it is like mush.

Like all babies, they make a big mess when they eat.

Here are the boys

Here is Red. I nicknamed this handsome guy Redford.

This is Dark Blue, nicknamed Blue

Here is Dark Green, nicknamed Forrest.

Here is Purple, nicknamed Rain

This picture is a bit out of focus.

Here is Black, nicknamed Barry

Here are the girls

This is Pink, I nicknamed her Rose

This is Light Blue, nicknamed Skye.

The flash makes their eyes look odd. I will have to try taking the next set of photos in natural light.

This is Light Green, nicknamed Fern.

Here is Lavender, nicknamed Iris.

Here's Looking At You Kid

Now that the puppies' can open their eyes, they spend a little more time awake. This is a picture of Red male.

This is Lavender female. She looks like she is about ready for another nap. For some reason, this photo has a pinkish tone.

Getting Bigger

The pups are getting bigger and their spots are becoming more visible every day.

The Black male is going to be very lightly marked. He is the "spotless" pup seen in this picture. He reminds me of one of DeeDee's sisters.

Here are some photos of DeeDee's sister at seven weeks and at a year. You can see that she does not have a lot of spots and looked very white as a baby.

Puppy development

The puppies are beginning to be able to see and hear. At birth their eyes and ears are sealed shut. Then at about 2 weeks of age their eyes and ear canals begin to open. It takes the pups a few days to get used to the added input from their environment and some will cry if they hear a loud noise or if they see something looming over them - like me picking them up to be weighed.

But within a day or two they will take these new senses in stride and begin a new phase of interaction with the world around them.

Two weeks old

The puppies are two weeks old and their spots are beginning to show. Some of the pups seem to have taken more than their share of spots.

The first born pup, Pink, has the most spots and the last born, Black, has the fewest.

Toe nail trimming

No photos today. I did not have time after trimming 162 little toe nails - 5 on each front foot and 4 on each hind foot. The process left me a bit cross-eyed and with a case of clipper cramp.

Spots beginning to show

The spots are beginning to show more each day. They are most visible in areas where the fur is thin, like the muzzle and belly.

In another week they will look more like Dalmatians.

Daily weigh in

The puppies are weighed each day for the first two weeks. Puppies that are getting enough milk gain at least an ounce per day.

All DeeDee's pups are thriving and growing at a normal rate.

The two smallest females seem to have no problem competing with their big brothers to get their share of milk.

Trying to get caught up

When I started this blog I intended to post something new every day. But I'm finding it hard to to sit down at the computer long enough to upload photos and write a few words. I'll do my best in the coming days and weeks.

The puppies like to sleep touching one another. Sometimes the pile up in a mound and other times they line up side by side.

Day Three

The puppies are almost always curled up together on on top of the other. But I managed to get individual pictures of each one. At this age, they look more like white mice than they do like Dalmatians.

This is the Red male.

His spots will be liver/brown

This is the Dark Blue male

He too will have liver/brown spots

This is the Dark Green male. He will have black spots and already has some black on one ear. When a Dalmatian puppy has an area of pigmented fur at birth, that area is called a patch.

This is the Purple male.

He will have black spots.

This is the Black male.

He will have black spots.

This is the Pink female

She will have black spots. She has a patch of color on one ear and around one eye.

This is the Light Blue female.

She will have black spots and she has a small patch of color around her right eye.

This is the Light Green female.

She will have black spots. She has a patch of color on her right ear.

This is the Lavender female.

She is wearing a multi-colored ribbon in this picture because I ran out of lavender ribbon.

She will have black spots. You can already see a bit of color on her nose and on the skin at the edge of her ear.

Day Two

DeeDee's puppies all gained weight in the first 24 hours. Most of the time half the litter will be napping and while the other half nurses. But when they all decide to nurse at the same time they do a lot of pushing and shoving and complaining as each tries to get the most milk.

DeeDee is being such a good mother!

First Day

After a very long night of labor. DeeDee has 9 puppies - 5 males and 4 females.

I put different colored ribbons on them to make it easy to identify each pup for daily weigh ins and taking notes as I observe their behavior.

The boys wear Red, Navy, Hunter Green, Purple and Black. The girls wear Pink, Pale Blue, Light Green and Lavender.

Red and Navy appear to have liver/brown noses. All the rest appear to have black noses. Sometimes a pup with a very dark brown nose will fool me into thinking it is black. Time will tell if what color spots the pups will have.

DeeDee ate her first meal in over 24 hours. In spite of the fact that she was up all night, she is not getting much rest now that she has 9 babies to attend to.

DeeDee's in labor

On Sunday morning, DeeDee did not want breakfast. She had been restless since getting up at 6. As the day worn on it was clear that she was having some contractions and was likely to have her pups soon.

By about 7 in the evening, her contractions were more frequent. At around 8:30 she had her first pup - a 10.5 oz female.

Instinct kicked in and first time mama, DeeDee immediately began mothering the pup.

The pup began to nurse and DeeDee's contractions continued. About 2 hours later, the second pup, another 10oz female is born. Just 10 minutes later DeeDee pushing out an 8oz female.

The fourth pup, a 10.5oz male was born at 11:45. This one's nose appears to be lighter in color than his three sisters. He will probably end up having liver/brown spots.

Shortly after the first male, a second 10 oz male is born shortly after midnight. This one also appears to have a liver/brown nose.

At around 1:30 DeeDee delivered another 10.5oz male. Now she has three sons and three daughters.

I took DeeDee outside for a quick potty break and she then nursed fussed over her new babies. Licking them so much that it was hard for them to hang on to a teat if they were nursing.

An hour later, around 2:30 another 10oz female was born. At around 3:45 DeeDee delivered a stillborn pup. I whisked it away from DeeDee and tried to focus her attention on the other pups.

Not too long after that, just after 4AM, another 10.5 ox male was born. At first he looked very limp and did not breath. But just when the thought crossed my mind that this one too was not going to make it, he gasped. I rubbed him with a towel until he cried and began to breath regularly. As soon as I put him in with the others he began to search for a teat and I knew that he would be OK.

Then before I knew it, at around 4:15 the last and biggest pup was born. This one, another male weighed 12oz and came out hungry. He latched on to a teat as soon as he got the opportunity.

After the birth of that pup, DeeDee seemed to relax and closed her eyes while her puppies nursed. She was exhausted but content with her 9 puppies.

At 5AM I turned out the light and closed my eyes as well.

Puppies due in 2 wks

This is the first time I've done a blog. I figured it would be a good way to share information about DeeDee's litter.

The last litter that I raised was the H Litter that was born in May 08. So, I'm busy getting the whelping area arranged and checking supplies to make sure everything is ready for the birth.