Two week pictures

Here are some candid shots from a play session today. The puppies are each over 3 lbs now. The weather has been very hot and our air conditioner is out. We put an ice pack in the middle of the box and they love to sleep on it! Already they can howl and little teeth are pushing through on

the top. There is nothing more fun then sitting in the box with them and watching. Even when they sleep they are adorable!

Big Puppies!

The puppies are getting huge. They are already 2 lbs each. Red girls eyes opened today, which is the earliest I have ever seen a puppy open it's eyes. They are only 9 days old.

In the box..

Someone asked me tonight if Boston could leave the box. Yes she can any time she wants to. As you can see from this picture all Boston has to do is step over the side of the box and she can move around the room. She has an entire room to herself. The box is 4 feet on each side. Later when the puppies are bigger it will be 8 feet by 4 feet. As the puppies grow they will spend less time nursing and sleeping and more time playing. She will spend less time in the box with them as her nursing becomes very efficient. Later in the weeks that they will be with her, she will concentrate more on playing with them and teaching them how to be dogs. You can see the video camera set up on the right side. Just outside the box on the left is a water bucket.

Five days old and growing fast.

Mike says they are like ripening bananas. Their noses get blacker by the hour! From top they are red girl, orange girl and yellow boy.

Cover Boy!

The puppies dad Sniper is a cover boy. Here he is on the current issue of the Samoyed Quarterly!

Camstreams is off line

Sorry but all of Camstreams is currently off line. We don't know why but hopefully it will be back up soon. We will post when we see it on again. BACK UP AS OF 1:30 P.M. EST Please remember to close your window. We are seeing double addresses sometimes which means that someone has two windows open.

Boston's Babies

You can view the live podcast of Boston's Babies in the whelping box on your home computer. We recently upped the number that can watch at once to 15, however we have had over 3,300 hits since we started broadcasting six days ago. Please be sure to close your browser when you are done watching so someone else can connect.

BOSTON'S BABIES

Growing fast

The puppies are growing fast! All three of them have already increased body weight by 50% since Tuesday. That is amazing to me since I don't think I have ever seen such fast growth. I guess Boston must be serving buttermilk. This morning they had their dew claws removed at the vet's office and it took less than 5 minutes to do all three puppies. Boston and I went out for a walk while they did it since she was a bit nervous. When we got home and I put them back in the whelping box, she checked them over then went back to the carrier they had been in and sniffed it well presumably to make sure no one had been left behind. Once satisfied that she had all three, she settled right down to giving them their morning bath. All is well in puppy land.

Comic relief...

Sometimes you need a little comic relief from the every day stressors. Here is Ch. Wee Heart's Out Run the Wind aka Breezy in the bathtub waiting for Mike to finish up her rinse.

A very long night...

May 15, 2007 was a very long night and not one I will forget for a very long time. After a long day Monday with early stage labor Boston went into hard labor at 10:45 p.m. When no puppies had arrived by midnight we put in a call to our vet who had us administer a shot of oxytocin. Within 20 minutes Boston had delivered two girls and then had another boy about 20 minutes later. We knew from x-rays that there were two more in there but Boston didn't progress as she should have. By 5:30 a.m. I got concerned and called the vet again. We gave her one more oxytocin shot and he said if no puppy had arrived by 7:45 a.m. that he would need us to bring her in. Unfortunately by 9:00 a.m. Tuesday Boston was on his operating table having a c-section to get the last two puppies. Sadly they were not able to revive them and we lost a beautiful boy and a girl.

Boston is doing very well now and all three puppies are nursing and growing very fast. Their beautiful little faces are helping to erase the memory of that very long night. Being a breeder can be heart wrenching and sometimes is filled with almost unbearable sorrow. I know every one of us remembers every little soul that we lose along the way. The thing that keeps us going is the precious gifts of the beautiful puppies we are able to bring into this world and knowing how much joy they will bring to their new owners. Here you see Boston shortly after giving birth to her three puppies in the wee hours of the night. I sat in that box with her all night long. Later you see the beautiful little boy snuggling and falling asleep on his mom's leg the next day.

A special thank you to our veterinarian who answered our frantic calls during the night and who did every thing he could to save our little ones. And another thank you to Sniper's owner Judy McDougall who has been a joy to work with and a wonderful support to us every step of the way. Breeding truly is a partnership and it is indeed a pleasure to have some great people to work with. Thank you also to my dear husband Mike who saved the little yellow boy by not giving up on him and literally pulling him back from the edge when he had fluid in his lungs! And of course Boston who was a trouper and never once complained and who has been a marvelous mother and my best friend.

And a boy

Yellow boy was born 12:47 and weighs 14.8 oz

At last

At last!
Red girl was born at 12: 27 a.m. Tuesday, May 15, 2005 and she weighs one pound!
Orange girl came right after her at 12:32 and she weighs whopping 1 lb. 2.6 oz!!!!
Stay tuned, more to come.

Nothing yet..

No news yet. Boston has spent the day just panting and looking a bit uncomfortable. I did take her for a walk and she enjoyed herself, but she just doesn't seem ready to bring those puppies into the world. Her temperature is still low, but not as low as I would expect right before puppies come. Maybe she is waiting for the camera to get started. Seems our booster cables are still at the Federal Express building where they have been since Saturday. Fed Ex says, "Sorry won't deliver until Tuesday mid day". So the webcam won't show any puppies until at least tomorrow since the camera cord doesn't reach into the whelping room. These special booster cables can't be purchased around here (we tried). That's all for now.

Soon...

Puppies are probably coming today. Boston slept well last night but this morning only ate about half of her breakfast. She is restless and wants to go outside to dig in the yard. As you can see from the temperature post her temperature is down a bit and has been down since yesterday. I expect we will have puppies some time today or tonight. I've gathered up my whelping supplies so I am ready. Lots of freshly washed (and bleached) towels, paper towels, suction ball, clamps, floss to tie cords, colored yarn, vet wrap for her tail so I can see better, postage scale, paper and pen. Each puppy is weighed, and the time is recorded along with color. I will start with red, and move through the rainbow.

Up and Running

We finally have a web cam up and running. A special thank you to my brother Andrew who lives in Massachusetts. We had worked on getting the web cam up for two days and were completely frustrated. Then a call to my brother and he walked us through it and in 20 minutes we had lift off! There is nothing to see just yet, but when the puppies come we should have it aimed at the box. In the mean time you can check out the page and bookmark it. All you see right now is my home office. Once in a while a dog walks by or a person or cat comes into the room. To find it go to:

BOSTON'S BABIES

Temperature

Starting tonight we will take Boston's temperature once per day. A temperature drop means labor should begin within 12 hours. Each day I will add the temperature to this section of the blog. As we get closer we will take her temp more often. It doesn't always happen, but this is a pretty good way to know when the time is coming. Usually the drop in temperature is one where it goes down at least 3 degrees and stays there. At that point labor should commence within a few hours.

• 100.4 Wednesday 5/9/07 11:15 p.m.
• 100.0 Thursday 5/10/07 11:05 p.m.
• 100.8 Friday 5/11/07 11:55 p.m.
• 100.7 Saturday 5/12/07 midnight
• 99.6 Sunday 5/13/07 3:04 p.m.
• 99.8 Sunday 5/13/07 9:00 p.m.
• 99.2 Monday 5/14/07 9:30 a.m.
• 99.4 Monday 5/14/07 4:45 p.m.

Rain!

It's raining in Michigan. No I take that back. It is pouring! I have to be in East Lansing on campus all day today and Mike works the late shift at the pharmacy. Normally that isn't a problem, BUT with two pregnant dogs...we need to make sure they are outside as much as possible since they have well.....pressure on their bladders. The plan was to let them stay outside all morning until Mike had to leave for work and then his parents will let them out at dinner time and feed Boston (aka the bottomless pit) I won't be back until 8 p.m. Well now it is raining cats and dogs and there will be limited outdoor time before we have to leave. Nuts! Not only will our house be a mud pit with all the wet paws, but now we will have stressed dogs from not getting out. Well into every life a little rain must fall. I guess the grass will just need to be mowed again and Boston will have to manage!

Puppy-prep continued

After working all day long yesterday we are making progress. Here is the room now that the bookcases are in place. Mike has put together the whelping box and is now installing the pig rails. Pig rails are also called roll bars. The box is 4' by 4' and two feet high. The sides are laminated shelving which makes for easy clean up. A hinged door allows Boston to walk in easily when the puppies are small. The pig rail is pvc pipe and is raised up and placed along the sides of the box. The reason for this is that when the mom lies down, if there is a puppy near the side of the box they can be smothered. This pig rail allows for the puppy to roll under it and then crawl back along the side behind mom to safety.

Puppy-prep

Puppy prep happens the week before the puppies are due. We believe it is very important that puppies are born into a safe, clean and tranquil environment. Therefor with Boston's puppies due in about a week, this entire weekend will go to preparations. Our "dog room" which is where dogs sleep, and are groomed, is undergoing a transformation to become the whelping area. The room has a tile floor and vinyl coated wainscoting on the lower walls which is designed for ease of cleaning. First order of the day is to remove everything from the room. Next we clean all surfaces and even bleach the floor. Next a layer of vinyl flooring will go where the whelping box will lay and then later today Mike will get the box out of storage and assemble it. Book cases make a wall dividing the room in half for more privacy for Boston. Stay tuned for more pictures later in the weekend.

Pupdate

Boston is expanding around the middle. She sleeps a bit more, is less active on walks, but still wants to chase rabbits. The Baked Bean gal often rests at the top of the dens she has made and if Korbel walks by she gives a warning bark to tell her to stay away. Poor Korbel has no one to play with. In fact this morning she jumped the fence and went down below to the Pom yard to play with them. They were not amused.

The stork is coming to our house in June too, with Pomeranian puppies. Ultra sound results at the vet today tell us that Tisha aka Tish the Dish is expecting at least two puppies on June 3rd.