8/20/2020 1 Comment We Tried It. We Liked It!What a busy day for the babies! Starting with lunch when they got their first taste of something besides, Rhani's milk! I'll keep them on the same recipe once a day for the next three days before graduating to more puppy chow and thicker gruel. The current recipe is 1/4 cup dried goats milk, 3/4 cup water, 1/3 cup puppy kibble soaked and then all blended together. Funny story...our blender was a wedding gift 41 years ago! It only works on the "instant blend" button, but it still gets the job done! The video is probably longer than necessary, but we can't have puppies without documentation of their first encounter with gruel! They ate it all (except what they wore!) Baths all around were necessary after lunch! And then there were visitors! First, Linda, who lives around the corner from us, but I'd have never met her if not for walking our Dalmatians. Linda has Yorkies, is a wonderful person, and thought the puppies were adorable! Then later in the afternoon, our neighbors, Cindy, Steven and Cat (home from Chicago for the weekend) dropped by. They have the babies' Aunt Lexie so are experienced Dalmatian puppy socializers! Rhani was happy to see all the visitors today. So were the puppies! Well, I was wrong with my prediction yesterday that Sadie would reach 4 pounds before Rita got to 3. Everybody is now 3 pounds +! Everyone is also getting more mobile. In fact, this morning Jo Jo climbed right out of the storage bin I had them in while I was changing their bedding in the box. I turned my back on him for less than 5 seconds, and he was out and scrambling around the office! As you can see from the photos, the puppies were in the outside pin again this afternoon for visitors. Rita was, again, the most adventurous in terms of exploring the area. Imagine that!
Until next time....
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8/19/2020 2 Comments We're Busting Outta Here!This morning, Jo Jo was doing his best to get over the edge of the box and Sadie had her wag on! Enjoy the little video clips!
Jo Jo's attempted escape prompted me to begin rearranging the office/dog room. Recliner out. VeriKennel in. Not setting up the indoor pen until they are actually out of the box, but I am guessing that is just days away. Margot and Dave and two of their granddaughters visited today. Regan and Charlotte thought the puppies were very cute! Margot and Dave couldn't believe how much they've changed in the week or so since they last saw them. I can't either! For the visit, the puppies had their first encounter with the outside pen. Rita was the most adventurous wandering pretty far afield for such a little bit. The girls discovered little teeth emerging which may explain why Rhani is less interested in letting them eat whenever they feel like it. Guess I better get them started on puppy gruel tomorrow! During today's weigh in today, Lizzy passed 3 pounds, so now it's just Rita who has not tipped the scale for that marker. By the time she gets there, Sadie will be over 4 pounds! Imagine that!
Until next time.... 8/18/2020 0 Comments We're just cute!Not a lot to report today. I was reviewing some of my resources this afternoon and realized that I probably need to start the weaning process sooner than I was thinking. There are lots of different opinions about when to do this, but the puppies will get teeth this week. That is not comfortable for Rhani, so I will likely start the process in the next few days - no later than Sunday. Even though there's not much to report, I did get a couple cute photos and video clips. First - three views of a scene that cracked me up this morning. Sadie sprawled on the pig rail, then the full view, and last a close up of Jo Jo and Lizzy's butt. And then the videos. (I had more but somehow managed to shoot them in slow motion. They weren't so cute to make you watch 3 minutes of 30 seconds worth of cuteness!) The first one is of Jo Jo and Rita engaging in some play. This will get much more vigorous over the next few days and weeks. The second is of the puppies all waking up, jostling for position and wrapping up with a big mouth yawn by Maxwell! Imagine that! Until next time....
Jo Jo's eyes are wide open by tonight, but this was the view this morning. The middle picture is Lizzy. She has dramatic eyes and is a little bit of a drama queen too (in the most sweet way!)! Then - just a pile of puppies with Maxwell piling on top! Today was the last day of Early Neurological Stimulation exercises. All the puppies came to peace with them except being inverted vertically. No one liked that from day 3 through day 16! Imagine that! From now till they are 4 weeks, we will just concentrate on them developing however they naturally want to. They will continue to meet new visitors, probably go for a car ride or two, begin the weaning process, graduate from the whelping box to larger indoor and outdoor areas and be separated from their litter mates (with one of us) for short periods of time. But daily structured development activities will begin in earnest at 4 weeks. Today, I saw more puppies sitting, more wagging tails (still no video) and observed them beginning to interact with each other in play. I think they would take to the "litter box" if Rhani would stop interfering. They mostly head that direction when they wake up, but when I am not in the room with them, she flips the cookie trays, shreds the papers I put in them and around them to catch the pine pellets and make them less slippery, and generally messes up the entire whelping box set up. I guess I should have consulted her on this! Because they are developing so quickly, Dave constructed the outside pen today. We have lots of fun things planned to add to this area when the puppies are ready to begin hanging out there in a week or so. I'll leave you with a couple cute photos of the boys resting their chins on the pig rails. Well, actually, Maxwell is trying to eat it! Until next time.....
8/16/2020 0 Comments LocomotionThere is not a lot to report today, but the puppies are really gaining locomotion ability! Jo Jo - who still hasn't opened his eyes - continues to lead the pack in the getting around category, but others are not far behind - especially Sadie! And I observed the first tail wags (not captured on videos) and Maxwell just sitting. (Sitting is new.) That stopped my heart, because his Grandpa Raj used to just sit and watch the world go by. Maxwell and JoJo have joined Sadie in the 3 pound department. Until next time!
8/15/2020 0 Comments Two Weeks Old Today!Today is their 2 week birthday! Imagine that! To celebrate, the puppies got their nails dremmeled (except Maxwell who I did last night), got new mug shots and had a visit from Danielle and her mom, Alison! Here are their mug shots side-by-side followed by their individual "collages" showing them at 1 day, 1 week and 2 weeks. It's fun to watch their little faces develop! Looking at these photos, I see I should have kept at their nails a little longer! I told you they are LONG! And no - Jo Jo still has not opened his eyes, but he's the best walker of the bunch! Everybody is improving their skills in that regard!
Besides these activities, we had our daily weigh in. Guess who hit 3 pounds first? Sadie - of course! No cute videos today because they pretty much ate and slept and that was it today! Until next time.... 8/14/2020 2 Comments Peepers, Spots, and Legs....Oh MyWe've had no internet except my phone's hot spot since Sunday! That means we've had no Internet! But the puppies carry on regardless! During their second week on earth, they've been busy growing, getting spots, finding their legs, having visitors, developing their sense of smell, and finally opening their eyes! Sorry for a longish post, but a lot happens in 5 days! Visitors!This week's visitors included some new friends and some old friends! One of the great things about walking my Dalmatians everyday is the people we meet! We see Shawn walking her dogs almost everyday. We always say hello and I always think to myself - what a nice lady with such well-mannered dogs! I never knew her name until Rhani had the babies! I told her she should come see them and she took me up on the offer since her daughter, Sorell's birthday was Tuesday and she was trying to plan a fun day. Well - what could be more fun than visiting puppies? The next day, the Marino's came to visit! More people we met walking, although only once. Valeri and her daughter Amelia stopped to talk to Baili and me one day a couple months ago while we were drawing one of our chalk drawings. Valeri told me that she and her husband had a Dalmatian when they were first married and they've always wanted another one. I told her Rhani was expecting puppies and to look us up. Well, they apparently registered to be notified by AKC Marketplace when puppies in the area were available and got notice of Rhani's litter. Within days, I had a Facebook message from Valeri and then a puppy application. Their first Dalmatian was from my friend, Elaine Lindhorst, where we got our Cooper! These puppies are related to their first Dalmatian! Valeri and Mike have triplet daughters that are 17 years old - Amelia, Cambell and Riley! They were totally smitten with the babies! The girls emailed me after the visit offering to help with the puppy "curriculum" that will start when they are 4 weeks old. I might just take them up on that! Today, Steven and Cindy from across the street came back to visit for the second time. They couldn't believe how much the puppies have grown in the past week! Steven made sure Rhani got personal attention too which she greatly appreciated! Puppy DevelopmentThe puppies have all grown a lot this week! The photo is of Lizzy getting weighed in on Wednesday! Everybody is well over 2 lbs and Sadie is still the largest - fast approaching 3 lbs! Most of this week, Lizzy, Maxwell and Jo Jo were without collars. I decided to order buckle collars which arrived today to make it easier for those of you at home to know who's who! So as a reminder - Maxwell is purple, Sadie is pink, Rita is red, Lizzy is now yellow as they don't make "rainbow" collars, and Jo Jo, the liver boy, is blue! On Wednesday night, I finally saw some eyes opening! As of today, everyone mostly has their eyes open, except Jo Jo! He is still squeezed shut! You can see Rita's pretty open eyes in the photo above with Cindy holding her. In addition to gaining weight, these puppies sure do grow toe nails! I clipped them last week on Tuesday. On Monday this week, they got their first dremmel nail job. They all tolerated it pretty well. Of course, on Tuesday, they couldn't see, hear or smell, so what's not to like? By today, they really need it again. I did Maxwell's nails again tonight with the dremmel while Steven and Cindy were here and he was a very good boy until the very last nail. Better do the rest of them tomorrow! Tuesday evening, I noticed them starting to sniff, so their noses are now operational! They are all eliminating on their own now. Oh joy! This means lots more loads of laundry for me! I am trying the "litter box" with these puppies that I've seen so many friends use successfully. For now, it's disposable cookie sheets with pine pellets. When they are bigger, they will graduate to rabbit pen trays. The cookie sheets have only been in the box for about 24 hours. So far there is some action there. Not sure if it's accidental or not. Hopefully the accidents will become habits! Spots are really starting to come through! Clockwise in this photo are Maxwell, JoJo, Lizzy, Rita, Sadie. And they have legs! They are definitely drunken sailors but they are getting up and about. I predicted early in the week that Jo Jo would be the first to be walking and I was right. And one more funny video from a couple days ago - of course, starring Rita! They love to eat! Until next time....
8/9/2020 0 Comments We Have Our First 2 Pounder!Sadie, yes, Sadie weighed in at 2 lbs. 3/8 oz today! What a little piggy she is! Everyone has officially doubled their birth weights. We had fun visitors today - our friend, Linda, who helped us whelp the litter and our Great Nephew and his girl, Zac and Nikki. We shared BLT's, peach pie, Mimosas and puppies! Rhani did minimal grumbling. She is slowly getting used to people coming to admire her babies. She even escaped my office/dog room to come upstairs to the kitchen while we had pie. She was very happy about that! Once again, I was a photographer failure! But here's a picture of the pups in their holding cell (where they go while I change the pads in their box) and of Nikki talking to Maxwell. And below that is an amusing little video of the puppies having a frenzy at the milk bar last night. Rita cracks me up! Not much else to report today. Until next time.... Here are the one week mug shots. For comparison purposes, I have below their 1 day and 1 week photos side by side. The eye and nose pigment is really coming in nicely on all the puppies. Jo Jo and Sadie have the most to fill, but given how much they gained in just one week, I would guess they will ultimately have solid colored noses and eye trim.The puppies had more visitors today. Dave and Margot came for a second visit along with their son and daughter in law - Alex & Brittany. Rhani decided all of them were ok after they all gave her ample treats! They were all surprised by how strong the puppies are. Besides the visit, it was mug shot day, they had their 5th day of Early Neuro exercises, and their usual weigh in's. I was a little surprised that only Sadie and Lizzy actually doubled their birth weight by today. But both Maxwell and Jo Jo are within an ounce of doing so and Rita is within in 1.5 ounces, so I think we are good. Everyone has gained weight every day and they are vigorous and content. That's Jo Jo in the scale below! Until next time....
Well, really, what else can we do at this stage? We can't see. We can't hear. We can't smell. YET! We are just concentrating on growing. The first image above shows how Maxwell's ears (like his eyes) are closed as a newborn. Eyes should begin opening next week sometime. Ears will begin to open a few days after that. They should also be able to begin smelling sometime next week. They will be little dogs before we know it! Since I last posted, the puppies have had two more visitors, Danielle (bad me - I didn't take photos) came to meet the puppies on Thursday. Danielle will be getting one of these babies so she has weekly visit status! Today, Cindy and Steven came by. They are our neighbors and have Lexi, Raj's sister and the "Great Aunt" to these babies. Rhani continues to be wary of anyone except Dave and me coming into see the babies, but she is getting a bit better. Steven truly is a dog whisperer, so she was ok with him. She continued to give Cindy the stink - eye though! It is safe to say that Cindy and Steven took more photos and videos of the puppies during their visit than I have since they were born! I'm trying to organize one set of visitors each day. At this point, this is mainly to get Rhani more comfortable with the idea and also to get the puppies used to being handled by humans. We have visitors planned for tomorrow and Sunday. Next week is open at this point if you want to make a reservation! LOL! Rhani had been running a temperature since the babies were born and also having VERY sloppy poop. I started adding canned pumpkin to three of her meals (she gets 4 a day now!) and two kinds of probiotics our repro vet recommended. As of today, her temp is almost back to normal and so is her poop! She's definitely feeling herself again giving me hugs and tail wags. In fact, she's decided that she can leave the box for short forays into the yard to do her business and investigate potential other places she might like to keep her babies! Today, she decided to park herself in the storage tub I use to put the puppies when I clean their box! What a goober! Everybody continues to gain weight daily. By tomorrow they should all have doubled their weights at birth, and all seem on track to do so or at least come very close. In fact, Lizzy, who was smallest at birth, has already! Two puppies are now without ric rac. Maxwell's was getting very tight, so I cut it off yesterday morning. I think I ought to be able to figure out which one he is since he's the only black boy! When Jo Jo's falls off or gets too tight, I won't replace his either. Lizzy's ribbon fell off, so I just left it off. Hopefully I won't confuse her with Rita if Rita's comes off! They look a lot alike at this point. (Yes, I think I've decided that Rita is indeed black). Danielle helped me notice that Lizzy has spots on her feet that Rita doesn't have, so when in doubt, I will look there! I'm trying to get all appointments scheduled and paper work taken care of that I can so I don't forget something! So far I have scheduled BAER (hearing tests) at MIZZOU for September 17, registered the litter with AKC, submitted their whelp date and results to our DCA Futurity chair, and spoken with the repro vet re: when we should do the first set of shots and confirmed that he will also do microchips and the CHIC DNA Repository blood draw at the same time. He recommends the first shots at 8 weeks and not before 7 1/2 weeks. He says doing it earlier is a waste because until then they are fully protected from the antibodies they get from mom's milk. I ordered another big bag of Purina Pro Plan Puppy Chicken and Rice to make sure I don't run out, (Rhani is plowing through it!), more Forti-Flora, more Vitamin C and a few new toys. For the new owner puppy kits, I've ordered Juju Dal tote bags, Purina Puppy Kits, AKC Puppy Kits, and the "official" AKC pedigree. Still to do is to contact my old friend to see if she still does puppy temperament tests and schedule those for when they are 49 days old and make the vet appt. for their shots. I'm probably forgetting something, but I will remember it eventually! Tomorrow they turn one week old, so tune in for the one week "mug shots". I think you will be surprised at the difference a week makes! Until next time... |
Toni LinstedtI like to keep a diary of the puppies as much for myself as for prospective puppy buyers and interested friends. Sadly my blogs for Lucy's and Baili's litters are no longer available due to legacy systems, but I saved them off as pdf's and was reviewing them last night. It was a good refresher on all kinds of things and brought back lots of good memories. Looking forward to Imagine memories too! Archives
January 2021
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