Another year coming to an end. They seem to be going by quickly. As I recap this past year with the kennel, it was pretty hectic and busy. First off, Belle Starr started limping and it took two months to find out what the problem was. Turned out she had a chipped bone in her knee and when the surgeon in Great Falls (great man) did a c scan and found it, he went right in and removed it. She healed up with no problems with that. Then even though she wasn't to come into season until fall, she decided to come early and give us 11 pups on October 5th. This was one busy night and day and then for another two months after that. Fred and I took turns being nurse maids for the first month 24/7 and then up several times during the night to check on them after that. We kept charts on who ate when and made sure that they had momma time. At 3 weeks we started supplementing baby cereal with puppy formula to help Belle Starr out. At 4 weeks Belle Starr was very sick and we ended up weaning them and put them on baby cereal with puppy formula and slowly added in soaked puppy food. Gradually we took out the baby cereal and fed them soaked puppy food (soaked in water) and added puppy formula. until they turned 8 weeks old. Each pup had their own little dish and we fed them 2 at a time if both of us, or if only one, they ate 1 at a time. Quite a process as we marked each one off a chart as they ate. My teaching skills and chart making abilities helped in this area. At 8 weeks the pups were using the doggie door, and mostly potting on the pee pads, and crate trained. At 6 weeks we took away the pee pads and used towels for their pee pads. They liked tearing them apart and dragging them in their bed. Not good with 11 puppies depositing tootsie rolls all the time. At this point we were busy just keeping the room clean for them along with the feedings. They rewarded us with lots of love and laughter. We took to spending time in their nursery room each day sitting with them and working on the no biting and just being companions. At 8 weeks the pups started leaving one by one to their new homes. With each puppy a few tears were shed. I can relate it to having your children grow up and go off to college. You know they will be just fine, but will miss them. Each one had their own little personality. Bones (black boy)was the little rolly polly who was very smart, liked to eat, and would be checking things out instead of playing. He was the first to ask to get out of the crate at night to go potty, the first to drink from the water bottle, and one of the first to use the doggy door. He is in Frenchtown with a wonderful family who will give him lots of love and fun times. Samone, (Purple girl) one of the little black girls was a sweet and smart girl. She was a lot like Abby (orange girl) and we had to make sure they didn't lose their colored collars or we wouldn't have been able to tell them apart. Samone is in Chatteroy and has a new friend Nahlah. Abby is in Superior keeping her family busy as she has a German Shepard buddy Jazz about the same age. Then there were the Blues Brothers numbers 8 and 9 born. These two were my only black boys and were born close together and I called them the twins for they always seemed to be beside each other. When I got the colored collars, I put the dark blue collar on one and the light blue collar on the other. Those two then became the Blues Brothers. They are really sweet boys and were also on the mellow side. Dark Blue is in Spokane with his new buddy Hank, an older lab and a loving family. I'm sure he is quite spoiled. Baby Blue as we called him or light blue is in Kellogg with his new loving family. I'm still waiting to hear what his name will be. Shadow's dad was named Bleu, so he could take after his grandpa... Then there was Buttons (Red) a light colored cream male who was just a sweetheart. He was very mellow and casual but if the other pups picked on him, he would put them in their place. Buttons is living the good life in Missoula and is being very spoiled as well. Montana (green girl) was a lot like Buttons, she's a lighter cream and a very mellow girl. She's just a sweetheart and she as well is living the good life in San Jose with trips to the condo at Lake Tahoe. She is with a wonderful family who is giving her a luxurious life. When one flies up from California and drives their puppy back home tells the whole story. Awesomeness... Then we have Jessie (know as Nessa or lavendar girl). Jessie left us once and after a week she came back to us. The situation wasn't ideal and after a couple of visits to the vet and a lot of love, she is now in her new happy forever home at Newman Lake. Jessie was the elegant first born and was a mellow lioness. I say a lioness for she always sat proud with her legs out in front of her. Just a beautiful girl who is very smart and goes with the flow. She never complained and loved being held. Many times I caught her sleeping on Fred's lap when I would get up in the night. She will always be in our heart as the first born pup. She also had a slim face with unique coloring. She is almost a caramel color and where her fur meet in the middle of her nose gives a look of a stripe down it. Then we have Ribbon Girl ( Pink Girl) who is with us and her name is Princess Laylah. She is known as Stinky Pink. Laylah was the last born and came an hour after we thought Belle Starr had finished. We teased her of upsetting the balance between black and cream, and male and female. On the second day of their life she was apart from the others and not very active. So, we put a pink ribbon around her neck and made sure she had extra mommy time and attention. She came around and surpassed others in size at 2 weeks and is now a healthy trouble maker. Her legs are long and she is a lean machine. She also is very vocal and can climb high mountains (shelves, fences, etc.) and we have our work cut out for us. But, she is a beauty and very smart. We fell in love with her and decided to hang onto her and I'm happy we did. She will take extra training but I believe she is going to be awesome. My first thought was to show her, but with her long legs and athletic ability, I feel she would do better in field trials and shed hunting. So, that is my next step in my lab life. My sweetest little black girl Millie (yellow girl) was the smallest and quietest of the black girls. She never caused any problems and melted ones heart whenever picked up. Millie is in Kalispell and hoping to become a trauma dog. She has the quality to become one of the best. Loved that Millie and I'm sure she is being loved on as I blog. Last but not least is our Storm Trooper (Brown Boy) who is a lighter cream and a very mellow boy. His also is staying with us. He and Princess Laylah have become best of buds and entertain each other. Trooper is hoping to become a therapy dog. I also find him in the night sleeping on Fred's lap. He is in training and has all the qualities to become a great companion for others. Each one of these eleven puppies touched our hearts in different ways. Five white, six black, five males, six females, and all beautiful pups. Belle Starr and Shadow did an outstanding job on giving us such a wonderful litter of pups. The Belle Starr is slowly becoming the girl she was before pregnancy. She got down to 53 pounds when she got really sick and she is now back up to 63 pounds. Her hair fell out and she is in the process of growing back a beautiful shiny black coat. We will just be happy when her tail hair comes all the way back. So as we close this 2015 year we can look back at a lot of excitement and blessings. Wonder what 2016 will bring?
Proud
Wow, it's been almost two weeks since I blogged. My house is so quiet as I have just Storm Trooper and Laylah left. Laylah is the little Pink Girl who we called Ribbon Girl at first for we put a ribbon around her neck to make sure she got extra attention for she was quiet and not active. Well, that isn't true on this day. That little girl has more energy and is one smart cookie. The other day she figured out a way to crawl up on the shelf (over the wire) put her feet on the gate, and over she went and out into the kitchen. So, once again, revamped the puppy room. I'm really working on her manners and she is learning very quickly. She will be staying here with Fred and I along with Storm Trooper. Storm Trooper is a miniature Shadow and we have caught ourselves calling him Shadow. He is quiet and also very intelligent. Those two pups entertain themselves, use the doggy door to go out into big kennel to potty, kennel up when asked, sit for their food, and working on waiting. Love them already.... My washing machine is taking a break, Belle Starr is resting and healing so she will be ready in the spring for her next litter, and we as well besides training will regroup for the next litter. So much was learned throughout this process and now that we have experienced it, know what to expect, and have all the equipment, we are looking forward to doing this again. A few less puppies at birth would be just fine with us.... It's amazing what puppies can do when they are trained from the beginning. They ate out of a bowl at three weeks, started potty training early on and by 8 weeks were pretty much kennel trained. So very proud of my first litter and they will always be in my heart. One of the blessing of the process was meeting all the wonderful people who adopted our puppies and getting to know them. We have very lucky puppies. Proud at Happy Labs Kennel
Belle Starr resting up and preparing for her next litter....
Energized...
The pups are 8 weeks old today. They have turned into miniature dogs and have discovered that they can bark. How wonderful... They will jump and bark at each other just for fun. Also they are very agile, jumping, running, 360s, 180s, into the dog house, in and out of the dog door. chasing, biting, chewing. It's like having 10 four year olds at Chucky Cheese. A little over stimulated. On another note the little bundles go potty outside when I can let them out. It's been very frigid, so not much outside time. They are learning to sit, and working on Quiet... I have them on soaked puppy food now and they are doing great. As they are slowly leaving for their new homes I feel a little empty place in my heart that they occupied for 2 months. Each and every pup is as sweet and special as ever. Each night I throw into Belle Starr's kennel a couple of little blankets that I made for them so as they can take mommy's smell with them. Each day it is easier with them and each night I seem to get more rest. That is a good thing. Parker is here helping me with them and that is such a treasure. All the little things he does really helps. We dewormed them again today but have to confess that we couldn't do the microchip thing. Putting that huge needle into the pups just wasn't working for us. So they will get a micro chip to have the vet administer...Feeling energized at Happy Labs Kennel.
Thankful...
Lots happening at Happy Labs Kennel. First my phone somehow ended up in the dog's water bucket. I can only speculate on how. Then on my way back from picking up a new phone in the rain, the Tahoe hit a slick spot as I was braking and we went off the road. Probably the most traumatic event of my life for I had my grandson with me. We both are fine, but as my grandson told the officer, "My grandma broke her car." This will take me a long time to get over the feeling of thinking I could have injured our precious boy. He is one of the sweetest things that ever hit the earth. It has been good that I have the puppies to occupy my thoughts and helping me heal. I am very thankful that we are safe at home and doing okay. Belle Starr is healing and doing so much better. As far as the puppies are concerned, they are either tearing around, wrestling, dragging pee pads around, or sleeping. And all this time they are leaving little presents laying around. Mostly they are on the pee pads, but sometimes not. They are much better about not peeing in their kennels or on the blanket. We finally have them down to a feeding routine of 4 times a day. They actually went 8 hours last night without a feeding. Sleep at last. I try to spend quality time with them, and we feed them two at a time with their own bowl. Or if it is only me, I feed them one at a time. I'm working on 'wait', but this is going to be a slow process. Tomorrow they will be 6 weeks old, so will get their first shots. Time is flying by.
Busy times...
Today has flown by and I am taking a few minutes to blog before feeding and going to bed. I know that tomorrow is going to be a busy day and I'm sure that I won't have much time to write. Took Belle Starr in yesterday to the vet, again, and they put her on antibiotics so as we can get her well and get some weight on her. It was a scary day for us and hope that she bounces back fast. Belle Starr has lost weight and as we looked at Abie he gained a lot of weight. Always around when we feed Belle Starr ( which has been many smaller meals) and he gets a treat. Now if we could put the weight back on her that would be good. The puppies are becoming independent and personalities are blooming. They are falling into a routine which is very helpful. My days go by fast and for fun I think tomorrow I will write down what I do in a day at Happy Labs Kennel. Last week I arranged their room, this week they arrange their room. I'll look in there and the pee pad is in the kennel, bed covers are drug off the bed, and toys scattered everywhere. Reminds me of the good ole days with my children. With Belle Starr on all that medicine she can't nurse any more. Wish there was something we could do to help with less milk production. I know, this shall pass too, but not fun in the meantime. It's time for this tired lady to finish her day and get some rest.
