Puppies are one week old!

The Quick/Spryte puppies are one week old today.  They continue to grow and become more mobile. They are starting to use their back legs more, even propping themselves up on all four and taking a wobbly step or two.

Weights from today:
Merlot: 13.3 oz
Syrah: 12.1 oz
Zin: 14.8 oz
Pinot: 13.2 oz
Ries: 7.3 oz









pictures from today:

Merlot

Syrah 

Ries

Pinot

Zin

Ries, Pinot

L-R: Syrah, Ries, Merlot, Zin, Pinot

Syrah, Zin, Ries

Merlot

Syrah

Top-bottom: Zin, Merlot, Pinot, Ries

Quick/Spryte puppies day 5

Yesterday we started the Bio-Sensor program with each puppy.  The program consists of five simple exercises lasting between three and five seconds long and is administered once a day. The program  introduces the puppies to controlled stress at a young age which results in adult dogs that recover from stress faster, have improved immune systems, improved heart function and greater social skills.  The five exercises are holding the puppy in a head straight up position, holding them in a head straight down position, holding them on their back, stimulating toes with a Q-tip and exposing them to a temperature change by placing the puppy on a cold towel.  The duration starts at 3 seconds for each puppy and increase to 5 seconds by the end of the fourteen day program.  More information on the program can be found in Jerry Hope's book "The Breeder's Guid to Raising Superstar Dogs."

The puppies continue to grow

and gain weight.
Here are today's puppy weights.
Merlot: 11.6 oz
Syrah: 9.7 oz
Zin: 13.8 oz
Pinot: 11.1 oz
Ries: 5.7 oz









pics from today:

top-bottom: Ries, Zin, Syrah, Merlot

Pinot

 Syrah

Merlot, Zin

top-bottom: Merlot, Ries, Syrah

Syrah, Ries, Pinot

Zin, Pinot

The Okanagan Litter

Since we are new to the Okanagan we thought it would be fun to name the puppies after different wines. So let me introduce the Okanagan Litter (or better know as the Wine O'Clock litter ;)


Pinot Noir (Pinot)
Tri colour Male
weighs 9.1 oz

Merlot
Sable male
weighs 8.4 oz

Zinfandel (Zin)
Sable male
10.3 oz

Syrah
Sable Female
weighs 8.1 oz

Riesling (Ries)
Sable female
4.8 oz

A few more pictures from today

Syrah, Merlot

Ries

Zin, Pinot, Syrah, Merlot

They're here!

Spryte's due date was November 24. Knowing the

time was getting close, I  was taking her temperature twice a day for about the last week.  Typically a dog will start labour within 24 hours of a temperature drop below 99F, so it's a pretty sure sign that puppies are on their way soon.  Spryte's first two litters showed a temperature drop in the morning and then labour started before noon.  So when her temperature dropped to 98.6F at 5:00am on November 22, I was sure puppies would be born by lunch. Spryte had other ideas.

      Spryte spent the morning nesting in our closet, and was rather restless, but other than that she was pretty normal all day. She even ate breakfast and lunch.  It became clear in the early afternoon that Spryte was planning on breaking the cycle and making this one an all nighter.

 

I watched her closely all day, cuddled with her in the closet, read a book next to her and generally just waited impatiently for the moment to come.  It wasn't until 11pm that evening that Spryte finally started to go into labour.  She was panting heavily, nesting constantly, shaking, and contractions started to become visible.  At this point we put her in the whelping box hoping to keep the delivery contained to one area.  Spryte was not impressed by this move. She had picked out our bedroom closet weeks ago as her birthing location and she was determined to get her way. She refused to stay in the whelping box and would not settle down. Finally we gave in, put some blankets down in the closet, brought in the warming box and settled down on the floor with Spryte.

   Once we moved to the closet it was only maybe half an hour later before her water broke and the first puppy appeared.  Just as we finished cleaning up the first puppy, another was making it's way into this world. Spryte ended up having three puppies within about 20 minutes. Then she rested for around 45 minutes before the last two arrived. The grand total is 2 sable boys, 2 sable girls and 1 tri colour boy.  All the births were smooth and effortless. 

   Once the puppies were dry and warm, momma Spryte and her crew moved into the whelping box and settled in for the night. It was now 3:00am on November 23.  

  All the puppies are doing well and gaining weight. Spryte is an attentive mother and rarely leaves the whelping box. She is a wonderful mother who truly loves her pups.

  from L-R: sable girl, sable boy, sable girl, tri boy, sable boy
                   Syrah, Zin, Ries, Pinot, Merlot

Litter News

We are excited to announce that we are expecting a litter of puppies on November 25th! Our Spryte has been bred to Quick (Just in Time of the Crazy Town).  (http://www.ofthecrazytown.eu/sheltie/quick/)

 I had the pleasure of meeting "Quick" a few times while in Luxembourg.  Quick is a very outgoing and confident dog. He happily approached us and jumped up for petting and loving both times we met.  He loved the attention and didn't want to leave our side.  He was also great with Spryte. Very friendly and interested in his little lady.

Quick is the nephew of "Caja of the Crazy Town" ( Daughter of "Velvet" (Excellent Choice Red Velvet) who is Quick's grandmother). Caja and Silas Boogk competed in the 2008 and 2012 FCI Agility World Championships, and have attended numerous European Open Championships.  Silas and Caja have had many EO placements including winning the individual Medium division in 2011.
A video of Caja's 2011 win can be seen at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVn8U_AVDM4
 
Quick is currently competing in agility in Luxembourg, France and Germany. He is a young dog and has just started his competition career and is already excelling at the sport.  Quick is fast and loves to work for both food and toys.  We are very exciting to have had the opportunity to breed him to Spryte.  We are expecting very high drive puppies that will excel at agility and other performance sports.

We x-rayed Spryte yesterday and counted at least five puppies.  We are very excited to have a large litter again.  The more the merrier :)