Catching Up With The Puppies

I swear I started a new entry for this blog last week. I guess that shows how tired I feel and how busy I have been. I have really enjoyed the puppies. They are now old enough to go to new homes and I am ready for that. Raina may suffer “empty nest” syndrome. She is in the other room playing with them just like she is a puppy again. I know she will not miss the commando nursing. They will still nurse if she lets them and I guess she just has a soft heart. She has to stand because they are so big. Their sucking is so loud that I just imagine Raina feels like she is being turned inside out. The Cocker puppy is almost the same size as Raina and it’s almost hysterical to see her nursing. It looks more like she is a mechanic checking Raina’s undercarriage.

They are actually weaned and eating regular puppy food. Sometimes they even get into Raina’s bowl. That’s a little funny with the Yorkie pups. The kibble is big enough that they have to gnaw away at it until it fits inside their mouths. The Cocker has a preference for softened kibble but does eat it dry. I’ve been worming them over the past three days and have had a tough time getting them to eat all of the food with the medicine in it, except for the Cocker. I’ve tried milk, canned dog food mashed up and softened kibble. I even added some broth from soup my daughter-in-law made for me. At least that is over. They have all had their first puppy shot. None of them cried and fussed.

They are showing different personalities now. I have given them nicknames. My son will not allow me to name them because he is afraid I will become too attached. The Cocker seemed to stay the same size for so long. I just knew that I had done something wrong with her bottle feedings. Then one day she shot up. I had to start calling her “The Weed” because she is continuing to grow like a weed. The Weed does not like going outside. She cried and howled pitifully. I took her out of the pen to see if exploring a little would make it better. She found the puppy pouch I carried them out in and tried to climb back in. She is the one who complains the most when she is hungry. She is a beautiful puppy and so sweet. She does not use her larger size to dominate the other pups. The Yorkies however take advantage of her floppy ears and pull on them.

A couple of weeks ago I gave up moving the pups from the playpen to the bigger play area pen. I put the playpen away, they had outgrown it. Now I use the bigger pen for sleeping and to contain the pups when I need to. The Weed yowls when she does not want to be in there. Now my room is their play area. They discovered the cats very quickly. Eliot just hides in her bed. Harley tries to ignore them, but has given a whack to the head when they get too playful with her. I am so proud of the pups, they are paper trained and I didn’t really do anything. When they were in the playpen they would instinctively get out of their bed to “go”. That end of the pen had newspaper in it. Now that they are running around my room, I have placed newspaper here and there. They always go to the paper. Sometimes they miss, but I figure that is due to a lack of coordination. Sometimes they do go on the floor, but that is usually because I did not put paper down where they are accustomed to having it or they have moved it. Dogs are creatures of habit. I plan to recommend crate training. When I get up in the morning their pen is usually clear of mess. They scatter to the newspapers to potty first thing. That’s pretty amazing for 4 puppies in a 3’ square pen.

Two of the Yorkie puppies have gone to their new homes. It was a little more hectic when there were six puppies rather than four. I have nicknamed the remaining three. Bruiser got his early. He has been the biggest since birth. Then Little Big Man got his name. He started the same size as his brother, but since then he has not grown as fast. I think he will be the smallest. He is just as feisty as the others. No one gets the best of him. “Green Girl” has the least interesting name, poor girl. It just refers to the green neckband she wears. She is the most interested in getting my attention. She will get on the doggie steps and woof at me until I look at her. She loves to sit in my lap. I take those opportunities to get the pups used to being groomed by brushing them. I also trim their toenails then. I am determined to socialize these pups. When I got Raina, she and her littermates were very shy. It was almost as if they had not had much contact with people. The males hid so far under furniture that I would have had to have gotten down on the floor to reach them. All four pups run to the door when someone knocks. One has to shuffle their feet to avoid stepping on them. That’s what I want when someone comes to see them.

I’m going to put together their puppy kits today. I don’t want to be rushing to put them together when it’s time for a pup to leave. We are providing everything needed to start out except for a crate. Hopefully we will be putting an ad on LiveDeal.com today. We have always had good response to ads placed there.

I will miss the pups when they are all gone, but will be happy that someone is getting a healthy, well-adjusted and beautiful puppy.

Weaning, feeding and pooping

I am really tired! We finally tried holding CC down to nurse her puppy. It works and we thought maybe she would catch on to caring for the puppy on her own. The minute we let go of her she jumps up and walks away! I have always said that dog is a big dumb blonde. So I meet Shannon during the night when she is getting up to feed the squirrel. I get CC and hold her until the puppy finishes nursing. CC will lick and clean the puppy too, but she obviously does not like it. At first we thought it might be because she only had one puppy and if there were more she would have taken care of them. After all this work, we have pretty much decided to spay CC and retire her. I don’t think she will be any better with a larger litter. I skipped taking the puppy to CC at 8:00 a.m. because I am just too tired and in too much pain.


Raina has been a wonderful mother. My only concern is her weight. It’s like every ounce of nutrition she takes in goes to the pups. She has obviously lost weight so I feed her constantly. She gets puppy formula so she gets enough calcium and lots of calories. I am also giving her puppy food for the same reason. I think when she begins to wean the pups she will retain some of what she is losing to them. I check their mouths daily to see if the baby teeth have started to erupt. That’s when Raina should want to start weaning.


The three females in Raina’s litter are spoken for already. The couple that owns the Cocker Spaniel stud is getting 2 females to cover the stud fee and we are getting a breeding pair of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels in exchange. They want to stop breeding the spaniels and I think we will do well with them. Shannon and I saw the dogs last week and they are beautiful! We are planning to use one of their Yorkie studs the next time we breed Raina. They are really nice folks and give lots of advice.


This is a few days later..I’ve been too busy with weaning Raina’s pups and bottle-feeding the Cocker Spaniel puppy. I took my cue from Raina about weaning; she just gets up and walks away when she has had enough. The Cocker puppy finally started taking a bottle after a night of not being fed and a change to a Nuk bottle. My hands hurt so badly! I have severe osteoarthritis in my thumbs and it takes some work to get a wiggly puppy to settle down to nurse. At least she is thriving!


Sean offered to feed the puppy for me and got pooped on for his efforts! Usually it takes a little work to get her to go, but I guess she likes him and gave him a gift!

Everyone is doing well

I’ve got a few minutes to catch up. Raina’s pups are doing great. Two of the girls have opened at least one eye as of 11:30 a.m. They are very healthy and thriving.

Penny has become so clingy. She tore a hole in the portable playpen, so now she is in a crate in the dog room. She wants to cuddle constantly and shrieks when she hears anyone around. She did not want anything to do with Raina’s puppies. So we are making sure she is well fed, she gets her medicine and spend as much time as we can with her.

CC surprised us Sunday evening by dropping a single puppy on the floor. The pup is a healthy female. We waited, but no other puppies arrived. At first CC seemed interested in the pup. She would lick it, but every time it tried to nurse, CC would walk away. Shannon spent the night with them in case CC had more puppies and to switch the heating pads on again every two hours. Early Monday morning, Shannon came to my room with the puppy. CC would just not feed it and it was crying pitifully. Rather than attempting a bottle-feeding at that point we decided to see if Raina would accept the pup. I love that dog! She took the additional puppy without any fuss. We have been holding Raina to nurse the Cocker puppy separately since she is not as developed as the Yorkies, even though she is almost the same size. I guess we don’t really have to hold Raina; I just put the puppy down alone in a bed to look for a dropper for formula. When I got back, Raina was nursing the puppy.

I was beginning to feel like the only one on baby animal detail until Shannon brought home a baby squirrel! It looks to be only days old. She is feeding it kitten formula with a dropper. Shannon has a great touch with animals. The little thing is perking up and eating like crazy. When it reaches the point that it can lap up food on it’s own, we should be able to take it somewhere like Yellow River Game Ranch.

Shannon suggested we try getting Penny to feed the Cocker puppy. She held Penny while I held the pup. After a few minutes of nursing, Penny calmed down and even stopped the shivering she has been doing for days. We returned the pup to Raina for bathing and will try letting Penny nurse her again later. A big hoorah for Penny!

Penny's bad day

Today I am tired and sad. Penny was in labor all day yesterday. I watched her while Sean and Shannon were at school and work. They took over the watch from me allowing me to go to bed at 11 p.m. I was called at 2:30 a.m. when Penny went into active labor. Unfortunately she was only having 2 puppies and both were breach. Our vet tried to save the second puppy by doing a C-section, but it could not be revived. He advised us to have Penny spayed since it look like her pelvis was just too small. We love our Penny and decided that spaying was the best thing to do. It’s very sad that we do not have either of her puppies and she will never have any. She will always have her special place in our home whether she can have puppies or not. In the entire world there is only one Penny.

More puppies today?

Raina’s puppies are growing so fast. When I last weighed them, they ranged from 8.2 ounces to 9.2 ounces. The vet said they were “nice and plump” the day he docked their tails. They did very well with the tail docking. Raina was a good girl even though she could hear her puppies whimpering. I am not crazy about altering anything on puppies, but after being hit by C.C.’s monster tail there may be a reason for some of the changes; it may not just be for fashion.

Today I am spending the day with Penny. She is obviously miserable. She’s been lactating for a couple of days and also has a pink mucus discharge from her vulva. I’ve been just letting her sit with me. She wants to go to Sean and Shannon’s bedroom, but I don’t think they really want puppies born in there. I decided to try walking her like I did with Raina. I don’t know if the walk did any good, but Raina delivered the next day. Penny is lying on her side at my feet. She just looks very uncomfortable. Maybe I’m wrong; I noticed that she is asleep. I’m trying to hurry things along and maybe I need to slow down and let them happen at their own pace.

I want to bring my camera upstairs. Not just to get pictures of Penny. I need to get shots of the ferrets too. Goose has settled in very nicely. They are probably wondering why I have not let them out. Shannon usually lets them out twice a day. I would have to put Penny in her playpen and I want to keep her with me. Shannon’s spending the day with her dad and stepmom. She has her cell phone with her so I can call her if her Penny starts to have her pups.

Puppy Update

Raina and the puppies are doing great. She is a very devoted mother. I have been able to take her outside off-leash and she always heads back for the pups.

I was worried that Raina was not eating. That's where my books save me. The mother could be tired enough to not be interested in food for a day or two. I tried offering her canned puppy food and she is very happy eating that. I am also giving her some puppy formula to supplement her calcium intake. I guess I am doing it right. I weighed the puppies this morning and all of them have gained at least 9/10 of an ounce. I am using my postage scale to weigh them. It works.

On Monday I am taking the pups to the vet to have their tails docked and dewclaws removed. I almost hate to do it to them, but Yorkies are supposed to have shortened tails and no dewclaws. Three of them have rear dewclaws. Two have 2 hind dewclaws and one has only one.

One of the girls is spoken for already. We don't know which one yet because the request is for the smallest of the female puppies. I believe another is also taken. I will be picky about who gets my baby's babies!

Penny is due in 8 days. I have my bag of supplies ready for her delivery. We are keeping her inside and taking her out when she has the need to go. I'm excited we are going to have another litter. At least Boston Terriers are born with short tails so we don't have to go thru that again until C.C. has her puppies.

Raina is a mother!

It’s 11:20 a.m., The View is on and we are waiting on Raina’s sixth puppy to be delivered. Six puppies!! I am so amazed that her first litter is so large. Her belly looks like a deflated balloon. The puppies are beautiful and perfect. We have 3 girls and 2 boys so far. I color-coded the pups with neckbands. Sean could not understand why I wanted to band them immediately. The second time I said “Because I need to” with my teeth clenched, he backed off. I don’t think he understands it yet, but I don’t care. I know why I did it.

It’s now 1:06 p.m. and number six has not yet appeared. There definitely is a sixth puppy. About 20 minutes ago I called the vet to see if I should be concerned. He says that Raina may just be taking a rest. She may rest for a few hours. We are supposed to give the vet a report on her condition at 5:00 p.m. They may want her to come in for a shot of oxytocin to restart her labor. Hopefully it will restart on its own. When she is in active labor, she digs in the bed and bites the side of it. I think that pink bed is going to become Raina’s birthing bed. Once everything is over, I’m going to wash the bed and all of the towels I’ve used this morning. We still have 2 more litters to deliver.

I’m so proud of Raina. She is being a very good mother. When we take her out of the playpen, she gets frantic if she can’t see her pups. She is cleaning them and nursing them. I know it is instinctive behavior with dogs, but not all dogs are meant to be mothers. Kippy proved that.

Now its 6:04 p.m.; around 4:30, the vet’s office called to check on Raina and recommended she be brought in for an injection of oxytocin. Dr. Morgan examined her and said he felt that there were no more puppies to be born. Raina may have retained a placenta. She showed some signs of increased labor, but it has calmed down and she is busy caring for her 5 babies.

For myself, I am pooped. It has been a very long day. I think it was the adrenalin rush that has me worn out. Shannon had been in the middle of baking dog treats for the dog park fund-raiser and had to stop to transport Raina, the puppies and me to the vet. He did say her puppies looked very good and Raina seemed to be taking good care of them.

Well, Raina finished up with 5 puppies. I took her out for a short walk. After she finished the business part of the walk, she kept looking up at me as if to say “I’m done, can we go back now?” When I turned around, she almost pulled me all the way back. She just wanted to get back to her puppies. This really was a good day.