March 20-30, 2004 

Whelped on Saturday, March 20, 2004, at the Animal ER in Littleton, CO. Their "Guardian Angels" were there to keep watch: Donna Dannen, Lorrie McAllister & Scott Vail. A huge thank you goes out to them and to Connie Rudd and Jennifer Brown for their "long distance" support. 
All pups were delivered by C-section. 
Vail has come down with mastitis. She's on clavamox for 2 weeks. Naturally the puppies have diarrhea as a result of the antibiotic Vail is on. 
The pups first week of life has been very busy. 
*Puppies have their first visitors: My brother and his wife and our two nieces come over to see all the excitement. 
*Pups have lots of visitors their first week. Everyday someone stops by to check in on them. 
*Their dew claws were removed. All the pups had front claws and only blue girl and orange boy had rear dew claws. Teal girl didn't make a sound during the removal. 
*Vail is recovering nicely from her surgery and has taken to motherhood very well. She is eating about 8 cups of food a day. Yogurt is mixed with her food along with Energy Pack. *Umbilical cords have fallen off the pups. 
*Lots of sleepless nights on the sofa for us. 
*Loads of puppy laundry to do everyday. Good thing we're not on water restrictions.........yet. 
*Pigment is really filling in quickly and nicely on the pups. 
*Pups are a bit gassy as the week goes on. 
*Pink girl went to the ER on Monday. Diagnosis was gas. She's doing much better now. *Teal, orange, black are trying to walk. Taking a few steps then falling. 
*Scott & Donna come over to help take their one week pics. 
*Pink has her eyes half open on Tuesday the 30. 
*Vail's mastitis seems to be improving. The warm compresses are helping.  
*Those who've seen the pups have their favorites already. The kids seem to like lime and teal girl. EVERYONE loves black boy. He's a "linebacker" in the making. He's just a chunk right now. 
*Coats are looking nice and fuzzy and full.

March 30, 2004

*Pink girl is the first to open her eyes.

March 31, 2004

*I think blue girl will look like her grandmother, Brook.
*Black boy is just too funny when it's feeding time.  I will latch the others on first, then him.  He will "come down the line" pushing, shoving the others out of the way to get to the "spicket" he wants.  "Excuse me, pardon me, coming through" is just how he acts.  It's really a hoot to see.
*When I arrived home from work, black boys eyes were open.  He was very fussy all the rest of the day.  Poor little guy didn't like what he was seeing.  I'm sure it's a very scary feeling for them to be in the dark at birth and then all of a sudden have sight.
*Most of the pups are up on all their legs, wobbling a few steps then falling.
*Teal girl eyes are open
*Pups did well during the night.  I only had to get up once.

April 1, 2004

*Blue eyes open
*Lime the corners are opening
*Orange still closed
*Last day of Clavamox for Vail; mastitis is MUCH improved
*Vail has stitches removed, incision looks good
*Pups are very active, up and moving about today.

April 2, 2004

*Lime girl eyes are open
*Pups seem to be sleeping in pairs, not in the group they once were
*Their pads are filling in quickly with pigment, as are the rest of their 'points'
*The pups continue to have visitors everyday
*Black boy almost doesn't fit under the pig rail anymore, he's a litter butterball

April 3, 2004-2 weeks old

*Trimmed nails today; pups did fine
*All pups are doing well 
*Lime climbed over the pig rail and went �splat� onto the floor.

April 4, 2004

*Teal was fussy today
*Blue/pink playing with each other by mouthing
*Lime/teal interacting more
*Pups seem hungry and didn�t gain much today

April 5, 2004

*Black fussy most of the night
*4:45am woke up to find Vail full of milk and her left side hard
*Black did well to drain one �spicket� on Vail
*Began the Clavamox again and compresses
*Teal fussy this morning
*Haven�t noticed any stools, good Vail must be cleaning up after them
*Vail was much softer this afternoon, but still full of milk
*Began yogurt with the pups
*All did great licking from my finger and spoon. Black fussed a bit, then settled

April 6, 2004

*Black seems to take longer to settle down than the others
*Blue may have some biscuit on her head?
*Orange biscuit ears?
*Pups did well today
*Pups licking yogurt off of spoon, black got the hang of it and is doing well

April 7, 2004

*Pups all seem to be doing well.
*Vail looks and feels fine, mastitis appears to be gone.
*Pups interacting more with each other.
*All seem to urinate on their own w/o Vail�s help

April 8, 2004

*Pups are really active today
*Weight gain wasn�t enough today, except for blue. Wonder if the lack of gain was due to their mobility and activity level today?
*Last day of Clavamox for Vail
*Puppy buyer came to visit today

April 9, 2004

*Pups are wagging their tails
*Put some toys in the whelping box; they were curious about the toys

April 10, 2004�3 weeks old

*All seem very content
*Vail is nursing more; yet does tend to fill up with milk
*I�ve been �privately� feeding blue, teal and pink on the side to help with their weight gain
*Visitors today
*3 week old pics taken today with Easter basket and eggs

April 11, 2004

*Easter Sunday
*Trimmed nails
*Giving more individual time with each pup

April 12, 2004

*Took the pig rail out
*All pups seem to have a water nose
*Began the puppy gruel (dog food soaked in water) 1/2c food + 1 cup warm water, then blended to a malt like consistency
*Pups did pretty well figuring out how to lap the mixture. It was a very messy experience for them.
*Teal & lime explored the kitchen; the boys slept on the floor, pink cried, blue was nursing on Vail
*Cut Vail�s food down to 3c. a day
*Offer gruel 4x day

April 13, 2004

*Named teal girl��..�Dora, the Explorer�, from the kids TV show. She really likes to check out her surroundings.

April 14, 2004

*Vail still nursing the pups; shorter periods of time; she�s standing while they nurse.
*Blue is hesitant to eat with everyone; tends to hold off until some of the pups finish & then begins to eat

April 15, 2004

*Black was terribly fussy all night. Didn�t get much sleep. Finally settled down; gave him some mylicon drops which seemed to help.

April 16, 2004

*Trimmed nails, all did fine; brushed the pups, all did fine;
*Been working on holding the pups on their backs, like an infant, they seem to do pretty well with that.
*Lime�s eye rims still smokey
*Pups are rather active when awake and playing with their toys. Blue is funny, she does the �prey pounce� on the toys and littermates.