Male v female?

When I get enquiries about puppies about 80% of those enquiring, specifically want a female pup. When I question this the vast majority have no actual reason for their choice, some feel a bitch is easier and some are under the impression that they are more affectionate than male pups. There are of course those who absolutely need a pup of a certain sex due to personal circumstances, ie an existing dog that wouldn't accept a puppy of a certain sex.

Whilst I try to dispel some of the myths about male dogs, such as inappropriate lifting of the leg (I have 3 entire males, none of whom would ever dream of lifting their leg indoors, even when the girls are in season), or dog to dog aggression, again I refer to my 3 boys who live in harmony with each other and are walked amongst strange dogs on a daily basis without issue,  I am aware that some people will think I am telling them this in order to place my male pups regardless of behaviour traits, nothing could be further from the truth as I take great care in placing my pups and won't hesitate to turn down applications from those who I feel are not suitable for my pups. I have recently stumbled across an article that pretty much says what I feel. So if you thought you were set on a female pup, but are not really sure why, it may be worth having a little read, and maybe a rethink :-) Just click the link below.

The difference between male and female dogs

A few pics from our beach walk last week. This was Audreys 1st walk since having the pups (beach is a pretty clean place to visit) and I think it's safe to say she was pleased to be out

Proper puppies

Pups are really starting to become proper puppies now, we are seeing signs of play and interaction and we have had the 1st escapes from the whelping box! Here are a few of todays pics, lots more on flickr :-)

They don't sleep all of the time :-)

Those who have been following the webcam may be starting to wonder if the pups are ever awake, I know that they spend nearly all of the time snoozing, so I though I would pop a little bit of video on here, taken this morning, just to prove they are not only mobile but are also finding their lungs. Fun times are just around the corner

We are family.

A number of people have asked if there are any pics of the pups father, Dexter, so her he is

And this is his father, so grandsire to the pups

And here is Rhonda, Audreys mum, taken when she was 11 years old, still very much a true apricot.

10 Days old and growing well

As the title suggests, everyone is thriving. Phoenix and the other tiddler (known as Dangermouse) are holding their own now, they are only getting a bit of top up 3 x daily now.
Their eyes are very near to opening, I suspect the 1st ones will be open in the next 48hrs and once that happens they start to show a little more activity within the box.

Audrey is now tolerating the cats around the pups, though she keeps a very strict eye on them, Fawlty is desperate to play with them, which makes doing the individual pictures very interesting. As yet we have kept the rest of the girls out of the lounge, but hope to start letting them back in within the next couple of days.

Hopefully you are able to see the pups on webcam, I tried putting collars on the pups a couple of days ago, but they were a little large and I was worried about them getting their legs stuck in them etc, they have now grown a little more and the collars are a pretty good fit on the larger pups, the medium pups are still a little loose on them, so may come off again for 24hrs or so and Phoenix and Dangermouse are still far too small and will remain collar free for now. I should mention that we have had tiny pups at Itzapromise before and they have always matured to the same size as their litter mates. The girls have got the white based collars.

I have added some of todays pics but please check Flickr.com for the rest :-)
We still have 3 boys available.

Phoenix

We have our 1st nickname for this litter. Introducing Phoenix, the smallest pup of the litter. Yesterday morning I cam down to find him cold and unresponsive, making long and pitiful whining noises, I truly thought we were going to loose him, but we spent the next couple of hours warming him up and eventually he started moving around. At this point we offered him some bottle milk and thankfully he took it. The rest of the day was spent ensuring he was kept warm, plugging him onto Audrey numerous times and offering the bottle every 2/3 hours. We have continued this through the night and I am very pleased to report that this morning he is holding his own with his litter mates, even managing to lay claim to, and hang on to, one of Audreys mutant nipples (I think that was half the problem to start with, he was simply too small to cope with her nipples). So although we are not completely out of the woods, I feel pretty confident about his chances now, even though being poorly for a day means he is now about half the size of his siblings.

Here they are

After a long night in labour, Audrey had her 1st pup, a little girl at 5:45am, she was followed by another 2 sisters and 5 brothers by 10:10am, then we had a long break with a 9th pup, male, being born at 1pm, he was followed by another sister about an hour later, but unfortunately she was stillborn and despite my best efforts I couldn't revive her. So we have finished up with 3 girls and 6 boys. All are beautiful, some are darker than others and a couple have quite incredible pigment already. The web cam covered their birth and I believe that it will be possible to see a recording of it on youtube tomorrow, in case you had wanted to see it but missed it.

Audrey coped admirably, but is still straining a bit to clear what we believe is afterbirths (not all came out with the pups) so if she is still showing signs of discomfort tomorrow morning, we will take a quick trip to the vets, just to make sure. On the whole the pups are doing really well, lovely and strong, even though they are all on the small side (well they were 4 days early), we just have one boy who is needing a little more tlc than his siblings, he hasn't really warmed up since he was born, so as I type he is stuffed down my jumper, getting nice and toasty (hope that wasn't too much information, lol)

The girls have all been reserved now (and I'm allowed to keep one!!)  as have 3 of the the boys, so should you have expressed interest in a pup during Audrey's pregnancy, please get back in contact asap.

They're on the way!

It's 10pm on Sat evening, Audrey has been panting on and off for most of the day and her temperature has now dropped from 101.9 to 98, the panting is increasing and I suspect that the pups will be starting to make an appearance within the next 24hrs. Web cam has been tested earlier this evening and seems to be working well, it will be turned on once she starts to look serious about labour

Not long now :-)

With just 5 days until her due date, Audrey has had a bath and clip in preparation for the whelping. Up until today she has been having her normal walks, but she has started to struggle to keep up now, so, combined with the awful wet weather, I have made the decision to let her stay home now.