Christmas 2008

Can you believe that little tri sheltie in the photo above is the LIL' MOUSE! Zinna has turned out so cute but is still so tiny. In the photo she is almost 10 months old and seems to be not much bigger than the papillons!

So Christmas is all over for this year. It was a tough one; since it has been exactly 3 months since Hex died. Olympia was difficult to follow; on one hand I wanted to cheer everyone on and on the other hand I just wished it would go away as it was a reminder to me that Hex was gone. Olympia and Christmas just seem to go together for us now. Christmas was a quiet one this year. We couldn't even do a long walk as I will not leave the pups for very long. We did go for a short walk on both Christmas day and boxing day with Pax and Jordan. Zen cannot go as I will not let her leave the pups just yet. Walking with Jordan and Pax alone is difficult as both of them are getting on and do not like to walk either fast or very far. Another reminder that they are getting older. Jordan will be 13 next month and Pax is now 12. Hopefully once Zen and the new pup can start walking that will perk up the two oldies.

Luckily the pups do not give me much time to think about sad things; they are great little distractions. They are becoming slightly more active; they last for about 10 minutes at a time when they are awake.

Chubsy Wubsy Pork Chop Cutie Pie Itsy Bitsy Some great christmas presents came my way this year. Terry sent me this great PINK banner flag. She says people put them on their tents at the agility shows to be able to find their way back to their tents. I will have to fly it on the caravan at agility shows this year! Won't Dennis be happy to be flying a pink flag? HA! For now it hangs above the puppy pen as it matches their pink fleeces.



Dennis came up with a wonderful gift this year. In the USA we have what are called "vanity" plates for our cars. You can get lots of things written on them and you do not have too many restrictions. Here in England the license plates do not work the same way; you have to buy plates that are already issued and see if you can get one that sort of say something. People use numbers that look like letters to try and spell things out. For instance a "5" looks like an "S" or a "6" can look like a "g". And if you find a plate that you like; you have to buy it outright and it is then yours forever (or until you want to sell it on). Some plates go for thousands of pounds. Anything with "K9" on it is really hard to get and can be very expensive. So Dennis found this plate for me and it now makes my doggie mobile complete!



I am not sure this video will work; ;it is the first time I have tried to download directly from blogger. If it does, the video is mainly for Johanna. She was with me when we found this cute toy car in the charity shops and bought it for the pups. A perfect puppy toy; noisy and it moves!

Girl Power pups at 3 weeks old

Tomorrow (christmas day) the pups will be three weeks old. They are quite a noisy bunch; they make alot of grrrrr grrrr noises when they are playing with each other. We added the pen around the whelping box now so that they can start to roll down the ramp and be more active. This is what the pen starts to look like but it changes as they get older and we add more toys.

We have also begun bringing out all the talking, ringing and buzzing toys that we collect during the year. Some last for a few litters and others burn out when the pups decide they are fun to wee on.

Today was their first encounter of these toys. Pork Chop and Chubsy Wubsy are the more advanced of the four; I think just due to their sizes. Itsy Bitsy and Cutie Pie seem to be a little less developed. This is typical and they will catch up soon. From watching litters of other breeds; I have noticed that shelties (or maybe just my shelties) seem to develop slower and are infants for much longer.

Here is Pork Chop on the electric piano. She has the one handed technique.



Chubsy Wubsy likes to play the synthesizer side of the electric piano.



Chubsy Wubsy is definitely the poser of the crew right now.



Here is a silly video of Pork Chop on the Speak and Spell. Yes at the end she does say "Dog" followed by "square". I wonder what the meaning of that is?

Here come the girls: Puppy catch up

The pups continue to do well. They turned 2 weeks old on Thursday. Pretty soon they will become more active but for now they eat and sleep and get cuddles.

Zen actually delivered 5 girls on 4th December. These pups were very early; I was not expecting them until three or four days later. The first pup was born at only 3.5 ounces. Sadly the second pup was born dead; it was obvious that she had died a day or so earlier and this is probably what triggered the early labour. I am very lucky that Zen went into early labour or we could have lost all the puppies. The next three pups were normal and alive but all were small at 3-4 ounces.

All the pups nursed and were active immediately but the small size worried me. Three of the pups gained weight right away but one of them actually lost 1/2 ounce by the second day. She seemed to be nursing and active but I was not going to take a chance so I started supplementing her right away. I learned my lesson with the Lil Mouse last time; just because they look like they are latched on and nursing does not necessarily mean that they are getting any milk. You must keep an eye on their weights.

This little one was so tiny (even smaller than the Lil Mouse puppy) so I fed her with a medicine dropper. One thing I have never learned to do was to tube-feed a puppy and that is something I wish I knew. Tube feeding puppies is actually safer and easier than bottle feeding. But, for now, I stuck to the little medicine dropper.



By the 4th day she gained her first 1/2 ounce and I felt comfortable that she was going to make it. Here are the pups in some sort of formation next to their snuggle heating pad. I wondered what they were trying to say.



Now that the pups are older, I have taken the electric heating pad out of the box but they have two microwave heating pads and they always gravitate to them when Zen is out of the box. The microwave snuggle pad is fantastic; you microwave it for 6 minutes and it stays comfortably warm for quite a few hours. Zen is a great mom; I just leave her to it. She gets in and out as she feels necessary.



This is a fun litter where I can indulge my love of the colour PINK. I have bought lots of pink fleece and we have been given loads of pink toys by the pups aunties.

I did not pose these two pups; that is how they fell asleep!


As usual the pups have gotten Neurological Stimulation for the first 2 weeks.



They received their first taste of food off my fingers. Mushed up liver and yogurt; just a tiny taste.


Today they took their first trip into the kitchen. All the pups have their eyes open but only one seems to be able to hear yet. The others should begin to open their ears in the next day or so.



They have their puppy names now. They are very sophisticated names....



From left to right: Cutie Pie, Chubsy Wubsy, Itsy Bitsy and Pork Chop.

So you all know the "Here Come The Girls" song by the Sugababes. That is the theme song for this litter!

Here come the girls...

Mmmmm oh yeah...

Whoah Oh I don't need no man with me

Chorus:

Here come the girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls, Girls)
Here come the girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls, Girls)
Here come the girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls, Girls)
Here come the girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls, Girls)

Slipin' on my little black dress
5 inches I'm bound to impress
Turn it up, I'm a little temptress
Monroe's got nothin' on me
Read my curves like poetry
Tonight we rule the world, beware cos here come the girls
Tonight we rule the world, beware cos here come the girls

[Chorus]
Here come the girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls, Girls)
Here come the girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls, Girls)
Here come the girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls, Girls)
Here come the girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls, Girls)

Here the whistle as I walk by
Shine like a crystal all through the night
One look will make a grown man cry
Step aside I got a starring role
Camera, Action, Here we go
Tonight we rule the world, beware cos here come the girls

[Chorus]
Here come the girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls, Girls)
Here come the girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls, Girls)
Here come the girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls, Girls)
Here come the girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls, Girls)

I'm filled with sexuality
With or without a man I feel complete
Stop speculating, I'm a regular girl
All independent women know
We got the guts to run the show
Don't let no boy tell you nothing
You're in control

[Chorus x2]
Here come the girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls, Girls)
Here come the girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls, Girls)
Here come the girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls, Girls)
Here come the girls! (Girls, Girls, Girls, Girls)

4 Little Blessings

One week ago Zen presented me with four little blessings. My first all-girl sheltie litter. This special litter was brought about only through a little help from my friends and much praying.

Whichever pup decides to stay here with us...she will never be Hex. She may be better, she may be worse...but she will certainly be different. She will be her own individual unique little "person" and that will be just fine with me.