Grace and Ellie, Santana, and Nashua by Brier!

Grace and Ellie Day 9

Grace is doing fantastic! Do I dare say she is 2lbs already? She makes the cutest noises and is really curious with her nose when I pick her up to weigh her, clip her nails, do her exercises, etc. She is very alert and responsive and so pretty! I really love her markings and coloration.

Ellie is gaining more weight with the additional bottle feedings. She is quite the little fighter and is very strong. She eagerly drinks the bottle and seems quite content, although she has never been a fussy pup at all. Maybe I am just more content knowing she is receiving more and gaining more.

Shay will have her stitches taken out Friday. She is doing fantastic and looks great. Still being so picky about what she will eat and she has me wrapped around her paw making all of her favorite things. She deserves it. I don’t mind at all. Shay can have anything she wants (as long as it is good for her and her beautiful pups).

Santana Update

I don’t think I will be having a  sonogram done on Santana. The only vet that can do a sonogram around here wants me to bring Santana in the morning and leave her there all day, picking her up in the evening. They will do the sonogram “when they have time and in-between appointments.” Nope. I am not doing that. Santana certainly does not need to sit in a cage all day at the vet’s office with sick, stressed dogs just to have a simple ultrasound “in-between appointments” and while I can’t even be there. Grrrr… That’s not even to mention the fact that the place is over 60-minutes one-way. Sorry, I am not doing it. It is not completely necessary and not worth exposing Santana to any illnesses or undo stress.

I do have another option with a vet that is more local but I haven’t been there in years. I quit going after I took a Great Dane bitch for an x-ray at 53 days. They told me it was a false pregnancy—no puppies. They explained the “movements” I was seeing in her belly as “wishful thinking.” She delivered 13 live puppies 6 days later. I’ve never gone back there!

I am highly certain Santana is pregnant and that will have to do. The first sign to me has been her behavior. She is always a love-bug, but usually if her buddies are around, she would rather romp and play with them than cuddle. Now, she just wants in my lap! She’ll just sit there and get loved and not move. You might think this is normal, but it is not for Santana. She is a very busy girl and while she does like cuddling, she seems to get too warm very quickly and always would rather be on the floor and she outgrew the lap long ago! She has also taken to not wanting to go outside without me (not at all like her)! She is usually very bold and can’t wait to get outside. I’ve seen this in several of our pregnant bitches. Shay, Maddie, Jenna… They get back to going out themselves later on in the pregnancy, but this is so out of character for any of them that it is a big indicator of pregnancy to me. Also, Santana is showing physical signs just over the past several days of widening and losing her cut.

There have also been appetite changes with the usual (for early pregnancy) few days of not wanting to eat at all. I don’t count on that as too much of an indicator, though.

If at any point over the next few days I feel the slightest doubt about this, I will reconsider the ultrasound. Otherwise, I am skipping it. Sorry, I know many were really looking forward to it. Maybe someday I will invest in one of the pregnancy Doppler machines (with which you can find the fetal heartbeats, but there is not imagery). Or the new vet will have an ultrasound machine soon. Santana will definitely have an x-ray one week before whelping to get an indication of how many pups to expect.

Nashua by Brier!?

In other news, it looks like we will are considering adding a breeding to the spring line-up. I had intended on waiting to breed Nashua for another year or so. She will be 3 years old in April, passed all health tests last spring, so I guess we are doing it this spring! I must be insane.

Nashua’s pedigree is very strong Highland and Alderbrook/Advie lines. She is a soft, biddable dog that wants nothing more than to please. She’s a natural retriever and backer and has a fantastic nose. She really turned it on, gaining confidence and birdsense, this past season. She is one of Caveman’s favorite dogs and she lives to please him. There is an insistent clamoring for a litter out Brier, who will be 8 years old in April. So, Brier is coming out of “semi-retirement” to sire this litter, much to Caveman’s pleasure.

Nash is due to come into heat late March. So, if it happens as such, pups would be expected Juneish and going home July-August. See the pedigree of this litter, here or more information and photos over here.

Hey Caveman, now that you got your way, can you please start building my puppy/office cave? I’ll make you dinner every day that you work on it. 🙂