October 30th - Day 15 - Growing like weeds!

These cute little things aren't as little as they were when they were born. And - they're reaching milestones. There eyes started opening on Saturday, though they still sleep quite a bit, and they don't automatically keep them open just because they can. And - they are learning how to walk. It's so sweet to watch! Today is the day the decision was made - WE ARE KEEPING THE SMALL BLACK ONE! He's so sweet, we can't let him go. That just leaves one that still needs a home.

October 28th - Day 13

The puppy collars have arrived! Now it will be a little easier to identify the look-a-likes. And - those of you who are waiting to collect your puppies can follow them a little easier. Here are the assignments:

Big Guy aka "Hoover" or "Rastus" (buyer hasn't confirmed, yet): yellow male/brown collar
Shadow: Black male/gray collar
Wiggler aka "M.J.": yellow male/purple collar
Brownie: chocolate male/green collar
Mocha: chocolate female/red collar
Snuggler: chocolate male/black collar
Shorty: black male/no collar
Duke: yellow male/no collar
Lady: yellow female/blue collar

Visitors!

Norm had a very busy day today while Donna was gone. So far, we have had interest in seven of the nine puppies. The chocolate female, Mocha, belongs to our great nephew, whose family owns the sire. Earlier this week, a friend who had expressed interest in getting one of the puppies last Spring came and chose the largest of the yellow males - the one we call "Big Guy". A couple of weeks ago a family from church requested the yellow female - "Lady". Last week a friend of one of our neighbors came and decided on a chocolate male.  Today, two more families who were on the list of interested potential buyers came to choose. One couple will take the large black male, "Shadow" and the smaller chocolate male, "Snuggler". The other family choose the yellow male, "Wiggler" and will call him "M.J." after the son's favorite basketball star. He is a great choice for this family, as he has energy like his mother, Cocoa, and is also affectionate. At this point, we are down to two pups left. We will see how that goes.

October 26th - Day 11

The puppies are growing so fast, it's unbelievable! Norm and I had a conversation this morning once again about NOT keeping a puppy. We'll see now that turns out.

October 25th - Day 10

It seems amazing that the puppies are already 10 days old! They are growing so fast, we can hardly believe it. And as you will see from the pictures, it's becoming more difficult to distinguish which one is which just by looking at a picture. Puppy collars have been ordered to solve that dilemma.

Yellow male - "Big Guy": 107.4 g
Black male - "Shadow": 85.1 g
Yellow male - "Wiggler" 93.9 g
Chocolate male - "Brownie" 83.2 g
Chocolate female - "Mocha" 83.1 g
Chocolate male - "Snuggler" 77.2 g
Black male - "Shorty" 60.1 g
Yellow male - "Duke" 82.2 g
Yellow female - "Lady" 90.1 g

Most of the pups have increased their weight by about 1/3. We're monitoring to make sure there is some weight gain each day, and whichever puppies have the least amount of gain from the previous day get returned to momma first for nursing and given a few minutes with less competition with the other puppies. By doing this, we avoid the risk of dehydration, which is very difficult for a puppy to recover from.

October 24th - Day 9!

I have to say that piles of puppies is about the most adorable thing ever!

The cardboard box is their temporary home when the whelping box is being cleaned.

October 23rd - Day 8 - Busy times!

Every day is busy for Norm and Donna, but adding puppies to the mix, well, busier than ever, so there probably won't be posts for every single day. However - I have to share how adorable they are - and look how much they've grown in 8 days!

Day 4 - Weighing starts

After the sad event of losing a puppy, more research was done, and the conclusion was reached that the puppies need to be weighed daily, just to make sure they are growing, so today we started. It is a challenge to distinguish some of the puppies. The firstborn, who most resembles his sire, Benelli, is easy to distinguish, as he is the largest. The 2 black males are easy to identify, as "Shadow" (that's his puppy name - his owners can pick a name for him when he comes home) is bigger and has a bit longer body, similar to Cocoa's sire, Commander Cody. The other black, "Shorty" (again - his puppy name) is quite a bit smaller, much like Cocoa's mother, Sparky. The girls are obvious, and since there is only one chocolate and one yellow, it would be hard to confuse them. However - the other two yellow males are less easy to separate. The main difference between those two is that the one that we christened "Wiggler" is quite a bit more active than any of the others. He has the personality that is most like Cocoa. The two chocolate males are the most difficult to tell apart. They both have calm personalities like their sire, and there is only a few grams difference in weight. Both will probably be about Cocoa's size when full-grown, but have builds more like Benelli.

Here are the starting weights, in birth order, with associated puppy names:

Yellow male - "Big Guy" (also sometimes referred to as "Benelli, Jr"): 61 g
Black male - "Shadow": 52.5 g
Yellow male - "Wiggler" 61 g
Chocolate male - "Brownie" 49.6 g
Chocolate female - "Mocha" 54 g
Chocolate male - "Snuggler" 44.5 g
Black male - "Shorty" 36.9 g
Yellow male - "Duke" 54 g
Yellow female - "Lady" 52.2 g

October 19th

Norm and Donna are still figuring things out. We moved a space heater into the "lab"oratory - the room where the whelping box is kept. Did you know that puppies need to be kept at 85 degrees for optimal health?? We also added a piece of carpet padding to insulate from the concrete floor and a tarp for easy cleaning. On top of the tarp we're layering three blankets. One is just a blanket, the second is an old Egyptian cotton blanket that adds extra warmth, and the top layer is a polar fleece blanket. It appears that we've got the formula right, as we often come into the laboratory and see the puppies napping all over the place, and not just in the puppy piles that they use to keep warm when needed. We have two complete sets of blankets, so we can change them every day and clean the alternate set. Hopefully this will help with odor control. We're using essential oils for cleaning for the same reason. For those who are interested, the formula is 15 drops Cypress and 15

drops Lemongrass to 2 cups water in a spray bottle. This is sprayed on the tarp that goes underneath the blankets and on the surrounding floor, then damp mopped and allowed to dry. No essential oils come into direct contact with the puppies. Cocoa's diet is being supplemented, as well, to help her make plenty of milk. Nine puppies is a lot to feed!

October 18th - A Sad Day

By the end of the day on Tuesday, it became apparent that the last puppy to be born wasn't quite ready for life outside. He was struggling to nurse, and seemed to need some extra care. Donna started supplementing him, and slept with her hand on him in a warming box through the night. When he woke up hungry, she took him to Cocoa, and he was able to nurse, but as the hours passed during the day on Wednesday, his breathing became more labored, and he couldn't suckle. At about 1:45 pm he breathed his last. A few tears were shed on his behalf. Other than being a little thin, he had the markings of his father, and would have been a great dog! Sorry, no pictures taken today.

October 17th - Puppies are Great!

These little guys are about the cutest things, ever!

Surprise!

After a good nights sleep, Norm went downstairs to take care of Cocoa and the puppies. Then back upstairs to report that all was well and headed off to work. Then, Donna goes downstairs. Whaa?????? Counting puppies: 1,2,3 Chocolates - 1,2 Blacks - 1,2,3,4,5 Yellows!!! And surprise of surprises - that last yellow male made his appearance after we went to bed last night. He looked a bit thin, but Cocoa had taken care of him, and he was nursing, so we were happily surprised.

Delivery!

At 6:00 am on October 15, 2017 Norm left Cocoa in the kitchen to take care of stuff.  At about 6:30 in the morning, Norm returned to the kitchen to discover that Cocoa had company, in the form of a new puppy - a yellow male who is the spitting image of Benelli. We don't know exactly what time he was born, but by the time Norm walked into the kitchen, Cocoa already had him cleaned up. We quickly moved Cocoa from the kitchen to the whelping box that had been prepared for her and her puppies. At 6:52 am, a second puppy was born. It was black, but sadly, it was stillborn. At 7:36 am puppy number three made his appearance. This was another black, and it was a male. Just 4 minutes later, at 7:40 am puppy #4 came zipping into the world. This little guy earned the puppy name of "Wiggler", and he is the most active of the bunch. At first he was so dark, we thought he was a chocolate, but after he was cleaned up it became apparent that it was another yellow male. At 8:39 am the first chocolate showed up - another male! Four live births and four boys! At 9:14 am our first girl was born - and this one was a chocolate! At 10:50 am another chocolate boy arrived. Then at 11:37 another much smaller black male put in an appearance. We started to think that things were slowing down and maybe Cocoa was done, but at 12:35 pm another yellow male was born. This was the ninth puppy, and given that this was Cocoa's first (and probably only) litter, it was reasonable to think that the job was done. We were busy taking care of Cocoa - making sure she had water and food when she needed it and that she was nursing the puppies. Most of the information we had read indicated that there could be as much as 2 to 4 hours between puppies, so as 3:00 pm rolled around, we expected that all of the puppies were born. Seven minutes later, we were proved wrong when puppy number 10 arrived. This one was a yellow, and just the second female of the bunch. Again, we were taking care of Cocoa; making sure she had food and water, made a trip outside to take care of business, and as we rolled past the 7:00 pm, we thought the job was done. In exhaustion, we headed upstairs to call it a night, and leave Cocoa to take care of her puppies.

Cocoa and her babies

The (dog) Marriage

Both Cocoa and Benelli's owners were disappointed that no puppies resulted, but after some consideration the decision was made to try again. So, when August came around, Norm and Donna took a ride to go and get Benelli, and he totally seemed to know what was happening and hopped in the car like that was what he was supposed to do. Cocoa and Benelli are both somewhat private (who knew that dogs could be that way???), so it took a trailcam to prove there was some action. Sorry - we won't be posting any doggie porn. One person was quite shocked that we even did that. The one thing we still couldn't be sure of was if one of them might be infertile. Again - who knew that could happen? Donna lived with the assumption that dogs reproduce whenever given the opportunity. Another assumption shot to pieces. (Visualize head shaking.)

The Courtship

So once upon a time, back in February, Cocoa (our American chocolate lab) was introduced to Benelli (our niece and nephew's British yellow lab). It proved to be just the courtship. The two dogs got along very well, but no puppies were made.