A Litter vom Bosen Blick

2010-02-03T20:23:00.000-08:00

Andorra vom Bosen Blick - February 3, 2010 (1 year, 1 month old)

Andorra vom Bosen Blick NIRK Sieger Show

Andorra vom Bosen Blick - NIRK Grand National Sieger Show VP3 - Judge Hans Paul Zangerl (L), Breeder Dana Williams (Center), and Judge Steve Wolfson (R)

Andorra "Andy" - Fiesta Island - 8 months!

2009-08-08T19:56:00.000-07:00

Adonis and Andy spent their 8 month old Birthday on Fiesta Island in San Diego...playing in the water and soaking up sun.... oh, and here's andy posing for some updated photos! She's a pretty girl for being in her "fugly" stage :)

Almost 8 months old...!

2009-08-03T15:07:00.000-07:00

ADONIS VOM BOSEN BLICK

Adonis is growing up super fast right now. He's been outgrowing his crates like crazy! We put bitework on hiatus until he gets his testosterone in and can work in different drive states (i.e. more aggression). His obedience is fantastic and now that he's growing into those HUGE feet, he's starting to look a lot more like his dad when he heels. He learns things exceptionally fast and I'm having a blast training him. We'd been slacking on tracking in the interest of getting Malachai ready for some big competitions at the end of this year but today we did a 30 pace track on dirt and he did well and even did the article without prompting! You can see he's still fugly teenager but he looks to have the angulation of his mother and very similar body type (not a bad thing!) .... I just am not so sure about those dang ears! Though the tounge photo is priceless since both Cindy and his sister Andorra have taken similar photos!

Andorra (Andy) is coming back to spend the week with me starting Friday so will have some updated photos of her!

Puppy Updates! Their growing up fast!!

2009-07-09T11:02:00.000-07:00

Castor Troy at 5 months.

New Adonis Video (6 months old):

More adventures of Adonis

2009-04-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

What happens when Spiderman tries to dig UNDER the kennel....

He gets stuuuuuuckkkk!!!!

Another one of me, Chai, China, and in between my feet is Adonis!

Updated Photos

2009-04-22T16:10:00.000-07:00

My Boys!!! Adonis and Malachai cooling off at the Beach

Malachai's Yellow Bumper Toy....

Was snatched up by a sneaky spiderman!

Chasing waves...and the occassional surfer....

Enjoying his prize!

Whatcha lookin' at?

Why is this toy covered in all this white stuff? What is sand exactly?

Andorra ..aka Andy....14 weeks

Purdy face....reminds me of Grandma Fera

Adonis and Andy decided they didn't want to wait for Dinner....

New Adonis Video

2009-04-14T22:24:00.001-07:00

More Andy Photos...

2009-04-07T10:57:00.000-07:00

From same photo session with Tanya. This is Andy - Andorra vom Bosen Blick... 12 weeks.

No Fuglies Here

2009-04-06T12:33:00.000-07:00

Andie (aka Andorra vom Bosen Blick) is back with me for the week doing some training.... she just turned 12 weeks old on Thursday so these photos were taken at alittle over 12 weeks old. Purdy huh?

Castor Pix...12 weeks

2009-04-02T14:09:00.001-07:00

Fuglies!!!

2009-04-01T18:39:00.001-07:00

Babies are turning 12 weeks tomorrow. I'm getting Andorra...aka Andy .... back on Friday for a week of training. Adonis started tracking yesterday and did really well. Today was not so good...he didn't like the food I choose. Here's some pictures from today.... ugly aint he?

Puppy Updates and Games

2009-03-24T13:20:00.000-07:00

Well Peanut found his way to his new home yesterday. Myself and a friend made a 4 hour trek up to Fresno California to meet his new family about half way. They live up in Santa Rosa area. They've had large dogs before and currently have a nutty little Yorkie for him to play with, as well as two kids. I'm very excited he found such a good home!

We had the SW Regional Sieger Show this weekend. Mama Cindy was about 10 weeks out from having puppies and decided to blow her coat in patches! I thought about pulling her because she looked terrible IMO but I figured she was entered and we might as well compete. Good thing we did....we walked away with V2 in the Working Class (her first V-Rating!) which completed her SILVER Award of Merit with the USRC. Yayyyyy!!!

Dasher, her brother, took V3 in a very large Open Class. Not too shabby? Picture with the Judge....

Adonis has been doing great. He is a regular Spiderman and can easily climb a 2 1/2 foot gate/fence. So we started crate training and he's been sleeping thru the night and indiciating when he has to potty. His sister Andy (Andorra) will be coming back next week to do some Obedience training and drive building. She's already putting holes in her owners and has become quite the alligator. :)

Here's what I've started with Adonis this past week.....

- Pushing him away so he pushes to come back into me
- When he looses focus, tap his butt and run away
- Food games to teach stretching his neck and the first steps of prancing-type heeling
- Bait with food and as he goes into it, I put slight pressure on his chest so he really has to push into the food to get it
- Feeding out of a food bowl and pulling him away from it slightly so he really digs in and eats
- Retrieve Games with a ball or thick tug so he learns to really open his mouth wide ... if he doesn't bring it back I run away from him
- Tracking is starting this weekend
- Small amounts of tug with little to no grips given and put away when he's frustrated

New Training Video

2009-03-13T16:49:00.003-07:00

Adonis is featured in one of his first videos!

Ok, so we're just playing around and socializing him. He's mighty cute!

9 week old Photos of "Castor Troy"

2009-03-12T13:37:00.000-07:00

9 Week Puppy Pictures

2009-03-11T18:59:00.001-07:00

So the babies turn 9 weeks tomorrow which means another round of shots and photographs.

Peanut and Adonis are with me. "Andie" the female is living with my friend on co-ownership. And black puppy moved on to his new home and the new name of "Castor Troy". I will see him tomorrow for shots and updated pictures!!!

Peanut/Blue Boy

Adonis/Tan Boy

Andie/Pink Girl

A Litter turns 8 Weeks!!!

2009-03-05T15:34:00.000-08:00

So the babies turn 8 weeks today and started going to their new homes last night!

Andorra vom Bosen Blick or "Andie" went to stay with my friend Minh to be raised with his other Rottweiler. He says she has taken to the house right away! She will be on co-ownership with me still and I'll do all of her training/titling.

Adonis vom Bosen Blick ,...aka "Adonis" is staying with me as my next competition dog. We've done 3 obedience sessions with food today and he did super. He likes cheese like his uncle Dasher!!!

Black Puppy....yet unnamed.... went to his new home in El Monte with a very cute little girl. The family has a 10 year old male Rottweiler and just lost their older female. He's going to be a great companion for them.

Peanut is getting looked at this weekend. No for sure takers yet.

Future Schutzhund Champion

What ARE you doing mom?

I'm outta here!

What was THAT?!!

Whatever...I gotta itch!

Me with Adonis

Adonis

Adonis

Peanut (where'd everybody go??)

Peanut

Baby Ramblings

2009-03-01T15:56:00.000-08:00

Oh my they have grown! I've been without a laptop for several days when one of my client dogs got a hold of my laptop charger and decided to bite it into two pieces :)

So here are some photos we took last week (they had just turned 6 wks). I need to find the ones of Tan still and nothing of blue turned out I don't think. They've been spending a lot of time outside now that its pretty and just started really destroying things in that room. They are a special little bunch! I gave up trying to keep the shavings from getting everywhere....thats fruitless!!

They just started eating more mush/kibble and carrots! They LOVE their carrots!

puppy pictures

2009-02-16T18:54:00.000-08:00

\
Puppies took their first journey out of the box and into another room since its raining outside. They also had new visitors (Glory B's parents George and Barbara.)

Stacked Photos 5 wks

2009-02-13T22:27:00.000-08:00

TAN BOY

BLUE BOY

BLACK BOY

PINK GIRL

Prey Building at 4 1/2 weeks

2009-02-10T19:34:00.001-08:00

Socialization and Renovations

2009-02-10T17:53:00.000-08:00

The babies are coming up on 5 wks old this Thursday. Their diet has expanded and is including less and less of mom's milk. Typical meals are goats milk mixed with either raw ground beef or yougart and I just started them on some soaked kibble. They pretty much eat anything at this age! We also started something new this week.....HOUSEBREAKING!

Normally I'd follow the protocol of Cindy's breeder....where the babies graduate to their grown up play area. Unfortunately...its cold out there! So we'll use that as a day time play area and the whelping box has been renovated for night time. I took the back half of the box and added wood shavings and am teaching the puppies to use THAT as their pee and poop area. They naturally want to poop there but the peeing is taking some time. But their hitting their mark pretty consistently. Just a lot of timing it so every time I wake them up I immediately get them in the shavings and right after they eat they need to go into the shavings.

I got them a new toy. It was in the cat section and is this long piece of fur with some feathers at the end on a wand. They are really diggin' it! I call it early prey development :)

Still introducing new noises, textures, surfaces. I went to the SW Regional Schutzhund Championships this weekend and got a clatter stick for them. It doesn't clatter much (needs broken in) but I just tap them with it and bag it on my hand while they eat. Today we played with packing paper...the ones that pop!

Mmmm...MILK MUSTACHE!

Wanting some love!

We love our toys!!!

Stacking pictures coming soon! Aunt Tanya has to come over and help photograph! She tried doing it this weekend when she was babysitting them but they didn't turn out well.

Quickie Updates

2009-02-06T14:57:00.000-08:00

Shots were Done today. They Got the Progard CPv that was rush ordered last minute when I realized the shots I ordered 2 months ago were the wrong ones! Such drama. Technically they were suppose to get it yesterday but one day won't make that big of a difference. The only cry-baby was Blue Boy (Peanut) but he's kinda been cranky lately anyways.

My AVID microchips also came in the mail so those will all be implanted before babies go to their new homes. That way they will always be able to trace back to me.

Today's ENS was two-fold. One I gave them the box from their puppy scale to play with . Pink girl loved to sit herself high up on it like it was a throne. Early signs of a Diva!!!

The second thing I gave them was this long strip of brown packing paper and crumpled it around them, put it over their heads, waved it around, etc.

The bottle of rocks doesn't bother them and I can blast the noise CD with fireworks, cars, people, trains, babies crying, etc and they don't care at all. I've also been trying to make my own noises...slamming doors, clapping hands, howling, squeaking toys, etc

Puppy Weights:
Blue Boy - 3 lbs, 3 oz
Pink Girl - 5lbs 1 oz
Black Boy - 6 lbs, 6 oz
Tan Boy - 6 lbs

Tan Boy with the brown packing paper behind him

Peanut crawling under the paper

Pink girl getting up on her Throne

She fell asleep like this which was ohhhhhh so cute!

Black boy still trying to grow tall enough to climb out!

4 Weeks Old - American Idol?

2009-02-05T16:06:00.001-08:00

You be the judge....

4 weeks Birthday

2009-02-05T15:24:00.000-08:00

Time has flown by with these guys! They have been so much fun to watch develop. Today I introduced a few new things.... a brown paper bag with a slightly thicker texture than the newspaper they are use to, a clear liter bottle with rocks to make noise and a duck that makes a quacking "duck call" like noise. They've had a few more visitors to come see them which has been fun. Their starting to try and climb out of the whelping box and jump up for attention when people visit. They are getting a pretty solid meal of raw meat mixed with goats milk (initially I used puppy milk replacer since I had some left over). Nummy! They are piglets!

Tan Puppy

The Big Boys Tan (Left) and Black (Right)

Tan Boy

What the heck is this thing?! We don't need anymore competition for food in this box!

Hmmm....its bigger than me right now.

Mommy wants me to grip full so I'll practice on this birds neck!!!

Take that sucka!

How's this for V momma? Am I pronounced in Courage?

How's my fight drive?

Thats right...you better surrender...! I'm going to take a nap now...!

Our NEXT Home

2009-02-04T14:50:00.000-08:00

I've almost finished the puppy building I set up outside. Basically, a $700 rubbermaid shed... tiled the floor.... added a make-shift fence and used wood slats to seperate in half so that half will be woodchips (for potty training) and half will be newspaper/bedding/toys. The entire shed is covered with shade cloth, as is the entrance. Its encircled with 6 ft chainlink fence that has bamboo fencing attached so that the other dogs can run the yard without seeing or bothering the puppies.

THE INSIDE (wood chips will go where the bag of chips is currently

The fence is about 4 1/2 feet high with about 1 foot of wood slats at the bottom. Secured with clips to the shed so the double doors will stay open when the puppies are in there during the day.

Ok....so its a bit ghetto. But I'm a college student on a budget! Plus, after assembling the actual shed I had zero help so everything else was done by me. Yes, that means I used a screwdriver, saw, etc and finagled the entire design together. Its all about GIRL POWER folks :) Some of my finer touches include the duct tape "base board" and ample use of cable ties!

Puppies will get their first shot tomorrow so in a few days I'll let them do a day trip outside baring any unforseen changes in the weather! I actually haven't had to heat the puppy room hardly at all its been so nice! And its sunny and beautiful out right now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Visitors and New Textures!

2009-02-04T14:39:00.000-08:00

As my own improvised version of the ENS program, I am introducing the puppies to something new every day. Two days ago was their first day and it was a rubber bath mat that had a rubbery "shag" surface. They wanted to chomp on it !

More photos I took on my camera from Sydneys visit

They like bright green socks!

...again...they kinda wanted to chomp down!

Day two I used a plastic bag for them to crawl on and today is day three and I threw some blocks of wood in there underneath the towels so they had a raised, hard surface.

Weight Updates 2/1/09

2009-02-01T14:39:00.000-08:00

Most recent Weights

Pink - 3lbs 7 oz
Black - 4 lbs 10 oz
Teal - 4 lbs, 13 oz
Blue - 2 lbs

More visitors!!!

2009-02-01T14:29:00.000-08:00

So yesterday (1/31/09) was their first visitors. My neighbor and her 18 year old son came over, then a client friend (Lica) came over and finally Aunt Tanya brought her friend Jen and Jen's daughter Normandy.

Whew!

Puppies learned that not only does the world exist...that there are other people in it besides Dana and the milk dispenser! Wow....!

So today they had a few more visitors. Gammy Bonnie (justformirka) brought her Son and Daughter in Law with their daughter Sydney over. Sydney was around when CINDY LOU was born! I have some great photos in Cindy's scrapbook of Sydney blowing bubbles and Cindy was chasing them and they ended up running right into eachother after a bubble! Very cute!

Here are the photos I've been sent so far and I took several more on my own camera that need uploading! Needless to say that with several visitors and REAL food becoming available...the puppies are exhausted!!!! They had another nail clipping today and I tried to introduce toys but as soon as Cindy came in she nearly swallowed one of the baby toys! Oh well...the puppies can play when mamma dog is away!

\

First Meal and Candids

2009-02-01T11:48:00.000-08:00

Am I suppose to play in this or eat it?

The Big Boys

Mmmm....FOOD!

Most of it ended up on my face but thats ok!

Mine too!

Blue boy decided to hide under his big sister

Aunt Tanya with Black Boy (aka Dasher Junior)

Normandy with Peanut

Blue and Pink together!

Updated Photos from 1/31/09

2009-02-01T11:08:00.001-08:00

TAN BOY

BLUE BOY (Peanut)

PINK GIRL

BLACK BOY

The boring stuff....

2009-01-30T20:50:00.001-08:00

Couple of updates on the kids!

They are now experiencing the world!

I'm playing noise CD's and musics all day long for them. Yesterday (1/29/09) was the first time they got to hear a vacuum cleaner! Lots of handling going on.

The other day one of the bigger boys (I'm pretty sure it was black!) started HOWLING which was a crack up. Both the bigger boys are fairly vocal and are playing with each other quite a bit.

Pink and Blue are still my sleepers! The girl is more active...Blue likes to interact only with the 'milk dispenser' .. aka CINDY!

They are handling things very well. The boys are now pestering me when I clean the box to see what I'm doing. Tan is still not so sure he wants anything to do with my handling him but he's not as vocal as he was last week about it.

Nail clippings will be done again this weekend I'm sure. The tails are finally healing over completely.....it was a long process since Cindy decided to pull the stitches out!!! This will definitely be the LAST litter I dock tails on! Although their butts DO look very cute!

The big boys are going into some uglies but the girl keeps getting better and better, as does Peanut (blue). The coloring is awesome and I'm sure the length of muzzle and size is going to be incredible.

We will try and take some nice show photos soon. They turned 3 weeks on the 29th so time for more photos. Pretty soon we will be able to take some nice stacked side profiles!

They are all moving around the whelping box well although I'm now laying more and more towels down for traction.

Thats all I can think of for now!

More shots from 1/28 - 1/29

2009-01-30T20:39:00.000-08:00

Everyone's favorite "peanut"!

Black Boy

I can't tell...I THINK this is Tan...they look so similar sometimes!

Thats my girl...Pink!

I think this was pink girl but I might be wrong!

Three little piglets and mommy's favorite where he always is! He got a private dinner :)

Photos 1/26/09

2009-01-30T20:24:00.000-08:00

Ok, so my camera wasn't the best. But here are some shots I took on 1/26/09 of "da babies"

Tan

I think this is Tan and Black....might be the girl...

Black Boy

Littermates? Amazing size difference huh?

Black

Black

Botty shot cuz their butts are so cute!

Pink

I think thats Tan

Development Updates

2009-01-27T14:34:00.001-08:00

Many things have happened in the last week!

Black was the first to start opening his eyes on 1/21. He weighed in at 3lbs, 3 oz on 1/26. He's showing the most play and interest in people right now....the most likely try and climb in my lap or lick my feet while I'm cleaning the box.

Tan decided to open his eyes during the same night Black started and his were open on 1/22. He weighed 3 lbs, 5 oz on 1/26 making him the bigger boy right now. He is showing the most temperament right now....the most vocalizations, growls, barks. Very noisy and seems a bit touch sensitive. He's really reminding me of his Uncle Reino in how he reacts to handling.

Pink girl has been the quiet nurturer. She's always with her baby brother Blue. She opened her eyes on 1/23 and weighed 2 lbs, 9 oz on 1/26. She's very calm with handling. She's pretty much everyone's favorite pillow if their in a pile. She reminds me a lot of grandma fera!

Blue boy took his time opening his eyes. He likes to take his time with everything! He opened one eye on 1/23 and just finally got them fully open. He's more interested in sleeping or hanging with his mom than exploring the box. He weighed 1 lb, 5 oz on 1/26.

A question that came up on the chat room is "why isn't she feeding the little one" ....

Um, far from it. Cindy is showing immense favoritism to Blue at this point. Some people think she is "attacking" her puppies over food. Actually she's been guarding blue boy while he's nursing so that he can eat the most. She still lets them all nurse but definitely has her moments where she'll pick him up, move him across the box and just let him nurse.

NO she is not hurting her puppies !
She's actually always been very good in dog social groups as the one I use who can sound like a lion but never leave a mark. So yes...she's making a heck of a lot of noise and bumping them with her nose but she is NOT making any kind of contact.

So at the moment, Blue is by far her favorite. He is always the cleanest puppy and Tanya noticed he's always the one who is wet because she grooms him the most.

Some people question the camera going out.....
I've had the unfortunate luck of blowing several fuses because I'm using so many heaters in the house because of the cold weather this past week (lotta rain in Southern California!).

So yes...if the fuse blows, I'm using an old laptop to run the webcam so it will usually shut off because the battery isn't being powered.

There's also been a problem of ustream.tv timing out every once in awhile. I usually notice pretty quickly but maintaining the webcam isn't exactly my highest priority.

The puppies have recently started listening to music now that their ears are open to the sounds of the world. I'm playing a CD of noises 1-2x per day on low which contains sounds like gun fire, trains, dog show noises, etc. Just to get them use to hearing other things. I'm playing radio pretty much 100% of the time (barring any blown fuses!)

Structurally is a toss up between them all. The best markings are on Black and Pink.

They all have very nice heads. I really like the length of muzzle and topskull on pink and black. I'm still not sure what I think about Blue Boy's headtype. Its not bad....just very different. I have no clue who he's going to look like in this pedigree !

Thats all for now! More pictures soon!

Updated Pictures 1/23/09 two weeks

2009-01-24T00:32:00.000-08:00

TAN BOY

PINK GIRL

PEANUT (Blue Boy)

JUNIOR (Black Boy)

Updates

2009-01-21T16:35:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd give some new puppy updates. Tanya will be over tomorrow to do some updated shots since I've killed all my batteries in the last few days. They are now 14 days old and starting to show personality...and stink! Yes puppy breath but also...puppy poo!

Updated puppy weights as of 1/21/09

Tan - 2lbs, 10 oz
Pink - 1lb, 13 oz
Black, 2 lbs, 13 oz
Blue - 15 oz

Black and Tan keep leap-frogging in the battle of who will be the biggest boy!

Blue is barely coming up on a lb....yes he's that much smaller than them!

At this point, Tan is the most aggressive and independent. He was the most fiesty during nail clippings and the first to growl. Black is much more mellow. Both boys are fairly independent and nurse like there's no tomorrow.

Blue remains Cindy's favorite and the only one she still carries around. He's always at her feet or attached to her. Today he fell asleep while nursing which was immensely cute!

Pink holds her own on all grounds with the boys. She still hasn't developed any tendency either way.

Black reminded me a lot of Dasher Senior this morning because he spent about 90 seconds trying to roll onto his feet and was groaning in frustration that he couldn't figure it out. It might be early to call but I think he's going to be "pretty but dumb" (or "pretty dumb!") like his Uncle.

Something about Blue...aka Peanut...has a lot of people wondering when he will catch up. Head type, markings and and structure look nice...just not a lotta bone. By far he appears to have the best angulation in the stifle. Its going to be interesting to see where he ends up at 8 wks.

Black was the first to open his eyes today (finally!) but hasn't quite committed to it yet. He peaks out from one eye here and there. Perhaps too bright for him! I'm anxiously awaiting seeing all their little eyes open up in the next few days. They have been blind/deaf up until now so it should be interesting to see how their personalities develop as their bodies develop.

Thats all for now......

Random Photos

2009-01-19T17:54:00.000-08:00

Here are some random photos I've taken but haven't had time to upload. They are from the past week...sorry their not dated! The puppies got new collars the day before Bonnie came so they are much easier to identify in the box! On 1/18/09 they got their first nail trimming...mainly for the sake of mama Cindy! All of them protested the process except Black Boy who just laid back and chilled.

Our first "growl" of protest was today (1/19/09) with TAN boy who vocalized that I was wiping him down with a rag. Blind, deaf but still fiesty! Gotta love that!

The last in the series below shows the bone difference from earlier in the week between "Peanut" and one of the boys...probably Black. Black, Pink and Tan have really nice bone at this age. Peanuts bone fits his build...which I still can't decide if he's going to be a chi-weiler or actually grow into himself. Its still early to tell.

Blue is definitely Cindy's favorite...as you can tell. He's always curled up on her paw or between her front legs. He always seems to be with her. And he's ALWAYS the one she carries. Everyone else screams bloody murder if she picks them up (albeit she's not THAT gentle about it) but Blue seems to have adapted to the rides mommy gives him. Its like he's her new toy. She's such a crack up.

Still waiting for them to open their eyes and ears up already.....we have a CD of noises to play in the whelping room that will help acclimate them to noises like thunder, gunfire, etc. It should be good to imprint them early.

More photos later! Off to go feed Mama and the rest of the pack!

Gammy Visits!

2009-01-17T21:53:00.001-08:00

So Bonnie...CINDY's Breeder...paid a visit to the family today and took a few candid photos. Cindy hasn't seen bonnie in YEARS and remembered her like it was nothing. Very cute reunion. Bonnie was able to get right in with the babies and Cindy snuggled up beside her. Here are the shots....

And a BLAST from the PAST..... The "girls" who came before Cindy Lou to MAKE cindy lou....

Cindy's mom...the A-Litter's "Grandma"......FERA

Then Meet "Mirka" ... the great-grandma of these puppies! Yes...thats a lotta generations!

And back a little further is great-great Grandma of the puppies ... "Bessy"!

Weight Updates

2009-01-15T15:37:00.000-08:00

Here are the weights...I think! I hate my scales. I've purchased 3 so far...so this is the average of what the digital/regular scale said....

Tan - 2 lbs, 8 oz
Pink - 1 lb, 2 oz
Blue - 10 oz
Black - 2 lbs, 2 oz

I'll re-weigh them tonight with help and see if thats accurate. Seems off to me. Dunno...I don't think tan is THAT much bigger than black but who knows.

1 Week Birthday!

2009-01-14T14:33:00.000-08:00

BLUE BOY (aka "PEANUT")

TAN BOY

BLACK BOY (aka Dasher "Junior")

THE GIRL

Day 5 Updates

2009-01-12T17:49:00.000-08:00

Another lively day for the family! While supplementing the little boy at 2am, I noticed that the stitches from their tail dockings were opened up on one of the boys (Tan). I took him to the vet the next morning. .... noticing that 2 other pups had their tails opened up. Most likely my over-zealous cleaning mama-dog!

So we headed to the vet with two of the pups, leaving the other two with a babysitter.

Unfortunately I got the vet who was equally overzealous. He told me how the puppies "aren't going to make it" and the wounds were so bad and that they needed immediate skin grafting at a referral clinic. Um...yeah.

So I called the technician who did the tails who assured me it was no big deal, as did every other Rottweiler breeder I could think to call. So we left the clinic without the referral and instead took home some antibiotic ointment and oral Clavamox (Antibiotic).

I recorded some of the video feed of the puppies nursing and changed the angle of the camera so it wasn't such a "birds eye view". Now their getting cuter. The problem is finding a place to mount the camera that shows most of the whelping box!

Oh well.

So puppies continued day 2 of the "Superdog" Early Neurologica Stimulation program and are doing great. What troopers! They consistently stress on the cold wash cloth and were equally fussy about being held. Blue struggled the least. I'm guessing its because we tested during dinner time. I'm going to do equal amounts of stimulation both when they are asleep and when they are awake.

I've reduced the supplementing of the small boy and will be going out tonight to get a digital scale because I'm not trustng the weight readings I've been getting. Hopefully that will help. This will be my third attempt at purchasing a scale.

The puppies are a lot of fun right now, just watching how they find their individual nipples. Blue is still the best about finding the nipples underneath...he can burrow like a gopher with his size! He's catching up quickly and everytime I see him he is nursing strong!

Black is the most pushy about his meals. Tan is the more mellow puppy thus far .... he holds his own and doesn't back down when Black tries to steal his meal. He's also the more independent puppy....if a puppy is away from the group, its usually tan boy.

Pink doesn't have any standout characteristics just yet. She seems to hold her own against the boys but no real personality is showing thru. Tan is still the noisiest puppy, although Pink sent me running into the room when she decided she didn't like Mama Cindy picking her up! She can sure scream when she wants to !!!

Blue is still my little peanut. He's adorable. Very mellow but he seems like he's gonna be a tough one. And I dont' think by the time he's 8 weeks we will be calling him the little guy. He's kind of a pig!

The puppies all have really nice coat texture right now and angulation. Blue has a slightly longer back and I'm not in love with his croup but weight may change that. The proportions are all nice so far. I think we have a few Siegers in this litter!

ENS and Puppy Weights

2009-01-11T15:50:00.000-08:00

So you guys might be watching and wondering WHAT the heck and I doing to the puppies in the whelping box. Well today marks the day that we start ENS or "Early Neurological Stimulation". The concept is based on the military's Superdog Program which found that by giving dogs minute amounts of stress between the 3rd and 16th day of live, better prepares them to deal with stress later in life. So...we are giving it a go! Here's the program and what we're doing as well as the science behind it....

http://www.breedingbetterdogs.com/achiever.html

I also am supplement the Blue Boy because he's being bullied by the two other males and doesn't seem to be feeding as much. He's been doing really well since I began supplementing on 1/10/09.

Weights:
Blue Male - I have his birth weight down as 12 oz but I found the scale I was using wasn't that great so I got a secondary scale. He weighs about 8 oz right now, if the scale is accurate.

Black Male - 1lb, 8 oz

Teal/Tan Boy - 1 lb, 5 oz

Pink Girl - 14 oz

So everyone has good weight gain, except for Blue Male because I got his weight wrong in the drama surrounding his birth. Oh well...he physically looks like he is catching up and gaining fine so I'm not worried. We are calling him "Peanut" but I have a feeling he's going to catch up big time!

Additional Observations.....

Black and Tan puppies suckle so noisy that it sounds like a car! I feel so bad for cindy...they are just monsters. There is no real favorite position on nursing except I find the female and blue puppy stick towards the back nipples. The puppy who finds the nipple the easiest seems to be Blue puppy....he is going for the underside nipples more often than the larger puppies. I'm also finding that Blue LOVES to hang out between mamma Cindy's front legs. The other boys are a bit more independent but Mama-Cindy doesn't let them travel very far. The puppy that nurses the longest duration is the Pink Female. The puppy who is the most vocal is the Tan boy...which...BTW...was the criteria I used to pick Cindy out at birth. I asked her breeder who makes the most noise and she said "mauve girl is a screamer". I knew then that this was my puppy!

Physically speaking, the best markings are on the Black puppy and the Blue Puppy. Black puppy will probably end up with a lot of loose skin. The best head is a toss up between Black and Tan. Just like Cindy's litter....the boys had nice heads but they were all different "types". I'm seeing this in this breeding. We are calling Black Puppy "Dasher Junior" because of his emense size...though Tan isn't far behind!

Both boys have very nice broad heads and short muzles...but their only a few days old so who knows!

Blue boy is the smallest so its hard to evaluate him. Everything is very nice but it seems so small compared to the other boys. I have a feeling he just needs another week to catch up.

Pink girl showed the most amount of Stress on the ENS test. She fought on being held with her head pointed down, resting on her back, and on the cold wash cloth. All the puppies had a reaction on the cold wash cloth. Blue stressed on being held on his back. Its hard to evaluate the results because it could be because they were all nursing at the start of the test.

Tan and Black only showed stress on the cold wash cloth (trying to crawl away from it).

Besides the ENS testing, they all seem very responsive to touch and taste. Because puppies are blind and deaf at this age there's not many senses they can use. Pink Girl definitely notices the difference between mamma's milk and the formula! And it was interesting that they all respond to being scratched on the belly....Black boy even kicks his foot!

Mamma dog is handling everything like a professional even though this is her FIRST litter. She dotes on her puppies and watches them like a hawk. She's been doing really well with eating and has just started back on more solid foods. She has been eating a mixture of boiled chicken, cottage cheese and rice. We added nutrical (high calorie supplement) to that and a little bit of kibble.

Thats all for now....

Happy Family....

2009-01-10T20:06:00.001-08:00

TAN/TEAL BOY

BLUE BOY (aka "PEANUT")

PINK GIRL

BLACK BOY

The happy family continues another day. Today we docked the tails on the puppies with the assistance of the Veterinary Technician who's so experienced she not only did CINDY'S litter but also the litter that Cindy's mom came from! Puppies and mamma handled the procedure well and were back home in no time. Black boy showed his "drive" for eating while in the car. All the puppies were placed in tub on a heating pad in my lap and before I knew it...black boy was in my lap crawling for mom's buffet! He's a crack up. It sounds like a car engine when he nurses! Same for the Teal/Tan boy....who's equally as big! These boys are huge!

Many people have commented about Cindy picking up and moving the puppies around. She has been a very cat-like mamma dog. If she wants to clean them, she picks them up, puts them between her front paws and puts them back when she's done. If they try and crawl too far away....she just grabs them and puts them back where she wants them. A few people have inquired about certain things I'm doing in the whelping box. Earlier I was cleaning the bums of the boy puppies because she wasnt cleaning the big boys as well as she should have been.

And for the little blue boy (aka Peanut), we decided to start supplementing him because Cindy's milk production is relatively low and I think its been too hard for him to nurse. Aside from the two gigantic brothers pushing him off at every chance, Cindy licks him while he's nursing and he goes flying! Poor guy!

We supplemented with some milk replacement formula and I found that using a syringe and dropping a bit in at a time while he's trying to nurse has been helping him. I'm also trying to keep the bigger boys from bullying him too much until he can catch up. So if you see me in the box...that is probably what I'm doing!

No more updates for now....enjoy the new photographs we took! I'll have more of them together to put up in a few minutes.

More Puppy Pix - 1/9/09

2009-01-09T19:32:00.000-08:00

Day 1...Baby Photos 1/9/09

2009-01-09T19:19:00.000-08:00

They are here!!!!

2009-01-09T12:30:00.000-08:00

Labor started 1/7/09 with a lot of restlessness, a temperature drop, and mamma Cindy not acting herself. The water broke at 1:27 am and hard labor started around 1:45am.

Or first puppy..."Teal Boy" ... made his debut at 5:06am. He weighed 1 lb 2 oz at birth.

Our second puppy, "Pink Girl" ... made her debut at 6:18 am an weighed 12 oz at birth.

Our third puppy... "Black Boy" ... decided to mix things up with a breech birth at 7:05am and weighed a whopping 1 lb 5 oz.

Our forth puppy....Blue Boy...decided he didn't want to come out. 4 hours passed between delivery but mamma Cindy was calm and content. She apparently thought she was done too! So we went to the vet to xray to be sure Oxytocin was ok to give. X-rays showed one more puppy...not excessively large...just hanging out at the entrance to the birth canal. So we gave the shot of Oxytocin and he FLEW into this world at 12:25 pm and weighed 12 oz at birth.

Ultrasound say 5-6 puppies but apparently they were off :)

Anyways...mommy and babies are thriving. Mamma Cindy is eating well .... boiled chicken, cottage cheese and rice.

A LIVE streaming video feed is available on this link...

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/a-litter-vom-bosen-blick---cute-rottweiler-puppies

Check in on the puppies and mommy.

Couple of questions I keep getting:

About the newspaper in the box.... don't worry that the puppies are on newspaper! Its sanitary and safe. Whelping boxes shouldn't be filled with tons of blankets where puppies can get stuck and suffocate. There are 2-3 small towels for them, a heating pad if they want to crawl on to it, and a heater going 24/7 in the room.

About the small boy puppy.... As the last puppy born, people were immediately concerned about his size. With over 40 viewers at the time of the whelping .... people were immediately concerned when it went 4 hours between the last two puppies. At the time I was on the phone with 2 veterinarians who were not concerned. Cindy Lou was NOT in any distress, despite what people THINK they saw on the webcam. Please remember the cam is positioned in a birds-eye view and that I am the one in the room with her. She was not stressing at all and even the veterinarian who took the xray said he wasn't concerned for the last puppy since she wasn't straining or in distress.

The oxytocin delivered him in less than 10 minutes and immediately people thought he was small and sickly looking. Quite the opposite! Again....remember that the first puppy born at 5 am and he came 7 hours after that. So people were watching the other three puppies nurse and settle in and compared to him, he did look small and in distress. Well yeah...he was JUST born. He looked/acted exactly like the other three did right after their births.... and once he adjusted to the world around him, he's absolutely fine.

As for his size, he is the same size as the female who is actually on the larger size for a newborn Rottweiler. The two other boys are actually comparatively HUGE to a normal Rottweiler puppy so his size is deceptive. He is NOT small/sickly by any means....

As far as Cindy "stepping on/squishing puppies" ....Again, the angle of the camera is deceptive. Its up atop a window and does not show the entire box. Please keep in mind that I'm in the actual room with her 99% of the time. She has stepped on a puppy one time, heard it scream, and has been incredibly careful since then. She is an excellent mommy. The angle of the camera makes it look like she may be on top of them but remember it is a SMALL litter, she has plenty of room, and is very conscious of her babies. So I don't need a comment every 5 seconds people "think" they see her stepping on a puppy. She hasn't !

As for the things you see going on.... please remember the video feed is on a 10-15 second delay. Many people are posting in the chat room about what they see and then they see me do it and think I followed their directions. Actually...its NOT in real-time. So by the time you type it, I've already seen it, done it, and gotten back.

The video feed is so people can come, check out the litter without exposing the puppies to disease. We video recorded a few of the births although I have not been through all the videos. I do know the breech birth WAS recorded and is an interesting watch. Many people have expressed thanks for being allowed to be "a part" of the experience....particularly those who will never whelp a litter of their own.

I'm very glad that everyone is enjoying the feed but please keep in mind you all are spectators...I didn't really expect to have 40 critics alongside me putting their 2 cents in every step of the way. So as polite as I can be...please keep your comments to yourself as they just end up worrying me and making me self-conscious.

The video feed will be available until the puppies are 8 weeks old.

I hope everyone enjoys watching these babies grow up and has as much fun as I am having with this experience.

For more information on the puppies pedigees..check out our website at:

http://www.ocdoglady.com/Upcoming_Litters.html

These puppies have an incredible pedigree, two very proven parents in both work and show, and we are really excited to see how they grow up and mature!

Thank you for letting me share this experience. This blog will contain the still shots we are collecting of the puppies, comments on their growth and personalities, and any other information not readily apparent on the video feed.