Crossed Pines Ridgebacks

Yep, they are 8 weeks old and go to their new homes soon.

This weeks weights are

    Dolly Madison:  15 pounds 10 ounces

    Jackie O:  14 pounds 11 ounces

    Frankie:  16 pounds

    Truman: 16 pounds 12 ounces

On Tuesday they got their first shots and micro-chipped. My vet comes to the house and we just clear the kitchen island for an exam table. Everyone did great and health checks were A-OK.

Dolly Madison has decided she is too big to stay in the whelping room and pretty much climbs over anything to spend time with us. We ;et them play in the living room during nice days that the adult dogs can spend outside. My storage cube that I used for a coffee table is toast.

All the puppies have been spending lots of time exploring outdoors and they have really enjoyed discovering sticks and rocks and lizards.

Puppy conformation evaluation is Sunday April 22 at 10am. After that 3 puppies are heading home.

Frankie stays a couple of extra weeks before he journeys with his new family to the east coast.

They made it to 7 weeks old. I'm exhausted. Time for them to go to their new homes. 

Actual date is April 22 for all but one. Frankie is making the big move to the east coast. But not until May.

Dolly Madison is the great climber. We can't keep her in. At all. She is persistent. They all discovered and conquered the stairs. UGGG.

They also have had several romps outside. Fun was had by all. 

Isadora and Jon came for a visit and got to help with the first outside adventure. Thanks guys.

Vet comes next week to give everybody their first shots and to microchip. They all get a good exam and the ones traveling out of state will get a health certificate. 

Jane Gentzen, Arizona breeder for 35 years will be here the weekend of April 21,22 to do the temperament testing and the conformation exams. We're also going to sneak in some lure coursing for the big dogs.

Puppies are completely weaned and learning to potty on pee pads. They also love their toys. Some from visitors. Thanks.

Madison has begun to play with the puppies. She rolls on the floor and generally enjoys them now that they're not trying to nurse.

I look forward to seeing the new families next week.

I'm so sorry I have neglected my blog. Here is my catch-up post.

Puppies turned 5 weeks old yesterday.

They have teeth, really sharp teeth. As a result, Madison has decided that she is done nursing them.  They get 3 meals a day of warm soaked dog kibble, rice baby cereal and dried milk. They love it and now weigh.

Jackie O 7 lbs 2 ounces

Dolly Madison 8 lbs 10 oz

FDR 8 lbs 13 oz

Truman 8 lbs 12 oz

That fits in with our last litter. AT 5 weeks they ranged from 6 lbs 12 ounces to 8 pounds 12 ounces. So these 4 are on the middle to upper range of that size.

Out wonderful house sitter stayed with the puppies this weekend while we dog showed in Dallas. While there we bought a puppy play castle for the kids. Just put it together this morning.

Should be fun.

Dolly Madison is the most rambunctious and is climbing over partition walls. We added the full height. We will be changing ghte room around to accommodate the new play castle this week. I hope the room fencing keeps her in.

Puppies get their nails trimmed every week and are pretty good kids about it.

We have tentatively scheduled the conformation evaluation for Sunday morning April 22. Anyone who wants to attend is welcome. Puppies can go home that afternoon.

Based on what I can see at this point Tom and Sharon will be taking Jackie O home and Forrest will be taking Truman home. That can change and I still have to figure out about the other two. Need a little more time with the puppies to get a take on temperament and some growth may change some conformation questions I have.

Come visit and we can spend time with you as well. The puppies love new people to chew on.

I slept. Madison slept. Puppies slept. All is good. Puppies are all growing.

We took the puppies to the vet yesterday. Madison got a check-up to make sure all is well.

She lost 14 pounds since she was weighed one week before whelping. Back to pre-baby weight.

Not one most humans can even imagine. I sure can't

Puppies got their dew claws removed with no issue. Frankie got a full check-up.

He is great. No fluid in lungs, No heart issues. Perfect.  YEA!!!!!

We have some new pictures to add when I get time. I don't promise to have time for a couple of days. Homework beckons.

My laundry room is a busy place. Madison Avenue does not clean bottoms. ICK. I clean bottoms, Lila cleans bottoms... but not Madison. I seem to catch everything on my shirts. Then the mess on the whelping blankets is bigger than normal. Thank Lenny for Lenny Pads which are whelping pads that wipe off and resist wet. Highly recommend them for any potentially messy pad situation.

Madison welcomes everyone in her whelping box without hesitation. Very unusual. Eleven month old Kimber is fascinated with the puppies and spends a great deal of time staring at the puppies.

This morning Madison went out without coaxing for the first time since becoming a mommy and is eating much better.

I'll try to keep you posted and will put the pictures on the site as soon as I get my weekly homework complete.

Madison woke up and promptly vomited. She only ate half her breakfast. How do they know that today is her due date? So precise.

Spent the day cuddling with Madison. She is clearly in early stage of labor.

4:45pm. Labor advances.

5:18 First puppy is born. It's a girl. Tom give her a purple collar and she weighs in at a whopping 20 ounces.

I call a fellow breeder Jan who teases me that this puppy is already full grown. We know there are only 5-6 puppies

and now we know why. These are going to be big kids.  Lila's biggest puppy every was 17 ounces when born.

We're having a heavy wind storm and the lights keep going off and back on. The neighbors call to make sure they aren't the only ones and discover how busy we are in the dark.

6:20 pm  A second girl is born. My heart breaks, she is still born and clearly has been gone for a few days. Oh I am so devastated.

6:36pm  A third girl is born, no time to mourn the previous girl as this one needs to be cleaned, weighed and her color collar put on her. Tom decides she's pink and she weighs a more reasonable 15.5 ounces. Beautiful ridge and a very elegant girl.

At this point we get a bit of a break and discuss the events so far. We decide since its President's Day we will do a first and give them nicknames. In honor of presidents we name our first girl, Dolly Madison and our elegant pink collared girl, Jackie O.

7:45pm We finally get a boy. He's not breathing when he's  born so we rush into action. Tom takes over the 2 girls and  I work on the new boy. He has mucus in his lungs. I use all the tools at my disposal, including some mouth to mouth. His heart is beating but breathing is labored at best. Finally call my like line Jane who talks me through tasks on the phone. Jane is a breeder in Arizona, who I recently did newborn babysitting for. We really do help each other out.

8:06pm Another boy enters the world. I'm still busy with FDR "Frankie" so Tom and I switch puppies a couple of times so our new boy, green collar and weighing in at 17.5 ounces gets cleaned up and placed with Madison. New boy is Truman.

Our struggling boy suddenly makes noise. We all breathe better, even Jane, who has been on speaker phone all this time. After more rubbing and nose cleaning our boy is finally breathing on his own. I'm going to watch him like a hawk.

Tom, Madison and the rest of the pack go for some much needed air. I clean the very messy room.

During the night each member of the family got to meet the puppies and all is super good.

Madison likes the whole pack visiting.