LITTER DIARY:

See Photos of available puppies

9/22/07:
Although the puppies will remain here for one more week, puppy selection has begun.  1st pick selected Red.  2nd pick selected Yellow so far...

9/20/07:
The Temperament testing was completed today and it went great!  All of the pups tested very well, and there were no red flags in this group whatsoever.  The results of each pup can be reviewed below.  A note on temperament testing...the test is a tool only, and not an infallible one.  The tester is a stranger to the pups, and the test in conducted in a new environment (in this case the EM building garage, which the puppies had never been to).  I am out of sight and smell, and I watch and take notes from a distance.  Some of the pups test showing lesser drives, and then grow up to be high drive/fantastic dogs that just happened to test poorly on that day.  For example, looking at Rogue's temperament test from 7 weeks of age, it showed she had "minimal retrieve drive".  Now at 3 years of age, Rogue is ball crazy and thrives on retrieve games.  She has a very intense retrieve drive as an adult pup that was not witnessed on her 7 week temperament test.  Drives are something that dogs are born with, and can be enhanced with proper training and stimulation.  The results listed below are from a 10 minute test conducted on one day in the pups life.  The good news is that there were no negative reactions from any of the pups, but there was a range in drives for each individual:

Yellow:  Very social pup and very willing to interact with the tester.  Came readily towards her with tail up and wagging.  Yellow showed a great deal of resistance and fight during the restraint test, including barking and trying to bite at the tester's hands while she held her.  Yellow is more independent, as she would chase the toys during the retrieve testing, but refused to bring them back to the tester.  Yellow showed no fear during both sight and sound testing, as she approached all objects with curiosity and confidence.  Yellow also showed the highest hunt/food drives.  Very nice pup, may require a strong hand as she is also very confident and independent.  Would make an excellent search and rescue or working dog.

Red:  Very social pup, very willing to interact with the tester.  Struggled fiercely the entire time with the restraint test, showing no interest in being submissive.  Very curious, wanting to pick up all the new toys.  Nice retrieve drive, as he did repeatedly bring back the toys that were tossed by the tester (showing great trainability).  Red was cautious during the sound sensitivity test, but also located the source and approached it with confidence.  He was very willing to tug with toys and even growl when the tester tugged back.  Overall very impressive pup with a great deal of confidence; very animated with the tester and willing to play any of her "games".  I believe Red will be a strong minded pup, but also very trainable.  Would make an excellent working dog.

Black:  Very social pup; ran up to tester with tail up and wagging.  Did pee slightly during restraint test, but also fought fiercely the entire time, not wanting to give up and submit.  Black loved to interact with the tester, and had the strongest retrieve drive.  He chased all toys with intensity and immediately returned with them to the tester.  Black was very playful and very confident.  He approached all tests with no evidence of fear.  Whenever the tester was preoccupied by setting up the next test, Black would run around the room grabbing all the toys that were loose on the ground, and would play by himself.  Black had a good food drive, and a very high play drive.  Very well rounded pup that could do SAR or other working dog events.  Great family pet as well.

Blue:  Very social pup.  Somewhat distracted, showing a high level of curiosity.  The tester called to him to follow her, but he saw all the toys and other items on the ground and stopped to smell and see everything.  Blue also fought the entire time he was restrained, refusing to submit to her.  Yet immediately following the test, he climbed on her to lick at her face, showing a high level of forgiveness and willingness to interact.  Blue also showed nice retrieve drive as he did return with the objects to the tester.  Blue showed caution with the sight/sound testing, but did approach each item to investigate.   Blue did leave the tester a few times to go chase and play with the leaves that were blowing around the garage.  Blue is a very nice, well rounded pup.  He showed less intensity then the pups listed above, but also showed the same amount of confidence.  Blue could do SAR or also other competitive events.  He would also make a fantastic family pet.

Pink:  Very social pup, very willing to follow the tester around the room.  Pink fought the entire time during the restraint test, refusing to submit.  Pink is a very curious pup, and wanted to check out and investigate all the items in the room on her own.  Pink had a slightly lesser retrieve drive, as she chased after all the items, but would then return to the tester without them.  Pink also has a higher than average pain threshold as she had no reaction to the touch sensitivity test.  Pink also showed great confidence and approached all sound/sight items without fear.  Pink is a very tolerant pup.  She showed a great deal of curiosity and would also make a great SAR dog or family pet.

Green:  The spunky little runt.  I knew Green would test well when it came to showing that size doesn't matter when you have attitude.  Green is also a very social pup and interacted well with the tester.  He also fought fiercely the entire restraint test, refusing to submit; yet also climbed right up onto the tester to lick her face afterwards.  Green did chase after the items in the retrieve test, but then returned to the tester without them.  Green showed no fear during the sight/sound testing, walking right up to the items with confidence.  Green showed very little prey drive, and would not chase any items that were dragged.  Due to Green's size, we are going to hang on to him for a few more weeks to make sure he is healthy before being placed.  We sure do love his spunky little attitude though.  He would make a great family pet.

White:  The laid back pup in the group.  White loves people and is a very calm puppy.  He struggled throughout the restraint test, but not with the same intensity as the other pups.  White was wagging his tail the whole time, and would complete all the tests, but at his own pace.  White is not a dominant pup, and will respond quickly to any training.  Initially, he showed no interest in retrieving at all, but then with some prompting, he did chase the toys and return with them.  Every time the tester performed a less than pleasant test, White would lick her hands in a very forgiving manner.  White showed some fear with the sound/sight testing, but approached all items to check them out with the tester.  White showed little prey drive, but preferred to be with the tester at all times.  White is a very social pup, and would be excellent with kids as he is also very tolerant and low maintenance.  White would be a great family pet.

If there is a pup that you are specifically interested in, please contact me and I can go over the test and results in detail with you.  This litter turned out fantastic.

9/12/07:
Pups are 6 weeks old and will now be weaned completely off Rogue.  She is relieved about this as they are all little biters now.  If I walk amongst them, I have several attached to each pant leg.  They are all 9 lbs except little Green, who is almost 4 lbs.  All the pups are healthy and outgoing in nature.  They were given their second round of wormer today, and I will give them their 1st shot next week.  This is a very healthy, very energetic group of puppies.  Thus far, there is not a shy one as they run up to any new visitors with excitement.  I will attempt to do the temperament test next week at 7 weeks, and then selection can begin.

Its still a little early to tell, but I also think that White might be a long coat.  Some of the pups like Yellow, Red, and Blue have short coats.  Black and Green have medium length coats, and then Pink and White have thick/dense coats that are longer in length.  Hopefully in the next 2 weeks I will be able to tell for sure.

9/4/07:
I am way behind on the litter diary and an update is in order.  A lot has changed in the last few weeks.  The pups are now 4 weeks old.  They received their first round of wormer at 3 weeks, and will get another dose at 5 weeks.  I will also do their first puppy shot at 6 weeks.  I introduced puppy first to them at 3 weeks.  At first, they showed interest but really didn't know how to eat it.  I got it good and mushy with water for the first few days, but now their little teeth (daggers) are in and they are able to chew it.  Rogue is less than happy about feeding them since they bite her now, so I have to force her to lay down and allow them to nurse a few times a day.  She would love to spend all day with them, but they are rough on her now, so she avoids them.  I don't like to wean them completely until they are 6 weeks old, so she has 1 1/2 weeks left of being chewed on.  She is starting to correct their behavior now as she will not allow them to bite her.  It is adorable to watch her push them down or mouth them as a warning to not chew on her ears/paws, etc. 
This group is even more outgoing than the last.  The two females, Yellow and Pink are running the pack.  They try to boss the boys around, but none of the boys are weak in temperament either.  They had two new adventures in the last few days.  I brought them outside last week to run in the grass.  I had not mowed in awhile, so it was as tall as they are, so they were a little mystified by that.  Then, yesterday, I loaded them into a kennel and brought the group to the Minnehaha County SAR training where 6 members of the unit played with them for a few hours.  They were exhausted after that, but loved it.  No one in the group was shy as they climbed all over the people that came to play.

I had a friend tell me that she thought they were much larger than the last litter, so I compared the weights.  She was right, this group is 1-2 lbs heavier than the last litter at this age.  Green is still behind in size/weight, but he is gaining every day now.  I moved the litter out to the garage last night so they have twice the room to roam.  This also gives Rogue some peace since she sleeps in the basement without them.  I decided to keep Green in with her overnight so he can nurse whenever he wants without the competition from the others.  Nero, from the 9-28-06 litter, was also a runt.  In comparing his weight chart with Green, they are equal in size at 4 weeks of age.  Nero caught up to the others by week 6, so I hope the same is for Green.  With one-on-one time with Rogue, that should help. 
I will start to document each pup's personality now that they are more active and mobile.  This will be difficult for this litter as they are all so energetic and playful.  I can say that Yellow, the only sable, is the most vocal and bossy one in the group.  We have playfully nicknamed her "Satan".  She is the worst toe biter in the group, and does not take "no" for an answer.  She will also pin any of the other pups on the ground in an attempt to show her "alpha" personality.  I would call the leader of the pack at this point, but a  lot will change over the next few weeks.

8/19/07:
Again I saw a few of the pups playing this morning.  At first it started out with Red and Black again, but soon White also joined in, and then Yellow as well.  I also started playing with them, and was able to get Red to actually growl at me in a very playful tone.  If I grabbed him by the face with my fingers and wrestled around with him gently, he would growl and try to grab on to my hand with his little mouth.  Thus far, he and Black are the playful/feisty ones, but it is way to early to tell how each pup will turn out.

Green also is over the 2 lb mark in weight and is doing great.  I will post new photos this afternoon.  They actually look like puppies now with their eyes open and fat little bodies.

8/18/07:
This morning I saw the first signs of play amongst the puppies.  I saw Red and Black playing together by themselves while the rest of the pups slept nearby.  They were mouthing each other in the face, and using their paws to push at each other.  I also heard Red bark for the first time, and I believe the bark was directed at me.  While they were playing, I started lightly grabbing at their faces, also in a playful manner.  Red then stood up, looked at my hand, and barked one time.  Very cute!  Prior to that, it has only been whimpering and "talking" amongst the group.  Also, Yellow is by far the most talkative.  She complains loudly whenever she feels an injustice is done to her, and whenever her needs are not met immediately.  Thus far, it seems that she will be the bossy, vocal one in the litter.

8/17/07:
The pups are 2 weeks old now and are moving around with more confidence.  Their eyes opened a few days ago, and they are starting to roam around the pen much more.  They can see Rogue in addition to smelling her now, and are much more vocal when she leaves.  I removed the safety rail as some of them were even starting to climb on it, probably planning their escape.  Their current weights are as follows.  Green is still underweight compared to the others, but he appears fine structurally. 

"Green" 1 lb 13oz
"Blue" 3 lbs 7oz
"Yellow" 3 lbs 8 oz
"Pink" 3 lbs 8 oz
"Red" 3 lb 7.5 oz
"Black" 3 lb 3 oz
"White" 3 lb 12 oz

Soon their individual personalities will start to show and I will record what I see at that time. 

I did hear back on initial results on the two pups that died that were sent in for autopsies.  Both pups had no sign of trauma.  Both had regular developed organs and no sign of infection or bacteria.  I should have official results soon, but the good news is that there are no red flags of any kind of genetic disorder or disease.

8/7/07:
Here is an update on the weights on each pup.  Green is a bit behind the others, but I am supplementing him with Esbilac puppy formula and expect him to be on track with the others within a week or so.  He was born at the same weight as the others, so we believe he just may be a late bloomer.  He is a very vigorous and vocal pup, and the vet checked him out today and stated his heart is strong and his belly was full of milk, so we expect him to do fine.

"Green" 1 lb 3.0 oz
"Blue" 1 lb 10.5 oz
"Yellow" 1 lb 13.5 oz
"Pink" 1 lb 13.2 oz
"Red" 1 lb 12.5 oz
"Black" 1 lb 13 oz
"White" 2 lbs 1 oz

8/4/07:
Well today is truly a nightmare for me.  Not only did I lose "Multi" this morning for no apparent reason, but I also took "Purple" into the ER vet at approx 630PM.  I had been setting an alarm to feed him every 2 hours at home, and attempting to sleep myself in between those feedings.  This was Purple's 2nd trip to the vet in 24 hours as I felt that he was continuing to go downhill.  Once at the ER we did a complete blood workup and found nothing wrong with his internal organs except a very low blood sugar count.  Again, it was believed that for an unknown reason, most likely stress at birth, he had stopped eating.  It was agreed that he would spend the night at the vet and they would continue to feed him throughout the night and also give him Caro syrup to jump start his sugar levels.  Then I got the dreaded call at 9PM that Purple had not made it.  How sad and frustrating this has been for me as Rogue has never lost a puppy before today; and now two in one day for two completely different reasons.  I feel that I need to know why both puppies died, so both of them are being sent to a lab for testing.  Once I am told of the results, I will post that information on the website.  Both vets at two different clinics felt that the deaths were due to accidents such as suffocation and also survival of the fittest (aka "failure to thrive") in Purple's case.  Either way, I will hopefully have concrete answers soon.  Today was an extremely sad day for me.  The only good news is that the other 7 pups are very vigorous and gain ounces in weight with each day.  I will post their new weights tomorrow and will again hopefully get photos onto the site.

8/4/07:
"Purple" is still struggling and I am feeding him every 4 hours with the hopes of saving him.  He will latch on to Rogue and feed, but will often not stay awake for more than a minute or two.  I got off work at 530am and fed him at 630.  All of the other pups were fine.  I set an alarm and was going to feed him again at 900am.  To my shock, I found "Multi", a sable female" dead in the rear of the whelping box.   She appeared just find a few hours prior.  There are no signs of trauma, but she did have some dried milk around her nose, which makes me wonder if she somehow suffocated.  I did take her to the vet for an exam to find out cause of death to be sure it isn't something that might affect the other pups.  This breaks my heart.  The other pups are very vigorous and are gaining weight like gang busters.

8/3/07:
I noticed that "Purple", a black and tan male, was lacking the energy exhibited by the other pups.  I took him into the vet at 630pm this evening, and it is believed that he is not eating, for an unknown reason.  His birth weight was 1 lb 1 oz, and his current weight is now 15 oz, and he is very sluggish.  The vet gave me puppy milk replacement and we are now supplementing his feeding to attempt to get him back on track with the other pups.  I will watch him closely and hope that he regains his energy.

8/2/07:
Rogue's temperature dropped late in the evening on 8/1/07, so we expected the litter to whelp early on 8/2/07.  Active labor started and I saw the first contraction at 140am on 8/2/07.  The labor was much  more difficult on Rogue this time compared to her last litter.  She appeared to stop altogether several times, and was given 3 shots of oxytocin to resume labor.  There are a few times where the gap between puppy births is hours.  She was truly exhausted by the time the ninth puppy was born.  We then took her to the vet for a final xray to be sure she was done.  The following are the times born, names, and color of each puppy.  They are all doing fine at this time.

156am, "Black" a black & tan male
436am, "Green" a black & tan male
443am, "Pink" a black & tan female
512am, "Purple", a black & tan male
549am, "Yellow" a sable female
619am, "Blue", a black & tan male
645am, "Red" a black & tan male
830am, "Multi" a dark sable female
1030am, "White", a black and tan male.

Each puppy has a different color string tied around their neck at birth.  Because they look so alike, this allows us to record weights and temperaments as they grow.  The tally for this litter is 9 pups; 6 black and tan males, 1 black and tan female, and 2 sable females.  There were no still-born pups in this litter, and the group is doing fine.

07/26/07:
Rogue was xray'd today by the vet.  It is believed that there are a minimum of 8 puppies.  It can be difficult to detect in large litters as they are laying on top of each other and some of the puppies that are behind others in the xray do not show up clearly.  Due date is still 8/1/07.

06/21/07:
Rogue was taken to the vet today and palpated.  She is 22 days pregnant, and the vet felt several small "lumps" in her abdomen.  During this time, there is uterine swelling around the placental sites that feels like firm and discrete lumps.  We have no idea how many puppies are in there, but will xray her at 45 days to get a more accurate count.  She is a very moody girl when she is pregnant and not tolerate of other females at all , but otherwise in very good health.  We expect pups around August 1st!


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