Audrey is an absolute star

Not only did she wait until yesterday to have her pups (enabling me to go to Crufts on Friday) but she managed to calmly deliver 11 pups in 4 1/2hrs, with the first pup arriving at exactly 7pm and the last at 11:35pm. On top of this, despite only having 6 nipples, all 11 have nice full tummies this morning. The only downside was my mis interpretation of her contractions. After producing pup number 11, she continued to push for the next couple of hours. At 2 am I decided that I needed to call the vet, so loaded Audrey and pups into the van and off we went. In my defence, the vet also thought he could feel a pup, but an xray showed that this was not the case, phew. My sincere apologies go out to Rudy and Tracy for getting them out of bed unnecessarily, but thank you both for putting my mind to rest.

The final count is 8 boys and 3 girls, all are feisty with good voices! They are all a wonderful rich apricot, and some were even born with black noses (normally the pigment comes in over a few days). Of course Audrey can't take all the credit, Matti has obviously played a big part in producing this beautiful litter, so thanks to his breeder Sabine, who made our trip to Big Cheyenne poodles such a pleasant trip.

The webcam is up and running and will be on on a daily basis, from about 8:30am to about 10:30pm. Unfortunately, as the pups are in my living room, I will not normally have the audio on as it is just too intrusive to my family.

Puppies are being born

Audrey went into labour this morning, she had her 1st pup at 7pm, you can join us here http://www.justin.tv/itzapromise#/w/5065105600/12

Can't be too much longer

How many are hiding in there?

Never count your chickens... :-(

On Saturday, my suspicions were confirmed, Dollar has not maintained a pregnancy. I was sure she was in pup, and up to about the 5 week period she looked as I would expect. But then she stopped filling out and her nipples, if anything, started to look smaller. There are two possibilities, the first simply being that I was wrong and she was never pregnant, the 2nd is that for some unknown reason, she has re absorbed. I will never know for sure.

I am obviously really disappointed, as not only was I looking forward to seeing her babies, I was also planning on keeping a girl. I have also had to inform several people that they won't be able to have the pup they were waiting for, which is a horrible thing to have to do. But looking on the bright side, Dollar is very fit and well. I have already been in contact with the stud dog owner and we will try again in a few months.

Audrey is now getting very big, poor girl has a rock hard barrel shaped tummy which doesn't stop moving. That said, she has coped with pregnancy much better this time, no doubt helped by the fact she has been eating very well this time around. She had 10 pups last time, this time she is much bigger so I won't be surprised if she has a dozen this time (in fact, although I would much prefer her to have a smaller litter, I hope my guess is correct, as Graham and I always have a bet, and this time the stakes are high and I really don't want to loose!!)

Miss Marple has got a home waiting for her, her new Mum has an art studio, I have warned her that her art may take on a completely new style with Miss Marple helping!

I have started the countdown to collecting Cash now. He is due at Heathrow late afternoon on 21st March, can't wait to meet him :-)

itzapromisepoodles' photostream

itzapromisepoodles' photostream on Flickr.

Well the girls have just passed their 6 week stage, Dollar is hiding her babies well (she is quite a roomy bitch and looks about the same as she did, at this stage, during her last pregnancy, which produced 8 beautiful pups. Audrey on the other hand, is positively huge, when looking back at pictures taken at this stage of her last pregnancy, you would hardly know she was pregnant, yet she produced 10 healthy babies, poor girl is going to have her paws full with this lot!
Whilst on the beach we saw a family walking a couple of spoo's, so we obviously had to go and say hello. I was drawn to their older bitch, only to discover that she is Dime's Auntie!
It was a lovely walk and it is great to be able to catch up with the progress of Milo and Evie (Audrey's pups from 2011) Thank you to their mums for arranging the meet up.
Kitten update:  Miss Marple did briefly have a home waiting for her, but unfortunately the family had to pull out, so she is still available.

4 weeks and counting

The girls have both passed the half way mark of their pregnancies :-) Both are fit and well, but I suspect that whilst Dollar looks like she is going to have a small to average sized litter (though being a fairly roomy bitch she may be hiding her pups atm), poor Audrey is already huge and I suspect she may have more than the 10 she produced last time! Both are eating well, which is a relief as last time Audrey was practically anorexic during her pregnancy. Getting excited now and looking forward to the pups safe arrival.

This is Cash, my new boy who is coming in from Sweden on 21st March, he comes from a top show kennel and both his parents are show champions in many countries, but more important than that, is the fact that he comes from lines with generations of health tested dogs. I am hoping that by bringing him in, we can help expand the limited silver lines that we have in the UK. He has been called Cash to fit in with the money theme of my silvers and because he is costing me a small fortune!! Initially we had planned that Graham would go out to collect him (I couldn't go because of the expected pups) but there was a bit of a mix up regarding the dates he could be vaccinated, I thought it was 12 weeks but apparently it is 3 months, so that meant he couldn't travel until a week later than we thought. Unfortunately Graham couldn't change his holiday dates, so now he is being flown into Heathrow (at a ridiculous price!), I think this will actually be a less stressful journey for him as it will be considerably shorter than Graham taking him on a trains and lengthy car drives, and it means I have an excuse to visit my friend Rosie, as I will stay in Surrey the night before he flies.

I also now have to find another home for Miss Marple, Sybil's torti and white kitten, she is a lovely girl, quite vocal and demanding and has a really noisy purr. She is available as strictly a pet only. Please ring me if you would like to know more

Busy times ahead

Dollar is definitely pregnant and I am almost positive that Audrey is too :-)

To me, both these matings are really special, both are complete out-crosses (not easy to do with the silvers and apricots). This will be Dollars last litter, and as the kennel that bred her are no longer breeding, hers is going to be an increasingly rare line. On a more personal note, the pedigree of the stud dog that Dollar visited, has a pedigree that shares some ancestors with my very first poodle!  I will be keeping a pup from her. They are due around the 9th March

To find a boy that I felt was suitable for Audrey, I had to take her out of the country, this means that the pups that she has will introduce a new apricot line to the UK. As both Audrey and Matti carry the phantom gene, the resulting pups are also likely to carry it. If they are bred from in the future, put to apricot the gene will not show itself and all the pups will be apricot, but put to a phantom or a dark coloured dog who carries the phantom gene, then a percentage of the pups should also be phantom, needless to say, one of these pups will also be staying with me.They are due around the 11th of March (hopefully not in the van on the way to our walk, unlike last time!)

I am more than happy to answers enquiries about these upcoming litters, but I do not take deposits or firm bookings until the pups have safely arrived. As with their previous litters, the web cam will be up and running to cover the birth of the pups and their first few weeks at Itzapromise.