Sad day

I can't write much at the moment as feeling very emotional, but after a long non productive labour, Dollar had to have a caesarian section, this resulted in one dead puppy, with it looking very much like other pups had been reabsorbed. I could not allow Dollar to go through this again so elected to have her spayed. She is now quietly recovering at home. I am so sorry to disappoint all those people who had waited a long time for one of her pups, I fully understand how you feel as I had planned for and waited a long time to have a pup myself.

They're on the way

Although Dollar is due today, she showed no signs of the pups making an appearance today, she ate her breakfast with gusto and then we went on our usual walk, where she happily chased squirrels (all be it slowly). Then, once home I decided to give her a bit of a clean up.
Still no sign of anything, so I did a few bits around the house and mowed the lawn and then thought I would take a couple of pictures of mum to be, it was during this that she started having contractions, so we made our way to the whelping box in the lounge and set the cam up. I am writing this at about 4pm 11.10.13, labour can take a while so pups may start arriving in the next hour or so, or she may take her time and keep hold of them until tomorrow, time will tell. Anyway, the cam is up and running, so click the link on the right of this page if you want to take a peek and maybe join in with the chat.

A quick catch up

I am just back from our 1st ever proper family holiday, with the amount of pets we have it is almost impossible to get away so this was a much anticipated event. We had a fab time visiting Grahams family in Canada, then flying to San Francisco and driving to Yosemite National Park, then Monterey and finally to Los Angeles. It was a bit of a whistle stop tour but loved every minute of it. Unfortunately our homecoming left a bit to be desired, with the house and animals looking a bit neglected (cosmetically only with the animals, they are all fit well and happy) but I still feel it was worth the effort.
Sybils kittens are really well grown now and are just a delight, and complete pain in the neck!! they are just so friendly and want to be involved in everything you do. To all those who have enquired about the available girls in my absence, I will try to return emails today/tomorrow or if you want to contact me on the phone I would love to hear from you, if I have somehow missed any emails, please forgive me and try again, it is organised chaos here at the moment and with jet lag etc it may take a little while for normal service to be resumed :-) They will be ready to leave here at the end of next week.

Dollar is due to have her pups the weekend after next, it looks like she is going for quality rather than quantity this time, as she is not looking very big, we definitely saw a few pup on the scan so hopefully she will have a reasonable litter.

Unfortunately Spirit is not pregnant this time, although I am obviously disappointed, especially with the effort involved in getting her mated to a German dog, I am not worried, it just sometimes happens. Her half sister Audrey missed the first time she was mated (covered and tied 3 times) but then went on to have a litter of 10, (1 mating) and 11 (1 mating), so we will try her again on her next season, though, due to travel logistics, it may be with a dog that is in this country.

Itzapromise Reumion 2013

A little reminder of summer, courtesy of Sharon and Mark, owners of Cally (one of Dollars pups) who took the time to put this video together and have given me permission to share it.
It has put a smile on my face to see so many beautiful dogs, enjoying each others company and to know that all have homes with wonderful people. I think my favourite parts are Sarah being mobbed for the treats, and all the attempts at group stays!
Thank you Mark and Sharon

Still not 100% sure

Dollar is blooming, as they say :-) she is filling out nicely and has obvious mammary changes, Spirit on the other hand is not so easy. I have to say that I am doubtful that she is pregnant, but, I still wouldn't be surprised if she was hiding a couple in there.
I am putting a couple of pictures up to try and illustrate what I am seeing, it is very easy to look at the pics and say, it's obvious that Dollar is and Spirit isn't, but it's not quite that simple. This is Dollars 4th (and final) litter and therefore she already has much bigger nipples that a maiden bitch, also, and don't repeat this to her, she does have a little middle age spread going on, her colour is much easier to photograph and show definition and finally, I know there are pups in there because I've seen them.

 Spirits changes are more subtle, her nipples are bigger than before her season, and she has a definite paunch, the pictures were taken just before they were due to be fed, so they both had empty tummies.
At this stage I am not going to scan her again unless there is further physical development. It will be 5 weeks on Friday since they were both mated.

Puppies due in October :-)

I had both girls scanned today and Dollar is definitely pregnant with several pups. Spirit, however, is still keeping us guessing as the scan was inconclusive.  At one point we thought we saw a pup, but it wasn't obvious like Dollars, 4 weeks is just about the earliest you can scan and it is quite possible for the pups to be tucked up under the ribs at this stage (especially if there are only a few), and therefore not visible on the scan. It is a small chance, but still a chance. Her shape and behaviour changes indicate a pregnancy, but the same can be true if she is having a phantom pregnancy (no pun intended, lol). I will wait and see how/if things progress with her over the next week or so, and if I still feel she may be pregnant I will get her scanned again.

 Although I am obviously hoping both girls are in pup, of the two it was more important for me that Dollar was pregnant as she is middle aged now and time was staring to be an issue, if it turns out that Spirit is not pregnant this time round, we have plenty of time to try again :-)

Sybils kittens are complete hooligans, they give us hours of entertainment, they obviously run on Duracell batteries as they go on and on and on!! They will be having their 1st vaccinations next Friday (the 13th!!) and will be ready to leave here on the 11th Oct, which is the day that the pups are due, which is the day after my daughters 10th birthday, so that could be a touch busy. There are still 2 girls available from this litter, the very naughty(toe chewing, leg climbing) torti girl and her almost as naughty torti/tabby and white sister, please give me a ring if you would like to find out more.

itzapromisepoodles' photostream

itzapromisepoodles' photostream on Flickr.

Click on individual pictures to see in full size, just trying to keep my mind off Dollar and Spirit, kittens are wonderful time wasters and this litter are just beautiful, but the Saturday scans can't come soon enough :-)