Austyn & Sophie Litter: 2010

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Some Candids

Ten Little Indians

Reuben & I share the same taste in beer. He fell asleep on the scale I was on the floor!

Puppy Pile!

The puppies are six weeks old and active! They are no longer content being confined to the whelping box. They want complete run of the kitchen or we never hear the end of it. They are very active and want to be heard, somtimes all at the same time! No more gruel, they've graduated to soaked dry puppy food three times a day. Their day consists of eating, sleeping, peeing & pooping and playing with each other. In between all the rough housing they take little power naps for approximately 30 minutes and they're off and running again. After taking their six week pictures they all weighed between 8 & 9LBS.

With all the running around we've got to do to keep up with these 10 puppies, one would think that I'd lose some weight. Somehow it doesn't seem to work out that way.

More news next week.....

Puppies Are Six Weeks Old 2-24

Terry (Girl #1)

Basher (Girl #5)

Tess (Girl #6)

Julie (Girl #8)

Sally (Girl #10)

Clooney (Boy #2)

Frank (Boy #3)

Virgil (Boy #4)

Reuben (Boy #7)

Linus (Boy #11)

Sorry For Not Posting In A While

I attended the Potomac Valley Bernese Mountain Dog Specialty this past weekend down in Frederick, Maryland and had a wonderful time. I went down with Sophie's Dad, Bentley, and her two puppies from her previous litter. Our Bentley will be nine years old this coming June but still gets around the ring like he did when he was finishing his championship. My poor husband, Mike, had to stay home with the rest of the "family" and the puppies. When I got home he was very tired and glad to have me back. I immediately got my job back of taking care of the dogs. Welcome Home!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Winter Wonderland

There's a car under there somewhere.

Snow Drift!

Well we got hit with a major snowstorm here in North East Pennsylvania. Looks like we got over a foot of snow. The dogs loved it! Even our three month old puppy, Topaz, loved it. Although, the snow was higher than she was, she managed to hop around and we couldn't get her back in the house. My husband Mike was busy shoveling and didn't get a chance to take pictures of the dogs in the snow. We'll try to take some today. Here are some from our front door.

Puppy Update - Four Weeks 2-10-10

Our Oceans Eleven Crew turned four weeks old on Wednesday. As promised, we started them on the gruel and they love it! They wear it, but they love it at the same time! Momma Sophie loves to come in and lick the food bowl clean and then she cleans her babies the same way.

We let them have the run of the kitchen a few times a day and they love their freedom. It allows them to play with each other more freely and investigate their surroundings. They get really excited when they here our voices. Wagging their tails and becoming more vocal. Voices = feeding time in their little minds. LOL.

As they get bigger, their poops get bigger. Mike and I have our work set out for us in the coming weeks in the clean up department. Oh what fun..........

Happy Four Weeks Old!

Terry (Girl #1)

Basher (Girl #5)

Tess (Girl #6)

Julie (Girl #8)

Sally (Girl #10)

Clooney (Boy #2)

Frank (Boy #3)

Virgil (Boy #4)

Reuben (Boy #7)

Linus (Boy #11)

Friday, February 5, 2010

Some Candids 2-4-10

Puppy Pile!

There is always one not sleeping and on the look out. Maybe he/she can get to Mom before everybody else can???

Three Weeks Old And Growing Up Fast!

Well they are no longer just lumps scooting across the floor. They are up on their feet and walking around with their eyes and ears wide open and looking for food. Their teeth are also coming in so Mom isn't as anxious as she was to be in the whelping box with her babies. In a few days they'll have their first taste of "gruel". Gruel will be their first experience with solid food. The puppy food will be ground up in the blender and then mixed with goats milk. Heat it up slightly in the microwave and then watch them go crazy. They love it!

Puppies Are Three Weeks Old 2-3-10

Terry (Girl #1)

Basher (Girl #5)

Tess (Girl #6)

Julie (Girl #8)

Sally (Girl #10)

Clooney (Boy #2)

Frank (Boy #3)

Virgil (Boy #4)

Reuben (Boy #7)

Linus (Boy #11)

Heavy Hearted Sad News

It is with a very heavy heart that we have bad news to report. Sadly, one of the puppies didn't make it. Rusty (Boy #9) passed away on Monday night just short of his three week birthday. Rusty wasn't the greatest eater and he was the lightest of the 11. We paid special attention to him and tried to make sure he ate but it was always a struggle. Rusty was very weak on Monday morning so we took him over to the vet first thing. The vet found that Rusty had a touch of pneumonia and immediately started to treat him. Rusty was put in an oxygen tank, given antibiotics, was tube fed and got a shot of cortisone. Sadly, Rusty was in such a weakened condition that he didn't make it and passed away painlessly and quietly. Although he was only with us for a short time he will be in our hearts forever. He was a real cutie.