Betsy will appreciate the toy in this picture :) as it comes from her company! The pups love this one but the all-time favorite is the black panther!

The litter seems to be precocious - fast maturing in their interactions with one another, in their interest with toys and with their eye-toy coordination. I am taking them outside as soon in the day as it is warm and dry (the dew is very heavy down in this valley) making their lives more interesting than if they are inside.

3 weeks today!

Here are the pups - on the front porch where we go into the kitchen. They gets LOTS of attention throughout the day with visits from Ruby now that their teeth are starting to come through. She also sleeps with them at night. On the menu this morning is Nutra Source large breed chicken and rice with organic goats' buttermilk. They gobble it up!

Pups in a basket

Can you count them all???

9 Days old!

My granddaughter Crystal and two of the pups. She's very eager to handle them but only under supervision does it happen!

They have had a growth spurt and suddenly are seeming much bigger and heavier than only a few days ago! Ruby continues to take very good care of them, keeping them clean and well-fed. We are, of course, handling them often.

Saturday

One week old today! I weighed the puppies - they range between 1# 10 oz and 1# 14 oz - so nice, average size pups. Daddy Solo trialed today - news with the results to follow! ++ update! Solo did well, tracking under difficult conditions and attaining his title with scores of 89/81/91.

Snips and snails...

Anthony, my grandson, is 8 years old and has now lost 8 teeth. His own Bouvier, Birdie, is a great family dog but even he can't resist the new pups! Actually, Anthony was 2 years old when the pups' grandma Una was a pup - he called her "Una the Buna" - she thought he was GREAT!! This afternoon he and 'the Buna' went down to the creek where they both came home wet, muddy and grinning!

Friday

Ruby's puppies are growing almost visibly! They're plump and squirmy when I pick them up. Ruby's doing well, is in good spirits and seems to have plenty of milk and excellent mothering skills as she keeps her babies very clean.

My grandkids Crystal and Anthony are here today; I will allow them to hold the puppies under strict supervision. Ruby will need to be otherwise occupied while we do this so as not to stress her.

Tuesday

Last Friday in preparation for Ruby's puppies, I had planned to bring her whelping box into the kitchen where we generally have the pups. Jim was at work so I thought I'd drag the kitchen table out of the way by myself - unfortunately, in doing so, I snapped one of the legs off, it crashed to the floor breaking the apron on one side. The rest of the day continued along those lines but that's not the story here :)

Ruby's puppies are in a whelping box on our front porch - it is heated, we are constantly in and out checking on them and Ruby is very happy. However, we don't really want folks she doesn't know to come in - thus this sign on our front porch door!

Today was dewclaw and tail day (actually today is her due day!) We checked all the pups over thoroughly and I was amazed to see that the collar on one of the pups already needed cutting off. I will likely take the rest off tomorrow. All are eating and sleeping and feel good and plump as puppies should be. Ruby's doing well, eating and, as I say, in very good spirits.

The puppies are born!

Ruby decided that Saturday was the perfect time to have her puppies. Crystal had left for a week with her Uncle Seth, Aunt Bonnie and cousin Anthony, the house was quiet, it was raining - she figured, what the heck, might as well take advantage of all these things!



It was a long whelping with the first two puppies separated by almost 2 hours after which time Ruby decided to get with the program. We have 4 girls, 5 boys - with a lot of color in this litter. They are all eating well and vigorous, later today I will weigh them and look them over more carefully. Ruby is accommodating but not enthusiastic about me handling the pups and I don't need to stress her.

**** update - weights are between 14 and 16 ounces.








Here are the girls.









And here are the boys.

The colors are very unstable - the light puppies are not likely to darken but the dark pups are very likely to lighten. If you looked at Solo's picture with Joanne on our homepage - he was a dark puppy until he was around 8-10 months old.

Also - here is a link to a pdf file about the first two weeks and what the puppies' lives are like.