Our singleton - the first five weeks

As in more recent years it seems we've been checking off the many things that breeders can experience when producing a litter, apparently it was time for our singleton experience. Eta was bred to Apache via AI in early April and though the timing appeared to be good she ended up carrying only one puppy. Based on an x-ray which showed the one pup looking rather large and in a breached position, I opted to work with a reproductive vet in order to ensure the best possible outcome for both Eta and pup. Per a phone consultation with the vet, we showed up at the clinic shortly before 8am on May 31st to begin monitoring and testing. Although progesterone was still high, the fetal monitor revealed a low heart rate on the pup, indicating distress. Because we were fairly certain we were within 1-2 days of Eta's actual due date, but not at all confident she would be able to deliver without assistance, the recommendation was to perform a C-section that day. Both Eta and pup came through beautifully.

We took them home and everything seemed fine but for the first four days the puppy lost weight. She was born weighing 11.9 oz and by the Wednesday following her birth was down to 8.8 oz. While it is not unusual for a newborn puppy to lose up to 10% of their birth weight in the first day or so, the puppy's loss was at least 25%, so 1-2 days in I starting supplementing with formula. On Wednesday she leveled out and began to gain weight again. At just over five weeks, she is now above 4lbs and continues to thrive.

She has four white feet and a white chest and is quite active. It's too early to say if she's a keeper but for now we are enjoying watching Eta bond with her pup and keeping a close eye on them both to ensure they continue to thrive.

 

Day 22 was the first attempt since supplementing she's been offered anything other than Eta's milk. I poured a little goat's milk into a saucer, then mixed in just a bit of finely ground turkey. I dabbed my index finger into the mixture and offered it to her, then repeated the process twice more before positioning her over the dish. She caught on pretty quickly and lapped up most of what was there. I think she may be fairly easy to wean, which seems odd to me since Lark's small litters have always seemed resistant.

The pup currently resembles a pot bellied pig as we are feeding her 2-3 times a day as we accelerate the weaning process and she still has quite a bit of access to her mother so she can continue to have company and learn from her.     

Are you a good dog, or a bad dog?

We've been known to utter those words in our household with the same inflection Glinda asked Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz if she was a good witch or a bad witch, though thankfully our current canine residents don't respond back with "but I'm not a dog at all!" Only Gem would have ever contemplated that retort.

It's all a matter of perspective, of course. I'm sure June and Lark think they're being very good dogs when they're digging furiously into the comforter, blankets, sheets and pillows on our bed in order to make themselves the perfect nest for napping. Though their efforts are momentarily amusing, we humans have a different perspective and their activity usually gets them banned from the bedroom until the next time we forget to close the door.

As the self appointed border patrol of our small homestead, Lark certainly thinks she's being a good dog when she races out to expel any critters who might have had the audacity to set foot or claw in our backyard. Her zeal extends beyond the boundaries of our yard to include any walkers, joggers, bikers or skateboarders who happen to be within her line of vision as she peers through the slats in the fence. The ruckus she makes is disruptive and embarrassing at times, but she hardly ever looks as pleased with herself as she does after completing her rounds. Recently she's been a bit less vocal in her efforts, though just as energetic. Could this be a sign of maturity?

Lark preparing for patrol

 

The next time I am confronted by a less than desirable behavior I will try to remember, from their perspective, they are likely being a very good dog indeed.

She ain't steady, she's my Junie

Almost 9 years old, you'd never guess! But she does love fetching up her ducks. Thanks to Mary Palkowski for the photos from the BYC weekend.


Steady... NOT!

 



June's happy to heel when I'm holding a bird.

Travels with June & Lark

BYC 2013 - June waiting for the bell hop to take her to the lobby

2013 National Specialty preparations - June supervises packing

2013 National Specialty - June enjoys hotel comforts

2013 National Specialty - Lark relaxes after her big day in the field

2013 National Specialty - Lark posing with DogWise bag

Not a biscuit eater

Some years ago George and I came across a movie called "The Biscuit Eater". Originally a short story, it was made into a movie in 1940, and remade by Disney in 1972. The 1940 version was so full of stereotypes it made us cringe, but the curious title stayed with me. Despite the definitions currently available for "biscuit eater" when doing an Internet search, in the movie the term was reserved for a dog that ate and took up space in the kennel but didn't perform the work it was bred for, which in this case was competing in field trials. A quick review of the short story reveals "A biscuit eater wouldn't hunt anything except his biscuits and wasn't worth the salt in his feed."

I confess upon occasion I have teasingly referred to Lark as a biscuit eater because when compared with her over achieving mother, Lark has seemed rather lackadaisical about retrieving in general. It look me a long time to realize that Lark has both talent and drive for fieldwork, she was just waiting for me to put the work in, which I finally started to do last fall. Then she whelped her second litter on April 2nd of this year so we only had two weeks to train for the WC at the BYC after her litter left. This was not quite enough time for us to prepare and she went out on the first mark. However, we trained hard this summer and I'm pleased to report that Lark qualified in the WC on Oct. 6th at our National Specialty in Syracuse, NY.

Lark's work in the WC was very nice. She marked all of her birds very well, and picked them up without a fuss, returning directly to me. I was especially impressed with her work on the second land mark, as I saw a lot of dogs appear to run right over it and hunt far and wide of the fall. During Lark's second mark on water it was raining so hard I could hardly see her but she came through.

 
Lark's WC completes her requirements for the Rusty Jones award. She joins her mother June and littermate Eta in earning this award. Lark has informed me I may never refer to her as a biscuit eater again, but that should not be confused with a lack of desire on her part to eat biscuits.

The girls are really in charge...

First off I must confess to "borrowing" the gist of the title for this post from Laura Waudby's blog, "The Dogs Are Really in Charge". She's a dog trainer in MN who currently has a Corgi and a Toller and is training a Labrador Retriever to be a service dog. She writes about many different dog related training and trialing experiences and has a lot of interesting observations to share.

I've recently come to the conclusion that June and Lark are in cahoots and working together to maintain the current status quo. They don't want to see another addition to the pack any time soon. I had my suspicions when Lark's second litter consisted of all male puppies, just like her first litter. Due to our small setup, so far I've resisted adding an intact male (especially one so closely related) to our pack. And then earlier this month Lark came in season, not an unexpected event, but 2-5 months earlier than anticipated, causing me to put any breeding plans for her on hold due to a project at work that would likely conflict with her due date.

So for now the girls continue to enjoy lots of individual time and attention. I can only hope they throw me a bone or two at the Specialty this week to make up for the severe puppy-itis I'm sure I'll experience in the presence of so many adorable Toller puppies.

 

What?

Kermit the frog prince

The best thing for me about this year's BYC was the opportunity to visit one of June's sons. I hadn't seen him since he left our house in August of 2011. Pictures were exchanged in the interim. The last ones I received were around the 13-15 month mark, and revealed a gawky but promising youngster.
 
Imagine my surprise when Erin opened her front door and out came Kermit (Zephyr's Going Green at Macfield) charging across her yard at just under 2 years of age.