Birthday - March 4, 2008
Bitter Sweet

The GOOD !!   Jazz and Charlie had 9 little bundles of joy – 5 girls and 4
boys.   They are all very, very dark red, with black masks and all ridged –
one little boy has only one crown though!!  Other than that they are all
perfect in every way so far – no excessive white, no kinked tails- Yeah!!!

The BAD !!!   Jazz had a lot of trouble having the pups and we ended up
having to deliver the last two by c-section.   All went well during the
surgery and delivery, but a few hours later Jazz passed away, along with 2
of the pups.   Her autopsy showed that she had a small tumor on her liver
that had ‘exploded’ probably from the stress of the surgery and delivery.
Sadly, a time bomb waiting to go off.    Sooooo………. We have 7 little
Orphans!!!

After many phone calls tapping the awesome resources of our canine
community, we were blessed to find Honey, a beautiful yellow lab who had 5
week old puppies who were about to be weaned.   Honey came home with me to
take on a new family of Ridgebacks!!!   She is so kind and gentle that she
took to nursing the pups without any problem at all!!  They quickly got fat
little tummies – much easier than bottle feeding!!!  Today she has begun to
lick and clean them and seems to be concerned when they cry, so we have high
hopes that sweet Honey will love them like her own.

The UGLY !!!  Dew claw removal was today which is always unfun for all, but
oh so necessary.  The pups recover quickly at this age and then there is no
chance of tearing them in the future.

I have raised an orphan litter once before, and hoped that I would NEVER
need to use all that I had learned ever again. Sigh.  Bitter Sweet.



1 Week Old - March 11, 2008
Little Bits of Honey

Irish eyes are SMILIN’!!!!!   What a joyous week this has been!!!  Honey has
been such a BLESSING!!!   She feeds her little adoptees, cleans them up, and
even acts like she sort of likes them on occasion!!!   They are well loved
and well taken care of and most importantly WELL FED!!!   In fact, they are
fat little piggies, and have almost doubled in size already!!!

Still haven’t opened their eyes yet, probably not for another few days.
When they do open their eyes, they will be a smokey blue.   Slowly but
surely their eyes will turn brown.   They hear VERY well already and between
that and smell, they have no problem locating where momma is.   Their GI Joe
crawl gets them wiggled to Honey quite well !!! They are pretty noisy
occasionally – no barking or growling yet – mostly just squeaks and squeals
when they are fighting over the same faucet!!!


Honey appreciated the first of many toe nail trims !!!   All those little
daggers make nursing a potentially painful experience!!!  Belly buttons have
dried all up, no problems there so far.   Still no dermoids felt so that is
always a good thing.

We have started them on the ‘Super Dog Program” which was developed by the
military after years of research to determine what, if anything, will help a
dog become a healthier, more intelligent, easy to train, confident and
capable canine companion in the future.  In short, it requires doing some
very simple exercises with each pup from 3 days old until 16 days old.  For
more information, check out this website:


http://www.breedingbetterdogs.com/achiever.html
<http://www.breedingbetterdogs.com/achiever.html>

They are such SWEET little darlin’s and sweetened by Honey every day!!!


2.5 Weeks Old - March 22, 2008
“Sweet Things” get LUCKY

Our luck has held and our Sweet Honey continues to feed and care for her
little Sweeties who are GROWING like crazy!!!     Poor Honey, I think she is
getting pretty sick of nursing babies!!!   We are helping her out as much as
we can by supplementing them with bottles and they get their daily dose of
Nutri Cal which is a high calorie vitamin and mineral paste that they just
love!!!    By four weeks they will start eating puppy mush and that will
really help Honey out.   At this age, they really DO nearly double in size
each week.

We have EYES!!!   All are wide open and bluish just like I promised!!  I
don’t really think they see all that well yet, but they are definitely aware
of their surroundings.  Their little ears have flopped down now so they look
a little bit more like puppies!!!   All are still very dark red with varying
amounts of black masks.   Not much white on any of them, just a few toes
here and there and different shapes of white on the chest.   I KNOW from
experience that the white goes away with age and ALL puppies will have less
white as adults as they do now when they are puppies.   They have begun
moving about quite a little – got the GI Joe crawl down pat!!!   Once in
awhile, they try to sit up a little and get those wobbly front legs under
them which ALWAYS results in tipping over!!!  They have begun playing with
each other a little bit too.   Mostly just mouthing each other’s noses and
maybe getting a hold of an ear now and then.      Still mostly just whining
and whimpering and fighting over dinners, but once in awhile someone will
accidentally ‘trill’ which must be the beginning efforts at barking or
growling.   Whenever someone makes a noise they all look around at each
other like they are surprised by the strange noise and wonder where THAT
came from!!!!  

Still no health issues or faults other than the one little boy who does not
have a perfect ridge.   Still no dermoids, belly buttons are looking good,
dew claws healed up just fine, no kinked tails  - YEAH!!!  A wonderfully
healthy, happy, chubby, litter!!!

We are working on a theme and coming up with names that are appropriate for
the occasion.   I am sure it will be something SWEET because they really are
very, very SWEET, and love to be played with and hugged by their human
family!!!



3.5 Weeks Old - March 20, 2008
Bunnies, Peeps and Puppies

All these Easter sweets have really made our ‘SWEETS” grow this week – they
turned into PUPPIES!!!!!  They have gotten MUCH better about being able to
sit up, the GI Jo crawls have turned into Rocking Horse waves and not near
as much spontaneous tipping over!!!!  They are barking, growling, and
attempting hopping and jumping!!! They have definitely figured out PLAY!!!!
And they have definitely turned into little wiggley worms!!!!  Can’t sit
still for a second!!!!

This week they got their first worming (Yuk!) – actually they like it cause
it tastes like bananas!!!   Another weekly toenail trim as well!!  Not only
does Honey appreciate that, now that they are playing with each other we
don’t want them to scratch each others little noses or eyes either!!!
Honey is feeding them only about 3-4 times a day anymore.   Her milk is
drying up, but the Sweet Things are enjoying puppy milk replacer which has
lots of creamy fat in it and is keeping them nice and chubby.   Soon they
will get to start snorkeling in puppy mush!!!

Just a perfect bunch of pups – still no dermoids, belly buttons are looking
fine, still no kinkcd tails.   At this age they have gotten pretty fuzzy and
their ridges are hard to really see well for awhile – I think it is the
puppy hair coming in over the baby fuzz!!!   I still think we have 4
faultless females and maybe 3 faultless males –might have one of little boy
who has just one crown(colic) in his ridge.  All are still very dark red,
all have masks, no excessive whites!!!

They are all just happy go lucky little galoots –so MUCH fun to play with!!!
They love to snuggle and have their tummies rubbed.  Names are being tried
out as they begin to become their own little selves.   Hope to have Sweet
names for the Sweet Things by the next update and pictures!!!


5 Weeks Old - April 8, 2008
Candy Bars that Bark!!!

Not only do our little Sweet Things have names this week, they have VOICES!!!!   The trilling is gone and the pathetic attempts at growling and barking have turned into full fledged BARKS and GROWLS!!!!   Then they look at each other like they don’t know where that funny noise is coming from!!  It is very, very funny and well ….. SWEET!!!   They have also turned into little wild things!!!  Go go go is the name of the game – for about 1/2 hour and then they crash for 2 hours!!!!   

Honey is pretty well sick of them!!  Poor girl.   She only feeds them 2-3 times a day anymore but they are all eating (think snorkeling here!!!) the milk replacer puppy mush very well.   Thank goodness Honey is still happy to clean them up!!!!   This is the age when we start weaning them so that by the time they are 6 weeks old, we have them pretty much weaned from momma.    This timing rather nicely coincides with the emergence of TEETH!!!!

Yes, another toenail trim!!!  All the bellybuttons look good, all the dew claws have healed up nicely, still no dermoids.  This week they were introduced to the litter box and are starting to get the hang of it pretty well.   I use the lid of an under the bed storage unit filled with the pressed saw dust pellets you can buy for your wood burning stoves.   Not dusty, absorbs VERY well, biodegradable!!   It REALLY helps keep their whelping box and play area much cleaner and teaches them that they need to go potty in the same place all the time.  I’m doing everything I can to help you with that housebreaking project coming up!!!

As I mentioned, The Sweet Things have names!!! They are the Candy Bar Barkers!!!! Let me introduce you to :

Twix - Faultless girl - red with med mask, lots of white on chest
Rolo – Faultess girl -  largest, dark red with dark mask, lots of white on chest
Hershey – Faultless girl - dark red with med mask, tiny amount of white on chest
Baby Ruth –Faultess girl – smallest, dark red with med mask, tiny amount of white on chest  
 
Reese - 1 crown ridged boy – dark red, dark mask, small amount of white on chest
Butterfinger – Faultless boy - dark red with med mask, lots of white on chest
Snickers - Faultless male, largest, dark red with med mask, lots of white on chest.


6 Weeks Old - April 15, 2008
FLOWER POWER

The sweet little Candy Bar Barkers enlisted Flower Power to welcome in the SWEET sweet smell of SPRING!!!  It was 70 degrees here today with NO WIND!!!  Snow is finally all gone!!!      The sweet things got to play outside in the GRASS today, and had a GREAT time even though the grass was sort of stiff and poked them in their fat little tummies.   They have gotten to be sooo much fun!!!   Lots of tummy rubs, hopping, jumping and running, and then power naps in my lap.   They’re really starting to develop their own little personalities, their teeth are definitely coming in and they are learning how to use them!!!!    They get new toys to play with every day  to keep them learning.   Hope to get them outside as much as possible so they can experience more sounds and smells and LIFE!!!     They all sleep together in one big family pile and never NEVER go pottey in their bedroom so I’m hoping they will have a good start housetraining!!!

Another toenail trim and a second worming (yuck!) but they actually like both as they are too little to realize they are being tortured!!  That will come later!!        

We have completely weaned them now so poor Honey is off the hook!!!   All pups are eating very well, 3 times a day for now, but down to 2 times a day by the time they are homeward bound.      They still like to have their puppy chow soaked so that it is a nice mush mixed with warm milk replacer so they still sort of snorkel in it  - but they are getting better all the time!!

It is pretty hard to tell the Candy Bar Barkers apart!!!   I can, but you really have to know them! All are red wheatens, (some a little redder than others), all have black masks (some a little darker than others), none have too much white, all are pretty close to the same size.

Enjoy the latest pictures and these brief descriptions:

Twix – perfect female – perfect ridge, big spot on chest, slightly largest girl, outgoing, playful, adventurous
Rolo – perfect female – perfect ridge, big spot on chest, sweet and fun and likes to play with her toys
Baby Ruth – perfect female – perfect ridge, almost no white, lightest red, tummy rubber/lap lover
Hershey – pet female – perfect ridge, almost no white, teeth slightly off, very playful and outgoing

Butterfinger – perfect male, perfect ridge, darkest red, big spot on chest, most white on feet, tummy rubber/lap lover
Reese – perfect male – perfect ridge (not a one crown like I originally thought), almost no white, sweet & ready to play
Snickers – pet male – perfect ridge, big spot on chest, largest male, outgoing, teeth off, full of adventure

7 Weeks Old - April 26, 2008
Love Sweet Love

The “Sweet Things” have turned into WILD THINGS!!!!   We had a few days this week where the sun was out, the grass was growing, and the temp made it up above 60 so the Candy Bar Kids got turned loose in the puppy play pen to explore and play.    The pen is made of chain link surrounding a grouping of BIG rocks, a huge downed tree, live trees and lots of room to run, chase and play hide and seek!!   They had a BLAST!!!  Unfortunately, that great weather only lasted a few days and then we were back to snow and cold and back inside!   Sigh.

This week was a big one for the Sweet things.    They went to the vet for their final check up, got their first puppy shot, wormed for the 3 rd time, another toenail trim, and microchipped (BIG OUCH!!)   All went well at the vets - no heart murmurs, no ear, eye or lung problems, no hernias, all testicles down sooooooo……A GREAT checkup and lots of attention and treats!!!

Teeth are completely in and personalities are definitely showing!!!   Twix and Snickers are ‘Adventure” pups and are the most outgoing, Butterfinger and Baby Ruth are lap lovers & tummy rubbers, leaving Rolo, Hershey and Reese in the middle – meaning they can get talked into going on adventures but like to sit in my lap for nap time too!    Snickers and Hershey are ‘pet” puppies because their teeth came in with an overbite.   You can’t tell by looking at them that their teeth are not perfect and they can eat just fine, so only you and your vet will KNOW!!!    Other than that, all pups are flawless red wheatens with black masks and perfect ridges!!!     

I have 4 of Honey’s puppies in my puppy obedience classes right now and Honey will have a PAID ticket to obedience classes as well when she is ready.   She will be spayed next week so that she can be a puppy herself again, and will be GREAT family member.      We owe her, we owe her!!!

Our “Lil Bits” of Honey grew up to be the Sweetest Things and then the Candy Bar Barkers so now the time has come to send them to their new families for more LOVE, SWEET LOVE!!!