Shari's CCI blog: my life as a B/C

So long R's

2009-07-15T20:49:00.000-07:00

Duncan and I took the puppies up to CCI puppy park today. It's a looooong drive from Castro Valley to Santa Rosa with a car full of barking, whining and howling pups. They all survived the trip and were more than happy to get out of the car and stretch their legs in puppy park when we got there. Here are some random pictures I took during turn-in. Photography was difficult as they just didn't want to stop moving.

Rae

Ronin

Rizzo and Riona REALLY liked the keys......

Riona and Reena chasing Duncan into a chair

Reena

Rowan

Rube, Rae and Rajah

Rufio and Reena

Rufio and Rizzo

Reena plays queen of the hill......
Hope everyone enjoys the pictures as much as we enjoyed the puppies!!!

Post Puppy Party

2009-07-11T16:19:00.000-07:00

We had our final puppy party today. Good crowd, around 12 people. Now we can enjoy the benefit of a successful socialization party.....the peace and quiet of pooped pups.

Here come the "R"s!!

2009-07-11T15:17:00.000-07:00

Presenting the "R"s!!!

RUBE

REN

RAE

RIZZO

ROWAN

RUFIO

REENA

RIONA

RONIN

RAJAH

Random Photos

2009-07-10T20:14:00.001-07:00

No one can resist our cuteness!! Now let us out to play!!

(Left to right there's Ren, Rowan and Rube)

Our first solid (sorta...) meal. Think we figured it out okay?

Here we are just before our eyes opened.

Update

2009-06-09T20:38:00.000-07:00

Della and puppies are doing very well. Everyone's eyes are now open and they are all busy exploring their pool and each other. I can definitely see a difference in Della's attitude with this litter. She takes a lot more convincing to get in the pool and feed everyone than in previous years. I think she would have been much happier if she had had fewer puppies.

I guess I forgot to post this, but the dad for this litter is Lamont.

Look, we stretch across our entire pool!!

Too cute..........

Yep, we're part Lab alright!!

"Am I done with puppies yet?!!"

Photo time

2009-05-26T13:07:00.000-07:00

All ready to get going. That's our new puppy, Rev, on the left. He hasn't a clue what's going to happen.

Finally, our first puppy, Red, a boy.

A little farther along.

They come out wet....

but soon they're dry!!

Della says "what, I have to do this again!! sigh............"

Here is a pic of our "surprise" puppy. His color is green (number 10), but we're calling him "Johnny" (as in Johnny come lately) for now.

Or maybe 10.............

2009-05-21T19:26:00.000-07:00

Well, Della managed to pull a fast one on us. After having her 9th puppy over 2 hours after her 8th and then only after a shot of oxytocin, we were sure she was done. Ashley and I took her out for potty time, washed her in the tub, dried her and installed her in the Della cave with clean bedding and some food. We checked on the pups from time to time until it was time for dinner. After dinner Duncan wanted to pet the pups so we told him to sanitize his hands and count them while he waited for an adult to supervise his visit. So he goes, "1, 2, 3, 4 yellow puppies, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 black puppies". At first we thought he was joking or having trouble counting them as they were all piled together and the light is dimmer under the sheet. When he insisted that there were 6, we went and checked and by darn, there was number 10! Ms. Della had done the whole job quietly by herself while we were having dinner!! :0)

Then there were 9

2009-05-21T15:02:00.001-07:00

Della has now produced 9 beautiful, healthy puppies, 5 black and 4 yellow. I will try to get some pictures posted this evening.

It's Puppy Day!

2009-05-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

Della went into labor today and her water broke around 8:20. Her first puppy was born at 9:03, a black boy. As of right now she has had 4 puppies: black boy, black girl, black girl, yellow boy. CCI has informed us that this will be an "R" litter.

2009-04-29T17:56:00.000-07:00

Della is indeed pregnant. She is due around May 21st. We will be going back to CCI on May 14th for her x-ray.

In related news, we just got word that Gaylor has been chosen as a breeder!! Don't know who here B/C is yet, but if I find out I will post.

We're Pregnant!!

2009-04-29T17:55:00.000-07:00

CCI Tomorrow

2009-04-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

We will be headed up to CCI tomorrow for Della's ultrasound and I will post the news in the afternoon. I'm pretty sure she is pregnant as she's off her food, but it will be nice to get official confirmation.

Good News for the C's

2009-03-22T23:20:00.000-07:00

When I took Della up to CCI to be bred, I asked if they knew how her first litter was doing. I am proud to report that a full 50% of Della's first litter have now graduated. Cecil, Cressie and Cinnamon are assistance dogs and Cyrano and Clifford are both hearing dogs. Congratulations to all their puppy raisers for their hard work and a job well done!!!

I am not dead yet..........................!(actually written 3/13/09)

2008-11-11T12:53:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!!

Well, I realize it has been quite some time since I last posted (last September for gosh sake!). I can only say that it has been crazy busy around here, starting with my youngest, Duncan, being hospitalized in October for pneumonia and continuing with my daughter's 15 1/2 yo dog dying unpleasantly in November. Then came the holidays and a new puppy between X-mas and New Year's. Then I got busy with rehearsals for a musical I was cast in with a slight interruption for a nasty kidney infection.

Rev (14 pounds)
Well, the show is over, the puppy is mostly housebroken, and I finally get a chance to catch my breathe,................and Della goes into heat a month early!!

That's right, Ms. Della went up Tuesday, 3/10, for her 3 weeks at the "spa". I will be posting when she comes back with details on who she was matched with. I wish it was Baumann again. A full 50% of the pups from that litter made it to graduation. At this time, Cecil, Cinnamon, and Cressida have graduated as companion dogs and Cyrano and Clifford have graduated as hearing dogs. Yay Della!

Random "Y" pictures

2008-09-14T20:39:00.000-07:00

I realize that I have been remiss in posting photos this litter. I can only plead parenthood and end-of-summer/beginning-of-school business as my excuse. To make up for this lack I have herein assembled a selection of the cutest photos from the "Y's" first 4 weeks. So without further ado, I now present a month in the life of a litter....(backwards from 4 weeks, as I uploaded the pics in the wrong order and am too lazy to fix it.) :-)

Duncan enjoying the litter in their intermediate pen at 4 1/2 weeks of age.

First solid feeding,at 4 1/2 weeks. Doesn't look like they had any trouble figuring out how to eat, does it? ;-)

The day before we learned about solid food, be went outside for the first time!! (but we liked to be inside the play structures the best)

The cube

The tunnel

Wow, what a difference a couple of weeks makes!!!

2 weeks old

With 10 puppies, they start to run out of room to feed at only 2 weeks of age.

One of their last days in the puppy pool.

Amazingly, everyone gets enough to eat in this pile-up.

4 days old

There you have it, 4 weeks of puppydom. Hope you had fun!!

Introducing the "Y's" at 5 weeks

2008-09-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

Presenting the not-so-tiny, mighty Y's and their official names!!!

Yorick II

Yaz

Yanek

Yardley II

Yara

Yutaka

Yadira

yakir

Yosef

Young II

So far I have heard from one PR, who will be having Young to raise in Texas. If anyone knows of anyone else getting one of these pups, please contact me through the CCI yahoo group at: cci-people@yahoogroups.com so we can exchange contact info and I can tell you about the puppy you are getting to raise!!

We are the "Y's"

2008-08-13T11:26:00.000-07:00

the tiny, mighty "Y's"!!

Here we are, the lucky 8/8/08 Y litter, Della II x Pirie.
Numero Uno, big boy RED

Don't we clean up nice..................

Then there were 2...........

Then 4...................

Casual sleeper already

Being born is tiring!!

We haven't yet gotten the email asking for our name suggestions, but Ashley and I have managed to generate an entire page of Y names we can submit to CCI when we do get the email.
Friday was their 1 week b-day. Most everyone has already doubled their birth weight and there is a whole lot of crawling going on in the pool these days. Monday we start checking for open eyes and the ears will soon follow. Then let the barking commence!!

Puppies Episode III

2008-08-09T04:18:00.000-07:00

Well, Della managed to hold off on her whelping to allow us a lucky 8/8/8 litter. She even almost started at 8PM (her first was born at 7:56). We finished off 10 puppies later at 2:30AM. There are 8 boys and 2 girls, all yellow. We do not know their litter letter yet, but I will post that, as well as pictures, when available. In the meantime, since it is now 4:20AM (I stayed up to make sure there where no surprises since Dr. Ruth was so unsure of the litter size) I will now crawl off to bed and hope my hubby is wise enough to not get me up until well after noon!!

??????????

2008-08-01T11:59:00.001-07:00

Well, we had our X-ray on Thursday. Dr. Ruth's assessment of the number of puppies was essentially, "well you have 8, no 9, maybe 10, there might be 11 but I can't tell for sure." It seems the puppies are very bunched up and Della had a lot of gas in her intestines which decreased the clarity of the X-ray. I guess we will all just have to wait until the actual delivery to find out. Stay tuned, D-day is still the 8th with a good chance she'll be early.

Once more unto the breach dear friends....

2008-07-02T21:31:00.000-07:00

Yep, Della is once again with pups. We took her to CCI for confirmation today. Both my 7 and 13 yo sons were fascinated by the ultrasound pictures. I didn't post earlier about her breeding because there was some question about whether the breeding took ( the boy had some probs the other time he was bred and Della had no morning sickness) and didn't want to get everyone's hopes up until I was sure. She was bred to new breeder Pirie, a yellow lab, so it will be a monotone litter this time around. I also found out while at CCI that Della's 1/2 sister, Litney, was up being bred, so their mom's B/C (and Litney's) will be having pups a month after we will!! Tentative due date for Della is August 8th. This means: a) Ashley will have over a month with the pups before she goes back to UCD, and b) David will be whelping alone as Ashley and I will be in Denver for the World Science Fiction and Fantasy C0nvention (anyone out there going?). Hope he took good notes the last 2 times!! ;-)

Advanced training has begun

2008-02-20T11:15:00.000-08:00

As hard as it is to believe, two of Della's "C" puppies, Cyrano and Clementine, have turned in for advanced training already. I guess they just turn in early in South East Region. Cyrano's PR, Lybbi, was kind enough to get pictures of both pups at their turn in for me to share. Quite the handsome pair, if I do say so myself!

Cyrano and Clementine(in the red collar)

Cyrano and Lybbi

Cyrano

2008-02-13T11:50:00.000-08:00

So I have now heard from all but 2 of Della's "G" puppies' PR's. They are, of course, scattered all over the country. However, this time there are actually 3 puppies staying in the Bay Area, making it easier to keep in touch, and I actually get to see them once in a while! :-) So, without further ado, here are the puppies' known locations:
Galen- (COC) Oakland, CA
Gaius- ?
Gordan- VI ?
Gillian II- Virginia
Gemma V- Panama City, FL
Gaylor II- San Jose, CA
Ginny II- Fremont, CA
Gypsy V- Colorado Springs, CO
Gilden- Evergreen, CO
Godwin- ? (but I have heard from her PR)

Galen (now called Ginger, so she can have a girl's name) came to visit over the weekend with her new family. I couldn't believe how much she has grown. She is almost as big as our Brittany already! I finally got to check out her mouth. She does indeed have a fair amount of overbite. Her new family is going to take her to a dental veterinary specialist in S.F. to take care of where her lower teeth are hitting her palate. She is doing great and is in good, loving hands.

Della has calmed down from her PPP and is doing great, already back to her pre-pregnancy weight and looking trim and muscular. I think that it really helps her physical recovery having Siri, our labradoodle, to romp and tussle with. Especially in the winter when it is too wet to go to the enclosed, grass (read MUD in the winter), dog park. It is hard to believe, but Della already has puppies turning in this month. Clementine and Cyrano, both in Florida, are turning in. My how time flies. I don't know about the pups in the other regions, but I do know that Cecil and Cressida, both in NWR, won't turn in until May. Still too soon for their PR's, but I know that Angie felt a little better about her turn in date when I told her how early SER turned in.

Not much else to say. I will be sure and let everyone know as soon as Della goes into heat again, or I hear more from her PR's.

P P P!!!

2008-01-09T12:39:00.000-08:00

That stands for Post Puppy Psychosis and that stands for Della. I don't know how other dogs in the program react after their puppies go up to CCI, but Della seems to spend the whole next month reverted to puppyhood. She barks, she bounces, she chews up anything lying on or near the ground. She did this last litter too and ate up a number of the kids toys (that'll teach them not to put their stuff away!!). This time I was expecting it and bought her several soft toys that she could destroy. Still, I would love to know why she does this. You would think she wouldn't miss the puppies. She pretty well ignores them once they wean and she is very jealous of the attention they get when they are here. Then she gets all crazed when they go. Go figure........

TTFN "G" litter

2007-12-26T11:22:00.001-08:00

The house seems so empty (and quiet, clean and good smelling! :-) ) with our little "G"'s all gone off to their PR's. To paraphrase Gilbert & Sullivan (Pirates of Penzance) "While individually we love you all with affection unspeakable, taken collectively you produce a mess and noise that we view with a disgust that amounts to absolute detestation." Not quite detastation, but it does get quite noisy and messy the last 2 weeks (and I couldn't resist a good G&S misquote). So far we have heard from all the PR's except those for Gaius, Gordon and Gillian. Hopefully they will contact me once the PR letter gets sent to their PR's.

The day after turn-in we had our first COC (change of career) out of 2 litters. Galen was COC'd for having an over-bite, I guess they can't pick up things as well as needed for the program so they dismiss them early and let them just be pets. Not to worry, I have a friend who is ecstatic to be getting her for their first dog. She will get to grow up with 2 great kids in a great family, and I will get to see her grow up, something I haven't gotten to do with any of the pups yet. In addition, both Ginny and Gaylor will be raised in the Bay Area, so score for me!!! :-)

Galen

Gaius

Gordon

Gillian

Gemma

Gaylor

Ginny

Gypsy

Gilden

Godwin

Names

2007-11-22T00:03:00.000-08:00

We now have names to go with colors for all the puppies. We didn't do quite as well as the last litter, only 6 of 10 names were our picks as opposed to 9 out of 10 last litter. But we still got some cute/interesting names. Without further ado I present Della's "G" litter of 2007!!

Galen (girl)

Gaius (boy)

Gordon (boy)

Gillian (girl)

Gemma (girl)

Gaylor (girl)

Ginny (girl)

Gypsy (girl)

Gilden (girl)

Godwin (boy)

And the winner is......

2007-11-14T22:42:00.000-08:00

Light pink. Yesterday she became the first to go overboard from the whelping pool for this litter. Della was standing outside the pool and I guess pink just didn't want to wait for her meal. Either that or Ashley has turned her into a little diva. Here is a picture of her with Ashley in their halloween costumes.

Because of the escapee the pups have moved to their new home, our 4ft x 8ft pen.

At 3 weeks of age, it is getting a little crowded at the diner....

And no one knows that better than mom!!

Orange

2007-11-05T15:31:00.000-08:00

I think that Orange is trying to make up for being the smallest in the litter by being the most advanced. So far she has been the first to open her eyes, the first to lick, and today she is the first to really walk. Such an over-achiever! :-)

Happy (belated) Hallowe'en!!

2007-11-04T21:26:00.001-08:00

Here are the latest, holiday pictures of Della's G litter. Some pictures are better than others, wiggly puppies are difficult subjects!! ;-) Della is still doing great and all the puppies are growing well. Purple continues to be the bruiser of the group, having topped 2 pounds by day 7!!

RED

BLUE

PURPLE

NEON GREEN

NEON PINK

BROWN

LIGHT PINK

TURQUOISE

ORANGE

DARK GREEN

2007-10-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from the first day after whelping. I just love it when their noses and pads are still pink. Too bad it doesn't last very long!! Everyone is growing well and Della is being a great mom as usual.

PUPPY PILE!

LITTLE PINK NOSES

LITTLE PUPS ALL IN A ROW...

Puppy pictures

2007-10-26T20:48:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures we managed to take amongst the whelping. I will be posting more soon. Everyone is healthy and happy. Della looks so streamlined after whelping. The only way you can tell she was even pregnant is by looking under her belly. She is such a great mom! We have to be very insistent to get her to come out of the whelping pool for meals and potty time!! :o)

First born, Red, a little girl

Second born, Blue, one of 3 little boys we had, all black.

Here is the entire gang waiting while we clean out the pool following the whelping.

And here is Della's opinion of the whole thing!! :P
(not really, she seems to enjoy being a mom, but she would probably prefer to skip the actual whelp)

Puppies!! Episode II: Arrival of the G's

2007-10-25T11:05:00.000-07:00

Well, so much for my promise to blog as soon as something started to happen! :P Sorry about that. Della went into labor yesterday, Oct 24th. Because she is such a good girl she again had a daytime birth. The first puppy popped out around 1:45 PM. They were coming about every hour until after puppy number 3 (purple). At a whopping 1 pound 3 ounces, he was the cork that was slowing us down, as the next 3 puppies were born within the next hour!! This litter was a big one with weights ranging from 14 3/4 ounces to our 1# 3 oz bruiser. Della's last litter were all under a pound each. Labor went very smoothly and Della finished up at 8:19, in time for us to kick back and watch the new episode of Pushing Daisies (greatest show on TV today!!!). All together we had 10 puppies again, 5 black and 5 yellow. There are 3 boys and 7 girls and all 3 boys are black. I will try to post some pics this evening.

And the results are...

2007-10-21T00:17:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday Ashley and I took Della up to CCI for her x-ray. I was really hoping that Dr. Ruth would say 6 or maybe 8. No such luck. Instead we once again came home with "10 for sure, maybe 11, it's hard to say she's so full". Sigh. Much as I love puppies, it is hard to give them all individual attention when there are so many. Her due date is still the 25th, with the caveat that with that many she could easily deliver early, so we are on puppy watch starting now. I will post as soon as anything starts to happen. Wish us luck! :0)

Puppy Confirmation

2007-09-25T12:29:00.001-07:00

Here are Della's ultrasound pics. The middle pic shows 4 puppies, so we know we have at least that many buns in the oven. Ms. D is finally over her morning sickness and eating fine, as well as beginning to really show. Either it's the result of having a large previous litter, or we are in for another wild ride!! X-rays are set for October 20th, and her due date is currently October 25th. I will post x-ray results as soon as they are available.

Della seems to have adjusted well to Ashley's absence for college and having to share our room with a 2nd dog (Ashley's 14 yo Brittany, Beans). She is very clingy, but that is probably due to her pregnancy as she was that way even before Ashley left. I can't move 2 inches without her following me and leaning on or against me. Thank god the weather has cooled down!! :-)

Kirsch is a cutey!

2007-08-30T20:49:00.000-07:00

Kirsch and Angie his PR (and Cecil's PR too!!)

Ashley and I went up to CCI last Saturday for graduation. It was lots of fun. We got to meet Kirsch and his B/C. Then we got to meet Angie for the first time face to face and see our boy Cecil. At 8 months he is already as heavy as his mom (60lbs)! Angie's vet thinks he will top out at between 80 and 90 when he's done growing. Oof!! :o) It was loads of fun playing with Cecil and seeing how much like his mom he looks and acts. To make the day even more fun, we finally got to meet Gayle, B/C for Della's mom, Keeley. Definitely a fun day and worth the drive.

Cecil sitting patiently during graduation. He looks so much like Della!

Ashley and Cecil catching up on lovin'

Home again, home again jiggity jig

2007-08-30T20:46:00.000-07:00

Well, Ashley and I cruised up to CCI today to pick up Ms. Della. She was so happy to see us she kept collapsing from wiggling so much! We go back on the 20th of Sept. for her ultrasound at which time we will know whether she is pregnant or not. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted.

's about time!!

2007-08-16T09:57:00.001-07:00

Yeah!! Della finally went into heat on Tuesday the 14th. :o)
Boo!! She went into heat all over my clean comforter! :P
So we rearranged our schedule and did a Santa Rosa run. If all goes as planned she will be bred to Kirsch this week. In the "its a small world" category, the winner is... Angie! She was Kirsch's PR and is currently raising Cecil from Della's FIRST litter. As soon as I know when she was bred I will post her due date, so keep watching! :o)

Cecilicious!

2007-05-27T22:43:00.001-07:00

I'm still getting caught up on posting pictures I have received of the puppies. This is a picture of Cecil (Ashley always called him Cecilicious, after the song Fergilicious by the Black-Eyed Peas), taken on the ice March 3rd at a Seattle Thunderbird hockey game. The Puget Sound group attended together and got to go on the ice at the break to show off what their pups could do. Way to go Cecil for showing that even the youngest pup in attendance can do a perfect sit!! Thanks to PR Angie for the great photo and sorry for taking so long to post it (he's probably twice as big by now!!)

(Cecil is all the way on the left.)

Cressida!!

2007-05-27T22:30:00.000-07:00

Here is Cressida and her "auntie" Allie. Thanks PRs Sandy and Becky for the great photo.

Oh I love a parade...

2007-05-24T21:45:00.000-07:00

Here we are with the new East Bay Miracles CCI chapter at the Rowell Ranch Rodeo parade in Castro Valley. Much fun was had by all. The surprising thing was not a single dog complained about the hats!! :o)

Cyrano!!

2007-05-24T21:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some great pictures of Cyrano. Just look at that nose!! I think he is trying to live up to his namesake! :0) Thank you PR Lybbi for the cute photos AND for helping us get in touch with Clementine's PR as well!

Crimson!!

2007-05-19T21:47:00.000-07:00

When I first opened the email from the person who was sitting for Crimson during her furlough from the Mirimar Prison Program, my first thought was, "why is someone sending me pictures of Della?". Gone is the fuzzy puppy hairdo, and now she looks so much like her mom! I can't thank Jennifer enough for caring for her during those 2 weeks and for taking such great photos! She sent me so many it was hard to choose which to post. Be that as it may, here are some great shots of Crimson in her many moods.

Crimson the movie star

Serious CCI puppy!

Crimson the fashion plate

Alien Crimson

"goodness all this modeling is getting boring...."

Easter Bunny Crimson

THE END

Clementine!!

2007-05-19T21:45:00.001-07:00

Here she is, Miss Clementine!!

Many thanks to her PRs, Eric, Paula, and Elena for sending me the great photo to share with everyone!!

And the wait goes on...

2007-04-25T21:24:00.000-07:00

Well, the wait goes on for Della to go into heat. She was due in April, but as there are only a few days left to the month, I'm guessing that she won't. We have heard from all but 2 of the puppies' PRs now. Only Colson and Clementine are MIA. I just got a whole slew of really cute pics from the woman who has Crimson for her 2 week furlough from the military brig. I will hopefully post some as soon as I get permission. Della is doing great, she has slimmed down so you can't even tell she had puppies. I wish I could do the same!! :o)

Nothing much else to add, just enjoying Della's unconditional love and biding our time until the next litter.

Clifford!!

2007-02-28T12:30:00.000-08:00

I have now heard from 7 of our 10 puppies. PR, Gail, wins for the first photos sent. She sent us some beautiful shots of our "polar bear" Clifford at his new home.

"What is this stuff? I don't remember white ground?!!

Am I one handsome working pup or what?!!

Clifford and his new brother, Dylan

The green on Clifford's right ear in the second shot is residual ink from his ID tattoo. All CCI pups are given their tattoo before being sent to their puppy raisers and the ink "leaks" for a few days afterward. I really can't believe how big he has gotten in only 2 weeks. Thanks again to Gail for sharing these great photos with me.

A Break in the Journey

2007-02-12T09:54:00.000-08:00

I can't believe the quiet around here, it's almost spooky. I miss the pups and yet I don't (no more poopy messes or early AM barking!). The trip to CCI was VERY LOUD!! and I'm not sure my hearing has completely recovered yet! :-) Everyone made the trip fine, no car sickness or messes to deal with (yay!!). I have heard from 4 puppies so far. Cecil will be going up to Washington State, Cinnamon and Crimson are both in a program at the Military Brig in Mirimar, and Cyrano has successfully survived the trip out to Florida. Hopefully I'll at least find out what states the others have gone to, if not actually get in touch with their PRs. I probably won't blog much until Della goes into heat sometime this spring, but I will be checking on a regular basis in case anyone posts to my blog.

Until spring....

and now for something completely different.........

2007-02-05T20:45:00.000-08:00

The puppy olympics!! Here are pics of our attempts to get all 10 puppies lined up in the garden cart for an obligatory "cute" group photo. As you can see, we were not in the least successful. I am now thoroughly convinced that the people who do succeed either photo shop the pictures together, or drug the puppies into a stupor. Much thanks to my whelping buddy, Marianne and her mom for helping and laughing with us through the attempt.

So here without further ado are the physical comic stylings of the Puppy Olympics!!

here at the beginning there is some hope of success

nope

next attempt

almost there....

never mind.........

Hope everyone enjoyed the show!!

We're ready for our close-up Mr. DeMille!

2007-02-05T20:38:00.000-08:00

Here are the whole gang at just shy of 7 weeks. We will attempt group shots later, but don't hold your breathe...

Clementine

Caleb

Cyrano

Colson

Cinnamon

Chaucer

Cecil

Clifford

Crimson

and last, but not least (she is, after all, our largest puppy) Cressida

Puppy Socialization

2007-02-05T09:32:00.000-08:00

Part of the CCI breeder process is to expose the puppies to as many unique sights and sounds as possible without taking them out of the home. To this end, after the pups are 6 weeks old, the breeder/caretakers host puppy socialization open houses. These photos are from our first open house on the 28th. We had a good turnout, with a former puppyraiser (PR), a current PR who lives near us (yay, someone for Della to have playdates with!), the head of our CCI chapter, a woman who has a facility dog, and several of our friends and relatives. Boy were the puppies tired that night!!! :-) It was cool meeting someone with a facility dog and learning how they use the dog to help with occupational therapy.

Here is Della wearing her "don't nurse on me" shirt. Yes, weaning CAN lead to fashion disasters!!

Do you have Prince Albert in a can? No, but we have Caleb in a crate!

Caleb out of the crate

One of these things is not like the other..........

Turn In

2007-01-23T14:58:00.000-08:00

I knew the time was closing in on us, but all the same, I am in a bit of shock. CCI called this morning to arrange for the turn in date for the puppies. It's not until February 12th, but all the same....

Part of me is relieved, no more howling to come out, no more poopy newspaper to deal with. But dang, I'm going to miss them too. Most of them are just puppies, cute to look at and hold, but I have of course fallen in love with a couple too. They really are starting to have very distinct personalities. I know I will be both happy and depressed after I turn them back in to CCI. I can't even imagine how the puppy raisers deal with it. If I am this emotionally invested after 5 weeks, I can't fathom turning a pup back in after 18 months of bonding. My hat is definitely off to those with the emotional fortitude to be a PR.

I should be able to post new pics later this week. All the sunny weather has inspired me to want to do portrait headshots of everyone before they go.

Name Game

2007-01-17T19:31:00.000-08:00

Yay! We have the names for the puppies back from CCI. All but the first were names we suggested, so I guess we did a good job picking names. The puppies are named as follows:

red - Colson
blue - Crimson
purple - Cinnamon
neon green - Caleb IV
neon pink - Chaucer II
brown - Clifford
light pink - Cyrano
turquoise - Clementine II
orange - Cecil
dark green - Cressida

Now we just have to remember who goes with which name. Too bad they didn't name red Clifford, it would have been funnier....

Time Flies

2007-01-09T14:47:00.000-08:00

God, I can't believe that the puppies are 3 weeks old today. It doesn't seem that long. All 10 have their eyes fully open now and are very interested in what is going on around them (when they are actually awake, it's a total snoozefest right now).

Well, we knew it would happen soon , and I finished the wood for the puppy pen over the weekend because of that, but who knew it would happen this soon!! We had our first escapee yesterday. Some of the more outgoing pups had been scrabbling at the sides of the pool for several days now. Yesterday, light pink finally got his front feet hooked over the edge. A momentary hangtime and a lot of back leg scrabbling, then over the top and head first onto the floor (luckily the carpeted floor!). He pulled himself up and immediately took of trotting wobbily across the floor. After we coralled him back in with his sibs we immediately assembled the puppy pen and moved everyone into their new digs. They were a little hesitant about the extra room last night, but have adjusted well and seem quite content with the extra space today.

Besides the extra room, the biggest change with the new space is that they can easily see out. They are very quick to notice if someone comes close to the pen and then they all crowd to that side and yip for attention. So cute!!

ten solo shots

2007-01-04T20:40:00.000-08:00

red

light pink

neon pink

turquoise

brown

dark green

purple

blue

neon green

orange

Here are all 10 in their first individual shots. These were taken at 14 days and just before their eyes began opening. Now all 10 have eyes open. It is so cute how they come toddling over to the edge of the pool now that they can see when we are there. I can't believe it has been more that 2 weeks since they were born!! I forgot how fast puppies develop. From little wiggleworms to full-fledge puppies in 14 days! We are now starting to see their personalities developing, from the one who loves to bark to the really laidback pups. SO FUN!!!

the breakfast bar is full

2006-12-30T20:35:00.000-08:00

It's getting a bit crowded when all 10 try to nurse at once. As a result, our littlest girl, blue, is currently being supplemented with goats milk. She started lagging behind her sibs weight wise a couple days ago and suddenly she was over 10 ounces behind! Now that we are supplementing she is beginning to catch up. Yay CCI and the generous person who donates goats milk for the program participants!!

3 more photos

2006-12-26T14:05:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of our little black girl, turquoise, demonstrating that she truly is 3/4 lab.

At one week of age, most of the puppies have doubled their birth weight. They have gotten so big only half really fit at the "breakfast bar" at a time.

another of our 4 girls.

It is hard for me to believe that over a week has gone by. The puppies are endlessly fun to watch and enjoy. Our only real problem has been with Della. Christmas eve day she went out to go "hurry" and when she came in her face was starting to swell and she was coming up in hives all over her body. We slammed a benadryl into her and phoned Dr. Ruth. Then we went out and policed the yard to see what she could have gotten into. The only thing we could find was an orange that had fallen in from our neighbours yard. Della continued to swell and break out, so when Dr. Ruth called she had us give her another benadryl. Finally the swelling went down and the hives resolved. We thought we had it under control and planned on doing our Santa duties and going to bed at a reasonable hour (knowing that our kids would have us up at the crack of dawn). Well, around 11PM, Della went out again and again came in covered with hives!! We medicated her again, but by the time everything settled down, we didn't go to bed until after 1AM. sigh, so much for being well-rested on Christmas. She broke out one more time Christmas morning, but now it looks as if she is all done. Dr. Ruth says that pregnant and nursing bitches just have more sensitive systems and are more sensitive to allergens than normally. It certainly made this a Christmas to remember!! :0)

Merry Christmas!!!

2006-12-24T14:18:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all from Della and the "C"s!!!

Santa came a little early and left us lots of presents!

the 4 girls are blue, purple, turquoise and dark green

don't forget to wake us for Christmas!!! :0)

next day

2006-12-21T10:58:00.000-08:00

Day 3 watch us grow!!

everyone is doing great and growing well. We are definitely starting to see little personalities starting to form. Purple is already practicing her growling and barking and neon green is so mellow he doesn't even wiggle when we weigh him, just goes to sleep in the basket!!

Birthday - Tuesday December 19th (2 days early)

2006-12-19T18:21:00.000-08:00

Finally, Puppies!!

baby number 1, a little boy

all dried off

number 2, a little girl

and then there were 3

warm and dry in the warming box during Della's next birthing

tired mom

naptime

am I done yet?

three of the four black puppies

the pile grows...

and then there were 10

Here is exhausted mom with all ten of her beautiful puppies. 6 boys (3 yellow and 3 black) and 4 girls (3 yellow and 1 black). All born between 10AM and 5PM. (Yay Della, a daytime litter!!!) All are doing very well. Cindy at CCI says that they will be a "C" litter. Now we get the fun of thinking up some names and watching these guys grow.

The Della Cave

2006-12-18T22:33:00.000-08:00

After extracting Della numerous times from under Duncan's bed, she did us one better and climbed under my daughter's bunk beds. No way to lift that up. Della just wouldn't come out no matter how much we called. Luckily Ashley can fit under her bed. So Dave and I crouched in front calling Della and Ashley crawled underneath and got behind Della and pushed. After about 10 minutes we finally got her out. We then admonished everyone to keep their doors closed and went down and built the "Della Cave". Della loved it and used it all the way through early labor. I guess she just felt safer in a "den".

end text

And the number of the day is...

2006-12-15T19:22:00.000-08:00

Just back from CCI in Santa Rosa. Dr. Ruth was right, Della is full of puppies. At least 10 to be exact. Dr. Ruth also said that there is always the possibility of an extra, "hidden" puppy so I made sure to bring home some goats milk just in case (it's over an hour's drive for us to CCI, I'ld rather have what I need already here). The x-ray was very cool, puppy bodies pointing every which way, and much easier to understand than the ultrasound. Now it's just a matter of time, and Dr. Ruth thinks that the "time" might come sooner than later.... Just a case of "wait and see".

Are we there yet?

2006-12-09T21:47:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of Miss Della with 10 days to go until her due date. She is definitely getting large and feeling very tired. The look on her face most of the time seems to say "I want to be DONE!!"

This Friday we're going up to CCI in Santa Rosa for Della's x-ray to see how many puppies is "full of puppies"!! I can't wait!! ;o)

Too big for her britches

2006-12-07T09:07:00.000-08:00

We've run into a bit of a snag with Della's pregnancy. One of her favorite things to do is accompany me while I read bedtime stories to my 5 year old. When she comes up, she likes to climb under his bed until I am done (I guess "under" was one of her favorite commands... :0) . Anyway, last night we reached a new milestone in her pregnancy. She got under okay, but got stuck trying to crawl back out!! Luckily my son's bed is light and easy to tip up, but boy did she look silly!! ;0) I'm going to try and discourage her from going under in the first place, but until she can't go either direction I guess tipping the bed will be part of our new bedtime routine.

14 days and counting.....

The beginnings of a puppy pen

2006-12-04T12:58:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is, the beginnings of Della's puppy pen. Now if I can just get Dave to attach the pieces together!! I'm especially proud of the liner I found for under the pen. It's this cool new product called fiberfloor. It is more flexible than linoleum, padded underneath with a nonslip backing, and waterproof. Another coolness is that the puppy paw prints glow in the dark. I got it as a remnant from my local interior design and flooring store. I love the fact that when it gets dirty (as we all know it will) I can just take it out back and hose it off.

Whelping pool

2006-12-02T20:44:00.000-08:00

Today we introduced Della to her whelping pool. This is your basic round kiddie pool with some blankets inside for comfort. When she actually whelps we'll replace the blankets with newpaper for easier clean-up. She really didn't know what to make of it at first. Because it wasn't full of water, the bottom moved up and down when she put her front feet in and she stood for the longest time with her front feet in and one back leg raised trying to decide if this was a good idea or not. We coaxed her in with some treats and then got her to lie down and gave her a good belly rub. Now she thinks the pool is a fine place!!

Also finally got Dave to go shopping for the lumber for the puppy pen. Now if I can only get him to build it!! :0) My teenage daughter says if he won't she will......

Walkies

2006-11-29T10:14:00.000-08:00

Dave and I took Della and Siri for a nice walk yesterday. We even got to stop and visit with Marianne, our "whelping buddy". She made a nice fuss over both dogs and Della was very well-behaved for the visit, but Siri was a total brat, squeaking and whining when she felt Della was getting more attention than her. A good demonstration of the difference between a CCI raised dog and a regular pet dog. (yes, it is my fault she only went to 2 sets of obedience classes and I let her get away with too much, so sue me...) :0)

We only walked about a half mile, but when we got home Della just flopped down on the rug and lay there. I guess she is getting big enough to really feel the extra weight of the pregnancy. That means I will be switching to more frequent, shorter walks from now on.

Other than being more tired than usual and her expanding middle, the biggest change with pregnancy for Della has been her behavior. She has always been people-oriented, but now she almost never leaves my side and constantly wants to be pet. Great when I'm watching tv, a little difficult when I'm doing chores!

2006-11-28T16:48:00.000-08:00

Some days I think that Della is a lab/camel cross instead of lab/golden. This dog LOVES to drink. Even before she got pregnant she drank way more than Siri, our lab/poodle cross (labradoodle, don't ya know). She doesn't "hurry" more than Siri, so I don't know where she is putting all that water! :0)

2006-11-26T20:02:00.000-08:00

Poor Della, one of her favorite things used to be to crawl under my son's bed during bedtime stories. Now she can't comfortably make it. She also is slowing down when it comes time to play fetch. We have gotten into the habit of playing with her and Siri seperately. Otherwise Siri always gets to the toy first.

The Journey Begins

2006-11-25T20:52:00.000-08:00

This last summer my family and I brought home a breeding female lgx (lab/golden cross) from CCI (Canine Companions for Independence) national headquarters in Santa Rosa, CA. We had for years contemplated raising a puppy for CCI or Guide Dogs for the Blind, but were loathe to do so as we felt it would be too heartbreaking for the children (and us) to raise a dog for 18 months then have to give it up. Then this spring we learned about the CCI breeder program. In this program we house a breeding female, whelp her puppies for the program, and get to keep the dog we have fallen in love with for the rest of her life! This seemed like much more fun and still a great way to give to a program we really believe in. Also, having puppies is fun and this is a very guilt-free way to do so. We don't have to worry about producing unwanted dogs or trying to find good homes for the puppies. These pups are all wanted and needed.

So, we brought home Della II in July and then got to wait for her to go into heat. This she did on October 15th. So up to Santa Rosa we went for her 3 week stay in the "spa". She was bred 3 times to the most gorgeous black lab you could ever hope to see named Baumann. Then we brought her home and waited..

Around 3 weeks later, still not showing, Della decided it was time for morning sickness! So it was "please eat Della, we'll add anything to your food!" rice, cottage cheese, canned food, chopped chicken, cooked ground beef, broth.... And at the same time having to monitor our other 2 dogs so they didn't get the food when she would wander off in the middle of dinner!!

As per CCI protocol, we brought her back to Santa Rosa a month before her due date for an ultrasound. On Nov. 21st, the vet pronounced her "full of puppies". She wouldn't say how many were in there, but everywhere she placed the ultrasound probe we saw puppies!!

Now, Della is the queen bee of our house. Spoiled and pampered and loved. Thankfully, her morning sickness is gone and she reliably finishes her meals before the other 2 can get to it. And boy is her waistline expanding fast!! We're watching her intake so she doesn't gain weight too fast (especially since Dr Ruth praised us for keeping her weight in check so far) and keeping her exercise level up to keep her fit (our other dogs help with that chore). Now all that is left is the waiting (oh, and getting my hubby to help build a puppy pen!!)