Ruth has built the house - puppies are here!

YankeeDals Dugout

presents

The House That Ruth Built

GCH SunnyOaks N Yankee Dals House That Ruth Built

Sire

Mikey

Am GCH/Can CH Cranbrooke Back to the Future

Ruth had her puppies on Friday, March 30th 2012 - 5 boys and 3 girls. Mother and babies are doing fine. The sire is "Mikey", Am GCH/Can CH Cranbrooke Back to the Future - an awesome boy owned by Linda and Doug Taylor.

Puppies just hours old on March 30th

All the puppies in the litter were very equal in size at delivery weighing between 13.40 ounces and 14.85 ounces. It appears all the puppies will be black and white in color. I was hoping we may get a liver dal out of this breeding, as Mikey is known to be liver factored. I never got around to having Ruth tested for the liver gene which is recessive, which allows for black spotted parents to produce brown spotted offspring. Even if Ruth is not liver factored, some of her offspring may be able to produce a liver dal, since Mikey carries a gene for this.

Ruth gained 17 pounds during the pregnancy. That is quite a sum of weight for a girl who weighs 42 pounds when she is in good show condition. Our veterinarian said she should gain between 1-1 1/2 pounds for each puppy she carried. Ruth looked so uncomfortable the last week of her pregnancy. During that last week, her appetite slowed down quite a bit. I don't think she had any room left for anything! At her peak during the pregnancy she would eat 6+ cups of kibble per day, along with 2 hard boiled eggs, and I would sweeten the pot with a scoop of yogurt or cottage cheese. Ruth also loves carrots and she has several during the day as a snack. Ruth is already down to 48 pounds.

Ruth just days before delivery

Each puppy has been identified with a different color of rick-rack around their neck. This allows us to keep better track of who is doing what. For the first few days I made sure each puppy was noted to pee and poop at least once daily. The mother typically will stimulate each puppy to do so by licking them. And each puppy is being weighed daily in the beginning to make sure their weight is climbing. If not, I will begin supplementing those puppies. So far everyone has read the text books and are following directions.

Ruth and her puppies have been given one of our back bedrooms for their home over the next several weeks. We have a whelping box set up for her with pig rails along the sides - this allows for a crawl space for the puppies if mom gets to close to the side of the box, and decreases the risk of mom accidentally crushing a puppy between her and the whelping box. Ruth can easily get out of the box, but the puppies are contained - at least for now!

Ruth and the puppies in the whelping box

3 days old

An interesting side note - all of the puppy placentas were shipped to UCLA by our veterinarian Dr Janice Cain to be part of a stem cell research project being done there. (A placenta is the attachment from the puppy to the mother where nutrients, oxygen, and body wastes are exchanged during the pregnancy) I think it is really exciting to be a part of this fascinating research.