Today was Frankie's litter's first day out. 

Its time to get them on the website since they will be available for showing this week and for adoptions very soon.  One of our group volunteered to host a playtime/photo session.  Many cool pictures were taken and they got to visit another house and hang out with another family for a few hours.  

First thing I noticed is these puppies have gained a lot of weight and they don't fit in the box they came in.  I loaded them in a clothes basket.  And it was cold.  They were so cold on the way to their photo gig, they all tucked in together to keep warm and I put a towel over them. 

Frankie was nervous at first, then relaxed and enjoyed her peace and quiet.  She slept, chewed a bone, and generally looked relieved. 

Everybody got collars so I can finally tell them apart:

The gals are Black Velvet and Black Satin, both sporting very nice purple collars with rhinestones.

The boys are Black Bean, Black Beard, Black-n-Decker, and Black...

I was going to write about the puppies new play area and all the happy and fun times they are having.  But instead they are sleeping. 

First things first.  These puppies are messy.  They spilled food, water, and poop all over their pen, so I changed the bedding...and they did it again.  Silly puppies, neatness counts. 

Frankie is doing fine, in fact she wants to do too much.  If they take her six on one she tries to accomodate them, but I can tell they are hurting her so I send her out and bring them to her one or two at a time and AFTER they eat.  Then some nuzzling, nursing, playing, licking, and its all good. 

To keep everybody happy I moved in my two surrogate moms...a big teddy bear and a stuffed Eeyore.  They are big enough to let the pups cuddle up on them like they would their mom.  Its a trick I've used before with pups who are newly weaned.  Usually the two help for a week or so then get put away so they don't get chewed up. 

I also added some towels to snuggle in, a couple...

Frankie spent a quiet weekend.  She was sad and kept going to the puppy pen to root around the blankets looking for what was missing.   I have been distracting her with walks and chew bones because in life you can rarely go back again.  In life you don't get do'overs or second chances.  Except sometime you do...

This afternoon Frankie got a 2nd chance.  With the help of Golden Treasures Frankie got to dig into those blankets and strike black gold...six times. 

Six puppies from Southern Ohio lost their Momma to some kind of car accident the other day.  Six wonderful black flat coat retriever mixes, approximately 4 weeks old needed a Momma.  They got a 2nd chance too. 

There was nursing, painful cause Frankie hasn't nursed in a while and these pups have nails and teeth.  Luckily its nursing after their bellies are full from eating puppy food mixed with water and replacement milk.  There was cleaning, Frankie cleaning their butts, them cleaning her ears.  A game of climb on Momma, a game of climb...

As many folks know by now we lost 6 of Frankie's pups and Thursday.  Hickory, Daisy, Possum, Chickasaw, Sweet Potato Pie and Coonhound Luke. 

If you've been following you know that Ole Miss was doing fairly well Thursday and Friday.  Friday night she got very sick.  She fought all night, I know because I stayed up with her comforting her as best I could and feeding her what she could take.  She died sometime Saturday morning at Banfield Clinic. 

I've looked back over the past blogs.  Those puppies brought tremendous joy and wonder into my life.  They lived and died loved and warm and first in the thoughts of their mother and their human.  In many ways that is the most any dog would want out of life, even ones so very short. 

The story is now Frankie's story.  Here is a dog abandoned at the shelter in Wayne County, pregnant.  They gave her vaccines and adopted her out.  That family rejected her because she was pregnant and returned her.  Our group saved her and gave her puppies what small chance...

Just got Frankie and the pups back from Banfield.  Good news is she was negative for parvo.  Bad news is she has some kind of bacteria infection she is passing on to the pups.  She and they are sick. 

I have medicine for Frankie that should allow her to recover.  Unfortunately there is nothing we can do for the pups.  Their best hope is Frankie and that her medicine will help them recover. 

The next few days will be tough, we'll do our best to get everybody through it.

 

John C.

Everybody seemed very upset this morning, so I rushed down to check it out.  Hickory died sometime last night. 

Mom had gathered all the pups around her in a corner of the pen and had her body between their's and Hickory.  She is very upset.   I'm now worried about her and Daisy.  Frankie threw up all her food last night and is feeling sick.  I'm going to talk to Jen about a vet visit. 

Daisy seems fine so far. 

The whole litter is crying pretty steady, not sure what its all about, but it seems normal.  Still, I'd rather have them all checked out.

Never lost a puppy before, even my two that had parvo last year..  Very sad because on Sunday she was 2nd biggest.  Now I worry about them all.

John C. 

Yesterday I dismantled the whelping box and assembled Puppy Playland.  The box had served its purpose, I put down the new throwrug and put the playpen on top.  Puppy pads, a blanket wall, towels to curl up in, and lots of room for mom.  A much nicer place for everybody to hang out in.  This will be the litter's hang out till they get big enough to escape...then I'll add a larger 'play area' to the outside so they'll have a sleep area and a play area. 

I'll try and get the picture posted, its a great picture, one we should use as our signature Paws and Prayers photo (yes I'm biased, but when you see it you'll see what I mean). 

We had our 2nd weigh in.  This time using a large salad bowl to hold the puppy in place on the scale, so these weights will be more accurate.  We see some great gains and some obvious "must watch" concerns.  If anybody has advice for the two who failed to have big gains, let me know.  This is all new ground for me. 

Ole Miss, 618g.  She looks like she packed it on. 

...

Day 2 is a housekeeping day. 

Frankie, has been eating as much as she wants.  Her favorite food is Alpo Top Sirloin flavored canned dog food mixed 50/50 with puppy chow, a crushed up vitamin, and turned into soup by filling the bowl with water and a little light beer (per Heather).   She's doing about 3 full bowls/day and a couple snack sized half bowls.  She was not drinking water till just a little while ago, so I generously put the water in her food and she wolfed it down.  Basically I feed her every time she asks.  She also went outside for the first time and did all her business (a LOT of business).  We also got in a short walk down the street and back.  

With Frankie finally getting out, I also changed the bedding.  The pups are moving around more, so I spread out the bedding to give them room to move and still find towels to snuggle in.  

Biscuit did NOT like her name.  Did not fit her at all.  At her request she is now Hickory.  

I made a weight chart for everybody and fired...

We did it.  6 girsl, one boy...many hours and 7 puppies alive and kicking. 

Mom is doing great, she's eaten a couple times, left the pen once, but is doing her best to stay as close as possible to the new litter.  Right now she is curled up in the box with puppies tucked into all her nooks and crannies sleeping or eating. 

Introducing the Southern Fried Coonhound Litter:

1.  Ole Miss, F, tri-colored like Mom.  She had some trouble being first, but is doing just fine. 

2.  Coohound Luke, M, black and tan, He was in a hurry, pretty much pushed Ole Miss out of the way so he could get where he was going.  "He's a natural born world shaker."

3.  Miss Daisy, F, black and tan

4.  Biscuit (n Gravy), F, black and tan.

5.  Chickasaw, F, black and tan, white tip tail, white diamond on back of neck.

6.  Possum, F, black and brown, tri-colored under chin and neck, brown eyelids and feet, white tip tail.  I named her Possum cause she looks like a possum, or at least what...

After many false alarms, it looks like we're in business. 

Yesterday was a long day of throwing up, sleeping, and nesting and ole' Franks-n-Beans was having a hard day too. 

Nesting was serious business, not like the simple digging Frankie's done till now.  She turned the pad and blankets in her box into an impregnable puppy fortress. 

Well all that is done and its push-sleep-push and here she's pushing again, gotta run. 

John C.