Week 7

7 week old puppies are keeping us too busy to take many photos, so we are grateful that our friend and her daughter came to play with the puppies, visit with us, AND take all of these beautiful shots.

Chickadee

Samson

Zanna

The Gang

Week 6

Week 6 outdoor games slideshow from meganr on Vimeo.

Week 4

Week 4 was a special one for the Diamond Willow Litter because it coincided with Roxy's third birthday. We feel so privileged to be part of this Litter, and it doesn't seem that long ago we switched ourselves from the long wait list for a "male pet" to the head of the line for a breed potential female. And all we got was an amazing pet AND a very special litter. And we can't say often enough how thankful we've been to the Chinook breeding community for helping the newbies. But enough sap. The puppies!

Week 4 transitioned from the weeble-wobble stage to the run-like-mad-then-crash stage. The pups were also introduced to grass this week and started some mental challenges. They've taken to food quite well, but Roxy is not giving up nursing quite yet despite all that the lil' piranhas dish out. The pups have become so wonderfully social and hold eye contact even with new visitors. At the beginning of the week, Roxy first started playing with them, which she initiated with Samson, usually the last to stop nursing and the last one in the whelping box. So sweet watching mama and son gently wrestling.

Week 2

Week 1 Update

Week 1 Update - Happy Mother's Day!

Roxy has recovered quite well from the c-section and is back to her usual self. After being initially confused as to the sudden appearance of the three fur dumplings, the maternal instincts kicked into high gear. She doesn't like being away from them for long and will touch each one when she returns. Just yesterday, Day 6, she began to take short non-bathroom breaks from the box.

Though slow to return, Roxy's appetite has picked back up. Our efforts to supplement her diet until now have paid off as all pups have steadily gained wait and all have more than doubled their birth weight. Pretty remarkable for C-section pups!

We're dedicated to producing the best possible Chinooks not only genetically but developmentally as well. On day 3, we began Early Neurological Stimulation, or ENS, which is an evidence-based approach to improve long-term outcomes, such as resilience to stress and improved cardio vascular performance. This is one of the first steps in the Puppy Culture process that we're following.

It's been an amazing week, and we're thrilled to be part of the journey, even though we're still up all night every night keeping pups from being inadvertently crushed, offering Roxy a variety of food and drink, helping puppies poop, and doing laundry. But what else would we be doing?

To track their growth through pictures, check out their individual pages by clicking on the tabs above.

INTRODUCING... The Diamond Willow Litter!

The children's literature book, Diamond Willow, is set in a fictional town on a river in interior Alaska.  There are no paved roads in and out of town; people travel by airplane, boat, snowmachine, and DOGSLED.  

Willow, the main character, is part Athabascan.  Through her mother, she is descended from people who have lived in Alaska for many centuries. 

Most of the story is told in diamond-shaped poems, with a hidden message printed in darker ink at the center of each one. I got this idea from diamond willow. 

Diamond willow grows in northern climates.  It has rough gray bark, often crusted with gray-green lichen.  Removing the bark and sanding and polishing the stick reveals reddish brown diamonds, each with a small dark center.

Some people think that diamond willow is a specific type of willow but it is not.  The diamonds form on several different kinds of shrub willows when a branch is injured and falls away.  The dark center of each diamond is the scar of the missing branch. 

The scars, and the diamonds that form around them, give diamond willow its beauty, and gave me the idea for my story.                    

                                                                      

                                                               -Excerpted from author's note (Helen Frost)

We chose this theme for the litter before the pups were born.  The story was meaningful to us and had been the inspiration for the name we gave to Roxy, which was the name of the lead sled dog in the story.  We didn't realize when we chose it how perfect the theme would turn out to be.

Roxy went into labor right around the time we expected she would (the early evening of Saturday April 30th).  It was a long, exhausting night as Roxy labored. As we watched, we continually called on the experience and support of several fantastic breeding mentors who were on skype with us off and on all through the night.  By the time Sunday morning arrived, Roxy still hadn't entered the second stage of labor yet - it can take a long time, but we were on pins and needles about it a bit as it was a Sunday, and an emergency likely meant going to the emergency clinic rather than to our reproductive vet.  Late morning, we saw some signs of trouble, and our vet wanted us to bring Roxy in...unfortunately, the anesthesiologist (in case we should end up needing a c-section) was a few hours away that day (given that it was a weekend), so we were directed to go to the emergency vet instead.  An ultrasound showed that the pups were in distress, so we moved forward with a c-section.  Our experience at the emergency vet was mostly horrible, but the surgeon himself was great with us and with Roxy.  At our request, he allowed us to help resuscitate the pups with his vet tech while he was operating on Roxy in the next room (a good thing, as more hands seemed to be better for working on 5 pups).  Even pups born naturally need some help (hopefully from mama dog licking them) to get them going, but c-section puppies take a lot more work.  They have not gone through the birth canal.  They are more full of mucous because they haven't been squeezed.  They haven't been stimulated.  And they feel the effects of the general anesthesia on mama.  Sadly, though we worked on the pups for a long time, we were only ever able to get 3 of them to breathe.

The pup who had separated from its placenta had done so 16-18 hours earlier according to the surgeon's estimate, and she was not a viable puppy.  The two we lost were both girls.
We are thinking of them as the scars from this hard experience that left us with the diamonds that form around those scars - the 3 beautiful puppies we came home with. And for at least a short time, the sisters at home carry a reminder of their sisters with heart blazes on their chests.


Pulling character names from the book to christen the pups, we couldn't be happier to introduce you to the reddish brown diamonds of Bashaba Chinooks' Diamond Willow Litter!

Samson
Because we didn't know the Athabascan word for Head as Big as Mt. Denali, we chose Samson, the name of Willow's sled dog considered to be the fastest of the pack. Our Samson proved his strength immediately as the first to be revived after the surgery to deliver the pups. The vet techs were amazed how human-like his cries were. As we worked to revive the others, Samson demonstrated his trademark speed as he hauled himself all over the warming box and nearly up and over the side. In the first few days at home, he has already explored every corner of the whelping box.  Unfortunately for his sisters, this sometimes tires him right as he is climbing over them, and he sacks out hard for a good nap right there. He generally seems pretty chill and relaxed (first nail trim corroborates this),so that we are thinking this hunk may turn out to remind us of his gentle giant sire.  Birth weight: 14.0 ounces

Zanna
In the story, Zanna is Diamond Willow's younger sister who yearns to be her friend as well as her sister.  Our Zanna is a good friend to both of her siblings, allowing them to crawl all over her.  She particularly seems to enjoy climbing and can often be found perched in various places (a favorite for her is to try to scale the sides of the plastic storage container which the pups call home if they aren't in with mom...she gets herself up and sleeps on an incline in order to get her head up over the edge or sometimes gets herself halfway out...where there is always a human hand ready to support her chin and allow her to sleep half in and half out of the box).  Perhaps she will someday like to perch atop the backs of couches and on porch tables like our Juneau does? Birth weight: 14.0 ounces

Chickadee
In the book, Chickadee carries the voice of the great grandmother of Diamond Willow's best friend and watches over the family in the woods.  Our little chickadee is small (for now) but mighty and quite feisty.  Born considerably smaller than her siblings, she doesn't let them push her around. She's a total darling and loves to snuggle up to her mama any chance she gets. She loves to tunnel and has found all the warmest spots in and around Roxy, with her favorite spot being between Roxy's hind legs with her beautiful head sticking out from under Roxy's tail. She has stunning markings with white mittens on her forepaws. Go into the whelping box at your own peril because you will very likely end up paralyzed by an overwhelmingly cute furry dumpling curled up on your legs.
Birth weight: 8.7 ounces

Time to Play 'Count the Puppies'!!

Roxy had x-rays today to get a count of puppies. How many can you count??

Hint: Count skulls and spines

 

And as an update on the fruits of our labor, here's a picture of Roxy enjoying her whelping box.

Home Sweet Box

The Puppy Count Down is at two weeks! As the puppies grow, so has Roxy. Walks are slower. Naps are longer. Meals are larger. And she can only dream of her svelteness of 7 weeks ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To help her find some sleeping comfort and to allow her to start nesting at will, we put up the whelping box today, complete with egg crate. Being her usual curious yet cautious self, Rox ventured in to find some pre-placed kibble, but really wasn't too interested in hanging out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Pregnancy Confirmed!

Pregnancy was confirmed today by ultrasound.  We had a feeling that Roxy was, indeed, pregnant given her change in eating habits in the past week to 10 days.  Our vet told us that the due date is May 1st/2nd.  We will go back April 25th for an x-ray to get a puppy count but have a lot to do to get ourselves ready before then!  Huge thanks to Dr. Carver-Raffa at Town & Country Animal Hospital!

Girl Meets Boy

This past weekend, Roxy traveled to Florida for her blind date with Jasper, and it was love/lust/animal magnetism at first sight. Roxy typically greets other dogs very confidently and imperturbably: tail up and patiently going through the sniffing rituals. She put to rest any doubt of our breeding timing when she saw the big, handsome fella that is Jasper. He needed no pick-up lines. He had her at I'm-a-male-canine. The game was on.

It was so reassuring to meet Jasper and know that we had made a great match. He is a large Chinook with a beautiful coat, and he danced quite elegantly with Roxy all over the yard. But most striking was his wonderful temperament. He was the perfect gentleman, not pushy with Roxy and always attentive and responsive to his human. He greeted me and my 13 yr old son appropriately and was neither territorial nor elusive.  This gentle giant is a lover. And it was easy to see that he's the apple in his human's eye. She adores Jasper.

Despite the willingness, the flirting, and the foreplay, we did not achieve a natural breeding. Despite her relatively large overall size, Roxy is anatomically a bit narrow for a natural breeding, and Jasper ended up a bit frustrated. We ended up doing two side-by-side artificial inseminations.  We're keeping fingers and paws crossed for several buns in the oven, and we should have confirmation around March 28th! We're thrilled to have paired two dogs with such great hip health, and we look forward to pups with the fantastic disposition and intelligence of their parents.

Cupid Struck on Valentine's Day

Roxy's Valentine weekend was an exciting one, as she was matched for her upcoming breeding with Cloudburst LedgeBak Jasper and also came into heat so that we now have a better idea of the timing for this litter.

Jasper

The match was made with attention not only to their lines (the four generation pedigree for these two has no common ancestors and is nicely diverse) but also to the results of Roxy's DNA testing through Genoscoper (she is CLEAR of the MDR1, DM, and Dwarfism mutations).  Roxy does not carry the recessive red allele and therefore will not produce buff puppies.  She carries the recessive black allele and the long-coat allele, and Jasper may as well, so there could be some black and tan and/or long coated puppies in the mix.

We are excited to be able to move forward with plans for a natural breeding (Roxy's first trip to Florida) and to working with Jasper and his owners/agents. We are so grateful to Bashaba Chinooks for working so tirelessly to find the perfect match.

As of now, it looks as if breeding will most likely take place the week of February 22nd, with pregnancy determination at the end of March and possible puppies at the end of April.  Stay tuned!