Annie 3 months after having her puppies

Annie had been getting a little pudgy before she was bred to Buster for her first litter of puppies. It certainly didn’t help her post-whelping recovery to be out of shape and overweight to begin with. So now we are trying to get back on track and keep her lean and fit and happy. I admit it is hard sometimes to get out of bed and get the dogs all loaded up to go for a run when it’s not yet light outside or when there’s 12 inches of new snow. But, working dogs need the physical exercise and they need it daily. It makes a big difference in training as well. I had a hunting buddy that would unload his shorthair 3-4 miles from the hunting grounds and make him run alongside the truck. The end result was a focused dog that was settled down and ready to go to work. I have had some of my best and most productive training sessions after our daily runs or a good workout. During the hunting season it isn’t quite as hard to keep the dogs in shape because between hunting and guiding we are at it 3-4 days a week. It’s when the hunting season is over that you really have to buckle down and keep the dogs active.

Just sending in Tony’s papers for the Central and Western futurities put on by the American Brittany Club. There were quite a few litters nominated with Tony’s in 2008 but I think less than half will actually be entered in the competitions. There are events for Show and Field and the events are designed to showcase and promote excellent litters bred and whelped in 2008. I am hoping to be able to attend the Western futurities down in Arizona to see Tony run in January. To see the dogs that performed well this year (2007 bred litters) you can click here for the Central, for the Western results click here and for the Eastern Results click here. It will be exciting to see how Tony and his litter mates stack up against other young Brittany dogs.

A messy part of the puppy growth and development process is the weaning of the pups from momma dog. During this important transition from the mother’s milk to solid foods there are several tricks that breeders use to make things go smoothly. Commonly, the first introduction to solid foods will be a heated mash containing puppy food, milk and water. The only problem with the popular puppy mash is that it is extremely messy. No matter what you do – the puppies seem to want to jump right into the mash and get it everywhere. This is how they learn that dog food is good to eat. But, I’ve found a way to help keep things a little cleaner.

A cool idea I found on the internet is a simple wooden feeder stall built to isolate the puppies to their very own food dish (Notice the blocker boards in the back of each stall to help keep the dish from flipping up if pup gets his paws up on the front edge of the dish). This helps to keep things a little cleaner and gives all the pups an equal chance at the food trough. You will still have to watch them closely because there always seems to be a pig in the litter who inhales food and moves on to the next food dish when his is gone. Or on the flip side, the timid puppy that may need a little extra encouragement during the transition to solid foods. The puppy feeder stalls seems like a good idea to me.

This design is by far the cheapest to build and the simplest idea I have found. The whelping box is a plastic kiddy pool that you can get from Wal-Mart or Ace Hardware for less than $10. The side bumpers consist of a small section of 3-4 inch flexible plastic drain pipe. You can get it pretty cheap at Lowes or Home Depot. The drain pipe is attached by drilling holes and fastening to the pool edge with zip ties. The drain pipe should be suspended about 3-4 inches off the bottom of the pool. This keeps the puppies from being accidentally suffocated by the mother or laid on.

This is a square shaped box made out of 2x12x8 lumber. The bumpers on this design are constructed of 2-3″ PVC pipe and fittings. The whole bumper assembly is glued together and can be reomved and hung on the wall when the pups get big enough. Some people line the whelping box with news paper or blankets to make clean up easier. The main thing is to be sure the puppies stay warm enough in winter or cool enough in summer depending on your climate and season.

This is a custom hexagon design that I really liked. It is only about 5 feet in diameter and the design has built-in bumpers along the inside edge of the whelping box. You can finish the wood and make it look nice to match your furniture if your litter is going to be born in the house. This is a great design if you plan on having several litters. I like the round or hex shapes better than the square design because there are no corners for a puppy to get trapped in.

Abby is entering her 2nd week of lock-down and seems to be feeling much better about life. She has gotten her appetite back and is eating well again. She is still spending most of her time in my shop with a few carefully supervised outings each day. She likes to go with us to feed the chickens and gather eggs. The chickens don’t like it much but Abby thinks it is great fun to bark and threaten the chickens. I tie her to a post a few feet away from the chicken coop while I tend to the chickens with my kids.

When we put her back inside the shop she comes right to the window and begins to plead with us to let her out. She really doesn’t like being inside all day. She would much prefer the outdoor kennel and the fresh air, but I can’t risk any visits from fence climbing mongrels. Even though our rural Utah town has a leash law, it seems that only a few of us are abiding by the rules. Most of the dogs in town roam free all day and night. In the spring I hope to fence in a large portion of my back property for the dogs to have a little more elbow room.

After a bit of reading and research it looks like I will be keeping Abby in lock-down for a few weeks. I hope to breed Abby when she is 2-3 years old after I have time to get the proper health checks and screenings. In my reading I learned a lot about the heat cycle of dogs and when is the right time for breeding. Ten months old is definitely too young to have a litter of puppies. Poor Jake is a bit lonely out in the kennel all by himself. For not getting along very well, the two of them sure are showing some separation anxiety.