Sire and Dam Pics

I have a couple of homes lined up for the pups already, but not for all of them, so I’m using this blog as a handy way of showing potential Raven-pup-owners pics of the pups and also mum and dad. At the moment, the little collie puppies have their very own advert listed on Epupz, although they will not be ready to leave Raven until they are eight weeks old on 10/06/09. You can view the pups advert here – Puppy Advert. Here follows some photos of gorgeously cute Raven (Dam) and remarkably handsome Meisterwerk Ghost (Sire).

Raven's Favourite Sun Spot

Raven shortly before settling down for a nap

Raven's Beautiful Head

Ghost at a Competition

Ghost Relaxing

They’re here!

Raven is the proud and very good mother of seven delightful collie puppies. We have six bitches and one dog, born on 14/04/09. I’m going to make this a short post for now (too much puppy stuff to do!) but will definitely be writing more in the near future. Anyway, who wants to read what I have to think when there are puppy pics to be seen…..

Raven and pups in the whelping box at two days old

Pups in whelping box, as Raven steps out for a drink

A perfect pup picture!

Weight Gain

I weighed Raven yesterday morning to see how much pregnancy weight she had gained. It LOOKS like she’s gained about a stone, but that’s because I’m so used to her being a lean machine. Anyway, it turns out she’s only gained about 5 lb. Pre-pregnancy she weighed about 35 lb and now she weighs 40 lb. Pregnant bitches are meant to gain 15-25% in weight, based on their pre-pregnancy weight. Raven is in her sixth week (six weeks and two days to be precise) and has gained roughly 12% so far, so she can safely gain another 5-6lb in her final three weeks of pregnancy. Seeing as she’s having a litter of nine (I think/hope), which is a fairly generous size, I’m guessing she’s going to push out her weight gain to the upper end of the scale and reach 120-125% of her pre-pregnancy weight.

Of course, I couldn’t weigh Raven without also weighing Freya and Deavyn: that would just be unfair (or so they thought). They made it very clear that I would not be leaving their room until they had also received this marvellous-looking ‘super-fuss’ Raven had just received…. “We get picked up and then mum stands on a tiny platform, with us in her arms, and we repeatedly get told to ‘Stop wriggling!’ whilst she attempts to peer over our furry bulk to try and read the miniscule numbers that appear magically on the tiny platform……we’ll have some of that!” I’m sure you’ll all be pleased to know that Deavyn weighs 35 lb and Freya (b-i-g collie lady) weighs 42 lb.

Raven looked on at the weighing extravaganza smugly, as though she knew all this super-fun was down to her.

Raven being weighed

Deavyn being weighed

Freya being weighed

The Scan

Raven had her scan a week ago. Keith from Fit and Fertile brought his expert self round to our house, with his magnificently compact pup-counting/reproductive-health-checking machine, more commonly known as a portable ultrasound. My friend Simon was present because he was just as eager as me to know how many puppies Raven is expecting (she is his favourite collie lady, but we keep this quiet from the other two gorgeous collie ladies – Freya and Deavyn). Having done a fair bit of research into dog breeding over the years, I am fairly familiar with the positioning of the pups in the bitch’s uterine horns, and knew Keith would scan one side and then turn Raven round and scan the other side to obtain a total puppy count. Simon was not so familiar with this procedure and thought the first count (from just one side) was the total count. “I suppose four pups will be easier to manage than a bigger litter,” he said, quite disappointedly. “Mwa ha ha ha, Simon,” I thought to myself smugly (usually I might have said this out-loud, but I was trying to keep up the masquerade of ‘dignified and sensible dog breeder’ while Keith was on the premises) and kept quiet while Keith turned Raven round and scanned her other side. When he then informed us that there were a further five puppies on t’other side, Simon, taken aback, exclaimed “Nine??” and, still keeping up my dignified masquerade, I, even more taken aback, thought to myself “Nine????” but out-loud said, dignifiedly, “Nine? How lovely, isn’t Raven clever?”

After Keith had gone (the whole process took less than ten minutes), Simon and I exclaimed to each other and to ourselves randomly and increduously throughout the day – “Nine??”

For a first litter, I was expecting around six pups, even though I hoped for lots more, 101 Dalmatians-style. Nine is a lovely amount of pups. Enough to keep you busy and feel like you have your hands most definitely full, but not enough to drive you down the long and arduous path of insanity.

Keith also said everything seemed perfectly normal and healthy in Raven’s sleek collie belly. Goodo.