We are a responsible small family breeder of English Springer Spaniel puppies. Our goal is to place high quality, biddable dogs with joyful, gentle temperaments in dog-loving homes.
My goodness, we are growing so fast! We've doubled our weight in week! We still can't see or hear but we are getting really good at moving around, finding mom, eating, and sleeping. And once a day, we fly into the air and get hugged, weighed, and out in a new bed. Next thing we know we are back in our whelping box and it is all clean!
There has been a decidedly lack of sleep for myself the last 4 days. You might wonder why if you haven't bred dogs. There is so much to be aware of especially at the start. Mom may become sick and she is dealing with postpartum issues from not wanting to eat, to wanting to eat too much, to panting due to contractions and the heat of the whelping box.
Bella and her nurslings content in the whelping box with guard rail.
The first three days are also the most critical for the pups. Any defects might take them away or Mom might accidently sleep on them, they might lose body heat or not get enough milk. Of course as a breeder you take all sorts of pre-cautions - like in our case, Jim has made the whelping box to meet safety guidelines as well as the guard rail the little ones can sleep under, and a thermostatically controlled heat lamp that keeps the pen at a cosy 85 degrees for the first week and which we will set to cooler temperatures as the pups mature.
Little Violet well fed and fast asleep
But this morning I was more tired than ever when my friend Melanie Conrad, Oliver and Eero's breeder (Waternymph English Springer Spaniels), shared a poem with me. It is ever so true and somehow reading it made my exhaustion fade away.
Here is the poem Melanie sent and I have since found on other sites:
The hand of a breeder...
The hand of a breeder is the hand that calms the dog during childbirth...
It's the hand that caresses his belly to calm her during contractions...
The hand of a breeder is the hand that makes the path free to let the puppies be born easier...
It's the hand that doesn't shake and is under the blood to help a puppy in difficulties.
The hand of a breeder is the hand that breaks the puppies' bag if it is not broken after birth...
It's the hand that helps to rub and clean the puppies and help their breathing.
The hand of a breeder is the one who tries to revive a puppy, but sometimes he has to give up when there is no beat.
The hand of a breeder is the hand that cut the umbilical cord when the mother doesn't...
Also, the breeder's hand is the one that weighs the puppy every day to check if everything goes well.
The hand of a breeder is the hand that puts a puppy away closer to the mother while the mother looks at you full of confidence...
The hand that rubs the chest, so that breast milk is activated...
The hand of a breeder is the one who rubs in his eyes and fights fatigue and sleeps after days without reconciling the dream.
It's the hand that gives milk bottles day and night when there is very little performance.
The hand of a breeder is the one that brings the lost puppy back to the mother, the one who plays with the puppy to socialize, the one who teaches the puppy to change to solid nutrition.
The hand of a breeder is the hand that takes care of the little ones when it does not go well with them
The hand of a breeder is the hand that you have entrusted to your future puppy in the hope that it will go well.
The hand of a breeder is the hand that is ready day and night to answer all your questions if you have any doubt about anything.
For all these and many other things, the next time you shake your hand to a breeder, think about everything that hand has done with love.
Of course it made me all sweetly teary eyed - or perhaps it is these 6 beautiful pups, Bella, and our other two Grandma Addie and Uncle Charlie who are so sweet and gentle right now.
Uncle Charlie checking out his sister and her pups
...or perhaps he wants her food.
And this is the sweetness that greets me once the darkness lifts and the sun rises.
It's Day Three and we have lots to share! As of today 4 have new homes so if you are interested please contact us! This is such a pretty little litter: half are liver and white, half are black and white. At least 2 are tri-colors and at least 2 are going to be full of ticking!
Liver and white top, black and white with ticking bottom
Both may be tri-colored
Therefore Ann has been calling it her Crayon litter. Therefore we dove into the box of crayons to give them temporary names until they find their new families. So today we have two things to share: we'd like to introduce you to them individually and we have some very sweet early morning dreaming puppy videos to share. __________________________________________________________________ First the videos! Enjoy!
__________________________________________________________________ Then the Photo Shoot:
Bella has been a very good mom to her newborns, and even though she is our Addie's daughter, there are some differences. Both dogs hated being away from their pups at this stage for any longer than a few minutes. Both refused to eat or drink unless we hand fed them in the whelping box. However Bella is more tentative with her pups in that for the first two days she really would get nervous if we picked them up very long. Likewise she counts her pups after she's been away or when we return them to her after weighing them!
Bella - such a good momma
Bella and her pups
Therefore we waited a few days until she was comfortable before taking their newborn portraits. You can see us setting up the shoots below!
Bella, like all good Puppy mommas, only leaves her nest with gentle coaching to go out. At this stage, the 6 nurslings depend on her for everything: they can regulate their own heat, hear, see, eat or even poop without her. Sometimes you’ve don’t see them as she gathers them up under herself like a mother bird.
Jim & I take care of her, feeding & giving her water by hand, cleaning up, reassuring her, & keeping away others. Addie understands unless the pups cry too loudly then she wants to help like any Grandma. Charlie doesn’t have a clue as to why his sister won’t come to play or what those tiny beings are.
Well both the vet and Ann were off just a bit in their predictions of the birth date: neither this coming Tuesday or Thursday but instead yesterday afternoon! We are very excited to say that 6 healthy, colorful pups were delivered yesterday between 3:00 and 7:00 in the afternoon. They came in between 11 and just shy of 14 ounces! We have one boy and five girls.
As Ollie's breeder, Melanie, predicted they are a pretty lot - liver and white, black and white, tri-colored in both BW and LW, and some with speckles. Accordingly we're calling them the Crayola Crayon litter - their temporary names and individual portraits to be revealed some time this week.
If you are interested in a pup contact me at anndemarle@gmail.com or through the form on this site. Four are spoken for.
So until we post their individual portraits, please meet the pretty, little, new family with some pics from yesterday and today.
Bella and her babies
Happy little nurslings
All six lined up to nurse
Cute little snuggler butt and tail.
Mom likes to snuggle in too!
Toes and tails!
Tiny little heads: top is liver and white, bottom is black and white.
