We got some nice weather yesterday and the pups got a few nice romps outside. SO excited they were to run around exploring and feeling the cool grass and the breeze. They are so cute running at top speed down the hill trying to put on the breaks to keep from tumbling head over heels. Nothing like dining al fresco!

 

 

 

Finally an update at 24 days… So sorry! I’ve been spending all my time looking at puppies and inhaling puppy breath.

 

First, the names! Reese’s pieces each have a name now:

Piece of Pie (Pi) is the big wavy boy with the blue collar, sweet like a piece of blueberry pie.

Piece of Me (as in “you want a piece of me??!!”) (Mimi) is the little wavy girl with the pink collar, and my does she live up to that name—such a feisty little thing!

Piece of the Action (Action Jackson) is the wavy boy with the white collar, and he does like to move.

Five Easy Pieces (EZ) is the purple collar wavy boy, so named because he is so easy going.

Piece of Luck (Luck of Roaring Camp) this is little Brownie—we are so lucky to have her and her mother here with us.

 

And finally—Pansy. She came up with her own name, I’m afraid. We called her Tank due to her massive size, but Ellie decided Panzer was nicer, and it was quickly shortened to Pansy, which is much more in keeping with her delightful personality. She is a piece of work, but I can’t make that fit the name Pansy, so she’s just Pansy.

 

 

The pups are doing very well, and are now a bit closer to each other in size. As of May 28 (age 23 days) Pi is 3 lb 12 oz, Pansy is 3/11, Action is 3/6, EZ and Mimi are both 3/1, and Luck is 2/10. We’ll start solid food in the next day or so, so they’ll probably really take off once that gets started. It’s so fun to watch them play with each other and with their toys, and each day brings new abilities, and for some, new teeth. I’m doing my best to keep nails under control for Reese’s sake, but the teeth are another matter entirely. Another good reason to get them onto solid food.

Everyone is toddling around with (usually) great facility now. Little Luck is the most stable underway, but she has a few days on the others age-wise, and being lighter helps a lot too. The PWDs are big lugs compared to her, but that does give them an advantage for full-body wrestling takedowns. First real trip outside today for a short while—it was a bit cool and breezy, but they had enough time to get the feeling of a new footing and a taste for exploring the outside world. It’s supposed to warm up and dry out the next few days, so they’ll enjoy their new found freedom outdoors.

I’ve added a few photo albums at various ages and will get some action shots when we get them outside. Nothing cuter than those little tails straight up in the air as they cruise around.

Bella has made a full recovery and is quite settled into the routine at Martha’s house in Portland. India is happy too, particularly since Martha is taking her to agility. I’ve offered Martha $20 if she finishes India’s weave poles while she’s down there and hope she takes me up on it… We really miss the girls, but are just crazy about Reese—she is a wonderful dog all the way around. We are doing our best to spoil her completely—sleeping on the bed, begging for food, and appreciating all the indulgences due a dog of her talents. Very soon we’ll have her thinking she’s a PWD with all the rights and privileges  thereof…

Well, my life with dogs is nothing but a wild roller coaster ride without a seat belt...

 

We have 5 beautiful pups here now, two curly girls and three wavy boys, all are black with small white blazes on the chest and a few white toes on some of them. They were born early on Monday May 5. All are doing well and gaining steadily, crawling around the whelping box and, typical of a PWD, making plenty of noise! Today (Thursday May 8) they are up on all fours and barking—hold onto you hats, folks!

 

Bella went into labor Sunday night (May 4) and I ended up taking her to Pilchuck Emergency in Snohomish at 2:30 Monday morning. Early Monday morning (May 5) Bella had an emergency C-section (we lost 1 pup then). She seemed to be recovering fine, and we took her and the pups home. Unfortunately, she then had intra-abdominal bleeding that sent her back to Pilchuck in shock. She had a transfusion; they opened her up again, but didn't find any major blood leaks, just a lot of blood. Got her closed after her BP crashed, and managed to save her again.

 

She has been holding stable since Tuesday afternoon, and an ultrasound on Tuesday showed no additional blood accumulating in her abdomen. Her hematocrit was holding at 18 (30 is normal) but was up this morning (Thursday) to 21, indicating that her bone marrow has kicked in production of new red blood cells to replace what she lost. She is apparently perky and protesting—back to her normal self—but she will stay at Pilchuck until her red blood cell values are close to normal. She may be able to come home in a day or two when her RBC count gets high enough, but will not be able to nurse her puppies without risking her life.

 

So in the meanwhile, the litter has been adopted by a wonderful Malinois named Reese. She had a litter 6 days premature on Friday and lost all but one little preemie girl. Reese and her puppy are here and she is being a wonderful mother to Bella's pups. The little preemie is doing well (I have been feeding her about every 2 hours around the clock) and is almost caught up with Bella’s pups as far as development. I'm optimistic that we'll be able to save her, as a sort of Karmic compensation for all that her mother Reese is doing for our girls and boys. It was a stroke of luck all the way around. Reese’s pieces are certainly a lucky group of little PWDs!

 

Long story short, I sent India down to Portland with my sister-in-law Martha who was up to help whelp the pups (she has Bella's other daughter Sailor) and we will take Bella down there too as soon as she is stable. Both will stay there until the pups are weaned, since Bella will not be able to take care of the pups. The surrogate mother is extremely protective of her new litter and I know it will be very hard on Bella to hear the pups in the house and not be able to get to them. We hope that after they are weaned Reese the Malinois will be able to go home with her little girl, and Bella will come back and take over the maternal role with her 5 pups.

There is no doubt that breeding is not for the faint of heart… When things go as planned it is a joyous and tiring adventure. When things don’t go right it is a nightmare. Those of you with PWDs know how deep our affection runs, and it is like a member of your human family is in jeopardy, not “just a dog.” I am very lucky to have my Bella safe and sound, have my puppies safe and sound and with a loving surrogate mother who can do more for them than I ever could do with an orphaned litter. Finding a surrogate is not common—I’d almost put it in the miracle category, actually. So all in all, things are going as well as could be hoped for, and I’m feeling like I can relax a tiny bit at this point.

Pups (including little Brownie the Malinois) will get dew claws done and vet check today, but they all look fine at this point. The poor little one that didn’t make it was quite small and in a very cramped and contorted place in the uterus. (We had seen her on the X-ray and were suspicious that she might not be in good shape based on size and position.) Ultrasound before the C-section showed that she was already dead at that point. We are so grateful to have our five healthy pups here now and our Bella on the mend!

 

 

In regards to health testing, please follow the key below:

OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) certification numbers for hips and elbows. An OFA number indicates that a dog has been evaluated by x-ray by the OFA and found to show no signs of having Hip Dysplasia  at age 24 months or older.   Passing OFA ratings for hips will indicate whether the dog’s hip structure has been found to be “Excellent, “Good” or “Fair”.  Parent OFA rating is important in predicting the tendency to hip dysplasia, as is the OFA history in the pedigree. OFA also evaluates elbow x-rays and rates elbows as “Normal” if no indication of elbow dysplasia is found. Elbows are rated by the OFA only on a pass/fail basis. 

CERF (Canine Eye Registration Foundation) All breeding dogs should have an annual CERF examination.   A CERF exam is only good for one year and can only be done by a board certified ophthalmologist.   A CERF exam can detect such problems as cataracts, Persistent Pupillary membranes, retinal problems, and other congenital ocular anomalies.

OptiGen - Research has lead to a DNA test to identify dogs that are either normal, carriers or affected with Progressive Retinal Atrophy.  PRA is caused by a recessive gene. Pattern A and A1 are dogs that are normal, i.e., do not carry the gene. Pattern B or B1 are carriers (have one recessive gene), and Pattern C and C1 are dogs that carry two recessive genes, and thus are affected with PRA, leading to blindness. Pattern B/B1 and Pattern C/C1 dogs should only be bred to Pattern A/A1 to avoid producing PRA-affected puppies. Before this genetic test was available, PRA blindness was a serious risk in most breeding lines, but since the advent of the test, there is no excuse for producing an affected dog.

GM1 - Storage Disease (GM1 gangliosidosis) is a recessive, genetic disorder. It is produced only when two carriers are bred together. The disorder is caused by a lack of an enzyme that allows the build up of toxic substances in the nerve cells.  It is fatal to affected puppies.

UPenn Cardio – Juvenile Dilated Cardiomyopathy is a recessive genetic disorder. If both parents carry the gene and pass it on to a puppy, that dog will be affected with Cardio, typically resulting in death due to reduced heart function at an age of a few weeks to a few months. After extensive research funded by the PWDCA and the PWD Foundation, researchers at U. of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine have very recently developed a DNA linkage marker for Cardio. The test indicates non-carriers (Normal, type 1-1) and carriers (type 1-2), and is yet another great advance in genetic testing to help breeders produce healthy dogs.

Bella is rated OFA Excellent for hips, and OFA Normal for elbows. Both of her parents are OFA Good. Her CERF is clear, and she is OptiGen B (PRA carrier), GM-1 Normal, and Cardio Normal 1-1. She was bred to an OptiGen A1 (non-carrier) sire, so there will be no risk of producing PRA-affected offspring. In addition, her MSU thyroid assay is normal, suggesting no tendency to inherited thyroid auto-immune disease.

Spencer is OFA Good for hips, and OFA Normal for elbows. His sire and dam are both OFA Good. His CERF is clear, and he is OptiGen A1 (non-carrier), GM-1 Normal, and Cardio Normal 1-1.