On Monday, August 22nd we welcomed the “S” Litter of 2022, three boys and three girls. At this time all puppies are spoken for, but feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com to get on the backup contact list in case of owners dropping out, or to enquire about future litters.

Ruth woke me up at 4 AM Monday morning, howling for a potty break, so I knew that we were getting close. By mid-morning she had hit the non-stop panting phase and was trying to make nests in the bushes surrounding our property, so when she wasn’t in the basement in the kennel with the whelping box, I’d have her out walking in the yard about 20 minutes of every hour. I finally took a lengthy lunch break and by the time I returned about 1:30 PM she had three pups with her, the third one had just emerged. It was about one an hour after that until 8 PM.

There was originally a fourth boy, making the total seven. He was extremely tiny at birth, but was strong enough to nurse with some assistance. I was pretty much working on him non-stop all day Tuesday, but by evening Ruth was pushing him away and I knew it was time to stop trying. He was gone when I woke up yesterday. I let the litter rest yesterday, focusing on walking Ruth and making sure that she looked healthy.

Today was the day of cleaning all of the wood shavings from the whelping box and kennel after whelping and making sure there wasn’t any bio-hazardous waste remaining, then replacing all of the wood shavings. While I was cleaning the kennel, the puppies and Ruth got to enjoy the sun out on the back patio.

Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies
Ruth and the three day old puppies hanging out on the back patio
Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies
The Super Six of the “S” Litter

I thought that they were going to squirm around when I put them in the fresh chips back in the box, but instead they went right to sleep. Here is the video that I shot of them at that point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GISfY1AiMKE&ab_channel=CharityUpchurch

It is getting late in the day and there is still so much to do, I’m still trying to get caught up since I pretty much lose a full day during whelping. We go to the vet tomorrow morning for vet check, tail docking and dew claw removal (the veterinarians here do it a day or two after we did back in Nebraska, so I’m not really used to it yet). I will be back on Monday with the one week old update.