The simplest way to approach the events of the week is in chronological order, I believe, so I’ll start with the AKC Hunt Test on Saturday put on by the German Shorthaired Pointer Club of Lincoln at the Branched Oak Trial Grounds near Raymond, Nebraska. Although Sam and BB have made definite progress toward the goal, it was not a day for perfection, so neither of them got a pass on Senior Hunter. But luckily we live in hunt test ground zero between Sioux Falls, Lincoln and the NE Kansas/NW Missouri area, so there will be plenty of opportunities to try again. Our “D” Litter puppy, “Dottie” from Sue and Sam’s litter last year got her first pass on the AKC Junior Hunter test, handled by her owner Rick. Her little boy, Joey, was so excited to show off the ribbon!
Joey shows off Dottie and her AKC Junior Hunter ribbon
Even though I was in short sleeves on Saturday, Sunday brought us a surprise blizzard which led to the test being called off, as well as a snow day for the kids on Monday. We hung out with Sue’s puppies as we waiting for Mae’s turn.
Cordelia and Caleb hanging out with Sue and the puppies
Sue’s puppies turned two weeks old on Wednesday, which makes them 8 weeks old on April 24th. So new owners, you can pick them up anytime between the weekend before that date to the weekend after. For those who are planning on flying them out, they can fly from their 8 week birthday onward.
I knew that Mae soon needed the whelping box, so the puppies have been moved to a large kiddie pool in my laundry room, which should hold them for another week or so. I’m hoping that by the time they can escape that it will be warm enough for them to move outside.
Sue and her pups in the kiddie pool
Closeup of the “E” Litter
Their eyes are now open and they have begun to waddle around, as you can see in the following two videos:
The Arrival of “F” Litter
I knew that Mae was soon to deliver when her temperature was low on Tuesday and she wasn’t scarfing down leftovers like she normally does.
The last shot of Mae’s puppy belly as she nibbled.
She woke me up at about 4:30 AM on Wednesday morning with loud scratching sounds, as she was arranging the chips in her nest. I let her out for a potty break, but saw no sign that things were imminent, so we went back to bed. Once we got up to get the kids around for school, I let Mae out of her room to hang out with us in the house. She proceeded to vomit three times in the kitchen and living room, so we knew the time was coming. After I got the kids to school, we walked and walked and walked, with her grunting, whining and pushing to get the pups in position. Around 11:30 AM, she lost her mucus plug. With Sue’s delivery, the first pup came within 30 minutes of that happening. Mae had heavy contractions and was pushing hard for two hours. I nearly took her into the vets office, but we just kept walking. Finally at 1:30 PM the first puppy arrived and she was breach, but Mae’s shear determination got her out of there without complication. I tried to get her to stay in the whelping box, but she was fixated on this blanket that I had in the living room (with a sheet of plastic and an old rug underneath), so that is where we had the first three puppies. I was just glad that we were able to do it on our own, as I was getting nervous that we were headed in the intervention direction.
The arrival of the first puppy
Once the breach puppy was liberating, it went incredibly fast. The second puppy arrived a half hour later. We watched the announcement of the new pope on television at the same time.
Puppy number two on the scene
I barely had time to post a picture and status on Facebook before the arrival of puppy number three, right before it was time to pick the kids up from school.
Three pups in the living room
At that point, I had numbers to my advantage. I scooped up the three puppies and took them to the whelping box so that I could go pick up the kids. By the time I arrived home, the fourth one was on the scene.
The four pups right after birth
I continued to check on Mae throughout the night, expecting the arrival of one or two more pups. I took her outside a couple of times to see if getting her moving produced anything. By the time I got up to check on her at 2:30 AM, it was apparent that four puppies was the litter size. They went to the vet at 10 AM on Thursday to get their tails docked, dew claws removed and just to have their general health assessed. Dr. Andrew Kliewer was surprised at how big and strong they were for day old pups and said it was no wonder that I thought Mae had more in her due to their size.
They are all doing quite well and will probably be huge.
The four pups at one day old
Here is a video of the “F” litter puppies at two days old.
Mae’s “F” Litter puppies will be 8 weeks old on May 8, as a note to the new owners, they will be available for pickup starting the weekend before through the weekend after. The USDA policy is that they can fly from their 8 week birthday onward.
For those of you looking for puppies, all of our 2013 litters have homes, but feel free to call (402) 682-9802 or e-mail bluestemkennels@cox.net if you would like to talk about next year’s breeding plans.
Taking care of two litters of puppies at once is a new challenge for me, so we’ll be very busy and for simplicity’s sake, I will begin posting just once a week, either over the weekend if we aren’t hunt testing, or early in the week if we are. Send us good vibes for continued health and happiness of the pups and mamas.
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