Marlene's Diary

Long time no see

2010-07-24T12:42:00.000-07:00

I've been crazy busy lately. And it's so stinkin' hot that when I get home all I want to do is stay inside in the air conditioning...not the best place to get puppy pictures. I finally got a few minutes to take my camera out with them today and get a few photos before it started to rain....ah Florida, the "sunshine state."

First of all, Shaka went to his new home a couple of weeks ago. They have reported that he is such a good puppy, sleeping most of the night and doing so well with his potty training. I'm so proud of these puppies and so happy that their families are happy too.

Shaka with his new mom Cathy

And here are a couple photos from today. The puppies are just adorable. We are still having so much fun with them but hope Tank and Little Man get their very own homes soon so they can be very, very special to someone. Their personalities have blossomed and they are very playful. They are starting to learn little obedience commands like, sit, come, lay down, etc. They love training time because they get yummy peanut butter dog cookies!

Looks like Big Brown has been eating some dirt, doesn't it?!

Tank found a nice wood chip to chew on.

Handsome Little Man who prefers to be called Manly Man now,

since he not so little.

Big Brown chewing on something again...they love to find

stuff to chew on outside.

and cutie pie Tank

Still here and having fun

2010-07-03T08:51:00.000-07:00

We still have 5 puppies here. Little Bernadette will be staying forever, but Mr. Fluffy Head, now known as Shaka will be going home this Thursday. He is a funny little boy who has learned how to climb :) He was routinely meeting us at the door when we'd get home. Getting out of the 24" ex-pen was no problem for this little monkey so we had to go to the really tall ones we have for the adult dogs. Little Man is doing great! Tank & Big Brown just keep getting more and more handsome.

Handsome Tank

Beautiful Big Brown

Little Man

Shaka loves to play with his mom and his grandmom. The older girls are so good with the puppies. Marlene still loves being a mom. She plays chase with them, tug games and gentle wrestling.

Shaka's new mom sent a sporty new collar for him. I put it on for a picture, but the other puppies thought it was a new toy and were pulling on it, lol...so it had to come off. He'll get to wear it on his way home.

If any of the puppies end up being therapy dogs, I can promise they'll have no problems around wheelchairs! Daniel's wheelchair is a favorite place to play. Sometimes one will get in the net under the chair while the others pull him around. I'll try to get a picture of that. This is Shaka.

Starting to go home

2010-07-03T08:34:00.000-07:00

This week we had two puppies leave the nest. First was Spike, now known as Shadow. He went to a very nice family that lives close by. I'm so happy that I'll get to see him sometimes and watch him grow up. He'll have two other dogs to play with, lots of property, a pool and a lake! Lucky doggie!

The next to leave was little Laia. Her family lives in Mexico City. The father of the family and their teenaged daughter flew over to take her home. Laia was very good at the airport, she wasn't phased by any of it. Several people came up and asked to hold her which she thought was pretty cool. The sad thing is I probably won't ever see her again, but she is in an excellent home and they love her already. They had a Flat Coat previously who lived to be 12 years old.

I'm getting good reports from both families. Of course the puppies are a bit lonesome at night, but it sounds like they are being good puppies, their housetraining is going well and they have worked their way into everyone's heart. Laia's family told me she wanted to get IN the shower with the mom! Does that sound like a Flat Coat or what?!?

7 1/2 week stacked photos

2010-06-19T13:26:00.000-07:00

I hate doing stacked photos! When my husband & I try to do it we get nothing usable and usually end up bickering! So, I had my Dalmatian friend, Mary Lynn come over the help me. She has a way with teaching little puppies how to stand like show dogs. But, as luck would have it something still went wrong. It was soooo humid that my camera lens kept fogging up and the majority of my photos were blurry because of it. These are the ones I could salvage.

Big Brown

Bernadette

(she's staying here with us :)

Mr. Fluffy Head

Laia

Little Man

Spike

Tank

My mentor, Claire Koshar came over today to evaluate the litter for me for the conformation (show dog) potentials. She was very pleased with the litter. She said they all had lovely heads, very nice fronts and very good coat. She especially liked Big Brown and Tank and said she'd have a hard time letting either of those go....we are pretty fond of all of them and will have a very hard time letting any of them go.

Puppies Gone Bad

2010-06-12T07:42:00.000-07:00

I had gathered all the poopy shredded paper out of their "potty box" into a garbage bag, left the room for about 10 seconds and came back to this!! Hmmm...do they look innocent to you?? But could you be mad at those faces??

or this one?? Bernadette pulling on my camera strap...

Or this...Spike chewing on a box...

Definitely not this face...Little Man is always good.

But how about this...Mr Fluffy Head chewing on the rug...

I think not.

Isn't it a good thing puppies are so darned cute...if not, we might not keep having them :)

6 WEEKS OLD!

2010-06-06T13:16:00.000-07:00

There have been no major changes this week. But they just keep getting cuter! They play so much with each other and by themselves. They have really started to recognize people and get excited to see them. When one of us gets home from work they are all over us, wagging their little tails and squealing with excitement. What a good way to begin our time at home.

Spike getting ready to take a snooze

Tank again. His white spot is getting much smaller.

A good game of bitey face between Big Brown and Spike.

Little Man is doing so much better. He is getting bigger and he plays and interacts

with all the puppies. He's cute as a button!

Grandma Olivia and Brandon watch the puppies play. Marlene is relaxing

about letting the adult dogs near the puppies. Just today she

decided it was OK to let Brandon in the house. He was fascinated

by the puppies and happily wagged his tail when they

all came around him. Brandon is such a loving, sweet dog.

Little Man looking for leftovers

I bought this nice, $30 puppy pee pan thinking it would be a nice

way to help housetrain the puppies....well, you can see how well

that idea is going, lol!

Bernadette

Leia. She has some big news to share,

She is going to live with a lovely family in Mexico City.

They had a Flat Coat for 12 years and have a place in their hearts to fill

and I know she will love them too. She is very snuggly and affectionate, just like her mom

They love the box that our new ex-pen came in. I was

going to throw it out, but they like to play on it so much.

Mr. Fluffy Head

A Busy Day

2010-05-30T21:02:00.000-07:00

The pups had several visitors today. First was a family that will be buying one of the boy puppies and then their "other" grandma (Andy's owner). They also took their first trip outside which got mixed reviews. It was very, very hot and a bit windy. Some seemed to like the outdoors and others were hot and wanted to get in the shade or snuggle with us out of the wind A couple of them made pees and poops while they were out...good puppies! Marlene stayed close by the whole time. Since there are a lot of hawks here we only took out one puppy for each person and kept them near by. They're still so little we didn't want to chance anything. Marlene was with us and very watchful of the whole situation. One of the puppies wanted to nurse outside and he got a scolding (first time ever for that). We figured that Marlene knew it could be a venerable place and not a good place to get comfy and nurse. She is such a good mom, very wolf like in her behaviors. At the end of the day I don't know who was more tired, the puppies or me!?! I fell asleep for 2 hours on the couch!

"Mr. Fluffy Head"

They really interact a lot now, playing with toys and each other. Marlene has started to play with them a bit too. The puppies are loving their real food, but still nurse quite often. Marlene is starting to look a bit worn out, her coat is getting sparse and we have to feed her tons to keep her weight up. She is putting everything she has into feeding the puppies.

"Big Brown" or UPS as he was called today

"Mr. Fluffy Head"

Notice the green dab of nail polish? I needed a way to tell the black boys

apart when I saw them from a distance. I don't like collars of any kind for

constant wear on or around young dogs, we had a very scary incident with a collar once

...won't go into that here, but puppy families will hear about it!

"Spike"

"Tunnel Butt" (actually I think this was the black girl)

"Mini Me"

The "booby bar" is getting very crowded these days

"Tank"

"Bernadette"

A big bitey face game

Marlene & Mini Me

a sleepy "Mini Me"

a verrrrryyyy sleepy "Spike"

named not for his personality, but his dab of nail polish often sticks up

like a spike on his back.

and last but not least, "Little Man," who is doing very well.

He's getting fat and starting to

grow more each day. He was among the ones who showed great interest in the duck wing

his Grandma Liz brought for the puppies and he picked up the tiny puppy bumper

and carried it today. After talking with other breeders, our hunch is that

he was perhaps conceived on a later date than the rest

of the puppies. I'm not sure if that's possible, I'll have to

research it, but that seems to make sense. He is very vigorous and is

growing, but very slowly and he seems to be less mature than the

other puppies...but again, very healthy and strong. And oh so sweet!

He will stay here a few extra weeks before deciding on a home for him.

I want to make sure he is doing well and gets a clean bill of

health from the vets before going to a family.

First Food!!!

2010-05-26T07:36:00.000-07:00

The pupsters had their first experience with real food on Saturday evening. Sometimes puppies new to real food aren't really sure what to do with it. My last litter played with it a while before accidentally tasting some and realizing they could eat it....not this gang!! They immediately came up and started chowing down like this was what they were born for!! "Little Man" who has been having a hard time staying on a nipple, the big guns always push him out of the way, had a pretty clever technique with real food....he lays in the dish!! They did a pretty good job of cleaning the bowl, then started to clean each other up (what good brothers and sisters :) then we let Mom in to finish the clean up job, which she was very happy to do. Now they are up to three meals a day. We are feeding them raw chicken blended with some pulverized veggies and goat's milk (from our goats). A raw diet is what I think is best, but in honesty, I can't afford to keep all of my dogs on raw all of the time. So when they are adults, I feed them the highest quality kibbles I can find mixed with fresh veggies and fruits, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc. and offer a raw meal about twice a week. I have been feeding Marlene raw since she got pregnant and still now that she's still nursing, and I'll keep the babies on raw for a few weeks. I will gradually switch the ones going to "kibble homes" over shortly before they are ready to go home. Any of the "raw homes" will stay on raw.

Little Man and Black Girl were the first to chow down.

The whole gang has joined in.

Little Man's technique was to lay across the food so no one could shove him out of the way.

Little Man again....he's just so cute and apparently a camera hog.

Closing in on each other as the portions ran low.

Cleaning each other up....how sweet and thoughtful.

They kept pulling the shredded newspaper in as they ate. I learned to make sure the area

was clear of shreds before I put the food down from now on.

Pictures from May 21st

2010-05-25T15:45:00.000-07:00

The pups were about 3 1/2 weeks when these were taken. They were really starting to look like little dogs at this point, a bit less newborn puppyish. Their personalites and TEETH were emerging.

Snoozing...sorry can't tell who's who in this picture.

More snoozing.

This is the one we call "Big Brown." He is an outgoing puppy and looks like he will turn out to be very handsome.

This guy is "Tank." He was by far the largest for a long time, however a couple of his brothers are quickly

catching up with him. Tank has a white spot on his chest which may, or may not go away as he gets older. It is not common in Flat Coats, but does happen once in a while. Tank is extremely outgoing and very playful with the other puppies.

The whole gang snoozing.

You can see "Little Man" in the forefront of this one. He eats like crazy, but is much smaller

than the rest of the pups.

A few more that wouldn't upload in the original post for some reason.

2010-05-24T18:34:00.000-07:00

Starting to Play

2010-05-24T18:28:00.000-07:00

These photos were taken on the 18th. The puppies had just begun to start playing with each other. We call the game "bitey-face." They make little sounds like big dogs, paw at each other and jaw wrestle. We also opened up the potty room side of the whelping box. The theory is that they learn to go in there to pee & poop which makes house training easier as they get out of the box. It seems that they are using it some, but I'm not sure if it's intentional yet. I pick them up if I see them relieving themselves on the bedding side and place them into the newspaper side. Regardless, I think having the separate room and different textures of flooring is good exposure for them.

Appologies

2010-05-24T17:58:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry to have been M.I.A. this past week. Saturday was my Mom's 90th birthday and I had a big party for her and 50 family members and friends. Last week it became clear that I was not prepared and had to devote every free minute to getting ready for the party. It was a huge success and Mom said it was the best birthday of her life....it made all the work more than worth it.

And now, back to posting puppy pictues :)

More Info For The Meantime

2010-05-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

I know I've been complaining about my website for months now, but it is still not up. I have had several emails with their tech support, but it doesn't seem to be getting anywhere in the limited time I have to work on it. I've updated my "Kippenhill" blog so those of you who don't know me all that well can learn about me and my dogs. I'll be adding more info about all our dogs over the near future. And I'll let everyone know when I get my website resolved. We're having a big 90th birthday party for my mom next Saturday, so I doubt that I'll have much spare time through this week. Kippenhill Blog

A Lovely Saturday.

2010-05-15T07:27:00.000-07:00

It is a gorgeous day here in Central Floirda. I'll be out working in the gardens very soon. Marlene will no doubt want to join me and get some fresh air and some "mom-time." I posted these photos on Flickr, but some of you have trouble viewing photos there, so I'll repost them here.

Marlenie-Beanie loves being a mom. She dotes after them, immediately cleans up after them and feeds them several times a day. Sometimes when they are sleeping she will lay with her chin resting on the opening to the whelping box and just look at them. It reminds me of when my son was a baby and I loved to watch him sleep, feeling so proud and happy....I think that's how Marlene feels.

Both times when we took the puppy portraits Marlene was close by making sure everything went OK. Sometimes she'd put her head over the edge of the chair. I don't know if she was making sure the pup was OK or giving them pep talks to hold still for their photos.

Did you notice how all the black puppies and all the liver puppies are laying together? This happens quite often, it even happened before their eyes opened. I hear from other breeders that they noticed it in their litters too. Maybe it's just a coincidence but who knows.

Pedigree for Puppies

2010-05-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

Click on the pedigree to make it larger

Getting Bigger

2010-05-14T13:20:00.000-07:00

The puppies look bigger every time I look at them. Their eyes opened this week and they are walking up on all four legs. Still a bit wobbly on their legs and fall down and roll over sometimes (very cute & funny). They have started to wag their little tails when they eat...pure Flat Coats! I also noticed the first attempts at play yesterday. The little black girl and the big liver boy were playing bitey face. They were very uncoordinated at it, but it was awfully cute.

The 2 week portraits were much harder to get than last week's. They move so quickly now and most of the pictures were blurry! Need to get some photography advice from Liz at Blazingstar when she gets home

Black Girl

Big Brown

Tank (he was a sleepy head :)

the rest to follow soon...I've misplaced the memory card...gotta find it

Into the 2nd Week

2010-05-11T17:50:00.000-07:00

The puppies are doing great! Most of them have opened their eyes now and they are getting so big and strong. They're starting to walk on all four legs. "Little Man" is still not gaining much weight. He is much smaller than the other puppies, but he is strong and active. We have started to supplement his momma-meals with some goat's milk. He has a hard time keeping a spot on the "boobie bar" because the other pups are so big they push him out of the way. The big pups finish one spot and then move on to another...little piggies. Marlene is eating more than 4 times her normal amount of food in order to keep up with their demand.

I miss them so much when I'm at work, I wish I could stay here with them all the time. It's so much fun to just sit by the whelping box and watch them sleep. But Marlene continues to be an excellent mom so I have no worries while I'm gone. Everyone looks content and full when I get home.

Here are some puppy pile pictures for you to enjoy. I'll get their two week portraits done tomorrow.

Vacaction's over :(

2010-05-05T09:16:00.000-07:00

I took a week off from work to be home with the babies...now it's time to go back and I'm very sad. I have to leave the house in just a few minutes and am dreading leaving those sweet little pups. I know Marlene will take very good care of them, that's not the biggest problem. I have just loved being home with them and all my other dogs, goats, chickens, turkey, birds, cats and bees so much. I wish I could win the lottery and be a stay at home critter mom....I really think that is what I was born to do. I love just sitting by the whelping box watching puppies sleep, sitting in the yard watching bees come and go from their hives, watching the veggie garden grow. I must have been a pioneer woman in a former life. Somebody figure out how we can have enough money without having to leave the house and let me know.

Here's a couple of outtakes from the portraits to make up for any "real" photos today.

Week 1 Portraits

2010-05-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

Who would figure it would be so hard to get 7 decent photos out of 151 wiggly puppies shots!?! But as promised, here are their 1 week portraits.

"Big Brown"

Liver Boy

"Big Black" (BB for short)

Black Boy

"Black Girl"

Black Girl (Obviously :)

"Little Man"

Liver Boy

Little Black (LB) not that he's little, just smaller than BB

Black Boy

"Mini Me"

Liver Girl

"Tank"

Black Boy

and yes, he's as big as he looks, lol!

Already acting like a Flat Coat!

2010-05-03T08:38:00.000-07:00

This is not a great photo, my husband snapped it with his phone. But it was just too cute not to share with you. This is the biggest puppy, the one we call "Tank" sleeping on his back like the big dogs do. How cute is this?!?

The puppies are still doing very well. Everything went well while we were away yesterday. Angela commented on how good Marlene is with them...and of course how incredibly cute they are :)

The little ones are a week old today and it will be a big day for them! We will take the first of their weekly "portraits" and they will get their first nail trims today. Their little, tiny nails are very sharp and uncomfortable to their momma when they knead during nursing so we'll just snip the sharp tips off with a fingernail clipper. Marlene is doing really well too. She was a bit worn out for a day or so, but she's back to her spunky self and eating everything we put in front of her and then begging for more. I keep saying this, but she is such a good mom, I'm so proud of her. The bedding in the puppy box stays spotless and every time they peep she checks on them.

Visitors!

2010-05-02T05:46:00.000-07:00

"Grandma Liz" (Andy's owner) came to visit the babies yesterday. I think she sorta liked them :) She and her niece stayed a couple of hours, just watching and cuddling puppies (maybe I can get her to share a couple of her photos.) My mom also stopped by to see them and said she was glad she never bred big dogs...when she was young she bred her Toy Fox Terriers a couple of times and could never sell a puppy...good thing they were small and only had 2 or 3 puppies each time. So I guess my love of dogs and breeding puppies comes to me genetically.

Today is my son's 21st birthday, so we'll be heading over to Tampa to take him to lunch (and a cocktail I bet!!) I have Angela, the technician from work coming over to puppy watch for us. I'm sure they'd be fine, but I always choose to be cautious when I can. I will post some new photos at some point today...promise.

4 Days Old

2010-04-30T14:58:00.000-07:00

The babies are doing really well. They eat and sleep A LOT!! Marlene is being such a good mom. She keeps them very clean and nurses them when ever they make a peep. She has started to relax about leaving them for a few minutes to go outside and potty and get a bit of fresh air, but she's ready to head back in after about 5-10 minutes. One of the boys is quite a bit smaller than the rest, he didn't gain much until today, but I think he's going to be fine. He's much stronger today. We've been calling him "Little Man." There is also one black boy that is huge! He's been nicnamed "Tank" and the little liver girl is "Mini-Me" because she's like Marlene :)

Sweet little babies, all in a row.

She keeps them very clean!

The proud Momma. I think she's feeling a bit tired today. She wasn't quite as peppy on our after dinner "walk" outside.

Eating again!

They're Here!!

2010-04-26T13:52:00.000-07:00

Marlene had her puppies today! 7 puppies, 1 liver girl, 1 black girl, 2 liver boys and 3 black boys. I had my vacation set up to start tomorrow. Bill was off today (thank goodness), but I really didn't think she'd have them quite yet. So I went off to work and left Bill instructions to keep a close eye on her. Bill called me at work around 10:45 and said "Marlene just had a puppy!" He was eating his breakfast in the room where we have her box set up and he said she just hopped in there and started having a puppy. She never got the anxiety, pacing type activity that many girls do before they deliver. She had 3 in the 1/2 hour it took me to get home. She had her last one around 1:30. Her labor seemed easy, the puppies are all vigorous and strong and she's being an excellent mother.

The Wide and Wonderful One

2010-04-25T18:57:00.000-07:00

Today's photos. Marlene is looking very Rubenesque these days :)

Last Sunday

2010-04-25T18:45:00.000-07:00

These photos were taken last weekend. She's even bigger now! See the next post.

Marlene's beau

2010-04-25T18:39:00.000-07:00

CH U-SR Destiny As Good As It Gets JH WC CGC "Andy"

The Handsome Papa

2010-04-25T18:16:00.000-07:00

Getting close!

2010-04-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

Marlene didn't eat her supper tonight (very rare for her) and her temp is down to 98.6. A drop in her temperature below 99 usually indicates whelping time is getting close (between 12-24 hours.) However, my friend's beagle just whelped puppies after having her temp below 99 for almost 2 days. While that is not "normal" anything can happen. Marlene is still in good spirits, not restless or nesting, so I feel like we have a while...but who knows :) I'll keep everyone posted.