Countdown for some great-fabulous puppies

exciting around here watching her tummy getting bigger, she's starting to slow down and rest more in the morning

Hilde's girth is 26 1/2" this morning, temperature is normal, she's eating fine, feeling well, puppies look heavier, she's got the slow jogs instead the of signature gazelle leaping, wants to go outside and find something to bark about as usual.  

Her first litter she was 27 1/2" before she started dropping

Eight puppies are expected about December 9th

Momma Hilde

resting after a little trim, she really liked having her tummy shaved, she squinted

have been able to feel and see the puppies move around for a few days now

Now due in two weeks, I am taking her temperature twice a day starting tomorrow, and keeping track of her girth, but the measurement really doesn't count until the last few days right before it starts to decrease.  The ultrasound lady said December 9th.  Momma Hilde is doing well, resting, nipples are very pink, she's running around the yard as usually but then sleeps a lot.  Wants her special meals and lots of hugs and affection.  I even caught her hugging a small stuffed animal the other night.  She's sleeping in her whelping box in the master bathroom that will soon be the nursery.  She's doing just fine.

blessings,

Paula and Jim

www.barefootpudels.com

Christmas Pictures of Our Poodles

Beautiful Hilde, 7 wks pregnant

from left:  Pippa (5mo), Fifi (6.5wks), Hilde (2.5 yrs/7wks pregnant), Everad (3yrs), Grace (4 yrs)

Joaquin and La Roux are visiting Washington, pictures coming soon

Pictures of Ma and Pa after taking pictures

Pictures

Ma and Pa

Happy Thanksgiving

Everad's Birthday is today!  He's three years old

Everad had his physical yesterday

They did a full blood panel on him, urinalisis, looked at every joint, tested for heart worms, stool sample

he was clear!

in layman's terms, Everad is clear for kidney disease, addisons, any other pre-diseases and infections

great testing ... Hilde will get her physical after she's done nursing her puppies in January

all of our poodles are CHIC on the OFA before breeding (www.offa.org)

Everad's AKC registration is pending

Everad's Dam has been proven to be AKC eligible and has received her registration number from AKC. Sent it off to registry research, they should be sending us his AKC # pretty soon

this litter will be registered AKC

(hopefully it won't take very long and can be done with the puppy package)

puppies are eligible for AKC and UKC registration

Hilde is due December 9th

she will be seven weeks Sunday, last night had quite a bit of difficulty getting comfortable on her big pillow in our bedroom, we woke both of us up several times fluffing up the pillow to get comfortable

her girth is 25 1/4" this morning

girth

kind of a wives tale I guess

for every inch around a dam's girth at the very end of her pregnancy is estimated to be one puppy

Hilde's last litter her girth was 27 1/2" at 9 weeks pregnant, 

starting at 20", she had eight (moyen) puppies

this litter her girth before pregnancy (now living on an acre) her girth was about 19"

it's too early to say what it is finally, but it's good to keep track just the same

a moyen poodle that will be 16-18" tall will be 6-11oz at birth

a moyen poodle that will be 18-20" tall will be 12-13oz at birth

a standard poodle puppy will be about 1-1.5# at birth

i.e.:  a standard puppy at four weeks old will be 4-5#

a moyen puppy that will be about 17" at four weeks will be about 3# at four weeks old

it's a big difference from the start,

we attempt to guessimate their size from birth and usually pretty close or right on with our guessing when they are 7 weeks old.  A silver puppy's will be light by the time they are 6 wks old.  I can say which puppies will be silver at birth, the blues are the toughest to guess.  Blues take the longest to clear until they are about 2.5 to 3 years old.  Most breeders say they are black and then their owners are surprised when their faces turn light about 2.5 years old.  Blacks are blacks with no white on their pad tufts.  We havn't had a brown or red/apricot puppy yet, but will also be able to say which will be red or apricot.  Creams are usually born an apricot color with cream coming through as their hair grows, so we also know which will be creams and which will be apricots.

Our first red litter will be 2013, maybe the end of 2012

I guess what size and color a puppy will be at 6 wks old as a grown adult.  I have a pretty good track record of accuracy, however I cannot and do not guarantee size or color.  Puppies come with a two-year health guarantee, I do guarantee their health.  Like the experts say, once a puppy leaves the "nest" per se, after two weeks it's up to their new environment and how their new owners raises them (food, hygene, overall well being).

If you are interested in one of these puppies, contact us at pudels@roadrunner.com

Blessings, Paula and Jim

www.barefootpudels.com

Update and Pictures

Hilde is more uncomfortable, she lays on the floor and lifts up to change positions

she gets a little more crabby, she doesn't like the poodles to run around her

she runs as usual, then rests a lot

her eating can be a little picky, mornings get a little less but she does catch up during the day

Six Week Update

Puppies pigment develops as the pups keep growing

Eyes and lids have formed and remain closed until two weeks old after birth

Seven Week Update

she tires easier, starting to look for places to nest

pups are developed well, growing daily

might be able to detect movement

teats are getting serious about nursing puppies

Sunday she's seven weeks along, will put the whelping box up where she knows where to whelp

she needs a shave, try not to drain her energy and just let her do what she's comfortable doing, she's doing great, eating, sleeping in our bedroom, whelping box comes out soon.  Below sunning,

Six and a half weeks pregnant

Pictues of Momma Hilde 5.5 wks pregnant

see Hilde's pooch?

she might be larger than her last litter with eight puppies

Ultrasound was today!

Ultrasound lady said about 8 puppies, she's 38 days pregnant which is nice that she could verify that.

Revising Hilde's due date to December 9th

congrats to those waiting for a puppy out of this spectacular litter, we are so excited to see what Everad and Hilde has.

I could see one large, a few mediums and a couple small pups on the screen... at this point anyway.


I think the large pup was black ... lol

blessings, Paula and Jim

send your guess to:
(I havn't figured out how to change the email address on all of our blogs.
It automatically comes up with the set email address)

pudels@roadrunner.com

LET THE GUESSING BEGIN!!

send your best guess of how many of each gender and colors.  Hint:  I expect her to a couple jet black puppies like last time.

the person the closest in gender split and colors win a prize!

Candid Picture of Hilde and Everad

Hilde is 4.5 weeks pregnant

Everad turns three November 24th

Pippa sitting with them, she's four months old, 16.5" tall, after she's two years old, she will also have a litter with Everad.  At 2.5 Everad's face shaded like his blue mom.  Hilde was registered as "blue" now at 2.5 around her nose has a lighter hue than her face.  It's funny, Everad was registered black and is lighter than Hilde.

Everad is a sweetheart, he always knows to sit with the expectant momma.  He's very supportive in whatever she needs.  LOL but true, he's really a very special boy.  He's our EveRAD, the RAD man.

Hilde is quietly sweet but active.  She has a happiness about her that keeps her smiling, she's a complete joy to have around.  When she's in the house she turns into a perfect little lady.  She's never been distructive in any way, always respective, she absolutely will not consider going potty in the house.


well I will take that back, Hilde's last litter, her first puppy was born on the bathroom floor (of course not on the carpeting!)  she was panicked she had made a mess in the house.  I woke up a little before 5am, Hilde was running through the house barking, "let me out, let me out, I have to pee!  come on people, I can't hold it any longer!!  I let her out, she looked at me like ... dang lady.  I ran to the bathroom and warmed up a screaming cold puppy, Hilde cleaned up as much as she could before getting loud enough to get me up.  Hilde birthed her first puppy by herself, she's an awesome girl.  Just can't say enough great things about Hilde.  We love her dearly.


hint: she was raised on the potty park, this little girl is why we raise all of our puppies on the potty park, it teaches them at a very young age there's specific places to potty, something for people like us that share our home with our poodles and don't appreciate having outside smells in the house!  I really appreciate this about Hilde which was trained into her before we got her at 11 wks old.





Reservation List
this litter's list will be settled into Dec 4th when Grace's litter's picking is chosen, and when this litter is born, we will know if she has a small silver girl is available for Alicia and if she wants to transfer or pick a puppy from this litter.  Everybody will be settled in by the time the puppies are five days old.
#1 pick might be Linden & Kimberly
#2 pick might be Alicia
depending what they have


#3 pick is available
#4 pick is available
#5 pick is available


ultrasound scheduled monday
will know soon approximately how many puppies to plan on

Four Weeks

Hilde is now in her fourth week, she's over her morning sickness and eating heartily, her belly has quite a pooch, her nipples are pronounced and pink.

************ 4th week **********

Days 21 to 28

Vet can Palpate and possibly detect pregnancy.  Between days 27 and 31.  After day 32, fluids increase to protect pups and making palpating not possible.

--Fetus's grow from 5-10mm to 14-16mm, faces take shape, eyes and spinal cords developed.--At this stage the embryos are most susceptible.

-- Some like to add 1/4 cup of cottage cheese + 1 scrambled egg every other day.  Or mix (refrigerate) + add a tbsp to daily food.  Hilde is on raw dog food, Fromm puppy kibble & lamb bones as a treat few times a week.  She was off of her feed for a while, cooked chicken and turkey breast got her to start eating again.

-- She's on NuVet vitamins all of the time, pregnant or not.  I like to start a Vet recommended multi-vitamin at this stage, but do not give calcium pills. The Dam needs to build up her own reserves.

girth is 23"

Guessing Color and Gender

I havn't done any color testing on her or Everad, so your guess is as good as mine.  Jim nor I can win a prize, but you certainly could!

send your guess to pudels@roadrunner.com

include date, gender and color of the puppies

the person that gets closest to the date they arrive ... how many girls and boys ... and what colors and how many, wins a prize

as a hint, her last litter with Joaquin she had six look alikes to him (17" creams), two jet black puppies, she had four girls, four boys.  The jet black puppies look exactly like Hilde, playful and gorgeously darlingly cuddly.  I hope she and Everad have a couple of silvers as well.  
She could have an array of color or a litter of blacks and blues.

Theoretically a "blue" poodle will allow color to come through from both of their backgrounds.  Hilde's sire and his parents/grandparents are dark browns.  Everad has mostly blacks and a few creams in his background.  Hilde's mom is a blue and so is Everad's

see the first post of this blog for pictures of Hilde and Everad's family

Send in your guess!

here's Jim's guess
10   Puppyes

4 Black
2 blues
1 brown
3 creams

6 boys
4 girls


My guess
8 puppies
4 blues
2 jet black
2 brown
4 girls, 4 boys


size?  the jet black puppies will be the small standards
6 of the puppies will be 17-19", the moyen


previous comment for color on this litter from Alicia,
she guesses they will all be blues
she's waiting for a small silver girl