Six Months

Merry Christmas! We are looking forward to a better year in 2011. My Mom has made it, has a new heart valve, is recovered well enough to move to a senior living facility to continue gaining strength. I have actually restarted training little Cricket, who has been somewhat neglected the last few months and acquired a few bad habits. We joined an agility class midsession and are managing to stay abreast of everyone else. She is doing just great- has no fear of any of the obstacles she has been introduced to so far. In November, just after she turned 6 months old, I took her to the shows in Monroe to socialize her and gauge how she does in crowds. To my surprise, she won the Nonsporting Group at the Friday night fun match! At the real show on Saturday, she was a bit squirrely, not wanting to stand still for the judge and jumping on him as we did the courtesy turn (oops!), and on Sunday, she dived for a piece of floating dog hair right in front of me as we were gaiting around the ring, almost causing me to trip. She did win her puppy class, which allowed her to go in again for more experience. She leaned into her collar at the shows, which made her move like a hackney pony. Nevertheless, I was pretty pleased with how well she did for no experience. She was friendly to both people and dogs and for the most part kept her feet on the ground- very difficult for her. In assessing how she is looking right now, I'd say she has a really nice, smooth gait with lots of power in the rear, looks good coming and going, has a proper scissor bite, nice dark eyes, and a good topline. I think her markings are pretty nice, albeit a bit dark. She is very striking. On the negative side, she has that curve at the end of her tail, is a bit long in the body, and needs to have more people go over her to give her a bit more confidence. Her small size will also hamper her somewhat, and some judges may not like the heavy spotting on her face, making it harder to evaluate expression . All in all, though, she is certainly showable in the breed ring. My plan now is to enter her in at least one show in Puyallup in January and the Mt Hood Specialty in Portland, as well. She needs more positive experience while she matures physically. The above photo showing Skookum, Cricket, and Flojo was taken by Jerry Vavra at the show.

The following weekend, Cricket was in the Holiday Parade in downtown Seattle, which is a very noisy, crowded and fun function. I took her into the Grand Hyatt to get our costume, walked her all over the streets, and let lots of people pet her. After hanging around awhile, she seemed very confident and I handed her off to a club member to walk in the parade while I went back to the car to get Mom Skookum. I was extremely pleased with Cricket's behavior during the parade. She handled the crowds and noise very well, and didn't seem to be too embarrassed to be dressed in a Santa coat. What a good puppy!

Unfortunately, on Christmas day, little Cricket discovered that she can jump my fence and gate with no problem. Oh, well, I was meaning to replace that section, anyway... I'd better get busy.

Five Months

Well, my 88 year old Mom had heart surgery last week and seems to finally be recovering. At her age, it's going to take some time. Yesterday, we transferred her to a rehab facility where she can slowly heal and start exercising her heart, lungs, and muscles. The good news is, she has a new heart valve and single bypass and is in otherwise very good health for her age. So, her prognosis for a few more years is very good. I am making no progress in training the girls, but they are holding up very well as I spend long hours at the hospital.

My original plan for my dogs was to finish Skookum's CDX title this year so she would qualify for a VCD2, and also work on a TDX for her and a TD for little Cricket so both girls could enter the National Specialty Tracking Test in Kentucky. I am not sure that is going to happen now, but it might if the weather holds over the winter to get out and practice. In the meantime, Skookum has an appointment next week to be spayed, so will need some recovery time for that. I am going to try to get Cricket to an agility class starting next week and catch up a bit on our training goals.

Four Months

Sometimes life is not fair and you just have to roll with the punches. On Saturday, mom Skookum entered her first agility trial since January. She is still packing about 4 pounds too much, but we thought we should see where we were in our training. She still was impatient to hold the start line, bobbed out of a couple of weave poles, and missed a down contact on the dog walk on her three runs. However, her speed is coming back and her distance work was totally excellent. In the FAST class, she was one of only a few dogs to do the distance obstacles. She was well under time on the Jumpers course. I was looking forward to Sunday when I got an unfortunate call that my Mom had suffered heart failure and was in the hospital, so we packed up and went racing to the emergency room, camping outside the hospital in the old motorhome. Her condition is now stable, but she has come to live with me for awhile until heart surgery can be done. I have cancelled all my community and dog activities to assist her. We will just have to cope.

3 1/2 Months

Well, it has been an eventful month since our last post. Cooper has been very ill with some sort of virus infection and his owners have been very concerned, as have I. He had a very high fever, diarrhea, and poor appetite. I am told other dogs and pups out there have had an unidentified virus, also. McKenzie also has been on antibiotics for a UTI after a bout of diarrhea. Cricket has escaped "it" so far, whatever it is, but it sure doesn't sound like much fun.

I have been busy as Show Chair for our local breed club show again this year, and so am running a bit behind on my training schedule, but somebody has to do the job, I guess. It has been a lot of work, but a lot of fun, also. You only get out of anything what you put into it, I think. It's nice to have a 3-day weekend to catch up on a few things now, though. On a positive note, Granny Flojo's brother Tony actually won the Specialty Show on Friday with a Best of Breed from the Veteran's class. It was to be his last show, and he won it in style. I don't believe he has been in the show ring for years. I also don't believe I can remember another dog having won a show like this at the age of almost 12. Since Flojo and Tony's mom Jackie is 16 years old now, it should bode well for the health and longevity of Skookum's litter. Let's hope so. Wow, what an achievement! I am glad I was there to see it. Bonnie Rose, Granny Flojo's breeder, has posted a win photo of Uncle Tony on her website. You can look at it by going to Seaspecs Dalmatians website home page, and then clicking on the link to On The Spot Dalmatians. On the same page is a picture of Great Granny Jackie, Flojo's mom, celebrating her birthday. Jackie was nicknamed after Jackie Onassis because of a circle of spots she has on her flank. Flojo has the same circle in the same place.

Skookum is slowly regaining her prenatal fitness, but is still a bit portly and much slower than before on the agility course. Two weeks ago, I finally got her back up to her full 20 inch jump height with no problems, and last week we ran all but the first course at the full jump height. We are starting to work as a team again, but our timing is not perfect. Maybe since she is a bit slower now, I should try entering a trial and I might actually be able to keep up with her!

Here is a pre-pregnancy photo of Skookum and I hanging around the bleachers, waiting for our turn in the agility ring. I have actually entered a trial for a couple of weeks from now. It will be interesting to see how Skookum does. She has shed a couple of pounds- down to 44 from 47 since the puppies were weaned, and is getting faster and stronger, but is still not back in competition form. Her normal weight is 40 lbs, but she would really excel at 37 lbs. Maybe we should shed a few together. I am going to an outdoor show, and am planning on camping on the grounds. So, it should be a good socialization experience for little Cricket. Plus, I should have time to do some training during our down time. I can hardly wait!

3 Months Old

These puppies are all living separate lives now, but still have lots in common. We have had carsickness issues, but at least Cricket's seems to have gone away this last week as we took her to two fun matches over the last two weekends to socialize her. Now, when riding in the car, she pretty much sleeps comfortably in her oversized crate. Finally, at least two of the puppies can make it through the night without a trip outside to do their business, but the third puppy has had a urinary tract infection, so will hopefully work through housebreaking issues when that is resolved. Cricket and Cooper both weighed the same at 10 1/2 weeks - 19.5 lbs and McKenzie is about 16.5 lbs. Those all seemed like too much because of mom Skookum's small size. Little Cricket has now started obedience training and we have lots of homework to do. On August 14th, the 3 month anniversary date for this litter, we took Skookum to an obedience fun match and entered Cricket in conformation just for fun. She won the nonsporting group! That means she stood still and let me show her bite to the judge- small but important steps in her career training.

Twelve Weeks

As of August 6th, the puppies are now 12 weeks old. The remaining puppy, "Cricket" is now a work in progress. Follow our training and socialization adventures on her page: Red Girl aka "Cricket", as we work our way from puppyhood to adulthood. I will post photos of the other puppies on their pages if and when they come. This is a photo of Grannie Flojo and her granddaugher Cricket snuggled up in an undersized dog bed. It's amazing how fast she is growing.

10 Weeks - An Empty Nest

They are all gone now. After weeks of planning, socializing, training, cleaning up, there is only one puppy left to join the pack. Relative calm has replaced the continuous activity of the puppy group. Having one puppy seems like a vacation with time to sit back and reflect, and make plans for the future of the next one. This picture may seem strange to someone else, but it is what struck me as the combined character of my puppies when they were all here together. It is an old dog bed that had access to the outdoors. It is loaded with all the puppy treasures my little group could find as they played in the rec room and outside: toys, rags, cottage cheese carton, garden trowel, chewed up pine cone. They brought all of their treasures to this place and played with them and each other here. All of the puppies had the instinct to pick up things and carry them around- good signs of future performance and working dogs, and dogs that will interact well with their owners. It was what we were breeding for. Now the nest is empty, but my puppies have good homes and I am very content with that.

9 Weeks

Only 2 puppies left, and daily life is getting much easier, if not totally predictable. My puppy setup is in my downstairs rec room, adjacent to my office. With the nice weather we have had, I have put a screen curtain in the sliding door which allows the dogs to go in and out of the yard as long as I am home. The up side of this is that I can get lots of work done, sometimes. The down side is that lots of puppy treasures get hauled into my house, requiring a bit of extra cleanup. This week, I left the house for the first time for a whole 8 hours. A friend came over to let the puppies out of their pen and check on a plumbing issue for me. While under the sink, the pliars disappeared, stolen by a puppy. When getting up to retrieve the pliars outside the house, he met a puppy dragging the plumbing parts package outside, too. Needless to say, some things take longer when there are puppies around. Also, the puppies got some supervised time in the main part of the house, watching TV (how long has that been?), learning how to use the doggie door, getting new treats from the kitchen, and getting some minor training on manners. Here is a picture of the two puppies left hanging out with Grannie Flojo in a moment of domestic bliss, while I actually had time to read the Sunday newspaper.

I have posted a few photos of the individual puppies on their own pages for those who would like to see a bit better what this combination of parents produced. The conformation of all the puppies is pretty nice, I think, and the spotting is not as dark as you might expect, especially with a darkly marked Mom like Skookum. I hope my experiment will encourage other breeders to consider using good quality patches in their breeding programs, as I think the gene pool is getting rather thin and can use an infusion of excellent genes. My main reason, though, for doing this breeding was to obtain a truly excellent performance dog for myself, as it is very difficult to find Dal breeders who have any focus at all on breeding for this. At Skookum's age, I will not likely breed her again, but I would if both of us had the time. I wish I could take something from each of the three puppies and roll it into one individual, because they all have outstanding personality traits. The temperaments of these puppies, by the way, is excellent. However, in the end, I am keeping the puppy with the highest energy level and inquisitiveness, and probably the worst puppy for the conformation ring. Time will tell if this was the right decision.

8 Weeks

It is absolutely amazing how fast the time has gone by. This time of year I am usually out at shows or trials a weekend or two a month. This year, my time has been devoted to producing a small, but wonderful litter of puppies. I am so pleased with these little guys, and very happy with the wonderful homes they are going to. If anything, these folks might be more passionate about this breed than I am! That is the most rewarding part of the whole process. I know my puppies are going have good lives with their new owners and likewise be part of a family. Here is a family photo of Skookum, the puppies, and Grandma Flojo on their last evening all together. The theme of Skookum's litter is in honor of my late husband of 30 years, Dave. In naming them, I decided to use things that meant something to him. Hence, Boiler Maker was his favorite drink, Cracklin Rosie and Peggy Sue were from a couple of his favorite boogieing songs. If it weren't for Dave, there would be no Skookum. He totally supported my decision to drive all the way to Kansas to breed Flojo to Daddy Newt, and constantly bragged about his "champions". Hey, Dave, we're just getting started!

Seven Weeks

First Time in the Car and it was no big deal. On Monday, I piled all four puppies into one of the adult dog's travel crates and drove to my vet's clinic for initial shots and microchipping. The puppies were not at all mildly bothered by the trip - no carsickness or fear. When I got to the vet's, I put two puppies in each of two pet travel bags, slung them over my shoulders, and headed in to the examination room. I was trying to be careful not to expose them to germs in the entry area. The exam room was nice and clean and I let them out on the floor to explore at the vet's suggestion. Several staff had to come in and visit while we were there. The puppies enjoyed being social butterflies. They were weighed on a baby scale, and hearts, ears, and bites checked, given a quick injection, and then had the microchip inserted. All pups are in good health. We gave them kibble treats to make it a positive experience. The vaccine was the DA2PP, with no Lepto, Bordetella, or Rabies- too much too early for all of those. A second shot will be needed in 4 weeks, rabies at 16 weeks. None of them were the least bit bothered by any of this, except to pile themselves on top of the carry bags for a short nap when they were finished. Because my vet handles the microchip paperwork, I needed to select names for the puppies. They can be changed later if their new owners prefer another name. I was very proud of my little guys.

Bad News on Thursday, the Patched Boy would not eat and seemed very disoriented. On Friday, I forced fed him soft food and water, and then made plans to take him to my vet on Saturday. After visiting the vet, I decided to take him to a Specialist on the same day. They gave him fluids and he started eating again, but he is definitely not well. I picked him up Sunday morning to watch him, but his prognosis is not good. I am very worried about the little guy.

On the plus side, the temperament tests were done on the remaining three puppies on Thursday. My observation of their personalities is pretty close to what the results were. They are all somewhere in the middle, with Red Girl being the most active "bouncy", Blue Boy being a close second, and Yellow Girl being the most calm. I will be sure to go over the results with their new owners. Also, all three were BAER tested on Saturday, with results to be given to the owners, also. I visited way too many veterinarians on Saturday, an experience I sure don't want to repeat. I will try to post some more pictures later when I am able to slow down!

These puppies crack me up!

Here are a couple of candid shots after a very busy play session. The cuddler bed is usually occupied by one of the adult dogs when I am working, but the puppies took it over, creating a classic puppy pile. Later, the two girls decided to hang out with Grannie Flojo, who just couldn't be bothered by the early fireworks going on around- sleep is much more important!

Well, it's a first attempt at a family photo.

We need to work a bit on the "stay" part of the sit exercise, but at least it is coming along.

We will try another shot later when we have a bit more time to spend.

Six Week Photos

The puppies are growing like weeds. Speaking of weeds, this week the puppies ventured out into my overgrown garden, becoming more bold and going farther each time. Being babies, they must put everything possible in their mouths to see what it is. Everyone of them has brought a dead leaf back into the house. They are getting more playful with toys and each other. While out in the yard with them, I have been carrying a pocketful of kibble and calling "Puppy, come!" when they are not looking. Right now, they all come running for a treat out of my hand when I call.

Indoors, I have moved their pen from my office to the rec room which has access to a fenced yard. They are quickly becoming potty trained. Indoors, at least most of the time, they do their business on newspaper; if they have access, they run outdoors to do their business. Also, they are now intermingling with the big dogs. My main concern has been a grouchy old foster dog I have had for awhile, who is male dog aggressive. Even he is accepting the puppies and all 3 adult dals now seem pretty comfortable with the pups. They do not hesitate to give the puppies a low growl and a curled lip if they aren't being civilized. Discipline is a good thing. Here are some photos of the pups on their outdoor adventures, and their subsequent discovery of the soft, cushy doggie couch in the rec room. Friday, they had their initial dose of worming medication.

Next week is a big week for the puppies. On Monday, they will have their initial set of immunizations and be microchipped. Later in the week, they will be temperament tested. On Saturday, they will be hearing tested. At that time, I will be making up my mind as to which puppy I want to keep. It's a tough decision because of all the things I want to do with my pick puppy. I need both good conformation and a very trainable puppy.

5 Weeks Old

Another week has gone by quickly as these puppies continue to grow and get stronger. The pups are getting 3 mushy solid meals a day now, and mom Skookum continues to check on them, but prefers to sleep peacefully elsewhere if she can. All of the puppies can now climb in and out of their old whelping box and have been spending time in a new, larger pen outside of the nursery, and have been walked outside and to different areas of the house. For the most part, they manage to do their business in one corner of the nursery, making cleanup a lot easier. They are getting more creative as they play with each other, and I have been very pleased with their interactions with people. The weekend has been extraordinarily busy with visitors and folks dropping byas the predicted nice weekend turned rainy. What a better thing to do than play with puppies in front of the fireplace on a rainy day?

Four Weeks Old Today

This has been a fascinating week in the social development of both mom and puppies. Mom Skookum was a singleton puppy and I have always had to work with her on bite inhibition when she was around other dogs and people and when I was training her. Biting too hard has been an issue for her because she had no siblings to play with and help her learn how to be gentle. In playing with her puppies, the lesson seems to have been learned. She will now take treats from people ever so carefully. That is a side benefit I never expected! In the meantime, the puppies are starting to play more and more with each other and are becoming more and more confident with people. The puppies have now been allowed outside the whelping box to explore a bit, and we have carried them around the house from place to place more frequently. A couple of their young visitors are show above. This week, we continued feeding them a bit more solid food and will start cutting down now on Mom's food to start weaning them. They are definitely not lacking on nutrition, the chubby little rascals.

Three Week Group Photos

What a week! The puppies eyes have opened, they are hearing, and one of them escaped the pen today. They are starting to play with each other. They were introduced to the taste of goat's milk this week as a slow transition to solid food. What a mess! It was hilarious to watch them figure out that white stuff on the plate was edible. One photo shows they really have open eyes. The other couple of photos show their spotting patterns from a couple of different angles. What good looking little puppies, yes?

Two Weeks Old

Here are a couple of photos of the puppies at two weeks. It's hard to believe that they are almost 2 1/2 times their birth weight. Their spots are really popping through and they are actually beginning to walk around the whelping box like little drunken sailors. They stagger a few steps and then fall down, and then get up again. Their tails are starting to wag, too, as they move around. I think we are beginning to see their personalities showing through. The easiest going pup seems to be the biggest, which is also the lightest marked puppy- the patched boy. He seems to have a labrador retriever personality. But, we shall see how that develops. The other three pups are a bit more compact and are probably going to have a bit higher drive. They all still spend most of their time sleeping.

Here is a closeup of one of the girls. Except for her tummy, she is not as dark as she looks. Her eyes and nose are filling in nicely. If you look closely, you can see that her eyes are just starting to open. Hopefully by next week, all puppy's eyes will be open and they may be hearing as well.

Puppies First Week

We have approached the end of the first week of puppies! They have doubled in size already and are doing well. As is evident from the photo, their spots are starting to show through the white fur. At day 3, we took them to the vet and had their dew claws removed. There is some controversy among performance folks about the desirability of dew claws, but having dealt with ripped and torn dew claws on prior dogs, I think this will make it easier for both the dog and future owner. My vet used lidocaine and a soft dissolvable thread instead of glue this time. The thread feels like soft fur and the mom is less likely to rip it out. On the negative side, we lost the little tiny patched boy, so we have only four puppies remaining.

On day 4, I started early neurological stimulation exercises which involve such things as tickling their toes and holding them in different positions. These exercises were developed by the Military for their Super Dog Program, and should give the pups a head start in their cardio vascular performance, stress tolerance, and greater resistance to disease as they age. I did these with mom Skookum and I'd say they have had a positive impact. Few things bother Skookum. Lastly, today the pups got their first toe nail trim, done with regular human nail clippers.

Mom and Pups photo

This is a photo of Skookum and her puppies. Notice that Skookum has solid dark, double patched ears. Two of the male puppies have patched ears, also, but only one ear each. The remaining puppies have normal dalmatian spotting. As the puppies mature, we will be able to see if they have as many spots as their mom. The spots will emerge through the white coats as they get older.

The Puppies Are Here!

It was a long couple of days, but the puppies arrived on May 14th. The first delivery was just after noon and the last one about 5:30 p.m. on a beautiful sunny day. Born were 3 males and 3 females, all black spotted. The last girl puppy did not make it and the third male is very small, but right now we think he is going to be OK. He has gained weight overnight. Out of the litter of six, two are patches, both males, and both patched near or on one ear. Skookum is being a great mom.

Skookum looks a bit more rotund than a few days ago. It is possible to feel the puppies move when she is lying at rest. I started taking her temperature this evening so there is at least some advance notice of her whelping time. The temperature will drop 24 hours or so before the puppies come.

Expectant Mom

This is Skookum out in the yard with only nine days to go before her litter is due. It's amazing that only a couple of weeks ago it was hard to tell if she was pregnant or not. The ultrasound we had done indicates at least 5 puppies can be expected.

Johnny/Skookum Litter