Wednesday, July 29, 2020 at 8:16PM 
No one new opened their eyes today but the 2 that has have started to try to walk and play. Wow, can't wait till all have eyes open. Now that 2 have, I can't wait for the 3.
Raven is very happy that they are starting to interact. It's interesting to see her excitement. Look, Mom what they can do now.
Exciting times are coming. I am uploading videos now.
Tuesday, July 28, 2020 at 4:44PM 
The 3rd born is the 1st to open his eyes. As you can see he has colours bleeding through. He was quite the character and not afraid of the huge humans. I got to see it 1st. I was so excited! Who will open their eyes next?
Here is the gallery of 3rd born.
Here is the 2nd pup to open his eyes. This is 2nd born opening eyes 2nd. :-) Here is the gallery. The beauty of being the majority caretaker during the day, I got to see his eyes open too. Who will be next?
Here is the gallery from today.
They are starting to show some personalities. They lay on their backs. they spoon and they have just started to try to get up on their legs and walk.
All are over 1lb now. The girl was exactly 1lb this morning at 7am. I won't be weighing her again till 7pm.
They go crazy now over the food. Feed me.... LOL
Monday, July 27, 2020 at 5:21PM 
The pups are interacting as much as they can with eyes closed. They do rudimentary play. They use each other as pillows and they love the connection.
Each day I hold them several times a day so when their eyes open they will feel comfortable with me. There is always a method to my madness.
Sunday, July 26, 2020 at 7:26PM 
Everyone is now over 1 pound with the exception of the girl. They seem more active and they do spread out. When mom comes in, they sniff and find her if there is no one to help.
They want for nothing. :-) Momma Raven makes sure of that!
Saturday, July 25, 2020 at 9:14PM 
Two of the pups are now over 1lb in weight. Can you guess which from looking at the gallery?
Momma and pups are doing well. I watch them while I groom. I will be uploading the videos shortly.
Their nails are no longer getting caught on the blankets as their nails were cut yesterday.
they are starting to roll, to belly crawl and sniff to find mom.
Friday, July 24, 2020 at 3:53PM 
Silly me, I am beta testing IOS 14 and it has fits with Youtube but I persist and vow to get videos uploaded. They are now going up. I am attempting to do so now. We do have one video of each puppy getting their nails clipped. It's the last one uploaded.
I can't wait till their eyes open. I know - not yet but here I wait! You too, I imagine.
Thursday, July 23, 2020 at 6:31PM 
Do you see those tails up? They are tanking up. What do you mean tanking up? The milk is flowing and they are happy. Their tails are telling you that.
All pups have doubled their birth weight which is usually a guide in this timeframe. Sometimes they are just short of it and sometimes over. This crew all met the guide. They are doing well and the one I call Mr. Flash tends to roll over this way and that. I have to catch it on video. Those are getting uploaded shortly.
Wednesday, July 22, 2020 at 3:30PM 
How did we get here? It seems to have happened so fast.
Here is the gallery. New photos added to the gallery.
It appears we have 4 tris and one sable girl. How mich bleed through of colour occurs, time will tell. They are beautiful - there is no denying.
The girl is the smallest. That's pretty norm.
No running around the pool today as we have had rain off and on and well although it is warm, it gives me the ability to wash a few dogs - not 11 and spend sometime with Raven. She is way happy. If she is happy, I am!
Videos coming soon. maybe I will get nathan to do a video of individuals. We shall see. He is still napping. :-) Ooops can't till tomorrow. He has class, I am told. LOL
Tuesday, July 21, 2020 at 8:20PM 
Here is the gallery.
Pups eat, sleep and move around. I will be uploading the videos shortly.
I was going to get a drink but Raven is splayed across the door saying you are now staying with me. :-)I get it so yes, I am. only an hour and a half till bedtime. She will be miffed - and rightly so. <sigh>
The pups look amazing on this brown blanket, don't you think?
Monday, July 20, 2020 at 7:27PM 
Pups are doing well. Here is the gallery.
Raven continues to exercise around the pool and looks to Nathan to do so. This is all when the pups are sleeping. Here is the video.
I can't believe tomorrow night they will be a week old.
They want for nothing. Momma dotes on them and then she has fun when they are catching some serios zzzzs. Good for her. Life has to have fun in it - not just all work!
Sunday, July 19, 2020 at 2:37PM Pups are doing really well. Most times they find their own way to mom. They now range from 8-1/8 oz to 12-1/8 oz up from 5-1/8 oz to 7-5/8 oz at birth. The girl remains the smallest but is having nice gains. She is round too. LOL I am glad they are doing so well. I comb out Raven daily and they crawl right through and knot her hair.
I have to go buy some bacon as Raven LOVES it - the thick kind. I cook it in the air fryer and so much easier than pan frying. Anything to indulge her.
Videos coming in a bit.
Saturday, July 18, 2020 at 3:28PM 
Pups are doing well and so is Raven. A couple are gaining over a full ounce daily now - rest about 6/8oz. They do have some bleeding through colour especially the last born boy.
Their bellies get quite round and momma kisses them up all the time. It's wonderful but sometimes they just want to sleep.
I will be uploading videos in a bit.
Friday, July 17, 2020 at 8:37AM 
Took this photo as I thought it was interesting. A background to the pups can make them appear differently, don't you think? Here is today's gallery.
All pups are gaining and doing well. One gained over 1-1/8oz and the lowest gained 5/8oz in a 24 hour period. I put up new videos and continue as I can.
Raven remains attentive. She is eating well. No more tummy gurgling.
Thursday, July 16, 2020 at 7:32PM This is the last day of twice a day updates. Instead if something new occurs I will add it to the existing blog of the day.
The pups are consistently gaining 6/8oz in a 24 hour period. They are doing well. Raven is a good momma. She is eating well. She loves her snuggles and massages. She sure likes to show the pups off.
Thursday, July 16, 2020 at 10:06AM 
Here is the gallery. I am uploading videos in a bit.
Pups are doing wonderful. They are all gaining nicely for this age. Mr. Flash seems to only like certain milk stations. Can you believe?
Momma Raven has discharge and will for weeks. This is normal but we change the blankets as needed. Her output is getting better. Puppies is also solid so their system is working well. All great news! Sometimes for mom this also takes a week or two so lots of cleaning the back end. Yesterday we saw improvement. Tummy is no longer gurgling. You will see in a video how she won't eat that well from Nathan. I mixed in a few treats and she ate the whole bowl. Mighty picky - heh. Other times she won't eat for me and does for Nathan. She had salmon (fresh) and loved it at first and then turned her nose up at it. Then she loves steak and then not.
Laundry is doable now. With 15, it was nonstop. LOL
Now she wants to go out so - end of blogging!
Wednesday, July 15, 2020 at 5:15PM 
The pups are a few hours from starting to be 24 hours old. Who knew we would have an almost daytime debut.
The pups are all quite beautiful. All pups are gaining. As they lost a bit, they had to recover from that and gain. Since birth they have gained several ounces. This is perfect. As they grow they gain more and more each 12 hour period. A larger tummy means more they can take in and therefore more weight gain.
I tried doing individuals on video. By myself it was interesting but I put them up anyways. Then we had Nathan up from his nap and we did another and other than a paper towel on the floor that I think Dennis left after sterilizing the pen, it would have been perfect. Yes, he's our Mr. Sterilizer.
I am still playing recovery. I had plans to get my desk organized or a quick swim but not today. I jumped in and jumped out feeling awfully guilty. Maybe tomorrow. Raven likes me being here. She has loose bowels which is normal. That takes a bit to calm down after all that activity in her system from pushing to pups coming. There is nothing to worry about but she wants her mom. If I am in here with her she naps and she needs naps. If I am not she stays on alert. She is a new mom so she doesn't want to share pups with anyone dawg like when they are vulnerable. That will change as they are mobile.
Nathan is off to class with Tempie and when he returns, Dennis will crawl into bed and hopefully I will get there on time which didn't happen last night and I am my worst enemy as I watch the cameras to see how she is doing many times during the night as you will see in the time of the videos. As they are doing so well, I may just try to stay asleep. Doting human mom and all.
I just remembered I only had a muffin and coffee today.
In one of the photos you will see cords etc all behind the xpen. We have a temperature regulation system that shuts off and on to keep the temperature consistent for the pups. They can't regulate their body temperature yet. So, they have a heatlamp that makes sure they stay warm. We also have an inverter system that allows us to have the heatlamp on if our power goes out and it has happened. Yes, even in teh summer with air conditioning you must regulate the temperature.
I hold them many times a day to get them ready to touch so when they open their eyes they go oh that is what was gentle with me. It's important to get them used to you from day one.
The pups - they are wonderful. I thought I had till tomorrow but she had other plans.
Wednesday, July 15, 2020 at 8:31AM 
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Got into bed at 1pmish. Nathan crawled into bed right after delivery when he finished putting down the new crate pad and taking a few photos. There is so much to do before you crawl in bed. I have to wash her backend and dry it. Dennis was cleaning. I was getting towels in wash which took an extra long sterilize wash to clean. Food was created for Raven. She ate gleefully as she refused to eat yesterday till during delivery and after. Dennis fed her 2 cans of Starter Mousse. This morning she turned her nose up at ground veal. Nathan is the food person during the day. Dennis is it at night. Nathan will try her on something else in a bit but as I am now here, she is sleeping. It is much needed sleep. She gets mighty happy to see me as I brush her out, give her massages and all the things she deserves.
Here is this mornings gallery.
One puppy gained, 1 held its own and 3 lost minor amounts. This is normal till milk comes fully in. It appears it is now in as I watched them feed with their tails up in the air as they tanked up with mom's milk. They will gain by tonight's weigh in. These pups are very robust.
I still can't figure out colour but in a day or two we will do individuals again. It will be easy to do that with only 5. They are all striking in their own way.All are very easy to tell from each other.
Having pups all try to come at once created such a mess with the cords and placentas. Although timeframe on birth noted was separate times, they were trying to come at once and you could feel it like a huge ball at the birth canal.
Raven was quiet. It is why she didn't show pushing etc I felt I could go upstairs and get socks and then I arrive downstairs to a puppy born. The rest was silent as well. For awhile she kept trying to stand up to get gravity to work in her favour. She is a smart mom. All pups were sqirming all over the whelping box and now she is sleeping and they are feeding.
Thank you to Sherry for a brand new crate pad that she made herself.
It is certainly a boys crew with a lone gal!
Continue to check video uploads. I will be uploading them after I take them as much as I can.
Tuesday, July 14, 2020 at 11:26PM 
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I think we may have browns vs blacks. Will let you know in the morning. Videos may make it tonight in bed or 1st thing in the morning.
This was an interesting birth as we had Raven whelp her 1st herself then we had placentas stuck in and wrapped. All pups are in great health but untangling for a beginner would have been impossible. Glad we had experience. Pups are all strong and eating. Till tomorrow!
Here is the gallery. Be aware that some photos are messy. We take photos as they are. This is real life but nothing shocking. this is what you would see if here.
Tuesday, July 14, 2020 at 8:12PM 
Click on Photo for Larger View1st born 805pm is a black and white boy. I checked on Raven. Went to get socks on and she had him already in what 2.5 min and did it all herself. He weighs 5-7/8oz 167g
You can check out all videos here.
Click on Photo for Larger ViewNext one born at 9pm a tri. Still waiting for him to get out fully. He's out but not the placenta. He is still attached.
He finally decided to come fully out at 935pm. He is predominantly black on back with sable on legs and you can see his tummy here.
He weighs 7-5/8oz 217g
Click on Photo for Larger ViewThird born at 945pm still placenta is inside. He is a boy. Nathan says dark brown white star on shoulder. Have to wait to see what colour he truly is. He weighs 6-1/4oz 177g
Click on Photo for Larger View4th pup born at 952pm. Still the placenta is not out. This one is a girl - brown apricot with a white blaze down forehead. Finally 3rd and 4th fully out. This one weighs 5-1/8oz 147g. She is the smallest so far. Still waiting for the last. Will it be a boy or a girl?
Click on Photo for Larger View5th one is a - drumroll - boy! He was born at 10:47pm. He still has the placenta firmly inside. I will be adding the rest of the videos and the gallery after cleanup and bedding change.
He weighs 7-5/8oz 216g. He is a tri with a white chin.
Tuesday, July 14, 2020 at 6:24PM 
Temps is 37.2 - 99f
She has been digging but nothing else and I didn't take her temp till now so we shall see. She continues to nest. Looks like a LONG night or maybe not. LOL
