Wk1 | Wk2 | Wk3 | Wk4 | Wk5 | Wk6 | Wk7 | Growing Up | our 2006 Litter
 Our first litter arrived December 12, 2004. We are expecting awesome plush coated puppies. |
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The puppies are here. Actually they are still coming; count so far is 4 girls, 3 boys |
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They look mostly black right now but a couple do seem to have light colors peeking through. It is ironic that one black baby has 10 white toes-wonder what that will mean? Kiora wasn't due till Wednesday so I was going out to finish my holiday shopping so I would be all set when "the big day arrived." I put her in her crate and left for the day. Later, around 3pm, I called my son and asked if he would check up on her and he was actually on his way home from attending birthing classes with my daughter in law. They are expecting their first child in January. He said he was 10 minutes from home and I said "well call me if there was a problem". 10 minutes later he called me and said Kiora allready had had two pups in her crate! He put her and the babies in the whelping box and I got home in record time-15 minutes only to enter and find two more pups had been whelped and #5 was making an appearance. I was so freakin mad that I was not here that my friennd Diane heard some very strange language come out of my mouth . She said I was hitting 55mph in a 25mph zone. I told her I always drive this way. LOL We have one male who entered this world screaming his lungs out (purple boy) and within an hour he was trying to climb out of the whelping box! I kind of think he is going to make his own way in this world. When the pups are vocalizing, I know purple boy has trigger it all off. Here in Providence we have this huge gold statue perched on top of the state house and it is called the "Independent Man" well, you know I have nicknamed purple boy the "Independent Man". Kiora had a very quick and easy delivery and I will never know what time she started and exactly who entered first! When she got to puppy #8, I told her that was enough because I didn't want to have to feed puppies in shifts! tee hee. She did listen so I have named this litter "The 8 is Enough Litter". My mission yesterday was to pick up that vet wrap and wrap up her tail, my mission today was to clip the belly hair around the nipples, and my mission tomorrow was to lay some protective covering over the carpet. Just goes to show you how the best laid plans sometimes just don't happen! Well the puppies are finding their food ok without all the hair being clipped. |
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Kiora is now starting to talk to the puppies. When they start to whine she will wimper back to them. The green girl is really vocal when she want momma. We have chimes that ring when someone comes down the drive because the house is so isolated from the street and being downstairs you can't hear if anyone comes down the drive or to the door. Well the UPS man is here just about every day-delivering baby stuff-yesterday it was Timberland crib bootie-so cute. They are pink and look just like the Timberland boots. Well today he came and you cannot get Kiora out of the welping box unless you hook her up to the leash and insist she go out. Well she heard those chimes ring and she flew like superwoman over the top tof the whelping box and upstairs to the door and issued a warning that seemed to say "Puppies are here-stay away" I thought it was a riot considering you can't get her out of the box. Who's
Who with Birth Weights |
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The Kiora/Samson (8 is enough litter) puppies are one week old today. They were actually whelped a few days after Kiora's third B'Day. Right now it looks like there are three black/silver sables and green girl is beginning to have color showing through her black coat and her elbows are beginning to turn silver. She is really the character right now in the litter. She moves like a marathon "crawler" and yes, I have allready seen her try to get up on her feet and she climbs a top her siblings while they are feeding and will push them off mom's feeding bottle and grab it for herself, not to shabby for the last one to be born and the smallest little girl. It also looks like some cocoa peeking through the coat of red girl. Kiora continues to be a good mom and she will now speak with her babies. Kiora it seems is now demanding maid service. It is amazing how they teach you to understand cannine talk. She was feed me her babies and started to talk to me and she told me she was hungry. So of course she got served her meal while the babies her getting theirs. Right now she seems to have a huge appeptite. Sometimes she looks at me as if to say "what did I do, Mom, did I do OK!" Orange
female-28 oz |
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The puppies all have their eyes open and are all standing and walking, even caught a few trying to crawl over the opening to the whelping box. They are begining to chew on one another. They had their first grooming experience today--they had their nails clipped. Most of the puppies were very good, a few a little wiggley. My resolution for the day is to handle each puppy and touch them from stem to stern. They got toys in their Christmas stockings but haven't been given to them. Each puppy received a mini burger ball for Christmas. It was a request made by Stephen Betcher a few weeks before he passed. As you can see by the weight gain that green girl, who was the smallest, made gains through her marathon crawling skills making her way over the backs the heads of her littermates to insure she got her spot at the feeding table! At this point Lemon girl is my biggest baby and is larger than the biggest male-Multi, by 2 oz. At this point five puppies appear to be black/silver sables, although red girl does seem to have some cocoa showing through. Blue girl, blue boy and multi boy appear to be duals at this point. Some of the puppies also have thick coats for 2 weeks, maybe they will be double plush like their daddy, Samson. Orange
girl- 2lbs 14oz
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So much has happened with the puppies that is so interesting. Their coats are "drop dead gorgeous" I think some fur babies will be double plush like daddy Samson, looks like the tails are nice, too, and I am seeing some good bone on these babies. The
weights to date are as follows: These are my observations and adventures of the "8 is enough litter" Green girl was the first to listen to the vacuum and seemed as if she was trying to figure what the noise was--no stress and no panic. The rest of the litter just slept!! She was also the first to tease her brothers and sisters to play with her! This past week 6 puppies decided to take a stroll and go exploring while they were home alone. These little buggers were found roaming around when my son brought dinner down to Kiora and Star while I was a work! No more open door in the whelping box! Red girl decided to do her first gymnastic routine this week. She crawled up on top of the pig rail and crawled across and entire length-no slipping or falling off. I think I may have an Olga Korbut here! She also decided to crawl up mom's side while feeding outside the whelping box today I watched as she got to the top and looked down at the floor and decided --no way and she immediately decided to crawl backwards down till she reached the floor. Good girl, Red, adventurous but not risky! Green girl was the first (again) to cut those teeth she also caught the sounds of the food channel today and decided to watch TV. She was very intent and I was able to snap a photo on the non digital camera-hopefully we captured the action so we can share with you. She was also studing a "baby Einstein" boxed DVD set that I had lying on the floor. Now I really think she could read the caption that says "Great Minds Start Little" (this will be a gift for my new graddaughter who is due to arrive in 20 days) Multi boy is now the most vocal and the loudest. Blk/orange boy seems to be very independant and loves to go prowling! Lemon girl is huge and there seems to be a race in size between her and Multi boy. She has the black/silver sable coat and looks like blk/orange boy. Orange girl likes to play with her siblings now chewig on muzzles and paw. Blue boy now is the sweetest and has the prettiest face, maybe that is not nice to say about a boy, but sugar would melt with Blue boy. Tomorrow, Jan 2nd they will be 3 weeks old and my DIL (daughter-in-law) is in love with all the puppies now. She is especially fond of Green girl and holds her and cuddles her on her big preggie belly so she can be close to baby Amanda inside. This is quite heart warming for me to see this relationship between a mom to be who didn't like animals or had never been brought up around dogs and want to have this puppy cuddle next to her unborn child!
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The puppies are doing fabulous! I'm afarid I am back to work my regular hours and don't have the same time that I had. Grrr! The puppies are weighing in at 6 lbs. I have started to supplement them with food as Kiora is consuming a good 6 lbs of food per day to keep up with them. They are dining on the same food as mom and handle it very well! The pups love to roam around and explore. They are not so content in the whelping box or weaning pen. They seem not to be afraid on anything. They are crawling up onto the fireplace hearth (no fire of course) and they are exploring all the nooks and crannies they can find. They also do not walk and follow mom; they run! They also feed out of the box as Kiora is too much of a lady now to lay in there. She lays on a big blanket and waits for me to hand her the pups. As the pups finish feeding they are off exploring and after Kiora gets up Lemon girl will grab the corner of the blanket and drag it across the floor. It is pretty hilarious to see the size of the blanket and the size of the pup accomplishing this task. The antics for Sunday on their 4 wk B'day: I have a wooden box on the floor next to the slider and it says "hats and mittens" well orange girl found the box and managed to pull the edge of a scarf out and create a great tie forself, in the meantime green girl climbed into one of my leather clogs and I am not sure if she thought she was going for a walk but she decided nibling on leather was pretty good! As I am on the keyboard right now blue girl is talking to one of her toys. I have a ribbon that is strung across the weaning box and I have toys hanging on it; the box is 24" high and I did it to see if the pups would notice or focus on it. Well they do and they will gab at the toys and chew or try to grab and shake them. The pups are all playing with each other and sometimes will gang up on each other. They now will carry toys around and give them a good shaking. I would say mama Kiora now is having some fun with the fur babies and play bowing and teasing them, and the pups are now not walking but running and will try to chase her right back. It is very funny to watch. I never grow tired of watching these amazing pups. I guess it is me learning every day. Every day the pups get a a daily combing and their coats are becoming so full that their toes need triming in order to trim their nails. As for the boys-blk/orange is like a wooly bear and looks like Samson and multi boy is a dual. He is my American Idol and is very vocal. He loves to be picked up and will let you know when he wants you to hold him but then he loves to be lifted high on your shoulder I don't know what he will be thinking when he gets big. Blue boy is vey sweet and he is a dual. He has silver on both sides of his head and right now looks like he has white eyeglasses. He is so cute!! It is funny that I am on the lower level of the house and because the driveway is so long my son installed these motion chimes down the drive and and of course when someone drives down they chime. Well Star and Kiora alert when they hear them because they know someone is coming but now the pups will also cock their heads from side to side. I swear pretty soon they will manage to climb over the top of the box. They will all come to the edge of the box and talk and when you look at them they will just about leap into your arms. Orange
Girl -- 6.0 lbs
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Orange
Girl -- 8.0 lb At five weeks the pups are doing everything quicker and in a bigger way. They spend their time (when I am home) out of the weaning pen and just having a great time for themselves. They are very vocal about getting lifted out of the weaning pen. Orange girl has taken over the Americal Idol spot this week and will call the loudest to get lifted out of the box. They are loving to chew on cardboard boxes as much as they love to chew on the toys. Their newest toy is a long plush rattle snake that rattles and it is hilarious to watch one grab it and drag it around. They will also drag a cardboard box full of toys across the floor. They also enjoy playing with each other and they can get a little rough and I have begun to address the overly rough behavior at times by telling puppuy "UH-UH" and redirecting the focus with lots of praise! The whole gang loves to be talked to. Yesterday they had their first outside jaunt in the yard. It is very cold here in New England but they seemed to rather enjoy themselves once they could determine that I was there with them. My yard slopes so they got quite a bit of exercise romping up slope and down slope. I really felt like Bo Peep as it is so much fun to keep moving and having the whole gang trot after you. I kept momma in the house so they gang would not want to follow momma instead of me. The other new happening at this stage is that Kiora is now playing with the puppies. She will single out one pup and interact. She will also talk to them at the same time. I am sure she is giving them her mommy lessons, I am just not sure what those lessons are, but she knows. She brings them toys and balls and seems to encourage them to play back with her. They inspect everything they see and find, either by draging ,chewing, or talking to it.
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The Kiora/Samson puppies have had their official health check and also have all been microchipped. Dr Bill thought they were very cute puppies and was impressed when he examined the hip structure on these fur babies. Here is the official weight as of Friday. The pups will be 7 weeks on Sunday. Orange
Girl ---13 lb 11oz These " little rascals" remind me of the TV show the "Little Rascals" they are full of adventure. They will explore, chase, and chew and wrestle with each other. Mamma Kiora loves to play and tease the puppies. I like it when she does that because then she will tire them and they will all find a spot and chill out and "sleep". I watched blue girl grab lemon girl by the tail and drag her accross the floor--it was too funny and it looked like lemon girl was enjoying the ride much to my surprise! There are a couple of girls who are looking for families. We have some beautiful sable with awesome coats and the temperaments are looking very nice. Daddy Samson told me he is very proud of his babies. It has been very busy at the Rising Star household. We were burried by the blizzard of 2005 this past week. In the midst of the blizzard the gradaughter to be decided it was time. So off through the blizzard my son and daughter in law had to make their way through several inches of snow at midnight. Amanda Rose made her grand entrance on Sunday weighing in at 7.14. So now we have baby crying upstairs and furbabies crying downstairs. I will ask the "new Dad" if he can find a little time to take some furbaby pictures for an update. The LER is Sat Feb 5th and I would like all the new families to be able to see these updated furbaby photos. The whole gang is going in for a photo shoot tomorrow and today the sun is shinning but it is very cold but I am taking the fur babies for a little romp in the snow today! I am sure without a doubt that this will be another exciting adventure with the Kiora/Samson puppies! |
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Wk1 | Wk2 | Wk3 | Wk4 | Wk5 | Wk6 | Wk7 | Growing Up
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December
12, 2004
TOP
The
final count is 8. We have 5 girls and 3 boys. They range in weight
from 16oz to 24oz.
Royal
Girl
Royal
Girl
