Tushie X Owen pups at just over 4 weeks

Clockwise from top left: Sun, Claire, Dharma, and Kate

CnSand Fanf'Heir at Ardanwood

Fani and her friend Lil (the Jack Russel Water Terrier). Yes Fani DOES often have on a life jacket. Richard and Anne are following the teaching methods used by Deborah Lee Miller Riley a longtime PWD owner/water trial judge and developer of canine watet sports (http://www.caninewatersports.com/Home_Port.html). While Fani will not always swim with the jacket on, the use of it builds confidence (Fani has PLENTY of that), technique, and stamina.

The "Oceanic Six" at 16 days old

photos courtesy of Joy.

Oceanic Six

Named in honor of my favorite TV Show...I present to you the Oceanic Six....Sawyer, Hurley, Kate, Claire, Sun, and Dharma (yes for those Lost fans...I know that Sawyer, Claire...and for that matter Dharma (who isn't even a person) were not among the Oceanic Six...but get over it!!!!!!)

The Two boys are both wavy Irish Mark (white collars, front legs, Chest, etc.), Two girls are Wavy mostly black with white chests, one girl is Irish marked wavy and one girl is irish/parti Curly. Please note that in looking at the pups I don't see any that look really curly.

Pups are here

It was a long day of good news....bad news.......Good news is that Mom and pups are doing well. Bad news is we had to do a C-Section. Tushie delivered the first two. But was having difficulty with puppy number three. We found that the puppy was terribly malpositioned as viewed on Xray. I recognized that there was a problem with that puppy and did not wait too long....though unfortunately we lost 5 of the 11 pups. 3 were quite small.....and two were normal size but after trying very hard to get them started we had to admit defeat. Mom, Tushie, is doing very well and is a fantastic Mom........I have 2 males that are heavy irish marks (full collars) and one parti bitch, one Irish bitch, and two black bitches with white chests and paws. All appear to be wavy though I am not 100% certain......honestly...I am more concerned with Mom care and helping these pups then with details! It will certainly be difficult over the next few days.....but I feel blessed with the 6...and happy that Tushie is doing well.

Tushie X Owen

Tushie was Xrayed yesterday and has 7 to 10 babies! It is hard to get an exact count as there are so many of them. Probable due date is some time this weekend! Tushie will begin her stay at my house tomorrow.

Update on Tushie!

Richard and Anne gave me an update on Tushie today. Tushie is due in two weeks! They say she is HAPPY.....and FAT! So she is doing a good job cooking those pups in her belly! She will be Xrayed for a head count a week from tomorrow and then will move to my house to prepare for delivery.