Saga of the Northrock Beach Blanket Bingo Litter - Week One
Friday July 31, 2020
Dear puppy pen diary,
On Friday morning July 24, 2020, Our Sweet Marie with her usual flair decided she would have her pups in the closet of the spare bedroom completely disregarding the fact we had been sleeping together in the whelping room for the past 5 days and she knew the space well.
Marie made it very clear to me standing outside that closed door at 7:15 am, after being in Stage 1 labour all the previous night that it would be in my best interest to open that door. Now to be fair to Marie it is a room she was familiar with and the closet did have a stash of stuffies and dog beds but it was a room we did not use.
I have come to understand in our 3.5 year relationship together that Marie always knows what is best for Marie and so deciding to go with the flow I said “Sure, let’s get it done. But just to let you know it will only be 1 pup!” We barely had time to strip out the closet and lay some bedding down for her before she presented us with Frankie at 7:33 am Friday July 24, 2020.
We moved swiftly to the whelping room as soon as Marie gave us the green light where she quickly had Annette, Sugar Kane, Bonnie, Eric von Zipper, Bullet, Lorelei and was finished whelping by 8:52! That’s approximately 11.5 minutes each. Let me tell you it was all hands on deck at our house that morning.
Marie is doing very well physically and has rebounded with great aplomb to her typical sweet self. She dedicates her days to cleaning and feeding her offspring with great gusto and stands politely with a watchful eye when I am cleaning the puppy pen and weighing pups twice daily. Which by the way by Day 6 all the pups had doubled their birth weight, good job team.
Nail clipping commenced on Day 3 and will continue every 3 days going forward. Oh my gosh, let me just share how difficult a task that is to achieve, those nails are itsy, bitsy, teeny, weeny little things that are clipped with human nail clippers, a very steady hand and nerves of steel.
Some soft toys have been introduced to the whelping box on Day 5 to give a little bit of a challenge crawling over and around them. They stimulate their senses and besides that they also make a great place to rest and snuggle for a minute while on that long trek across the pen to get to the other side.
P!nkie has been an incredibly patient big sister this week. Although she can hear those siblings she has yet to meet them and she is so very intrigued. Perhaps she will get to meet them this coming week but, first we will have to have Marie’s permission of course.
Week 2 is about to start and we just may find a few eyes opening and maybe some ear flaps dropping and their hearing kicking in. Then we’ll be in for a noisy rambunctious time after these 2 senses are functioning.
Catch you next week. Over and out from the puppy pen.
Susan, Sweet Marie, et al
These puppies all have special homes waiting for them. If you would like to follow the litter's progress please join us on Facebook and like our Northrock Barbets page to see frequent updates and photos.
