2 Weeks 3 Days Old

The Aliy-Cam is Back!!!

The Aliy-Cam is finally back up an running. At first I thought the camera itself was broken, then I realized I just needed to do a factory reset. Then I needed my ISP to help me out with the network settings. But now it's Up and Running!



Big sister Babe, Daddy Max (boy, does that sound weird) and I are off to Wyoming for the next 4 days. Blue Boy (his eyes opened this morning!!!) doesn't seem to care...

Chapter 5: Born in a Hole. Yes, Really.

So did Aliy really have her first two puppies in a hole in the ground?

Yes she did. But it's no ordinary hole. It is an underground cavern. It makes the impressive hole that she dug for her first litter look like nothing. This underground den had two entrances about 12 - 15 feet apart. Here's a picture:


Points B and C are entrance holes. Point B was simply an air hole. It was under Point B that Aliy had her puppies. My husband saw Ilsa diggin at the airhole and that's when he heard Aliy underground. He made the airhole larger and pulled her and the puppies out that way, there was no way to reach her from any other direction.

Here's another view:


And here's a couple picture I took of the cavern fromthe opening of point A. I hung my head down inside. You can see light coming from point C tot he left and point B to the right. Pretty impressive excavataion work isn't it?



There are alot of things about this litter that amaze me....

I can't believe I didn't have a clue Aliy was pregnant.

I can't believe how big the puppies were at birth.

I can't believe how well my husband handled this.

Where's the Aliy-Cam?

The Aliy-Cam is sitting here, pointed at the puppies and functioning just fine.

The problem is my ISP changed *something* on their side and the feed to the internet can't be accessed by anyone outside my network.

I have called them repeatedly to try and get hem to either fix it or tell me what I need to differently and so far I've had no response.

Yes, I am annoyed.

Chapter 4: Yes, These Are Really Aliy's Puppies.

Pictures from this morning....




In case you have not figured it out, when I know which puppy is in the picture, I will put a border on the edges that matches the puppies color.

Okay, now back to our story....

Twenty minutes passes and I'm dying to call my husband back to see if everything is okay. But I know that he needs time to get things squared away before I call back to ask him once again if he is absolutely positively 100% certain that these are not Kelly's puppies. (As you can see I am in serious denial).

I call a friend to keep myself from calling home. I tell her what's gong on and she is laughing hysterically. I can't see what's so funny.....

The phone tells me I have a call. I check and it's my husband. I tell my friend I'll call her back and I call home. My husband answers the phone "Bill's Puppy Delivery Service".

There is a third puppy. He delivered it himself proving that he was paying attention the last few times we've had puppies. He opened the sack, cut the umbilical cord and rubbed the puppy with a towel. Yes, he actually saw it come out of Aliy, these are her puppies.

I am no longer in denial, I am in shock.

I now have a 7 hour trip home, all the while wondering and worrying. I am convinced the puppies are puny little 8 oz guys barely clinging to life. Of course I'm wrong as I find out when I finally see them.

The first thing I do when I get home is race into the house, put Max outside and Babe (who is in season)in a kennel. I change my clothes, wash my hands, arms, face, anything that might have nasty dog show germs. I have not even looked at the puppies yet. Did I mention it's 3 AM?

I dig up the scale from the kitchn, find a bowl and wash it. All the while I am looking over at Aliy and talking to her about what a GOOD GIRL she is! She looks like a Madonna laying in the whelping box. Finally, FINALLY I can go see the puppies.

They are tiny, so so tiny. I feel so awful. I pick up the first puppy, perfect and yet so tiny. It's a boy. I put him on the scale, expecting to see it tell me he is 8 ounces. 14.6 ounces. That's not small. I recalibrate the scale. 14.6 ounces. Okay I feel a little bit better. maybe the others are close to this weight.

Next puppy, a girl. 16.5 ounces. WHAT???? That's the biggest puppy I've ever had!!

Last puppy, another boy. 17.2 ounces. He's huge! I am still in shock, I am also amazed at what Aliy has managed to do. She is the Best. Dog. Ever.

I sit up and just watch the puppies nursing for an hour then I finally fall asleep on the love seat beside the whelping box.

Next up - Chapter 5: The Rest of the Story

Chapter 3: The Phone Message

Dateline May 14, 2006: I'm at a show in Albuquerque, New Mexico with my friend Mary Jo. She owns Max's dad Riggs. It's been a good day. Max won Winners Dog for another two championship points and his grandmother Reba took Best of Breed. It's Sunday afternoon, Mary Jo is getting ready to take Reba in for Group competition, we have a lot of stuff to pack up and a long drve ahead of us.

My cell phone rings, but I'm in the middle of taking apart a kennel. I figure it's a friend wanting to know how the show went and I decide I'll wait and call her back after Group is over, after we have Mary Jo's motor home packed up and are on the road.

Mary Jo and Reba take a Group 2. Yes, it's been a Very Good day indeed! We pack up our stuff, haul it to the motor home, load it in. Every once in a while I hear a beep from my phone reminding me I have a call to return.

It's now 6 PM. Mary Jo is in the back of the motor home changing, I decide to return the call. There is voice mail and surprisingly enough it's not from the friend I expected, it's from my husband. The message is timestamped at 4:08. It goes something like this...

"There's something weird going on here. I let the dogs out at 2 and when I brought them in a little while ago I couldn't find Aliy. I thought she got out of the yard. I drove around looking for her but I couldn't find her. (At this point I start to become hysterical.) Then I noticed Ilsa digging at a hole and there was growling coming from the hole. Your AlBear is in the hole and there are puppies with her. What should I do?"

Now I'm really hysterical.

Leo and Carolyn, you might think it was at this point that I realized Aliy was pregnant. But no, in my hysteria, all I can think of is that Kelly, who had been bred (on purpose and with great expense and effort) in early May, had been pregnant (even though ultrasound said she was not) and had puppies and Aliy either stole them or found them abandoned and was taking care of them. It never crossed my mind in those first few minutes after 6 PM on Mother's Day that these were really Aliy's puppies.

I managee to dial my home phone number. My husband gets on phone. As I said I'm in hysterics. I don't really remember too much of the conversation. Something about Aliy being in a hole with puppies. My husband dug her out. There are two puppies. Aliy is in her kennel. The puppies are in a cardboard box. My husband is putting the whelping box together right now.

At some point Mary Jo takes the phone away from me and starts asking logical sensible questions....

Is Bill sure they puppies are Aliy's and not Kelly's? Yes, he is sure. Has he checked Kelly to make *absolutely* sure. No, but he will. Do it NOW. Okay the puppies are not Kelly's. IS Aliy okay? Yes she's fine, just very dirty. Are the puppies fine? Yes, they are moving around. They are spotlessly clean. Does Aliy have milk? He doesn't know? Are the puppies nursing? No becuase they are in a box and Aliy is in her kennel. Put Aliy in the whelping box with the puppies. But Aliy is dirty. PUT ALIY IN THE WHELPING BOX WITH THE PUPPIES NOW!!

Coming next: Chapter 4: Yes, These Are Really Aliy's Puppies.

1 Week 2 Days Old!

Look at all the pigment!



Yellow already has full liplines and is completely black inside her mouth!

Chapter 2: What's Wrong With Aliy

Aliy is a very QUIET dog. She rarely barks and even when the other dogs are going nuts at dinner time, Aliy will run into her kennel and patiently and quietly wait until the food bowl is placed in front of her. But suddenly there is *whining* going on. "How strange" I think, "and how unfortunate that "Perfect Aliy" is finally picking up bad habits from the other dogs."

Maybe she is whining because she is not getting the four cups of primo puppy food that pregnant moms usually get but instead is getting only the usual two cups of good adult food that is her normal diet and she's really really hungry because she's eating for four instead of one?

Aliy is a very CLEAN dog. She never has accident in the house or in her kennel. But suddenly in early May, Aliy is standing there waiting for her dinner and her bladder suddenly lets loose. She is upset and embarrased and I am confused on why this happened. Maybe she is getting a bladder infection? I give her cranberry powder in her food.

Or maybe she has three big puppies pressing against her bladder??

Aliy is a very SUBSTANTIAL dog. She eats well, she plays hard and has good muscle tone. You look at her and she is the picture of health. In early May I have her on the grooming table and as I'm brushing her I think she looks a little *thin*. I think that she's been spending a lot of time outside and that she's been so active I need to increase her food a little and put a little weight on her.

Maybe she is thin because all the food she's been taking in has been going to grow puppies (which are apparently hiding up under her ribs). And maybe she has been spending so much time outside because she's been building a den?

So the answer to "What's wrong with Aliy?" is that she's pregnant.

The answer to "What's wrong with Anne?" is that she's clueless.

Next up, pictures and Chapter 3: The Phone Message

Cabbages and Kings, Chapter 1

‘The time has come’, the walrus said, ‘To talk of many things: of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings.’

The lines quoted above were written more than 100 years ago by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking Glass. This is an appropriate title for the story of Aliy's pregnancy; the birth of her puppies could have been something Alice witnessed in Wonderland.

Carolyn and Leo asked in the comments when I knew that Aliy was pregnant. And several other people have written and asked for more details as well. The story is amazing (and funny when viewed after the fact) but also quite embarrasing from someone who considers themselves both very "in tune" with their dogs as well as a semi-experienced breeder.

Anyway here's the story told from my side of the fence.... it's a long story, maybe I need to do it in installments???

Chapter 1 - How Did Aliy Get Pregnant?

First off let me explain that when a girl comes in season she is not breedable imediately. She may allow a breeding but until she reaches a certain point, the breeding will not produce puppies. Most girls are "ready" between days 8 and 16 of their season.

Aliy (and several of my other girls) came in season on February 27, 2006. Yes, I keep track of these things. I even have a database set up that I can carry on my PDA.

I left for the Scottsdale, Arizona dog shows on February 28. Max was with me in Arizona the first part of Aliy's season, so we know that he never got close to her and that she was probabably not ready anyway.

I returned on March 7. When I got home, according to Max, several of the girls were "ready". From that point on he was never allowed outside with any of them. When he was not in his kennel, they were and when they were not in their kennels, he was. (Note: my dogs all usually run around loose togeher in the house and yard so this "being in season" things really throws a kink in their days).

So if either Max or Aliy was always "locked up" for the duration of her season how did she get pregnant?

I have no idea.

Based on when the puppies were born, they "did the deed" sometime around March 12. Since my husband insists he did not let them out together, and I know I didn't, that means Max must have bred Aliy through a kennel. Yes, I've heard of this happening but I never imagined an inexperienced dog such as Max could have done that. But that's the story we have to go with.

Coming next - Chapter 2: What's Wrong With Aliy?

The Return of the Polar Pups?

When Aliy's first litter was just a few days old the pups gave me quie a scare by screaming their heads off non-stop for several hours. In desperation I finally took them to the vet. As soon as we got there and the vet began to examine them they quieted down.

What was the secret? They were HOT.

As he checked each one out he was laying them doww on the cool tile floor of the exam room. As soon as each pup's tummy hit the tile they instantly became quiet. That's when I knew I had "ice pack puppies".


In the beginning we used cool cloths or towels but at about 10 days we broke out the ice packs, yes honest to God ice packs, in little flannel jackets, for the puppies to sleep on.


This morning little Yellow would not calm down. Remembering how Babe and her sisters had acted that day almost two years ago, I picked Yellow up and set her on the ceramic tile floor. Instant Quiet Puppy.


It's too soon for them to be "on ice" yes, so we'll have to make do with cool cloths and cermaic tile floors for now, but I can see I'm going to need to make a Target run here soon to buy some ice packs!

Meanwhile her brother the Green Boy looks like a beached whale, doesn't he?

Here They Are!

3 days old....



Aliy is being a really good mother as i would expect.


Like mother, like sister, like daughter:


I can never get over how exquisite their little paws are...

Introducing

Green Boy, Blue Boy and Yellow girl!

Born the afternoon of May 14, 2006.

Proud parents are WhiteStar's Beyond Thunderdome HIC (Max) and CH WhiteStar's Yukon Quest WS HIC (Aliy).

Pictures coming soon!