Aliy's World, the Sequel

She's Baaa-aaack...

2006-10-18T14:10:00.000-06:00

Tina / Taiya is back at WhiteStar.

It's not her fault, and it's certainly not the fault of the wonderful family that had her.

Both the husband and wife had some *serious* medical things come up requiring extended hospital stays and recuperation and they felt that Tina was not getting the attention a five month old puppy needs, so they asked me to take her back.

Sam is thrilled. Babe is thrilled. They have been playing non-stop in the snow for hours.

I'm not sure what will happen next. For now, I'm just enjoying the interaction between the pups and waiting for the next WhiteStar pups to make their appearance!

Taiya Goes Home

2006-09-03T12:15:00.000-06:00

I promised an update if anything exciting happened.... and it did!

The puppy formerly known as Tina went home a little over a week ago. I didn't post right away because I wanted to make sure this time it was not just another overnight camping trip, but it looks like she's sticking this time :)

Here she is with her new mom and dad, Leona and Charlie, and her new big brother Rocky:

Rocky was not too sure about her at first, but I think he's coming around now.

Her new name is Taiya, which is the name of a river in Alaska that Charlie and Leona have actually visited. I think it's a beautiful name for a beautiful little girl!

Oh. My. God...

2006-07-29T19:54:00.000-06:00

Are these not the most Most Gorgeous Puppy Pictures ever????

World class (although he won't admit it) photographer Scott Vail has taken beautiful pictures of my last three litters (as well as my favorite picture of Pumpkin) But I didn't think Sam and Tina would have a chance to sit for him.

Well Scott was at the Denver Samoyed Association picnic today and he can never resist a cute puppy. Here's what happened....

Sam

Tina

Sam and Tina

Yes, Tina is back.

I have no idea how long she is staying or where her permanent home will be, but for now Sam is ecstatic.

The Aliy Cam was shut off yesterday and I now think it's time to shut down Aliy's World, The Sequel. Babe has very gernerously invited the puppies to share her blog, so go on over and visit The Babe Blog from time to time and see what sam, Tina and the rest of the WhiteStar Sammies are up to.

If and when Tina leaves I will post an update here as well as over there.

Thank you all for visiting with us over the past 11 weeks!

All pictures in todays post copyright Scott Vail.

Walkabout

2006-07-25T15:02:00.000-06:00

Wow!! Look! There's a front yard too!!

C'mon Sam, let's go!!

Hmmmm... that's a really Big Bug isn't it Tina?

Sam, what are you doing over there??

Taking time to smellthe flowers Tina!

Mom's calling, must be dinner time. Let's go!

In reality they did not willingly come back inside. I had to chase the little monsters down. I have never had such bold and adventurous pups at this age. Tina is completely fearless and Sam will follow wherever she goes.

In other news.... Tina went on another overnighter last night and so far has not come home. Picures to come soon....

Why Are People So Rude??

2006-07-22T14:58:00.000-06:00

Is my time less valuable then theirs?

A couple was coming up to Denver from Albuquerque to see a litter of puppies that is several weeks younger than mine. When they found out that Tina was still available, they asked if they could come see her. The plan was:

They would drive to Denver on Friday.

Visit the younger puppies early Saturday morning.

If they decided to take one of those puppies they would call me and tell me they were not coming.

Otherwise, they would call me and tell me about what time to expect them.

Get the picture? In either case they were supposed to CALL ME.

I cancelled plans with two sets of friends, which I didn't mind doing, assuming I'd either have these people visiting Tina, or I'd know they were not coming and could get out of the house by noon and still get stuff done.

Well here it 3:00 PM and like a dummy I sat around and waited. I didn't have fun with my friends, I didn't get my grocery shopping done and I didn't get to the bank like I needed to.

Yes, I'm annoyed.

More puppy pictures tomorrow when I'm in a better mood....

And yes, I know the blog is having problems... specifically the server on my ISP where I host my pictures is apparently down. I've called them twice, no idea when they will be back online...

The Name Game

2006-07-20T16:52:00.000-06:00

Tina went on an overnighter last night to see if she fit into the home of a very nice family here in Colorado Springs.

That meant Sam had to spend the first day of his entire life alone! How did he handle it? You be the judge.

Last night...

... and this morning....

Yeah he seems really stressed out doesn't he? Last night was his first night in a crate. I put him in about 10 PM along with an ice block and prepared myself for a sleepless night. Not a peep out of him. Not one. I got up about 4 am to make sure he was still alive. Took him out to go potty, put him back to bed in his crate where he slept until I got up at 6 AM. Boy am I lucky!! His half sister Babe was the same way. Must be an Aliy thing. Thank you Aliy!!

Although Tina may end up leaving we've decided Sam will be staying here. So now we have to come up with a name for him. As I've said before, I think Sam is a really dumb name for a Samoyed, I mean really - Sam the Sam-oyed?!?!? But it fits him so well that unless something else really strikes me, Sam he is going to remain.

So in a reverse of what I usually do, which is come up with a registered name and then add a call name that ties in, I have a call name and need to find a registered name. In the running right now are two Sam Cooke songs:

WhiteStar's Another Saturday Night
WhiteStar's Having A Party

Opinions?

Okay now Sam and I have to go wait for Tina to return! Unfortunately only one of the two dogs at the potential new home thought Tina was pretty neat, the other was not so welcoming, so Tina is still looking for the perfect forever home.

9 Weeks, 3 Days

2006-07-19T12:09:00.000-06:00

How to Beat the Summer Heat.

2006-07-16T11:16:00.000-06:00

So it's 90+ degrees here these days and because it "never really gets hot in Colorado" we have no air conditioning. It doesn't really seem to bother the big dogs too much, but the puppies are not too happy.

That's what ice packs are for.

Except the little monsters have taken to shredding them:

And shredding the covers:

Then I tried this:

And look what happened :)

Amigo Goes Home

2006-07-13T21:59:00.000-06:00

9 years ago I sold a puppy from Boom'rs litter to a very nice guy named Mark. Tekea died earlier this year and Mark's wife Linda managed to track me down. From the first day Linda and Mark saw pictures of the puppies (they were three days old) they wanted Blue Boy. They named him Amigo when he was 5 weeks old and they picked him up on Tuesday.

I think Aliy approves :)

Amigo went home with a shiny new food bowl, a water bucket, a little blue collar, a bag of puppy food, a beat up ice pack and cover. But I forgot this:

But I bet he has lots of toys in his new home!

Mini Movies!

The mini-movies are for some reason not so mini. About 6 meg. Yikes! I have no idea why they came out so big this time and I have no idea how to make them smaller. In any case two mpegs of Great Grandma Kachina playing with her great grandkids.

Granny Kachina #1
Granny Kachina #2

BTW, in case anyone is wondering, Kachina looks like she was attacked by a weed whacker because she recently had surgery and is covered by shaved spots. She was spayed three weeks ago, and while under anestheia I had a number of fatty lipomas (about 9) removed. She's been going by the nickname FrankenDog for the past few weeks....

8 Weeks 2 Days Old

2006-07-11T10:27:00.000-06:00

Amigo goes home today..... that is a happy-sad time. I've had these guys here for 8 weeks and 2 days now. In some ways it seems like so much longer and in some ways so much less. He is going to a great home that had one of the puppies out of my first litter, also the Blue Boy. I'll have pictures later today or tomorrow.

How cute are the boys together?

From the Comments....

2006-07-08T21:52:00.000-06:00

Leo and Carolyn asked if I can tell anything about their personalities yet.

YES!!

Amigo is the go-getter in the group. Plays the hardest and sleeps the hardest. He absolutely loves everything about being alive. The other morning he and his littermates were out playing on the deck. He caught sight or me watching him and simply threw himself up in the air in a leap of joy. I've never seen a 7 week old puppy go that high! I think he's going to be a digger, he loves to dig in a full food bowl and I think he's the one who has been digging in the litter box at night.

Sam is the most cautious of the three puppies. He is not fearful, just watchful. In this way he reminds me alot of his mother Aliy She likes to watch and see how things are going to play out before she makes an opinion on things. I remember when she was about 5 weeks old and I was giving her and all her littermates their first baths. She was the last one to be bathed and after watching her 5 siblings get washed and then dried (each with lots of crying and wiggling) she decided it was a little scary but she was going to live thru it and submitted to the whole process without the slightest protest. This is how Sam is too. He also loves to be held and cuddled, in this way he is like his half sister Babe who even now likes to crawl onto my lap and fall asleep.

Tina is like her grandmother Raven, quite the independent little princess. She doesn't like it when the boys get too rough (even though she is still the biggest of the three) She is the bold one in the group. Knows no fear. An explorer at heart. I let her out in the yard and she take off all by herself in whatever direction looks interesting.

DJ asked if there is any chance of getting apicture of them with Mom and Dad before the puppies head to their forever homes.

Probably not. Aside from the fact that Mom Aliy is a bit embarrased about her appearance right now (Mom dogs start to lose ALL their hair right about now and look like goats) and because of the non-stop rain we've had for the past week Daddy Max looks like a dirtball, the biggest reason we'll see no family portrait is because Max is kind of afraid of his kids. Yes, these little 10 pound balls of fluff send him hunting for higher grouond when they come around. In all fairness, he's getting more and more curious about them every day, but asking him to let them sit near him for a picture? I'm not sure he's willing to do that yet.

Georgia wrote "Anne - I think it is time for you to go to town and leave Bill with the marking pens!!"

She is referencing an incident which happened with Aliy's first litter.... I used to mark the puppies with different colors of ribbon around their necks. Then I discovered permanent marking pens. The idea is to put a colored spot on their back so you can tell which puppy is which. A day or so after I started doing this my husband got creative with the pens. We had racing stripes, zebra strips, flames, etc.

With these guys they all look so different I haven't needed to mark them at all and Georgia is apparently disappointed :)

This afternoon the puppies are going to meet new people for the first time. Several of my friends are going to help me evaluate the litter and try to decide if I should keep one and if so, which one. We will be looking at their structure, size, coats, personality etc. They had baths this morning in an attempt to make them look their best. Unfortunatley they only got somwhat clean :) For some reason these guys really like to chew on each other and they all have saliva stains around their necks. But they do still look pretty cute.

How Puppies Sleep

2006-07-08T21:47:00.000-06:00

Soundly.

This was Amigo yesterday morning. He was completely passed out while Tina and Sam were romping all around him at top speed. I think they even bumped into him or nearly stepped on him several times and he never moved. Yes I actually got up to check and see if he was breathing!

Do They Understand EVERY WORD I SAY???

2006-07-07T07:23:00.000-06:00

Two days ago I told my husband that these were such GOOD puppies. That they kept the whelping box relatively clean. It was easy to do the daily cleanup. Sweep, mop and done. Unlike past litters that required intensive scrubbing of the floor after having puppies dump the litter out of the litter box, liberally mix with water (The litter is paper based and it disintegrates to a paste like mush in water) and then mash into the floor. Do all this at 2 AM so it's dry and stuck to the floor like glue by morning.

So the next morning I go in to remove the remains of their breakfast and I find this:

Worst mess ANY puppies have ever made.

So then silly me, yesterday I say that they are such smart puppies! Once Sam got the hang of what the litter box was for, we have had NO accidents on the floor at all. Since saying that, we have had three "incidents" where the puppy was apparently attempting to go IN the box but sort of missed and had it go OVER the edge.

I'll spare you pictures of that.

In all seriousness these have been very good puppies. I wonder if most people realize how much work it really is to keep them clean and happy. When they were younger I had to do a complete change of the bedding at least once a day. This involved massive amounts of laundry.

Once they were off bedding it means sweeping and mopping the floor of their pen at least once a day. Constant monitoring of the litter box to remove waste (since yes, the do play in the box - God knows why....)

Increased laundry to wash toys and ice pack covers.

Changing of the ice packs on hot days every 2 hours.

And OF COURSE I need to make the time to play with them several times a day. What a hardship.

But is is all so worth it when you look at their cute little faces.

7 Weeks 2 Days Old

2006-07-04T19:45:00.000-06:00

BIG dogs deserve BIG pictures so this week we've doubled the size of the birthday portraits!

For those who like side by side comparison...

I can't believe how big they relly have gotten. Both Tina and Sam weigh over 10 lbs, that's as big as my scale will go. And Amigo gained over 2 lbs since his last weigh in!

Another picture of Tina....

The Name Game

2006-06-30T20:25:00.000-06:00

edited to add: Just because I named them doesn't mean I'm keeping them or that these have to be their forever names!!! Haven't decided what I'm doing yet....

When you only have three puppies it's pretty easy to tell them apart. So it seems kind of silly to keep calling them Green, Yellow and Blue. And once Blue's new parents told us what his call name was going to be, we decided to name all of them.

Reintroducing....

aka WhiteStar's Road Warrior
They really have developed personalities over the past two weeks. Sam (yes I know what a DUMB name it is for a Samoyed but it fis him) loves his great-grandmother Kachina and will play with her as long as she will tolerate him. Sam is also the cuddler in the group, he loves to be held.

aka WhiteStar's ???
Amigo is a really fun (and funny) puppy. His name fits him *perfectly*. He is the one who loves to play, never burns out and is always the first one to come running to the side of the ex-pen when someone enters the room.

aka WhiteStar What's Luv Got T'Do With It
Tina is just like her grandmother Raven was at this age. She simply refuses to acknowledge whe is till ababy and want everyone to treat her lie the Big Dog she really is. Brave and fearless, Tina goes out into the ~~world~~ yard exploring every corner.

Aliy: 3, Rodentia: 0

2006-06-28T13:25:00.000-06:00

This morning, sometime between 7:30 and 8:30, Aliy snuck yet another kill in to her kids. This time she left it on the far side of the ex-pen fromthe door where no one would easily steal it. Her last kill, she left inside the ex-pen (while the puppies were outside and the ex-pen was open for ceaning) and Pumpkin made off with it much to Aliy's great distress. Also my great distress as Pumpkin insisted on standing in the middle of the living room *crunching* on it, refusing to "take it outside" no matter how hard I begged.

Meanwhile, we have a winner.... Yellow girl has an ear up. Pictures later today.

6 Weeks!!

2006-06-25T14:33:00.000-06:00

All the puppies gained a HUGE amount of weight the past 3 days.... 12 ounces for Green, 10 ounces for Blue and 13 ounces for Yellow!

Instinct

2006-06-21T22:56:00.000-06:00

The most amazing thing about having a litter of puppies is watching the mother dog's instinct kick into high gear.

My dogs are hunters.

What do those two statements have to do with each other?

Tonight Aliy brought both into play.

My dogs are not sport hunters. They don't catch and release. They don't just catch and kill. They catch and eat. Mice. Ground Squirrels. Rabbits. Skunks.

They also don't share. Whoever catches it gets to eat it. Except, apparently, when maternal instinct comes into play.

Tonight just before I went to bed I checked on the puppies one last time. Aliy had just come in from outside and had gone to check on the puppies as well. Or so I thought. What she was actually doing was delivering dinner. I found a freshly killed ground squirrel on the floor next to the ex-pen where the puppies are now housed.

This is nothing new. When Aliy had her first litter she brought her kids multiple ground squirrels. It's the kind of thing I should have been expecting, given what Raven did last year. But you tend to block things like this out of your mind, you know?

Under normal cirumstances there would have been no consideration given to sharing with anyone. But those maternal instincts are so strong that they override all normal behavior and cause a dog to bring in such a prize and just give it away. But only to her kids.

How cool is that?

Edited to add: NO!! I didn't let the puppies have the ground squirrel!!!

Not a Care in the World....

2006-06-19T18:37:00.000-06:00

5 Weeks Already!!

2006-06-18T16:41:00.000-06:00

It's hard to believe these little guys are five weeks old already. In just 4 short weeks they will be leaving for new homes... I'm not yet sure if I am keeping one, but we do know that one has a definite home already, I'll be talking more about that in a post later this week.

The puppies are now very aware that there is life beyond the whelping box. The room where the box is set up is right off of the main entrance/kitchen area of my house. This morning my husband was making breakfast and talking to several of the dogs that were in the kitchen with him. As you can see, the puppies could tell that something was going on.

But they do still spend alot of time sleeping....

There is always at least one in every litter that thinks sleeping behind the litter box is a cool thing to do.

Grandma Kachina

I thought it would be appropriate to tell you all a little about the puppies grandmother Abakan WhiteStar of Tundra Winds WSXM HIC, bred by Darlu Littledeer of Abakan Samoyeds and co-owned by me and Donna Dannen of Tundra Winds Samoyeds.

For a number of years Kachina was the lead dog on the WhiteStar sled team. She was also an amazing weight pull dog, earning awards in weight pull at two different Samoyed Club of America National Specialties including Top Novice Puller in 1998. Kachina is also trained in agility, although she has never competed. She loves obedience work and one day I do hope to get her CD title.

Aside from producing a beautiful litter of puppies 6 years ago, the accomplishment of Kachina's of which I am most proud is that she earned her Master Working Samoyed title at the age of 4 years. At the time she was the second youngest Samoyed to ever earn the title. She was also only the 10th dog to receive a WSXM.

Read more about Kachina on her web page.

I bring up the subject of Grandma Kachina because of an interesting habit she has where the puppies are concerned. Each time one of her daughters has had puppies, starting when they are about 4 weeks old, Kachina decides she needs to keep an eye on them and make sure her daughter is doing a good job caring for her grandkids. Each morning when I let her out, before she will go outside she has to come into the room where the puppies are, count each nose and make sure they look healthy and happy. Only whan she has done her inspection will she then go outside.

Daddy Max

What a goofball he is! A couple days ago he found a chew bone out in the yard. He's been carrying it around for two days now.

Smartest. Puppies. Ever.

2006-06-16T18:53:00.000-06:00

I put the litter pan in the whelping box yesterday.

Tonight after eating both Yellow and Blue went from the food dish to the litter box and pooped.

How do they KNOW what it's for????

I'm sure we'll have "accidents" in the days to come, but still, we were 4 for 6 earlier today and tonight so far we are 2 for 2.

Amazing.

They Say You Can Never Go Home Again....

2006-06-14T13:36:00.000-06:00

.... but Green Boy tried this morning!

I put the puppies out on the deck early this morning. About an hour later my husband said he'd just looked out the window and saw Green Boy heading for The Hole.

By the time we got outside, Green was nowhere to be found. Neither was Aliy. I began calling her and she popped up out of The Hole. Green had to be down there, but he had gone far enough in that we could not see him.

My husband went inside to get a flashlight, I stood guard at the hole entrances.

Then I had an idea.

I went back up to the deck, grabbed the ice packs and put one just inside the entrance to each hole and made a bunch of noise to attract Green's attention. Within 2 minutes Green had made his way out of the depths of the hole and settled himself down on the ice pack for a nap.

I scooped him up and put him back on the deck. We then reinforced the gate to the steps that one of the other dogs must have knocked down.

The really surprising thing? That a 4.5 week old puppy went down a flight of steps! And that he had some kind of instinct to head straight for the place he was born. How did he know the hole was there?

Blue Boy Naps

2006-06-13T18:41:00.000-06:00

This is pretty much what the puppies do most of the time. Nap.

Of course there are times of wild play interspersed with the napping. If you're lucky you may catch them tearing up the whelping box on the Aliy-Cam.

Actually they are still being pretty good about leaving the bedding alone. I doubt that will last much longer. Green was trying to pull it up last night. I plan to go out tomorrow and buy some puppy litter. They are still a little young toget the idea, but I need to get them used to the idea before I have to take up the bedding.

If you happen to catch the whelping box looking like this:

It's because the puppies are spending part of each day now out on the deck!

4 Weeks 1 Day Old

2006-06-12T12:40:00.000-06:00

Mine. ALL MINE.

The White Torpedo

2006-06-07T17:34:00.000-06:00

Aliy got a bath yesterday, now she's as clean as her kids!

Comments From the Aliy-Cam!

Carlotta said "I like that whelping box, did your husband make it???"

Can I stop laughing now? My husband has many talents. He is an excellent cook. He can quote sports statistics from the past 40 years. And look what a fantastic job he did handling Aliy's little surprise. But he is neither particularly good at designing things nor at building them. That's my job. In fact my degree is in Architecture although I don't use the skills in my real-life job. The whelping box is my design, I built it whan Kachina hadher litter 6 years ago. More details can be found right here.

Carolyn and Leo said "Which one is the energizer bunny?? I've watched them on and off for part of the morning and there is a designated trouble-maker. Poor blue boy gets no peace."

Hmmm.... I would have said that Blue is the Energizer Bunny. Any time there's trouble int he whleping box he's usually involved. Maybe I need to pay a little closer attention the next few days, maybe Yellow and Green have decided it's time for paybacks!

Janette said "can I say again how gorgeous these little fluff balls are!"

Sure you can say it as often as you like, Aliy and I love hearing it! But they are not so little any more. They now all weigh over 4 lbs!

Milestones

2006-06-06T07:20:00.000-06:00

The puppies polished off an entire plate of mush this morning. I think it's time to start regularly scheduled supplemental feedings now that they are past the "learning how to eat" stage.

The puppies trashed the whleping box last night. Mom Aliy is slacking off on her clean up duties so it's time for me to start working harder!

Blue Boy joined in the group howl this morning!!! Every morning at some point (and every evening as well) all my dogs will start howling together for about a minute and a half. It's always fun when the baby puppies join in for the first time.

Next big things coming up in the lives of the pups? Probably early next week they'll go outside for the first time. It's also time for me to dig the litter box out of the garage and go get some puppy litter. They are still a little too young but I'm thinking by the middle of next week I need to be prepared!

3 Weeks 1 Day

2006-06-05T11:57:00.000-06:00

They get cuter and cuter everyday!

They have gotten very fond of the ice packs, in fact my husband is picking up a couple more today so we can make sure we always have frozen ones!

Breakfast time....

Look! The puppies have new toys! How long until Pumpkin steals them and trys to take them out into the yard?

I may not have mentioned that I put up a Gallery Page for the pups. There is a link in the right sidebar. I update it each week when I put up the weekly "birthday photos". It contains all the pictures that have been on the blog so far, as well as the weight chart and the progress chart.

Speaking of the weight chart, we've reached the point where the pups will only get weighed a couple times a week so there will be no more daily weight updates.

As always, the Aliy-Cam will be running 7 x 24 except for when it decides to freeze up. I do check every morning and several times during the day but if it goes down, feel free to let me know!

Growing Up

2006-06-02T20:50:00.000-06:00

Not only are they starting to look more like puppies than gerbils, they are also starting to act like puppies. They are starting to play with each other and today Yellow Girl ate a little mush!

It's not like Aliy's first litter, where if they did not have fresh ice packs at all times they screamed their heads off, but they do seem to like them.

This weekend I will be in Boulder with Max and Babe at a show, while there I'm going to look for some puppy toys to keep them occupied. The Aliy-Cam should get lively over the next few weeks!

2 Weeks 3 Days Old

2006-05-31T09:08:00.000-06:00

The Aliy-Cam is Back!!!

2006-05-25T13:34:00.000-06:00

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.

2006-05-25T12:28:00.000-06:00

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?

2006-05-25T06:40:00.000-06:00

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.

2006-05-24T16:21:00.000-06:00

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

2006-05-24T06:41:00.000-06:00

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!

2006-05-23T10:05:00.000-06:00

Look at all the pigment!

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

Chapter 2: What's Wrong With Aliy

2006-05-22T22:23:00.000-06:00

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

2006-05-22T08:25:00.000-06:00

‘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?

2006-05-18T10:59:00.000-06:00

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!

2006-05-17T10:37:00.000-06:00

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

2006-05-16T06:38:00.000-06:00

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!