It's Been Slow To Post

Margie is out of town with her Mom recovering from the surgery. So Jerry is home alone. And you know what kinds of problems little boys can get into when their home alone ! It's been one thing after another, and it's not the puppies, it's the weather. Thursday PM into Frdiay AM we had three tornado warnings in Dallas County. I was up until 3 AM, then grabbed a few hours sleep before I was off to work at 7 AM. So I "slept in " this morning. I had to take Martha potty at 4 AM, but I got back to sleep and got up a 8 AM.

Made some coffee, talked with Margie, took out the garbage, made a meal for the puppies (I'm leaving out the rice cereal now), fed the puppies, exercised, fed and watered the adult dogs, took a nice shower, put the clean dishes away, put the dirty dishes into the machine, started a load of laundry, called FedEx wondering where the package that I was expecting was at ... all by 9 AM. That sleep really helped. The puppies look adorable. I'll get some more pictures today.

The FedEx package is a super lens I rented for this weekend to shoot some pics at the Ames Cyclone Agility Trial. The site is at the ISU soccer field, which is next to Squaw Creek, which according nto the hydological maps, is suffering some moderate flooding. So I sent an email to Deb to see if it was still on, or moved. No response yet..she's probably busy. I was going to go tomorrow AM anyway.

Weaning, Tornado, A Birthday

Lots of bad storms last night. Parkersburg IA was hit last afternoon. Seven people dead. We watched the weather until 11:00 PM or so last night. The Tornado Watch was on until 3 AM.






Gretl and Nick conspired to surprise Emily with a birthday party at Gretl's home yesterday afternoon. Both families showed up. I think she was surprised !



We exposed the puppies to gruel, again. They and Martha really like it.

First Good Video of the Litter

It's about 3 PM. The puppies are very active now. They slept most of the AM. Why? We had some rocking storms last night. The thunder and lightning kept Martha and the puppies up most of the night. Jerry slept through it all. He uses earplugs.

Enjoy. It's about 4 minutes long.

Bishop is All Smiles

My good nephew, Simon, had surgery today… hehehee …. he was neutered … hehehee …. I feel real sorry for the poor kid … hehehee

Bishop

Start of Weaning

Margie introduced gruel today. On today's menu, it is comprised of mostly rice cereal with Esbilac, with a tad of powdered Innova puppy food .

Don't bother me I tired ....

Stretch before the meal ...

Martha says the food is okay ....

Finger-food !

Where Are The Puppies?

Humans try, but sometimes they forget to close the windows! Of course, I am a creative mom who knows to cover her children with these colorful blankets.

Martha

Margie shot this with her cell phone. The kids are buried under the newspapers and Martha was on the bed !

A few more pictures from today.

Litter Certificate

After filling out the Litter Registration on-line at the AKC, the Litter Certificate and Registration forms arrived within a week.

Cool

Dear Kyle,

I am sorry it has taken so long for me to write; things here have been quite busy. First, I want to congratulate you on your well-deserved Champion; I know my heart skipped a beat when I saw you. With Terri's expert handling, I am sure the crowds will be asking for an encore performance. Now you have the title to match your Champion heart.

Now, dear, let me tell you about our children.

We had septuplets, but two little angels joined my Grandmamma at the Rainbow Bridge. The remaining quintuplets are beautiful! I don't want to say the children look like either of us…not yet, anyway…they have moved from the overstuffed-sausages-with-legs stage to the sleepy-ground-squirrel stage. They gave me quite a stir the first time the started walking and crying at the same time! I was used to little lumps crying, but the walking made me nervous as I was afraid I was going to step on someone. I made Margie hold them back while I got into position for feeding.

The boys have your calm and confident temperament. Two of the girls are sweet, one of the girls is quite a muzzleful! One of the little girls is going home with Margie and Jerry's son and daughter-in-law. Their son, Nick, just returned from Iraq. During the deployment, all he talked about was getting a puppy; I think I told you, his dog, Luke, died 2 days after Nick's return from a Kosovo deployment in 2005. Anyway, this little one's name is Izabelle and she already snuggles up to them. Nick was in tears the day Izabelle fell asleep in his arms. She will take obedience classes, jog with them, and go to the National Guard base to pester soldiers who think Standards aren't a "man's dog." Nick's wife is a nanny for triplets. She helped deliver our children and comes over everyday. I know Izabelle will be happy and safe with them. I want you to know, dear, that our children will all have good homes.

Kyle, I also want you to know how happy I am to tell our children about you and I hope someday they will make you proud.

Martha

Kyle's Champion

It just happened a short time ago, at the Badger Kennel Club show, May 4, 2008, under judge Mr Eugene Blake. Terri Meyers did a great job handling Kyle. Leslie is very happy for the accomplishment, and now, at three, Kyle is home in Florida.

May 18, 2008 - - - Happy Birthday, Martha

TODAY, MARTHA IS THREE !

Kyles Birthday was yesterday, May 17. He is three also !

Life Renews

Jerry went out this AM for some macro-photography work. Some plants didn't make it over this winter. Most of the ornamental grasses show vigorous growth. The Russian olive tree is history. The ice storm cracked it off at the soil line. It is growing, but it will have to be removed. The peonies, vaious conifers, and robins are showing signs of renewal.

A Lazy Day

Soon it will be time to start weaning. The puppies eyes are fully open, they are ambling about, and their food demands will soon outstrip Matha's capacity to produce milk. Plus, when they get teeth, Marthas will not enjoy their nursing. Soon.

About three weeks after whelp we begin to introduce gruel. Gruel is Gerbers rice cereal made with Esbilac. When they tolerate that, we begin to replace the cereal with powdered Eukanuba puppy food.


The puppies are quite active, day AND night. They roll over each other in their quest to go somewhere.

This is Kayla taking a nap on the bear. We think Piper is Martha's favorite. Piper hates to be put on her back. The puppies got their first dose of wormer today. The adult dogs received their monthly Heartgard.

There are obedience and rally matches this weekend at Seelah Kennel, in Adel. Of course, we won't be going. We miss our human and dog friends. We wish them great success. Here's a picture from Jan 2006 of SOME of our poodle friends, at Seelah. Simon is second from the left, and Ripley is fourth from the left, between her white friends, TJ and Sisco.

Indignation

Male Humans! I am soooo embarrassed! Margie gave me my first official groom, but please understand that I certainly have not been walking around unclean! Margie and Jerry have a walk-in shower…well, lately it has been my own private spa. I walked behind the glass and Margie used the personal shower attachment to help keep my…well, you know, personal areas clean. Sometimes she used the massage setting on my legs….oohoohoohooh…..that warm water made my legs feel so good. Anyway, I don't want everyone out there to think I have been unclean these past weeks. I can hardly contain myself! I am just going to have to make cynical circles around that man to let him know how disappointed I am. Hmpf!

Now, let me tell you about one of the greatest joys of being a Standard Poodle….grooming. All canines get bathed, but Standards get the royal treatment. Because of the quintuplets, Margie used a simple oatmeal shampoo, but I got her to use my favorite conditioner on my topknot and ears….oooh….it smells so good! She worried about using anything with a stronger scent because the quints might refuse nursing. She doesn't realize that even at a few weeks, the quints have better scent-sense that she has. In fact, they have been surviving on that wonderful gift we canines have.

Back to grooming... Margie asks me not to shake until she gets on the other side of the glass, but I got her this time! She didn't get mad or anything, we just laughed about it. I must admit, I hate the air force dryer but love to see the water droplets jump from my body. Every time I think she will turn the dryer off, another spray of water leaps from my skin. Now, my favorite part….I looked up at her with my innocent look and she said, "Okay, lets get the towels and dry off in the family room." YES! The warm dryer heats the brush and comb….oooh….it feels so warm and good. There is nothing better than being a Standard. I'm not crazy about the shaving, but I feel so clean after being shaved. Afterwards, she takes a damp cloth (with my favorite conditioner on it) across my newly shaved face and neck to get all the hair dust off. Shaving on my body feels like getting one of those massage treatments. Scissoring is next…I am lovely!

Grooming is a one-on-one time with a human. During a groom, humans can forget the stresses of the day and think only of the dog. Even during the week, brushing and combing is such a special time for us. I hope all the new parents of my children think of grooming as a special time and not a chore.

Margie and Gretl even shaved the faces of the quints! They were wonderful! Kayla and Avery didn't like the vibrations under the chin, but the were real little troopers. I am so proud of them.

Martha

A Day To Clean Up

Martha had a bath today - the first since the whelp. Margie groomed her. Martha feels spry again. The puppies had their first face shave today, and most all of them are taking their first extended, but tenuous, walks on all fours.

Mom's are meant to be climbed on !

Izzy's First Look

Izzy's eyes are obviously open now. We don't know if she can "see" yet. She is sitting up, ambles about a bit, barks and growls !

The Arrangements

Having a litter is rewarding, but taxing. Fortunately, Martha is a great mother, and she really pampers the puppies. We have three other adult dogs that need attention as well - Bishop, Ripley, and Simon. Simon is Margie's dog, and he is missing her. Margie sleeps in the bedroom with Martha and the whelp. The room temperature is cranked up so the puppies don't get chilled. It is not comfortable for Margie.

Jerry sleeps in the family room with the other adult dogs. He trys to get comfortable, but his back is aching. The adult dogs pester him all night. Bishop and Ripley jump on him at night and want attention, and Ripley frequently cleans his ears. Simon licks Jerry's face.

We need sleep.

Happy Mother's Day

Thank you all for the Happy Mother’s Day greetings. Anyone can give birth, but being a mom is tough work, especially when you have quintuplets. As I look back these past few months, it is hard to believe my quintuplets are already two weeks old. Time passes quickly; they hardly look like the little lumps of clay I gave birth to. Their personalities are already starting to develop—from the quiet to the insistent! Little Piper is quite a handful! When she wants to eat I better be there! The boys are very sweet and patient. Avery is a little independent and likes to have his own space—Margie likes his confidence. Tate is very tender-hearted; he likes to lay his head across my leg. The girls are very much like little girls… Izzy is gentle and calm, Kayla thinks she is special, and Piper loves to hear herself talk! Even at night Piper is mumbling something… Piper makes Margie crazy (but I know Margie secretly likes her)!

It is good to have the humans help out with the children and the laundry—I hate doing laundry! Margie and Jerry wash the bedding regularly; we change sheets and blankets four times a day. Margie also washes the surround and disinfects our sleeping quarters (Margie hates germs!). I know some of my fellow canines don’t get such treatment, but my humans know that the cleaner the bedding, the easier the housebreaking!

I’ll write again soon, right now I have to whisper stories to my children. My grandmamma Hope told us stories at night. She told us how much we were to follow our instincts and do what is right. Grandmamma told us to look into the eyes of humans to learn about their joys and sorrows. Dogs have to know when to nudge a human and pester them away from frustrations. Everyone knows canines calm a restless spirit and connect them with the miracles of nature. I hope I can remember all she told us…I want to raise my children to be good companions.

Martha

Martha's Chow

We usually feed Eukanuba Puppy to the nursing bitch. But this caused some loose stools with Martha. So we did some "taste-testing" and found that Innova Puppy was marginally palatible for her, and resolved the very loose, bloody stools. We have to jazz it up for her a bit. We wet the kibble with water, add some cooked rice and a couple of tablespoons of canned food for that something extra. Oh, and we warm it up, too. We also add about 1/8 tsp of Probios Dispersible powder.


Martha has this meal four times a day.

Eyes Are Opening

They are the tiniest of slits. You can see the glimmer.

Emily and Nick will be taking Geisha home (they've named her Isabelle). Martha is great. After a Mother's day lunch, all six of us piled into the bedroom and socialized with Martha and the puppies.

Emily and Izzy

Puppy Growth Characteristics

I wrote earlier that puppies grow logarithmically (or exponentially, which is the flip side) for a period during early development. Plot the weight of the puppy on the ordinate, and time, the independent variable, on the abscissa (see the chart on the upper right of this page). If the ordinate values are plotted as the logarithm of the value, you will observe a straight line for those periods of growth that are exponential. Then, the slope of that straight line, when divided into ln 2 yields doubling time.

Here is such a plot for Kayla. I use her as an example because her time vs weight curve shows no lag or stationary phase. The red points are her actual weights, and I computed a linear regression (black line is the best fit) to estimate the slope. The slope of this line, m, is termed μ, the specific growth rate (y=mx+b, standard first order curve). In this case, μ = 0.088. So doubling time is td = ln 2/0.088 = 0.693/0.088 = 7.8 days. Kayla's weight doubles every 7.8 days.

What a Whiner

This is Piper's vocalization today.
Margie says she doesn't want her.
She is the most vocal.

Some of the pups are walking about already. This kind of freaked out Martha and she was a bit apprehensive about returning to the whelping box. Eyes are still shut.

Enjoy your Mother's Day.

Gretl and BJ, and Nick and Emily will come by today to prepare lunch.

Margie's mom is recovering nicely from surgery.

Litter History

This is the seventh Canterbury Tails litter since 1988. This chart displays number of whelp per litter, the distribution of genders within each litter, and the distribution of litters across years. The gender ratio within a litter is variable, and it really isn't meaningful anyway since the number of whelp per litter is small. However, overall, we've had 17 male live births and 17 female live births.

Talk About Porkers !

These fellows grow fast! They are almost a foot long. And they are so much out of proportion when contrasted with adult conformation. Their fat tummies are particularly charming. Their eyes are still not open. I love the way they grunt and moan, and twitch. When I hold them, they cuddle up to me and relax. I'm letting them get a good smell and taste of me so they'll have a memory of me when they are adults.

Martha continues to have loose stools. The stools are not as watery and tinged with blood as earlier in the week. We hope control her digestive issues with diet, yet still get sufficient nutrition into her so she and the puppies will thrive.

Margie and Gretl are in Chicago visiting Margie's mom who is in the hospital recovering from surgery.



It's a cool, damp, cloudy day today. It's a perfect day for catching up on sleep - for me and the puppies.

Some Stats on the Whelp

Okay, now that we're recovered from W-Day (whelp day), I've prepared some vital statistics that characterize the event.

Five Females - two females deceased
Two Males

Avg Weight...............................13 oz
Avg Weight of Males.................16 oz
Avg Weight of Female..............11.8 oz

Water Break to First Whelp.......11 min
Duration of Whelp....................3 hr 41 min
Avg Period Between Puppy......35 min

In the chart below, I've visualized gender, birth weight, time of whelp (where time 0 is water bag break), and mortality. The period between birth of the pups is fairly similar. I don't see any obvious temporal gaps which might indicate which groups of pups were located in the same uterine horn. It seems odd that only females suffered mortality. There was no clear relationship of mortality and birth weight. The sample size is small, so these conclusions need to be viewed in the proper context.

Measuring Puppy Weight Gain

We measure the puppys weight frequently to confirm they are growing. We use our food scale. It's not precise, but it's a trend we're after, not the exact weight. There is a link to a weight chart over on the right hand upper side of this page. With previous litters, puppy weight gain has been exponential for about the first two weeks after an initial lag (plotting weight vs time on a semi-log scale yields a straight line). When we get more data points, we'll plot the growth on a semi-log scale. The puppies wiggle a lot when we weigh them, so it's difficult to get a good weight anyway. So far, they are growing nicely.

They nap after eating. Their eyes and ears are still sealed shut. Eyes will open about day 10 post-whelp. They find mom's teats by smell alone.

Tails Are Docked

The pups visited Tom today to have their tails docked and dew claws removed. All is well with them. Martha is a very good mom. She lays with the pups all day, and hestiates to leave them when it is time to exercise. We have to virtually drag her outside. And then, she rushes back in. The whole family is helping handle the puppies, and Martha allows us to get our puppy management chores done.