Cherry Cookie is Due on or about July 4th!

Here we go again!  Cherry Cookie is due on July 3 (earliest) and the next five days... She is not showing very much but she is showing!

Dixie Pie's Farrah is doing well but the smaller two did not make it. 

Dixie Pie's Puppies Are Doing Fine!

Dixie Pie's puppies that were born five days ago are doing just fine.  The three female pups are gaining weight.  Farrah is the largest and as you can see, she uses her sisters as pillows.  Kate is the one on the bottom in this picture and Jaclyn is curled up in the back.  Nursing times are every three hours now.  They all seem to be healthy -- no sneezing or coughing.  Two are so tiny and so cute!  I find myself counting toes (just checking...)

Pink noses are healthy.  That means their blood has lots of oxygen.  By the time they are 8 weeks old, their noses and lips will have turned black.  That's a sign of bulldog purity.  The grandmother (Sweet Tater Pie) is from championship lines in Tupelo and their father (Jazzman) is from the famous Dingman's Badger line.

Cherry Cookie is "showing"

Cherry Cookie is showing -- she might be pregnant!  If she is, her due date is July 3 or July 5.  The prognosis was bad when she contracted a vaginal bacterial infection while she was in heat.  But she's one happy girl now.  She just loves her puppies.

Dixie Pie's puppies are doing well.  They are gaining weight and nursing without problems.

Dixie Pie (female English bulldog) has three new puppies!

Dixie Pie (our English bulldog) has three new puppies.  They are all females and our Vet suggested -- Charlie's Angels!!! So here are the Angels: Farrah, Kate, and Jaclyn!

The puppies are much smaller than normal but seem healthy.  The first two or three days will be critical.  Dixie Pie has plenty of milk and her nipples are just the right size for these three pups.  Scheduled feeding times are every two hours for the first few days.  The littlest one (Jaclyn) doesn't nurse as vigorously as the other two so I am expressing about 3 cc's of Dixie's milk for her and feeding her with a dropper.


Kate, Jaclyn, and Farrah:

And Still no Puppies

Mr. Cat waits for his supper and Dixie Pie waits for her puppies...  Tomorrow Dixie Pie needs to be checked.  So come morning we'll all load up and trek on up to Old Hatchie Vet Clinic!

Dixie Pie (female English bulldog) moves to the kitchen...

Dixie Pie (female English bulldog) moves to the kitchen so that she can be checked every hour day and night until labor starts. Other signs that she's getting close are lack of appetite, temperature dropping below 100 degrees, and nesting. Another indication is that her milk comes in.  Although sometimes, the first milk comes when she hears her baby cry.

Nesting is where the canine searches for a quiet, dark "cave" where she can be alone.  We had one female, "Amber", crawl under the back porch.  I had to pry off several deck 1 x 6's to locate her and ease her into the house.  Early in raising English bulldogs, I stayed up with the mother-to-be all night.  Several litters were delivered in my lap...

This picture of Dixie Pie was taken an hour ago and as you can see, she's still eating so I can relax... NOT.

Dixie Pie (female English bulldog) is pregnant!

This is exciting!  Dixie Pie is pregnant for her first time!  She's on the short, small size which is great for small home owners. She is showing but until the vet delivers those puppies, I'm not counting. The sire, The Jazzman, is oblivious to his upcoming litter.  He just snores away...

Don't make deposits until I post puppy pictures.  Deposit will be $250 and Dixie Pie's puppy price will be a total of $1,750. So complete the PuppyGal Application and if approved, pick out your puppy and put in a deposit.  Puppies will be born in about a week.

Snapping Turtle?

As I was motoring up the driveway, there was a large turtle climbing out of a muddy pool of water on his (or her) way to the pond. It was a foot long and ten inches wide!  According to the locals, there are many, many turtles in the ponds in this county!  I hope they eat mosquito larva...

Reminds me of a poem by Ogden Nash:

The Turtle by Ogden Nash
The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks Which practically conceal its sex. I think it clever of the turtle In such a fix to be so fertile.						Sunshine brings happiness!