Life is Good

WOW...the pups are 5 weeks old...

UmmUmm Good!

Poor Hana was having a hard time keeping up with these hungry puppies. She was eating at least 9 cups of food and 3 buckets of water a day. So we decided to introduce a meal of dog chow and yogurt. Not a morsel was left! In the first picture you can see Alice trying to hoard the gruel by laying across it. Pretty creative.

Puppy Playtime Pix

These guys really like to play hard and sleep hard :)

I decided to throw in some toys for fun, even though they made more of an obstacle course than play things at this point. The pups weren't really sure what to make of the big red ball.

Chewing on each others tails and legs seems to be the desired game. Hana was going crazy b/c she wanted all the toys. The one picture of the group looking left was when mom sqeaked one of her toys. The pups all had to check out what the excitement was.

Two funny things...

One...the pups started experimenting with barking, and when they bark, they move backward...almost like the bark itself is propelling them backward...really cute.

Two...when I got home from work the other day, Hana was at the door of the whelping box and a pup was directly behind her. The rest of the gang was sleeping in the corner. Hana was of course excited to see me (or quite possibly just excited that she was about to be fed), but at any rate, her tail was wagging a mile a minute. Well, this tail was smacking the puppy behind her to the left to the right and back again and again and again. The fiesty little puppy would fall down then get back up growling, only to be knocked down again. She'd try to pounce on the tail, growling, barking etc. Sounds mean, but it was actually very funny b/c the pup just kept going back for more...like she was bound and determined to stop that tail.

Here's a bunch of cute shots

Hey, I have a pointy head

It looks as though all the puppies can hear....whew! Official tests (B.A.E.R) are scheduled for May 18. At that point we will have a better idea of which pup(s) will be available for "show".

Squash

The pups are becoming little dogs now. Romping around, barking, jumping on each other. They're a whole lot of fun! Hammet is actually yawning in this shot, but it looks like he's being squashed by James.

Spots will be coming soon

Cuddle muffins

Sweet dreams young pup, dream big.

The "Puppy Pile" days have begun

Notice that the eye, nose and ear pigment comes in first. Soon we'll be noticing color on the rest of the pups body. FACTOID-Pigmentation continues throughout the life of a Dalmatian. Spots may expand slightly and new spots may appear.

Hana's settling in just nicely

Kathy sends her greetings from sunny California while Kris is manning the fort back home. Hana and the pups are doing GREAT. Pretty soon the spots on the pups will be coming out and their eyes and ears will start opening. That's always an exciting time.

My hunch is the markings are going to be gorgeous on these pups! Can't wait!!!

Awww!!!!!!!

A Day of Rest

Hana's looking good here, but boy is she tired. What a night! All pups are doing wonderfully as is their tired mom.

Puppies!! Puppies!! Puppies!!

Guess what?

PUPPIES!! x 6 Maybe more...

Hana had her first pup, a boy, around 12:45 AM.

She waited an agonizing 5 hours to have pups 2,3 &4.

Then she took and hour break and had pups 5 & 6.

I haven't checked the sexes of the others yet.

They were all so peacefully nursing I didn't want to disturb them.

Check for an update later on this AM.