Quick blog tonight as it is New Years eve. Lucy's Cavapoo pups had their four week old check up with the vet & all are fit & well.
We at Poundlane wish everyone a Great New Year for 2011 !
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All the children are happy with what Father Christmas brought them & he also remembered Mum & I have got my new camera so look out now for lots of action photos, well that is when I get time to get it out of the box & read the instructions without falling to sleep.
The dogs all got treats of gravey bones & some turkey each which they all eat heartily. We have been snowed in all of Christmas with the thaw starting yesterday & finally today are road has become passable with a two wheel drive vehicle.
 Kim & Toni came to visit us today who are having a pup each from Lucy's litter of Cavapoo pups who are now 25 days old. They both visited us when the pups were about a week old & they could really see the difference & how much they grow in these early weeks as from being little blobs with their eyes & ears shut they are now playful, licking & wagging tail bundles of fluff which now interact with you.
The pups have been wormed at just over two weeks old with Panacaur wormer which is given over three days it is liquid & administrated with a small syringe squirting the liquid to the back of the throat & in my mind & my vets this is the best wormer for pups upto around 5 to 6 months. They will on Friday be having their first of two vet checks they have with us & then after this first vet check pups can be reserved.
Mum now stands or sits to accomadate them all when they suckle & Lucy is just such a wonderful Mum  it is hard to believe this is her first litter of pups. She is so good that Primrose has taken to going in with the pups sleeping & playing with them which Lucy happily tolerates. Primrose is 4 months old & is a pup from Ysabel who we have retained. Primrose like Smudge who is 7 months old & whos Mum is Millie is a lovely tempered pup who has a very gentle manner but very playful just like a pup should be.
Have taken a lot of photo's of the pups tonight as they are getting more & more active & playful every day, also a couple lovely photos of Ysabel & Primrose together. A little bit of a story to these photos as last night I wondered were Prinrose was & then after looking every where took a second glance at Ysabel & realised Primrose was lying on top of her asleep, as when I first looked at Ysabel Primrose was camouflaged against her & I did not see her. lol
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Well, its Christmas eve & were did that year go. Lucy's Cavapoo pups are now 3 weeks old & Mum Lucy is proving to be a first class Mum who is doing her pups brilliantly.
All the children are settled & the dogs are fast asleep so all that is left for me to say on this very short blog is MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all & will blog soon but have just heard a jingle of bells & a HO ! HO ! HO ! so better get to bed as we all know Father Christmas does not like to be disturbed when at work.
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Well I love snow but it does make life abit more of a struggle & either I am getting old or I am just tired but we get the children to bed & my bottom touches the sofa & the dogs jump on are laps & phoof ! I wake up two hours later slightly confused were I am & what time it is but then get up have a drink get ready for bed let the dogs out for a pee & then I am awake & struggle to get to sleep, so am determined to write my blog tonight & stay awake till I go to bed.
Lucy's Cavapoo pups are now 18 days old & all of them now have their eyes open & have started to wobbly walk around, they also have started to interact with us & will play with your fingers & lick your face when picked up. They have started to lick & chew at the food already & like sleeping in the food bowl.
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We have over night had about 8 inches of snow. The children this morning have never got dressed & had breakfast so quick as they rushed to get outside first to play in the snow. Although it makes life a bit harder you have got to also appreciate the joy of snow & the beauty it creates on the landscape. Saying that though most of today my husband & myself have been cleaning up puddles of water & mud from the back house & picking up wellies & coats discarded every were but the children are now content, tired & ready for bed.
The dogs seem to love this weather leaping around like rabbits in it getting full of balls of snow & I have been busy trying to capture this with my very slow camera.
Lucy's Cavapoo pups are now 15 days old & are starting to open their eyes. Lucy has enjoyed a frolic in the snow but we must be careful that she does not get to cold or chap her teats, so a good rub down with a towel when she comes in which she loves.
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We have snow & the children were meant to go to school today but an inch of snow & the school was closed but it was the last day of term & they would of only been partying. The children were estatic & could not get out side quick enough to play in the snow. They have all got over their sickness & fingers crossed my oldest bert, my Mum, husband & me have avoided contracting the dreaded sickness lurgy.
The dogs have loved it & have got clinkers or balls of snow attached to their under belly & legs which then melt leaving wet patches about the house.
Lucy's Cavapoo pups are now two weeks old. They are on the verge of opening their eyes & are happily wobbling around in the dog bed as they can crawl & stand up on all four legs.
Thought I would mention new rules coming in from The Kennel Club in 2011. From next year you will only be able to register 4 litters for one bitch as it used to be 6. The Kennel Club have spoken to vets & breeders & decided it compromises the bitches well being to breed more than 4 litters. This is great obviously people will still breed & not register pups but this is The Kennel Club saying that they do not condone breeding more than 4 litters hopefully it will filter through to breeding licenceing which you have to have if breeding 5 or more litters a year, which still allows a licenced breeder 6 litters per bitch. In my mind 6 litters is to much what ever breed but some & alot of them Show producer breeders have got really angry about this calling it ridiculous.
The other new Kennel Club rule coming in next year is not allowing registering of pups from a bitch who has had more than two c sections. I  welcome this as to think some breeders would happily c section a bitch 3 times is disgusting. This has really upset Show producer breeders as many of the very small Toy breeds & breeds with very flat faces or over big heads are highly more likely to be born by c section. We really have to look to are selfs here breeding dogs that struggle to give birth naturally or even unable to mate without assitants, do we really want dogs to end up like this ?
Must go now as I have a wall that needs a second coat of paint in the front room & then we can put up the Christmas Tree tomorrow.
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It has been a long few days since I last blogged & in that time 5 of my 6 children have gone down with sickness & diarrhoea, so my husband & me have had little sleep & are very surprised with the amount of mess we have cleaned up that neither of us have yet gone down with this illness. Bert my oldest is yet to succumb to what ever it is that is going through are other children. They are ill very quick but soon pull through although being a little washed out by it. All my children luckily sleep well & I do think this helps when they have any illness especially the recovery. Apparently there is a lot of sickness around at the moment with several other children at my childrens school being ill, just glad its now & we all have time to hopefully recover & be fit for Christmas as it is never nice to be ill during the festivities.
Lucy's Cavapoo pups are now 11 days old & are getting chunky & any day now I would expect to see their eyes start to open although their eyes will not be able to focus properly until around 28 days old, so life will be a little blurry for a day or two still. Over the weekend we had visits from three of the four people interested already in this litter. It was nice to see two of them Debbie & Toni for the second time as they both visited us before the pups were born to see what we are about & it was nice to meet Kim for the first time although we have talked on the phone a couple times before meeting. It is lovely to see pups this young as they do so much development in the first 8 weeks of life & it is nice to share this part of their life with their potential families to be.
Smudge who is Millie's daughter is now around 8 days on heat & is approaching the time that she would be most interested in the opposite sex but she is only 7 months old, so great care is taken that she is not accidently mated. I would look to mate a bitch for the first time at around 2 years old. This allows the bitch to fully mature physically & mentally, also some of the disorders in this breed become apparent by this age & if they did then the bitch would be spayed & not bred from.
Bobby is great friends with Smudge & he is are 9 month old tricoloured Cavalier boy who will be used for stud eventually. Unfortunately during this time whilst Smudge is on heat we are having to keep them apart but Bobby has seemed to of started a great friendship with Pupster who after losing his great friend Smidge earlier this year has not really seemed close to any other dog yet until now & which I think was reflected in the fact that the two disappeared yesterday together & after walking for two hours through dense woodland eventually found them as they ran up to me tails a wagging & full of fun. Well I suppose it stops we having to go to the gym.lol
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Lucy's pups are thriving & are now one week old & all have doubled or more than doubled their body weight from birth & now weigh between 14 to 16 oz. Lucy has taken to being a Mum like a duck takes to water & tonight she had a bath which she seemed to really enjoy as after birth the Mum will discharge from her vulva for a week or some times more as long as the discharge does not smell or is excessive there is not much to worry about but if you were not sure it may be best if inexperienced to let your vet check your bitch a day or two after whelping to check that the discharge is what is to be expected.
Lucy being quite hairy behind & it being winter so I did not clip her pre birth was abit messy behind so a nice bath now she has stopped discharging was needed. She had a good rub down & then sat under the pups heat lamp of her own accord drying herself off totally, clever girl.
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It is now 5 days since Lucy gave birth to her 7 Cavapoo pups & she is looking really well & her pups are starting to tubby up. Lucy is a good eater which is a great help after she gave birth as eating well is only going to help her produce milk & recover quickly after the effort taken to give birth. Carrying growing young in the womb & then giving birth is to me still one of the miracles of life & I never lose the feeling of joy & surprise of watching these little pups coming into the world. Watching these little pups growing each day & my children interacting with Mum & the pups is priceless. The trust that Lucy is showing with us all with her pups is a reflection of her lovely passive & calm temperment. A good Cavalier should include temperment as they should not be nervous, noisey or snappy, after health of a Cavalier to me temperment is then the next important attribute they must have before I would breed from them.
It has been extremely cold at the moment & the lane we live down is only just passable due to sheets of ice over parts of it & it being quite a steep lane this adds to the problem. The dogs though seem to love this weather & they do keep beautifully clean which is a bonus. This evening I have noticed that Smudge has come on heat for the first time she is around 7 months old & any time from 5 months old you can expect a bitch to have their first heat, some times they can come on again 4 to 6 weeks later & then they should settle into a pattern of coming into heat every 5 to 12 months with around every 6 months being the average. A heat lasts around 21 days & in all of those days do not let them near a male dog. Normally around the 12 to 14 days a bitch is at their most mateable but they can be caught any day & some times unless you having been checking your bitch regularily they may already been on for a day or two before you noticed, if you think your bitch has been mated accidently get them to the vet as they can give them an injection up to a few days after mating to stop the bitch concieveing the earlier done the better. If your bitch keeps coming in heat every 4 to 6 weeks after their first heat you should seek veterinary advice as they may have a  problem & need to be spayed. A bitch can be spayed before her first heat & in America some vets spay at 6 weeks but I personally think after their second heat is best as they are a bit older to deal with the after operation recovery, if you do not wish to breed from your bitch I would think seriously about spaying them & spaying your bitch is something that you need to disscuss thoroughly with your vet. Smudge's mother though did not come into heat for the first time until she was 14 months old & she is nearly three now & she is due her 3rd heat this spring as she cycles in heat every 12 months which is quite nice.
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All of Lucy's Cavapoo pups are fulling out nicely & at 3 days old now you can see they are already getting bigger. We are having a very cold weather at the moment so it is even more important to keep them warm & we have a heat lamp on them which is not so nice for Mum as she tends to get a bit warm under it when feeding them but most bitches will suffer this heat for the good of their pups. I use heat pads that you heat in the microwave & they last around 6 hours in the summer months & interchange them but in the winter I like the heat lamp as the electric leads are up out the way & unlike a electric heat pad the Mum in the night can not accidently dig it up out of the way of the pups & then they get cold.
All the other bitches in the house at the moment have got broody & I have caught Millie & Ysabel whilst Lucy has been outside doing the puppies ablutions ( licking their bottoms ). In the wild it would not be uncommon for the whole pack to help raise pups from one female so this behaviour is very natural & as the pups grow it is great socialising for them from the very start.
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Lucy's Cavapoo pups are now 2 days old & you can already see that they have grown already. Got the couple of photos below when Lucy had gone out for a minute. Lucy is doing really well & the prove is in how quiet her pups are as you expect the odd squeak but if newborn pups are squeaking a lot this is normally a sign that something is not right such as they are cold or the Mum may not have enough milk. I regularily check the pups when they are sucking to make sure they are all sucking & thay look well & are lively. These pups have all been born around the same size & very similiar markings so I think in the near future I may have to get coloured neck bands so I know them apart.
Lucy is feeling well as she decided this evening to take up her place under the dinner table as usual whilst we had roast dinner. We have got Lucy in are living at the moment as usually after thay give birth I put them in are bedroom for a couple days to be quiet with their pups but Lucy prefers to be in the living area so we have let her be. She has shown an exemplary temperment having these pups. She is happy for my children to look in on her pups, pick them up & handle them also she does not mind the other dogs curiosity & allows them to  look in over her pups.
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Lucy's pups are now one day old & she is being a brilliant Mum. She is taking it all in her stride with her first litter of seven pups. This is a big litter for a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel & with it being Lucys first litter it is showing her strength of character that she is getting on with looking after them so well. She has lots of milk & lies out so that all the pups are easily accomadated when suckling. She has got her appetite fully back & is eating really well & drinking lots which is always a good thing.
Got some photos of Lucy & pups but also got some lovely photos of Smudge & Primrose together. These two are half sisters both having the same Dad Charlie. Smudge now is 7 months old nearly & her Mum is Millie. Primrose is around 15 weeks old & her Mum is Ysabel. Although Smudge is a lot bigger than Primrose these two are such good friends & they play & play together, they are a joy to watch & very funny as Smudges gentle manner just like her Mum is displayed when playing with her little sis.
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Lucy has had her pups. She started to give birth today with the first pup arriving at 3pm & the last born at 9pm. She has had an amazing 7 pups & that is a lot for a first litter for a Cavalier but Lucy has shown great character whilst giving birth very quietly & calmly & is now applying these qualities to mothering her offspring. It has been a long 24 hours & I have given Lucy some scramble egg which she eat up & some warm water with glucose in & have given all the pups a little bottle fed to check that none are to hungary as Lucy may need a little help over the next few days to get her pups established due to having a big litter & it being her first. I now am going to try & get a bit of sleep but I suspect not to have a good night yet for a couple of days as every squeak or russle I tend to wake up & have to check that all is okay, so you could say I am a bit of an old mother hen but it pays to be very vigilante in the first couple weeks as pups at this age if not sucking enough or get cold can easily perish. Mum also needs lots of care & to make sure she is getting enough to drink & eat also that she has no smelly discharge which could mean retained after birth which if not realised quick enough can make the Mum seriously ill with a uterine infection. Night everyone & hope to have more photos of Lucy & her pups soon.
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Lucy is now on countdown to her pups arriving. She is just over 8 weeks pregnant & could come anytime now so is on 24 hour watch. This is her first litter & it would be a shame to lose a pup just because Mum was not sure what to do when the first one popped out as some times a bitch can be a little stunned when the first pup comes out & look at it wondering what it is & that is when you step in & help by breaking the bag that the pup is born in so it can take its first breaths as if left to long the pup would suffocate as once the pup is out & the placenta has detached the pup has no oxygen supply so needs to take its first breaths soon after being born. Sometimes it is the opposite & the bitch is over vigourous & you must keep a watchful eye that they do not chew at the umbilical & actually start to eat the pup or make the umbilical bleed to much. But in both cases most bitches by the time they have given birth to two or more pups tend to get the hang of it. Helping a bitch give birth is striking a healthy balance between helping & interfereing. Keeping everything quiet & even if you are stressed not showing it will help the bitch relax & get on with the birth, that is why a majority of bitches give birth at night as that is when in most homes everything goes quiet.
Lucy has been behaving a little different today & has actually decided that she wants to rest in the whelping box rather than lie out on the floor as usual. So on watch tonight which means I will be sleeping on the sofa next to Lucy.
We had a bit of snow this morning & much to the dismay of my children their school was still open. We have had no more today but it is exceptionally cold outside at the moment with a really chilly wind. The dogs though seem to love this weather & I must admit that it is lovely to see them frolicking around in the little snow we have had & they stay very clean so no trails of doggy footprints through the house at the moment. I have decided one thing though I need a better camera for taking action photos as my camera has such a slow shutter speed it is nearly impossible to take good photos of the dogs out & about, so Father Christmas if your reading thats one for my wish list.
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