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What's new? 20.12.2008: I really shouldn't speak up about our plans until they are rock solid... But to cut a long story short we just couldn't bear to part with Sienna so she's staying! We worked out a different arrangement with the breeder she was supposed to go to so that everybody is happy. Now that it's official that she's staying she's got her own page among our other dogues. See it here. Other than that I think that was all for this year! We will be back in 2009! Merry X-mas everybody and a happy New Year! 10.12.2008 The puppies have begun leaving for their new homes. Half of them are gone by the weekend, 2 will stay until after X-mas and 2 still need flighdetails arranged and one is still for sale:-) I plan on making each puppy a page here, but it will take some time, so it wont be done until after X-mas. Here some pictures until they get their own pages. See them here. To begin with we actually planned on keeping a female for ourselves. And although I have a few favorites among the females, I must admit that Sienna (the black masked girl on the front page) is special to me. She's everything we hoped for when we did this combination; she's a large, dark female with a beautiful black mask and she resembles Clio sooo much also in personality. She was the one we were going to keep for ourselves, but in stead we found another solution as our girls are very close in age. Sienna will go to Clio's breeder in Italy (Dario Boscarol- kennel Leone Alato) and the agreement is that we will get a female puppy back from Sienna one day so that we can keep this bloodline in our breeding. Although I will admit that I'm dreading the day she's leaving we know that this is the best solution. Luckily she'll stay for a few more weeks :-)
4.12.2008 The updates aren't coming as fast as they once did. The reason is that the puppies demand a lot more attention these days and of course we want to enjoy our last week with them :-) Most of them leave during the next week and the weekend, but a few stay over for X-mas as their new owner had plans for the holidays. And of course our own little keeper stays! There are a lot of preparations for teh puppies departure especially for those who's going abroad. We NEVER planned on having a male in the gang, but we couldn't help noticing Santana and gradually he just stole our hearts! Although the heat-periods will be a real pain we think it will be great with a male. Of course we hope he'll grow up and be suited for breeding and shows, but time will tell. Right now we are just happy to have this little prince with us :-) There are some new pictures in their gallery. See them here.
29.11.2008 Time for another update... There are new individual photos and some new ones in their gallery as well. See them here. We had decided to heart scan (ECHO DOPPLER) all the puppies before they are leaving for their new homes and wednesday we managed to get all 12 puppies into the car and drove to Horsens where the scans were performed. I was definetely a little nervous as there are so few facts about the heart diseases in Dogue de Bordeauxs and it seems to sometimes strike quite randomly, but we are very happy to announce that all 12 puppies are free. The velocity in the flow of blood across the aortic valve (*aorta udløbshastighed*) of less than 2.0 m/s. The lowest score was 1,46 and the highest was 1,82. We are very pleased with this result. Otherwise I can tell you that their activity level has definetely gone up about a mile! They sleep a lot less and spend their waking hours playing and terrorizing! 23.11.2008 It's freezing outside, but the puppies have alrady developed a taste for he outdoors, so we have been making small trips out in the garden. Ther are more or less impossible to photograph outside as they move so fast, but there's a few in their gallery. See them here. 21.11.2008 We actually made it outside today! A sunny, but freezing cold day. Sierra is just one of the funniest pups ever... A VERY spunky girl and I'm sure she will be very entertaining for her new owner. No doubt that life is never dull around her. She just ran around outside as if she's been out a million times before. Everybody took it well, so hopefully we will be able to get out some more during the next few weeks before they leave for their new homes. I can't believe it's only 2½ weeks away... Times really does fly! By then it may be a welcome change because quite frankly at the moment I'm the master of cleaning up pee-pees and poo-poos! It seems like once your are done with one spot another one has gone for it... And on and on we go. Pretty much ever since they were born I've been doing loads of laundry to keen their beds clean... All in all: Puppies are a lot of work! But make no mistake - it's a lot of fun too and to watch the grow and develop is amazing. Took some pictures outside today, but for some reason or another most of them didn't come out very well. Here's a few though. See them here. 20.11.2008 Finally an update of individual pictures... Unfortunately the lighting was pretty bad, so it was hard to get them right so there are fewer than the last time. See them here. The puppies development seem to happen from day to day... They are just so much more active now and need some kind of activation or they'll start a party themselves. Yesterday we introduced them to raw bones which was an instant hit! It was truely an experience to watch our little angels turn into little meat-eating monsters!!! They are free to walk all over the house most of the time now and we try to get them used to as many sound and everyday things as possible like the vacuum cleaner, cooking etc. Unfortunately the weather has been bad so I haven't had an opportunity to take them outside yet, but hopefully that will change soon. As you can see 3 of the red masked females are more or less identical. Sullivan is still the biggest puppy weighing 4,5 kg. Santos who used to be the smallest of the litter has really caught up after we started giving them solid foods and although he's still behind the other males he's gaining lots of weight and it suits him. Of the females Sienna and Szeska are the big mamas weighing about 4 kilos. More or less the size of the males. I think that was it for now. Hopefully I get them outside on the weekend and get some better photos in natural light. 18.11.2008 The puppies are exactly 5 weeks old today. New individual photos will follow tomorrow - I'm too tired tonight... A lot has happened with the puppies lately. They are just sooo much more active now and are no longer happy just staying in the puppy-room, so just 2 days ago we introduced them to the rest of the house and it took them no time to feel right at home. Clio has been very protective of them so of course we were very careful when we let the other dogues be around the puppies. For some reason Clio accepted Calypso in thee puppy-room long before she did J'adore. At times J'adore was not even allowed to look in -especially when she was feeding them. We didn't - and still don't - let them be in the house unsupervised because at the end of the day you just don't know what can happen. It seems like both Calypso and J'adore are very patient with the puppies and like playing with them, but Calypso still freaks out BIG TIME if a pup tries to feed on her and literally jumps. J'adore adores the puppies but she is a very strong dogue who tends to make a lot of sudden, fast movements and she's not aware of her own strength. They are just so cute together and I think it's really good for the puppies to be socialized with other dogues so when we keep an eye on them everything is great. Our little boy Santos who for a long time was the smallest of the litter is now catching up very fast. They come closer to each other in size although they still differ quite a bit. It's fun to see their personalities start to come through. Some I must say have quite some tempers!
15.11.2008 There's no doubt that Clio is a young mom! She has just found out that puppies maks great playmates so her visits to the puppy-room are spent playing with them and their toys. She lets them have milk, but as you can see here, she doesn't miss the opportunity to play.
My niece, Marie, has been wanting to see the puppies ever since they were born, so today became the big day where she got to see them. See the pictures here. Otherwise nothing
new to tell...They are growing and developing just the way they
should :-) Sullivan is still the heaviest boy at 4,3 kg. but
the small boy, Santos, are finally really starting to catch up to
the others and he's around 3 kg's now. 10.11.2008 New individual pictures of the puppies who will be 4 weeks old tomorrow! See them here. 9.11.2008 Nothing new to tell, but I had to just laugh out loud when I saw this pictures of Calypso... She adores the puppies and is now a regular visitor. However when they ...eh... mistake her for Clio the fun stops! Santos tried to get a drink of milk and as you can see Calypso literally ran for her life! Clio on the other hand likes having a nanny and loves to play with the puppies toys.
7.11.2008 It seems like a lot has happened since last update. The puppies have grown incredibly and the biggest now weigh 3 kg (Sullivan) and the smallest (Santos) weighs 1800 gram. Yesterday they decided it was time to move out of the puppy-box and there seems to be no going back. If I put them back when I ned to clean to room the will SCREEEEAM like you wouldn't believe it! Once they are back on the floor they'll happily go back to sleep, so clearly the floor is a much better place to be :-) The are all walking steadily now and have started playing a lot. All in all they are just so much more fun now :-) Clio shows less and less interest in breatfeeding... Probably because most of them have teeth now and quite understandably she feeds them less and less. As a result of that we noticed some big hard lumps in her boobs and although we tried to massage it, it didn't go away and already the next day Clio had a fever (not a lot, but still... enough for her to not feel well). We got some antibiotics at the vet and just a few hours later she was feeling better. When we were at the vets I put Clio on the scale to see if she had lost any weight after having puppies. I have seen females get sooo skinny and miserably looking after having puppies and I dreaded the thought of my darling Clio looking like that so we have kept her on a very good, rich diet to make sure that the feedings didn't drain her completely- and Clio has always had a great appetite! She weighed 56 kilos before she got pregnant and on the scale now she weighed 63 kilos!!! I still really can't believe that... She's by no means fat, so I think it's the extra boob-weight or there was something wrong with the vets scale! But anyways...nothing is pointing in the direction that Clio has lost weight! I was supposed to show J'adore for the first time in Herning today. Unfortunately I decided against it because there's a lot of kennel cough going around and the last thing we need is that the puppies get infected. With 40 entries I had just so been looking forward to this show, and I was really excited to see what the judge would say about her. She has grown a lot and has the same height as Clio and Calypso and weights 52 kilos. But there will be other shows and to compensate for what we have been missing out on this Fall I think I will enter her to all shows this Spring :-) I will take new
individual pictures of the puppies on Tuesday when they are 4 weeks
old, so until then here's a few in their gallery. See them
here. 2.11.2008: New individual pictures of each puppies and some in the common gallery. See them here. A lot has happened with the puppies the past few days. All of them have eyes now and most of them can walk, somewhat jiggli'ish though... They are a lot more social now and usually come running when I enter the room. Sullivan still takes the lead in terms of size and has just hit 2070 gram. The smallest weighs 1270 grams, and most of the others are around 1600-1800 gram, but everybody is gaining weight as they should - so I'm sure they'll be catching up. As the pictures show below show they are a massive crowd when they want to eat and although she still feeds them well, it's obvious that Clio is looking forward to the day the can eat elsewhere! That day came yesterday when we introduced them to some solid food and it was very well-received! So far I've been sleeping in the puppy-room to be able to assist Clio with the feedings at night, but that has stopped now! I knew it was time when Clio woke me up 2 times one night - the last time without wanting to feed the puppies herself! She woke me up and then went back to bed herself as if she wanted to say "Can you just take care of them please? I'm kinda tired right now..." What is it they say "Give an inch -they take a mile!". That was the day I went back to my own bedroom!!!
28.10.2008:
That's what it said in one of the books we read before the puppies arrived. Hmmmm... Clio must have skipped that chapter! I think Clio has started to see the puppies as a "joint custody-thing" and she often leaves the feedings to me with the result that the puppies often come to me when I go to the maternity box. For the past week Clio has enjoyed long walks and naps in her favorite spots elsewhere in the house. We keep her on a great diet consisting of only a little dried food, and lots of chicken (ecological) mixed with liverpate, full fat cream and egg yolks. She loves it and although she has lost quite a bit of weight she's not skinny and haggard-llooking like some females after nursing puppies for a couple of weeks. She does take great care of the puppies, but I think 12 has tired her and she's not nearly as obsessive about them as she was the first week. Almost all the puppies have eyes now and I'm quite sure that they can see. The develop so fast...! They seem to be more social now and seek human contact a lot. They grow really fast and the have all gained around 100-150 gr. per day the past few days. The biggest male (Sullivan) tops at 1600 gr. Took some pictures yesterday - see them here (after the individual pictures - in the common gallery). And some here of "step-mom";
25.10.2008 The puppies are 11 days old today. They are all doing well and growing - some more than others! Yesterday we weighed them all, clipped their nails and took some individual photos. As you might be able to see a few of them almost have eyes now. They haven't really appeared fully yet which gives them sort of a "blind-man appearance". I'm sure that will change within a couple of days. Their weight range between 800 gr. and 1360 gr. Most of them are around 1100-1200 gr. We have found all their names and all the males have theirs now. We still haven't decided completely on the females yet...the names are found, but we haven't decided who will be who yet. Except for one... She was the smallest one in the litter when they were born, and she was one of the last ones born so she seemed exhausted when she came out. However she turned out to be quite a fighter with a huge appetite and now she's around the same size as the rest of the girls. I looked at different girl-names starting with S and read about the meaning behind them. I found a name Seraphina and it was the name of the highest angel, so of course that name had to go for our little fighter. The rest of the names are; BOYS: Amazonite Sisco (black
masked) GIRLS: Amazonite Seraphina
(Red masked) 20.10.2008 I actually wasn't going to post any more pictures before the individual photos, but it's just too hard not to take a million pictures of them... I was watching Clio nurse them and it just looked so cute. See them here in their gallery here. There are 5 black
masked puppies - the black power team as we call them
consisting of 3 males and 2 females- who we have started to take
aside and bottle feed when Clio enters the maternity box. The reason
is that these puppies are so big and strong that the smaller ones
don't get as much milk as they should and started to grow at a
slower pace than the others. That works really well and all the
puppies are now fat and fluffy. It's amazing how much they have
changed in just a week... They have a routine now where they sleep
for 4-4½ hours and then get fed. It means I only have to get up once
at night which is a big relief :-) They are noticibly more active
now and when they wake up and wants to be fed then crawl around at a
high speed and just screeeeam! Clio is taking great care of them and
has re-gained her appetite which wasn't as good as it normally is
after she gave birth and today I took her out for a walk, so she
doesn't mind being away from the puppies for smaller periods of
time. 18.10.2008 I have a completely new understanding of the concept "feeling tired"!!! There is no doubt that all 12 babies have a G R E A T appetite and boy can they make some noise if the don't get a good tittie! Clio has 9 well- functioning ones (and one that doesn't give too much milk) so obviously some pups are bound to get to the bar last. I'm up 2-3 times at night to help out with the feedings and if I hadn't realized before I am now fully aware of the fact that I'm not 18 years old anymore! 3 males esecially has really gained a lot of weight and know how to bulldoze their way through so I try to help the smaller ones to the good stuff and then I bottle feed the ones that are already big and strong. The seem to react very differently to bottle-milk... Pretty much all of the red masked ones refuse it while some of the black masked would swallow the whole bottle if I let them. But all puppies have gaineed weight and have started to change appearance from newborn "rat" to fluffy puppy. All seem to be doing fine which I'm very gratefull for. Of course they are still very small and fragile and a lot can still happen, but we take it day by day and appreciate them:-) As a psychogist I can honestly say that "puppy-therapy" is very effective! When you are looking at those little cuties you tend to forget all your other problems :-) I will take individual pictures when the puppies are 7-10 days old, so for now here's a few everyday pictures from her;
16.10.2008 I made a gallery for the puppies where all pictures will be posted. We have decided to jump the alphabet and just pick whatever we feel is right for the litter. This will be a S-litter and we have figured out most of the names too, just not which one will go for whom yet. See the gallery here. Next week when they are older I will try to take individual photos of everybody. So far everybody is doing well. Clio was of course very tired the first 24 hours, but she has already started to take naps outside to maternity box which allows her some well-deserved rest. The second she sets foot in the box she got 12 VERY hungry babies clinging to her. She does an amazing job as a mom; she's attentive, loving and -most importantly- careful around them. I'm still sleeping in the puppy-room ay night to assist Clio with the feedings... She does seem to like having someone with her - she wakes me up - usually twice at night - to help her or to be let outside. But I'm sure that she will be fine on her own very soon. So far she more or less has enough milk for everybody, but we make a bottle every now and then just to be sure that everybody gets enough. Some of the puppies are already very big and strong and make their way to the best boobs easily. It's seems that everybody have their turn, but just to be sure... We didn't weigh everybody at birth, just a few... The biggest (the firstborn male) weighed 620 gram and the smallest girl weighed 330 gram. The majority of the othere pups were around 450-550 gram. The little girl is however quite feisty and has a great appetite, som I'm sure that she'll catch up. I got a few new pictures of Nikita which are definetely a lot better than the ones I had. See them here. So thanks Anette for sending me them :-) Just got an e-mail from Vegas new owner and I thought these pictures were too cute to not share! So here they are - Vega is watching some tv after a nice long walk!
14.10.2008 The very long awaited day has come! Clio gave birth to no less than 12 beautiful puppies - 7 girls and 5 boys! In terms of red and black masks it looks like this; 4 black masked males I (Karen) spent the past 2 nights with Clio as we knew it could bee any day... Clio woke me up at 2: 30 am by poking my face with her paw. She was breathing heavily, panting and seemed very restless... She crawled up on my mattress and seemed to insist on sitting on my legs. She has always loved to cuddle and I kinda thought that's what she wanted, but suddenly she gave a little sigh and swoop... a beautiful black masked boy was born on my lap! The first one arrived at 4 am and they kept coming until 12... Obviously she was veery big at last (measuring 114 cm around her belly) but still it was just UNREAL that she kept popping them out! I have to say though that everything went great; no complications at all and we were both sitting in the maternity box with her drinking coffee while helping her with the puppies. A totally wonderful experience! I'm too exhausted to make a seperate gallery, but here's a few photos so far of the sweet hearts!
05.10.2008 There is not much new to tell... Still another week or so to go and Clio is huge now! The past 2 days she has really slowed down. She sleeps a lot - well, most of the time and whens she's moving around it's at a slow pave. We still take her out for walks every day, but she only walks now - no running! Her belly measures 107 cm now, so really, she's big. When she's lying on her side you can sometimes see a puppy move inside her or feel it. It's amazing and we just can't wait for them to arrive! And hope that everything goes well. Here's a few pictures of the mom-to-be taken today - on her 54th day:
And a few new of J'adore. See them in her gallery here. 01.10.2008 As promised I have added some more pictures of ancestors in the puppies pedigree. I really do think that Kennel von Nordniedersachen (Nikitas kennel) have an impressive line of beautiful black masked dogues - I especially loved the photo of Barisha von Nordniedersachen (Nikitas great grandmother) so she's on the front page until next update :-) I haven't ben taking too many pictures of J'adore lately, but the reason is simple: She's sooooo hard to get pictures of because she NEVER stands still. She's constantly on the move or doing something she's not supposed to. But make no mistake - she's totally irresistable! See more in her gallery here.
As for the pregnant lady of the house everything is still going great. She's still in a great condition, but she's feeling her size now. She still enjoys her daily 30 minute walk, but it happens in a slower pace now. If she is pregnant the full period (63 days) the pups should arrive in just 12 days. But I would say we are almost ready now.... So the only thing left to do is to cross our fingers and hope that everything goes the way it should :-) The pictures below are taken a few days ago - Clio is very pregnant, but still loves to play!
24.09.2008 Clio's 43th day is now ending and it means there is roughly 20 days to go... I would say that she hasn't grown too much but she measures 100 cm around her belly now, so I guess she's growing steadily... She's still quite fit and loves to come out for walks. She doesn't run as fast as before she got pregnant and she does seem a little more tired afterwards and sleeps a little more. We are spending these last weeks getting everything ready; the whelping box, extra blankets, towels etc. and this weekend I'm going to stock the freezer with cow stomach, meat and dear bones so the mom-to-be got some good food for the hard times ahead. Here's som photos taken today;
Nikitas owner sent me some photos of Nikita. When we were in Germany I didn't really manage to get any good pictures of him, so these are definetly a lot better than what I got. I also got some photos of some of his ancestors - I will add them to the puppies pedigree next time I update. But here's some of Nikita;
Vegas new owner just e-mailed me and things are going great with Vega :-) She explained that Vega has settled into her won rutines at the house which included sleeping VERY late in the morning and going to bed at the same time every night. When I read that I just had to laugh out loud!! It's just sooo typical of Vega - so I can definetely tell that she has made herself at home. It's just wonderful that the 2 of them are getting along so great :-) 19.09.2008 Everything is going great with the pregnant lady of the house. Last week she was visibly pregnant, but not very big yet. That has really changed this past week and she's now quite big. She's H U N G R Y - big time - and this past week we have fed her 3 times a day. We don't feed her puppy food, but let her continue on BARF and adult, she does seem to prefer the raw foods so of course we let her have that :-) Basically her diet consists of cow stomach, lamb, chicken and ox bones. She does eat a little dried food as well. Clio has always had a great appetite and loved good food, but it's funny to watch just how much her appetite has increased. She especially seems to be starving in the morning, and is not afraid of letting me know :-) She' still quite active, loves her walks and runs, but she gets out of breath a little faster now and has slowed down some. I don't know how much weight she has gained, but she measures 95 cm around her belly. She was bred on the 11th, 12th and 13th of August, so today should be her 38th. day which means she basically has another 25 days to go. Took some photos of her today;
Although she's still active and playfull sh has pulled out of the game a little which leaves Calypso and J'adore to have all the fun :-) Clio really took J'adore under her wings when we got her and played with her and basically put up with all her little games. Calypso was never really interested in her... Now the roles has switched and Calypso and J'adore are just partners in crime. They are both really fast and athletic so they are fun to watch when they go for it;
14.09.2008 Great news; Clio is expecting puppies! We bred her 5 weeks ago and to a nice german black masked male - Nikita von Nordniedersachen. Read all about that on our puppy page here. Because it's already obvious that Clio is pregnant we have decided not to scan her. We spent a lot of time searching for the right male - but blackmasked dogues are hard to come by. There are quite a few in France and Belgium, but neither of them were elbow scored (which is a requirement in Denmark), so unfortunately we couldn't use them. Then there were some in Germany who's bloodlines were too similar to Clios. With that said we have absolutely no complaints about Nikita, so of course we are really looking forward to the puppies arrival which should be around the 15-17th of October. Vega has settled into her new home really well. Her new owner called me the day after to let me know how the first 24 went and then sent an e-mail follow up a few days after with a follow up. And everything is going great:-) Vega lives like a queen in her new home - I think the pictures below clearly shows that Vega has settled well into her new home. So thank you Lene for taking such good care of Vega :-)
06.09.2008 Things happened faster than I expected it to... After getting a lot of calls about Vega we decided on a new home for her yesterday. Although we know it was the right decision to find Vega a new home it's never the less just heart breaking to have to be without her. She had such a big personality and the house feels so empty without her. Luckily she will be living close by and we have the opportunity to visit her every now and then. Her new owner will send us pictures and keep us updated which we are happy about. It was part of the contract we sold her on... As Vegas profile is removed I made her a gallery in stead that summs up the time we had together. See it here Here's a few pictures of our sweetheart taken last night before we drove her to her new home:
04.09.2008 A lot has happened lately, so time seems to fly... Mostly because I (Karen) graduated from university Friday the 29th and started working on the 1st of September. While I certainly appreciate being able to find a job so fast I would have liked to have some time to rest up after the examn. Well...Good thing we have weekends ;-) We are taking our time looking for the right home for Vega and a lot of nice people have called about her. This week has been a bit stressfull with my new job, but we are looking into all that now. There other girls are doing great. J'adore weighs 46 kilos and have started to joining the other dogues for their walk (up until now I have taken her alone for a shorter walk). And she just loves that! I'm going to enter her to first show in Herning, so it will be exciting to see if the judges like her as much as we do.. Hehehe...probably not possible! We may bring Clio as well if it doesn't collide with puppy-plans. But more about that later. After having tried for ages to get a full-figure shot of Clio I finally succeded the other day. It's on the front page and in her gallery. I'm still working on the galleries, but they should be back soon :-) So far only one is working!
25.08.2008 Our sweet girl Vega
21.08.2008 As you can see we got a new web.site! My old computer crashed in April and although we tried we never rally were able to fully restore everything on the web.site with the result that that server literally was one big mess and that several links didn't work properly. It does however take a long tim to rebuild everything, so a lot of pages are still under construction, but we'll get there soon :-) Otherwise nothing new to tell... Hope you all enjoyd the summer!
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