We thought the last litter was a dramatic split (8 girls, 2 boys), but this litter made up for it. Mocha gave birth to 9 boys beautifully, and we thought maybe we were going to have our first all male litter, but then a beautiful little princess puppy made her arrival at the very end! Needless to say, we did not accept enough pre-birth reservations, and we have several male puppies available. Please text us if you are interested in adding a boy from this litter to your family!
Mocha’s puppy count x-ray went very well. Approximately 10 puppies is what we think we can count. Her due date is Wednesday the 15th. We’ll set up her whelping area this weekend and prepare for the birth! With such a big litter, we expect to have room for more reservations than we have accepted so far. Any reservations that can’t be filled with this litter will be at the top of the list for the next one.
For those who might wonder why we do an x-ray, we do it so we have a good idea of when complications or pauses in a birth are serious. If there are 8 pups born, and we don’t know that there are at least 2-3 more waiting to be born, we might wait too long to intervene. It could result in tragedy for the puppies and the mother. Some of our clients ask about the affects of the radiation, but the x-ray is taken after the bones have calcified and the fetal development of the puppies is complete. The radiation in x-rays is miniscule and dogs don’t live long enough or travel enough to need to worry about radiation collecting and building up in their systems the way humans do. This might be the only exposure they ever have, and it is perfectly safe. We do our best to keep every mother and puppy as safe as we possibly can throughout their entire lives, and we want what is best!
Mocha will visit the vet next Thursday for a puppy count X-ray. She is big and round, and her personality is the sweetest when she’s pregnant, so we are really enjoying the extra cuddly snuggles. We still have room for a female pre-birth deposit or for those interested in either gender. We’ll announce concrete availability after the puppies are born and we know how many of each gender we have!
The ultrasound confirmed a pregnancy! Reservations for AKC Limited Registration are officially open. Please text us to setup an interview to proceed with the reservation process if you are interested in a pup from this litter. I will not be conducting phone conversations or interviews tonight, but I will respond to texts from people in the order they message me to setup interview times for tomorrow afternoon starting at 2pm MT and 3pm CT. The due date for this litter is around March 15th, and the pickup date will likely be either May 6th or May 13th. The pickup location will most likely be at the Denver International Airport at this point, but travel plans will not be solidified until the pups are around 4 weeks old and they are subject to change up to that point.
Mocha’s ultrasound is scheduled to take place tomorrow if the weather allows, and we are hoping that there will be some pups. However, we thought Whiskey had possibly been having a mild reaction to one of his vaccines, but it turns out he actually caught something. He’s being treated now, and everything should resolve soon, but we found out the sickness might have affected his sperm count temporarily. This pregnancy may not be successful because of that, but we will keep everyone updated. Some of our Texas dogs in Guardianship including Bell, Banksy, and Jasper have started their health tests. We haven’t gotten the final gradings back for all of them, but the ones we do have complete have been good to go. It will be wonderful to see what they produce together!
Mocha went into heat last week, and she and Whiskey have been busy trying to make some puppies for the last couple days. We will schedule an ultrasound soon that will take place in about a month. If the ultrasound shows a viable pregnancy, puppies would be due roughly around March 15 (give or take 3-5 days), and they would most likely go home May 6th or May 13th. Here are some pictures of pups from a previous Whiskey and Mocha pairing at around 6 months old, which is suppose to be the “awkward” growth stage, but I think these sweeties make that stage look great!
We hope you all had a fantastic holiday season! Mocha has received her CHIC number and is showing signs of coming into heat soon, so we are full of anticipation! We got to see all of our Texas dogs in Guardianship when we visited, and we are incredibly excited about their planned litters this year! We are also changing the language we have been using for the past several years. We are essentially replacing the word “deposit” with the word “reservation.” We believe we have updated our website to reflect that, but it’s always a possibility that we’ve missed a word somewhere. Nothing has changed about the previous process other than the language, so if Mocha and Whiskey have a successful breeding, we will open reservations for Limited Registration at that point. If anyone would like to skip the “race to the courthouse” situation with Limited Registration, you are welcome to pursue Priority Limited Registration at any point and text me to make a reservation. Since we have finally reached a year where we plan to have more than just 2 litters, we have adjusted the Priority Limited Registration to be slightly lower. We look forward to meeting several new families this year! Here are some pictures of the dogs in Guardianship who will hopefully have litters together this year!
Mocha completed her final OFA hip and elbow x-rays, and she did well. Her hips scored a “Good” and her elbows were normal. She should get her CHIC number soon, and we will plan to let her breed with Whiskey on her next heat cycle. K9data.com is temporarily uneditable, so the link to her pedigree with not show her test results, but her profile on the OFA website does. Happy Thanksgiving!
No pups were found on Rye’s ultrasound. On her next heat cycle, we plan to progesterone test and then take her to Fort Collins for a transcervical insemination. We’re disappointed, but we’ll keep trying. We will be health testing a few of our girls in Guardianship soon, and they will hopefully be bred on their next cycle. I will also now be planning to come with Zach to drive Toffee’s litter to Texas. We hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!
Rye is showing some signs of pregnancy, but she showed some after the last breeding too, and there were no pups. We have an ultrasound scheduled for next week, and we’ll send out an update once we know if she is pregnant. Zach has decided that he will drive Toffee’s pups to Texas with or without me, so that makes things a little more solidified. If you are interested in being on the backup list for Toffee’s litter (Male or female), please text me! They will be going home the weekend before Christmas!
