Int'l & AKC Champion KKR Topper X Int'l & AKC Champion KKR Sizzlin Samba of Malabo
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In the Jungle, the Lion Sleeps Tonight
That poor lion gets NO sleep!!! He got nothing but abuse from the Jungle Babies during their final family photo shoots!!! We have so much fun taking their pictures! It takes at least 3 of us to wrangle the pups, keep track of props and noisemakers AND take the pictures!!! It is quite the process – I should really take video of it some time as I am sure it would be very entertaining for their new families too!!!
No surprises at their final vet check – all are wonderfully healthy!!! Microchips went in with no crying from any of our tuff little Jungle Babies, which is saying a LOT considering the size of that needle!!! They also received their first set of puppy shots, got their 3rd worming, and final toenail trim!! Then they got a very detailed go over by the vet where every body part is noted and examined, poked and prodded!! All teeth, hearts and lungs are perfect, no hernias and no missing testicles on the little boys!!! Each pup has their own checklist with all their stats that will go home with them along with all their other health records.
No real surprises at our Puppy Assessment Party conducted by my handler and I either. 5 pups started out as show potential and 5 pups ARE still show potential!!! Usually, I like to have just a couple of pups from each litter actually go to show homes. It is a bit of a guessing game selecting WHICH pups will actually go that route, but we take into consideration many factors beyond just excellent conformation… ie personality, movement, coloring, genetic prepotency etc. Having said that, I like to think that ultimately ALL my pups are somebody’s beauty queen AND couch potato no matter what they do in their spare time!!!
The Jungle Babies are READY to swing into their next adventure!!!
They are grown, heading to a new home,
Safe and sound, knowing I’ll always be around
Trust in me, you will see, a new loving family!
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I Wanna Be Like YOU
The Jungle Babies have forgotten their worries and their strife and are learning how to swing to the top and monkey around in the underbrush with the best of them!!! The BIG puppy playpen has become their own little jungle where they can climb on trees, play catch me around big rocks, and destroy a new set of toys almost on a daily basis! Hopefully, that means their ears, tails and toes may have gained a reprieve!!! When it comes time to bed down for a power nap, they all crawl into their warm, soft nest and CRASH!!! I’ve started the process of crate training both in their outside play pen and inside the house. Hopefully, this will help you continue crate training them when they come home as they are very cozy and comfortable in their den.
Samba has completely weaned the Jungle babies, but they are very good at eating their puppy mush 3 times a day and are growing like vines!! They are all very pleasantly plump. This week they had another toe tail trim and were wormed for a second time. Their teeth are coming in nicely, all look very good so far, and they KNOW how to use them!!!
I have become the leader of the bush-whacking bunch on our daily safari’s. No matter where I go, they come with me!! Sort of the pied piper of puppies! I use the opportunity to not only let them explore their big new world, but also teach them ‘come”! They are so eager to please and so eager to be with me!!! I think they Wanna Be LIKE me!!
Meet the Jungle Adventurers!!
Pet Females:
Kaa – golden red, dark mask, lots of white on chest, 1 crown ridge, kink in tip of tail, sweet, gentle, kind, snuggler
Raksha – VERY dark red, heavy black mask, squiggly lines on chest, perfect ridge, kink in top of tail, high energy adventure girl with LOTS of spunk
Hathi – dark red, dark mask, small spot on chest, ridge a little short, fun & goofy, curious and always up for the next exploration
Pet Males:
Shere Khan – dark red, dark mask, off crown ridge, medium spot on chest, feisty and full of himself
King Louie – deep dark red, dark mask, perfect ridge, big spot on chest, white on toes, kink in tail, mischief maker, independent leader
Perfect Females:
Buzzie – dark red, medium mask, perfect ridge, big spot on chest, white on toes, outgoing and sassy.
Baloo – dark red, dark mask, perfect ridge, big spot on chest, happy go lucky galoot, loves cuddles
Bagheera – very dark red, very dark mask, perfect ridge, medium spot on chest, Sassy and spunky, feisty and fun.
Perfect Males:
Akela – dark red, light mask, perfect ridge, big spot on chest, easy going, fun and full of fun
Mowgli – dark red, medium mask, perfect ridge, small spot on chest, goofey, mischievious, loves to join in on the latest fiasco
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SAFE in the JUNGLE with our FRIENDS
My, oh my what a difference a week makes in a puppy’s life! Eyes are wide open, focusing properly (at least most of the time!), and already starting to change from baby blue to brown. They can toddle around (belly’s almost drag the floor!), with lots of spontaneous tipping over! They can sit up sort of some times too! It is soo much fun to watch them as they have begun to play with each other – biting each others’ ears, toes and tails and LOTS of rolling around!!!! They have also begun to find their voices with lots of pathetic attempts at growling, barking and ‘trilling’!!! Then they look at each other as if to say “Did that come out of me or you?!” This week they were ready for their first trip outside to experience GRASS and sunshine for the first time!!! Kind of tickles their fat little tummies, but they got used to it quickly and really enjoyed sleeping in the sun, and smelling all those new smells!!!!
We started them on puppy mush this week too. It is puppy chow soaked overnight in milk replacer, and then put through the blender so that it truly is MUSH!!! They really like it, but they have to get the hang of licking it rather than going snorkeling in it!!! What a MESS!!! Thank goodness Samba is more than happy to clean them up!! She is also more than happy to turn over some of the feeding demands to us!!! They are bottomless pits when it comes to eating!! No teeth yet but when they do start emerging, Samba will REALLY get sick of them in a hurry!! OUCH!!!
Healthwise, they got their weekly toenail trim – 160 little daggers removed!, and they got their first worming. You would think YUK! but they actually like this wormer – tastes like bananas! Don’t ask me how I know that!!!! Stuff occurs!! Samba is much improved, although she flunked her CBC blood tests and a cytology, so she is taking TWO types of antibiotics to see if that will bring her white count down. She acts pretty much like herself – kind, gentle, easy easy going – but I can just tell that she is tired and just not herself completely. We are monitoring her carefully.
Obviously, we have been working on a Litter Theme and therefore litter names!!! Drum roll……..
THE JUNGLE BOOK! Now we just need to watch them and see which pups will best fit our names:
Males: Mowgli, Shere Khan, King Louie, Akela
Females: Bagheera, Baloo, Hathi, Kaa, Raksha, Buzzie
The Pet Females are faulted because of imperfect ridges, one is a little too short, and the other has only one colic/crown and a bump in her tail.
The Pet Males are faulted because one has a one crown ridge and the other has a bump in his tail.
So you can see, we are friends indeed. Safe in the Jungle with our friends!
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Bare Necessities
The Wild things had another fun filled week with nothing but the Bare Necessities of eating and sleeping. Only occasional squealing interrupts the silence when an annoying sibling is trying to steal a dinner!!! Samba generally stops the monkeying around with her vigorous tongue baths! The GI Joe crawl has begun as they figure out how to slither themselves around the whelping box, but their fat little bellies pretty much don’t clear any air!
Their eyes have opened most of the way, so we see some blue, but I don’t think they focus too well yet. All the puppies eyes are blue when they first open and then will slowly turn various shades of brown from amber to almost black in time. Little earflaps are starting to come down, hearing still not so good yet either! All dewclaws are healing up nicely as are their belly buttons. Still no dermoids so hopefully we have jumped that bump in the road – I rarely get them so that is not a big surprise. Another weekly toenail trim for Samba’s benefit is much appreciated. All are fat and sassy due to the GREAT quantity and quality of Momma’s milk. Samba is still not feeling 100% so my vet has advised leaving her on antibiotics yet to help her.
I continue to be pleasantly surprised by the wide variety of colors these little guys have. Some are quite golden red with very black masks which is very striking. Some are a dark, dark red, almost black with REALLY black masks which is also very striking! All the pups have ridges, but I don’t think they are all “perfect”. It is relatively easy to see the ridge when they are first born and wet, but almost immediately they get ‘fuzzy’ and it is hard to tell what their ‘crowns’/ hair colics look like. I am pretty sure I have a female with a ridge that is a little short, another female that may have only one crown and I think maybe a male with offset crowns. Time will tell! I also feel a few tails that have bumps/kinks in them that vets refer to as “fetal malpositioning” which is a fancy way of saying ‘their tail got squished from overcrowding”! Most of the time, the little Kink or bump straightens out somewhat. You will probably be able to feel it, but not necessarily see it, unless you know where it is. I am always looking for flaws so the ‘show potential’ pups will swing to the top!
All is well, they have NO WORRIES, NO STRIFE. Just the Bare Necessities – Mother Nature’s recipe for life!
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In the Jungle
It’s a jungle out here and sometimes things don’t always go the way we want them to. 4 of Samba’s 14 have not made it through their first few days which is SO upsetting to us all. Mothers, yes even dogs, KNOW each of their babies individually from the moment they are born – I suspect each smells different. My mommas’ literally ‘count’ each of their pups with their nose every time they come back after being gone on short but necessary trips outside. So it is heartbreaking when we lose a puppy as we all KNOW and the mother looks for them when they are missing. Just too many to care for in one litter. I’m sorry Samba. So we have 6 little girls and 4 little boys. Sigh.
At 4 days old they were off to the vet to have their first check up and get their dew claws off! BIG OUCH! It is a rather nasty procedure for all of us (Samba has to wait in the car!), but also a very, very necessary one. The veterinarian prefers to use “super glue” to seal them up rather than stitches which works amazingly well. Fortunately, they recover very quickly and rarely have much of a scar – just a little line where their “thumb” used to be!!! Some had only front dew claws, a few also had rear ones, but all are gone and healing up nicely. So far it looks like the belly buttons are closing up nicely as well - NO “outey’s” allowed!
Samba, however, has been a different story and was not feeling well at all. She was not eating, had a low temperature, drinking a lot of water (thank goodness), but mostly I could see in her eyes that she just was not herself. So x-rays and blood work were necessary to prove she did not have any puppies left unborn or have an infection. Antibiotics have helped her recover and she is almost all the way back to being her usual happy go lucky self! Whew!
All puppy eyes are still tightly sealed shut, as are their ears. They are born with their ears straight up tightly against their heads and swollen shut. Due to the fact that they cannot see nor hear, they are really quiet for the most part! Mostly just little whines, whimpers, and squeals when they are fighting over a faucet, followed by enthusiastic sucking!! Their first toe nail trim is always fun as they are soooo wiggley, but Samba REALLY appreciates it! – that’s 160 little daggers dulled ! Toe nail trims are a weekly adventure!
We have started them on the ‘Super Dog Program” which was developed to stimulate their early neurological systems which will help them become a healthier, more intelligent, easy to train, confident and capable canine companion in the future. In short, it requires doing some very simple exercises with each pup from 3 days old until 16 days old. For more information, check out this website:
http://www.breedingbetterdogs.com/achiever.html
Enjoy the pictures!
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WOW! Samba and Topper certainly surprised me! Both are first time parents and they presented us with 14 puppies! Samba delivered all 14 in just over 12 hours with lots of support from friends and family encouraging her on. It was an all nighter!!! I fear that they are going to keep BOTH of us very, very busy!
Her 8 girls and 6 boys weighed in at a somewhat tiny 10 oz up to 16 oz. All ridged, mostly perfect except for a one crown/colic female, a short ridged female, and an off set crown male. Got a couple of tails with a bit of a bump in them – the vet calls it fetal malpositioning. I go a little simpler – their tail got squished while they were cooking! We have an amazing variety of shades of red – from very, very dark like their Grandpa Katano, to really quite light like…
I don’t know who??!!! Some have very dark black masks and a few are clear faced with almost no mask. Some have LOTS of white on their chests and feet (don’t know where that came from either!) and some have very little. No dermoids so far – keeping fingers crossed!
Samba is really trying hard to be a good momma ! She REALLY didn’t know what to do with them at first, but she is getting the hang of it! She is a BIG girl and they are little and SOOO many. It will take constant attention to make sure that the littlest get plenty to eat! She clearly has very, very good milk as the puppies certainly know what THEY are supposed to do and have already gotten started getting chubby! Samba is diligent about keeping them nice and clean with very enthusiastic tongue baths, which I for one deeply appreciate but the puppies NOT so much!!
A litter theme for this large a group will be challenging, but I know I will come up with one!
Enjoy!
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