April 25, 2024
Today Willy and his Oompa Loompa decided that they should make their arrival and that they should bring the five golden ticket winners along. Willy was a SURPRISE and arrived around 3:44 AM and was followed by Mike just 7 minutes later! Overall, all seven of them arrived safe and sound in about 3 hours. Over the first few days Tipsy will have colostrum, which is a thick first milk that is full of nutrients, antibodies, and antioxidants. It has less calories in it than transitional milk and mature milk do, so it is not uncommon for the puppies to not gain much weight or even lose some weight in the first day or two. Transitional milk and mature milk follow one after the other as a second and third phase of milk production.
Since Tipsy and the Chocolatiers decided to start to deliver before the roosters crow, everyone is pretty sluggish today. Not much to report other than that they do the three things that they know how to do best, eat.. sleep.. repeat.
Tipsy has phenomenal maternal instincts and seems to be very content being in the whelping box just to hang out. In fact, she wanted to spend most of the 24 hours before having her puppies in the whelping box.
Here they are with Tipsy looking pretty proud if you ask me.
These are our chocolatiers in birth order as well as their designated color:
Willy Wonka – Blue – Male
Mike Teevee – Red – Male
Augustus Gloop – Green – Male
Oompa Loompa (Ollie) – Orange – Male
Charlie Bucket – Teal – Female
Veruca Salt – Yellow – Female
Violet Beauregarde – Purple – Female – Patch
It is thought to be that Charlie and Violet are liver brown spotted puppies, which means that their marking will appear as a brown color instead of black. We are pretty excited about having some liver pups! All of the puppies will let us know for sure which color they are when they are a few days old because it can sometimes be hard to tell on newborns. Those are the two colors that are accepted by the American Kennel Club (AKC) and the United Kennel Club (UKC), which are the only reputable kennel clubs in the United States.
April 26, 2024
Nothing major has changed today and there are no new reports for us to chat about at this time. The chocolatiers had a photoshoot today to take newborn headshots. I will add them below! Check out those liver puppies; they are Charlie and Violet! It is always fun to look back and see how the marking on their face change every week!
April 27, 2024
Today the puppies did two things that will continue on until day 16. They are called ENS and ESI. They have to do with early introductions and stimulations.
The first one is called Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) which is done on day 3 and ends on day 16. It is done to improve cardio vascular performance (heart rate), stronger heart beats, stronger adrenal glands, more tolerance to stress, and greater resistance to disease. A few were feistier than others, however every puppy had a normal reaction to each exercise. The five exercises are as follows. The duration of each of the five exercises is 5-10 seconds and done for 13 days.
| 1. Tactical stimulation (between toes) Holding the pup in one hand, the handler gently stimulates (tickles) the pup between the toes on any one foot using a Q-tip. It is not necessary to see that the pup is feeling the tickle. Also pinching the toes and paws gently.Time of stimulation 5-10 seconds |
| 2. Head held erect Using both hands, the pup is held perpendicular to the ground, (straight up), so that its head is directly above its tail. This is in an upwards position. Time of stimulation 5-10 seconds |
| 3. Head pointed down Holding the pup firmly with both hands the head is reversed and is pointed downward so that it is pointing towards the ground. Time of stimulation 5-10 seconds |
| 4. Supine position Hold the pup so that its back is resting in the palm of both hands with its muzzle facing the ceiling. The pup while on its back is allowed to struggle. While also rubbing all parts of the pups body with your fingers. Time of stimulation 5-10 seconds |
| 5. Thermal stimulation Use a damp towel that has been cooled in a refrigerator for at least five minutes. Place the pup on the towel, feet down. Do not restrain it from moving. Time of stimulation 5-10 seconds |
Here they are doing their exercises with Tipsy giving very helpful licks!
Something that is new around here, but we have been eager to try is Early Scent Identification (ESI) which is also done on day 3-16. The basics of it are holding a natural scent, no chemicals or any types of meat or food, in front of the puppies nose and simply taking down some notes on how they responded. They will either have a positive, negative or neutral reaction to the experience. Having a negative reaction is perfectly fine, but they should never have a stressful experience. Today we worked with vanilla.
It was very interesting to watch their little noses twitch while sniffing. Ollie, and Augustus both turned their heads after smelling it while Veruca touched her nose to it. The rest had no general reaction to the smell. That would mean that Ollie and Augustus both had a negative reaction, Veruca had a positive reaction, and the other 4 puppies had a neutral reaction. I didn’t take any photos or videos of this, however I am going to try my best moving forward to get some of their noses twitching.
April 28, 2024
Today is a pretty easy day for everyone. All they have to do is look cute and be happy! Not much to tell about these first few days, so I will talk about the 4 very special grandparents of the Candy Crew.
I will start with the paternal grandparents since they are the ones that live in the chocolate factory at this point. Brady is a special dude. He was purchased as a pet and became a wonderful conformation and performance dog as well as part of the foundation of our breeding program. He now has 17 AKC titles! He is Tripp’s father and his registered name is GCH Andiron’s Knock On Wood RN FDC CAA BCAT CGC TKE VHMA VSWI FITB! Tripp’s mother is the second half of that equation. She is a go getter and is very outgoing. She was a great mother, but has retired from breeding and showing. Although sterilized males and female can compete in the veteran class at specialty shows. Tripp was the pick puppy from our Brady – Kimber litter! Her registered name is GCH Kingdom’s She’s A Pistol CAX TKI VHMA FITB
Tipsy’s parents have a bit more of a unique background! Her father was born in May of 1990. He was a Best In Show winner and a well known stud dog. Some of you may be wondering how this is possible that he has children that are alive today and the answer to that is quite simple… his “stuff” was frozen for breedings like Tipsy’s litter. This is all thanks to modern technology! His name was Augie – CH Tuckaway Augusta (yes, we happen to have a puppy from this litter with a very similar name… Mr. Green!). Tipsy’s mother was a show dog and finished her AKC championship, but has been more focused on obedience and performance events with her owner who is Tipsy’s breeder down south. She competes in Rally, Obedience, and some other titles as well. Her name is Sage – CH Bottoms Up NspirD Cookies And Cream CD BN RM CGC
Here are the grandparents of this litter! Notice the two sitting are liver brown!
Brady is sitting in the living room, Kimber is by the water, Augie is standing for a win photo, and Sage is by her rosettes!
Today we used a few blades of grass for ESI. Veruca and Augustus both has positive reactions as they tried to touch or intensely smell the blades. Charlie, Mike, and Ollie had neutral reactions while Willy and Violet turned their heads making their reactions negative.
April 29, 2024
Nothing major changed today for the puppies. We continued ENS, ESI, and enjoyed watching what we call Puppy TV. It is now our favorite channel! I also realized that I have deprived everyone of photos, so I will rectify that now!
Tipsy is pretty comfortable with the other dogs being around. Here is Uncle Wesson looking on while Tipsy feeds her bunch!
Today I took some warm water and rehydrated dehydrated parsley since we don’t have any fresh for this year just yet. The rehydration worked well for our purpose. I used a Q-tip to capture the liquid and hold it in front of their little noses.
Most of the puppies had a neutral reaction to the herb. Mike, Augie, Charlie, & Veruca didn’t seem to care if the parsley had an odor or not. Ollie had a positive reaction while Willy & Violet had negative reactions.
April 30, 2024
The puppies are growing like weeds and are very active. We are already starting to see those little personalities shine! For example, Veruca is pretty vocal and often makes noise while she nurses. We joke that Mike does hot laps around the whelping box, because he is often founds crawling around under the pig rails.
Speaking of pig rails, I forgot to mention what they are and why we use them. Every breeder has the choice to use pig rails or not. The purpose of pig rails is to allow for the mother of the litter to lay down without laying on a puppy. Ours are removable and just lift up from the box, so before and during the whelp we typically don’t have them in the box. Afterwards, they are useful and give us peace of mind. When the puppies are older and we extend the box, we will not use the pig rails anymore.
Today our scent for ESI was a fresh dandelion from the yard outside. Today we had 4 puppies (Willy, Ollie, Charlie, & Violet) who had a positive reaction by sticking their nose right in the middle of the petals, two puppies (Mike & Augie) that turned their heads and one (Veruca) neutral reaction.
Today Payton (my sister and Tripp’s other owner who he lives with) and her son stopped by to visit and see the puppies. Tipsy didn’t really seem to mind them much. She actually took a nap with her pups most of the time that they were here!
Tipsy loves to spend time with her puppies and is often found napping and hanging out with them during the day. She has been slowly starting to spend a little time outside with the other dogs other than to just potty and rush right back to them.
May 1, 2024
These first few weeks often don’t have many changes regarding the puppies daily activities. However, they do change a good bit in appearance. Tipsy enjoys laying and spending a good bit of the day in the box even if it is just hanging out with the Chocolate Crew.
When we change the pad in the box or need to gather the puppies together for one reason or another. Tipsy is often curious and very attentive to know that they are ok and need to check on everything. Here she is making sure that everything is fine.
For ESI today, we used fresh chives from our herb pot outside. Overall, none of the puppies really had much of a reaction. Here is Violet and her chive experience. She seemed to have the most reaction out of all of them. Watch for her nose to twitch as she takes it all in! I wouldn’t say that any of them had a positive reaction. It was a neutral kind of day for them.
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