First Pics of Puppies!

Hi Everyone,

So Summer delivered seven puppies overnight Wednesday into Thursday!  Everyone is doing well and at final count we have 4 girls and 3 boys.  The puppies' birth weights ranged from 6 oz to 7¼ oz, with the first puppy, the blue collar boy (front and center above) being the both the firstborn and the biggest of all the puppies. 

Summer and the puppies seem to have recovered quickly from their birth, but I'm finding I'm not recovering quite so quickly!  (Hence the reason I am just now posting the good news and pictures for all of you.)  While this is Summer's first litter, she is proving to be the best mother we've had to-date.  She keeps the puppies and her nest meticulously clean, is gentle & patient with the puppies, and while she does worry over them, she lets me handle the puppies to examine them and take their weights.

All of the puppies seem to be healthy, vigorous, and evenly matched when it comes to vying for a feeding slot with mom.  Appearance-wise, the puppies are all tri-color with markings that promise to be gorgeous.  Most of the puppies have white blazing evenly in a stripe from their nose to their forehead, with the exception of one little male who is largely black and tan all over (though he has a white tail tip and paws).  It will be interesting to see how personalities develop, because even with the puppies only being a few days old, personalities have begun emerging.  The little pink collar girl is already a diva who is the biggest cry-baby when she doesn't get her way and the black and tan male is a wanderer and an escape artist.  (Perhaps coming from his father's line, Valerie?)  As everyone grows and changes, I will try to share updates and more individualized pictures.

For those of you who are getting puppies from me, I will be asking you to make deposits on puppies within a week to confirm your position on our waiting list.  If I haven't spoken with you directly yet to make arrangements for payment, I will do so within the next few days if I don't hear from you first.  Additionally, if you have questions, concerns, or just want to hear more about the puppies from me directly, feel free to give me a call.  I enjoy having the opportunity to get to know better the families who will be providing homes form my puppies, as it helps me match the right puppies to the right families and also makes it easier for me to ultimately let the puppies go to their new homes!

The Post I Never Posted: Expecting the first puppy within 24 hours!

Hi Everyone,

I had thought I posted this on Tuesday night, but discovered later that I never hit the post button...  At this point, I guess I'll still post this as a recap of what lead up to the birth of our newest litter of puppies!

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Holy cow, it looks like Summer is going to go a few days early!  Taking a dog's temperature is a very good way to tell when an expectant female will be starting labor.  Typically, when a mother-to-be is getting ready to deliver her first pup within 8 to 24 hours, her temperature will drop by a degree or more.  Last night [Monday] and this morning [Tues], Summer's temp was 100 degrees F, but this evening [Tues] around 9:30pm her temperature dropped to 98.3 degrees.  While we were expecting Summer to deliver puppies Friday or Saturday night, she is certainly far enough along that the puppies should be fine.  Actually, the fact that Summer is ready to deliver already supports our guess that this will be a big litter - we are guessing 6-8.  (It is not unusual for large litters to be delivered in advance of 63 days.)  I had every intention of posting pictures of Summer's belly to share with all of you, but instead I'm trying to make sure I have everything ready to go for puppies to come into this world.  I'll post those pictures as soon as I can, but it may be awhile before I make another post, since I expect to be tied up with newborn puppies very shortly!  Wish us luck! 

Expecting Again!

Fan Woods The Boss "Bruce" (Photo courtesy of Fan Woods Beagles)

Westside Summer Squall

Hi Everyone,

I'm sorry it has been awhile since I have been in touch.  I last communicated with most of you via email to share the disappointing news that Rogue had lost her litter.  We have been making plans and putting them into action for another attempt at a litter, but wanted to be sure we had good news to share before we made any announcements.

We were lucky enough to obtain a wonderful, handsome, spunky little male from champion show lines, named Bruce, from Valerie at Fan Woods Beagles.  We bred him to our best little rabbit dog, Summer, about a month ago and have been eagerly, but cautiously hoping luck would be on our side this time around.  While we have not confirmed things with the vet, it is very clear at this point that Summer is expecting and we suspect she is going to have a large litter given the current size of her belly!

I understand some of you were still going to keep your options open in your search for adding a beagle puppy to your family while others were set on getting a puppy from us.  If I don't hear from you first, I will be in touch over the following days to find out if you are still interested in getting a puppy from us.  In the meantime, I made sure to take some pictures over the weekend so I could let you see what Bruce and Summer look like.  I have uploaded their pictures to Picassa for your viewing enjoyment in addition to posting pictures of them with this blog.  Dave and I are getting very excited about this litter, which will be the first for both Bruce and Summer.  We are hoping this match-up will give us puppies with great looks and strong noses - plus, with Summer's sweet, affectionate personality and Bruce's bouncy good nature, these pups should make wonderful pets as well.