Ohmer's Westside Beagles

Friday, September 21, 2012

Go to the blog to view video of Bagel Bailey's puppies on YouTube

Thursday, September 20, 2012

8 Weeks Old! Bailey's puppies can go home this weekend!

Beginning this weekend, adopters will be able to bring their new puppies home! For your planning purposes, here are some suggestions for the big day.

As you prepare to bring your new puppy home, you will need to start assembling supplies. The most important item you will need to purchase will be a wire crate. I recommend a Medium-sized crate with dimensions approximately 30” x 19” x 21” with a wire divider that allows you to make a small space in the crate for while puppy is little and widen the amount of space in the crate as puppy gets bigger. The MidWest iCrate can be found at most local pet stores and is perfect for crate training a beagle from puppyhood to adulthood.

The puppies are fully weaned and have been eating Purina Puppy Chow. All puppies will be sent with enough food to last for a week and I will send instructions for feeding and for transitioning to a new diet, should you decide you would like to switch to another puppy food. Puppies will also have be sent with their health record, which documents any exams, treatments, and vaccinations the puppies received while they were with us.

The Big Day: Bringing Puppy Home

The day you finally get to bring your puppy home is an exciting one – you’ve probably been eagerly making plans for the big day and running those plans over and over again in your mind. Just keep in mind that your new puppy is totally unaware of all the great things you have in store for him or her and will be easily overwhelmed by all of the new sights, sounds, and sensations he or she is about to experience. Hopefully the following information will help make the transition from our kennel to your home as easy as possible.

The Car Ride

When you come to pick up your puppy, you should make sure at least two people come along for the ride – one person to drive and another person to hold the puppy. This will make sure to keep the driver from being distracted and allow the passenger to concentrate on the needs of the puppy during the ride home. If you are going to be traveling a relatively short distance, this will be the one time when you will hold the puppy for the entire car ride to help keep him or her feel safe and secure. If you are going to be driving a distance of over an hour, you may want to consider bringing a carrier along and having the puppy stay in the carrier during the drive. Either way, make sure to bring at least two towels – one for wrapping the puppy up in or lining the carrier, and another as a spare, in case the puppy has an accident. You might want to also bring a plastic bag to put soiled towels in and baby wipes to aid in clean-up.

For a short drive, the puppy is unlikely to have an accident if he or she is allowed to use the bathroom before getting into the car. For a longer drive, the puppy obviously is more likely to have an accident. This time only, in the event of puppy’s first trip, resist the urge to stop off at a rest stop to allow the puppy to relieve him or herself. You don’t want to potentially expose the puppy to infectious diseases at a time when he or she is both under stress and does not have full immunity. If puppy has an accident, merely change out the soiled towel and provide him or her with a fresh one. Potty training can start once you get him or her home.

Bathroom accidents aren’t the only mess your puppy is likely to make in the car. It is not uncommon for puppies to get sick to their stomachs when they travel in the car due to the unfamiliarity of everything, not to mention the overwhelming sounds, vibrations and other sensations. To help make the trip a little easier on puppy stomachs, we will withhold a puppy’s food in the hours prior to the car ride home and you can feed puppy once he or she gets home.

Finally Home!

To start things off on the right foot with your new puppy, you should plan to set aside plenty of devoted time to spend with him or her, Once you get home with your puppy, take him or her directly to the area you have selected as the designated potty area. Once he or she uses the bathroom (probably just urine), praise puppy and bring him or her inside your home. Initially, you will want puppy to get limited access to the house. (Allow him or her to get acclimated to an area before expanding access little by little over a period of days.) Introduce puppy to the crate. The crate should be placed in a location where the family spends most of their time and should be covered with a blanket (except for the opening) to make it cave-like. Place the blanket with his or her mom’s and littermates’ scents inside, along with a toy or two. Let puppy explore the crate, but don’t lock the door behind him or her. You can also offer a few kibbles of food or some treats in the crate to begin to form a positive association. Now you are off to the right start! Please refer to other resources to get more details on proper crate training. (I can provide copies of some of my favorite articles to each of you to help out - just let me know.)

Thursday, September 13, 2012

6 Weeks Old! Latest update and pics for Bagel's puppies

Hi Everyone!

I know it has been way too long since you've gotten an update from me on Bagel Bailey's puppies and for that I apologize. Puppies are big, bouncy, and so full of energy and personality! Although mom occasionally still allows them to nurse, puppies are now eating dry puppy food and drinking from water bowls with no problem. This is good for mom, as she finally is at a good body weight and her coat is starting to look fuller - having a large number of nursing babies puts a huge nutritional demand on a mother beagle and for the first several weeks after having a litter, moms may look a little ragged. I'll bet some human mothers could empathize with this!

At six weeks old, the puppies are less than 2 weeks away from being able to go to new homes. While we have a couple homes lined up, we still need homes for many more of these little cuties. If you or someone you know might be interested in taking one of these beagle mix puppies home, please contact us and we'd be happy to send you an application for adoption.

BLUE BOY - Very outgoing and playful, this one is truly a social butterfly!

PINK GIRL - Very people-oriented, she loves to be snuggled and held!

GREEN BOY - Somewhat shy at first with new people, he warms up quickly and begs to be held!

GREEN GIRL - Roly poly and full of energy, this one plays til she wears herself out!

ORANGE GIRL - Laid back and sweet, the family who found Bagel Bailey is in love with this little girl!

YELLOW BOY - This boy is GORGEOUS and, yet, very rough and tumble!

YELLOW GIRL - This fluffy baby can be a bit wild at times, but she settles down nicely for cuddle time!

Comm'on lady, I'm trying to sleep here!

ORANGE BOY - My little buddy is such a good boy. He loves his chew toys and wrestling with our indoor dogs!

A few more pics for your viewing enjoyment...

Monday, August 27, 2012

Bagel Bailey's Puppies

Blue boy and Yellow girl snuggle in the lap of our neighbor, Savannah.

Hi Everyone!

So once again, I'm writing with my weekly update on Bagel Bailey and her puppies. When I last wrote, Orange boy had me worried over a case of puppy strangles. Luckily, we caught things early and he has responded well to a course of steroids and antibiotics, coupled with some TLC living indoors with us. The swelling has completely gone down in his neck and he's doing great. All the rest of the puppies continue to show no signs of developing this condition and we are keeping our fingers crossed that things stay that way.

Additionally, when I last wrote, I had also hoped to get pictures posted to share with all of you, but I must apologize for not following through on this. It seems my camera has gone MIA. I know it is somewhere in my condo and while I kept assuming it would eventually turn up, so far this has not been the case. As a result, I had to start taking pictures with my iphone, but then I couldn't get my computer to recognize my cell phone so that I could download the pictures I took. Now, the only way I can figure out to get pictures to my computer so that I can share them is to email them to myself one at a time from my phone, which is a little slow going. It's been a long time coming, but I finally. finally have at least SOME pictures to share with all of you!

Given that everyone is always eager to see pictures, I'm guessing you are wanting to know what the little puppies are looking like. There now can be no doubt that these little ones are of mixed parentage. I mentioned last week that several of the puppies seemed a little fluffy and that continues to be the case. The girls in particular seem to have finer, longer hair. I don't have the slightest idea what their daddy was, but I have to say that fluffy beagle puppies sure are CUTE!

Blue boy looks like he just woke up!

Look at that face! Green boy is one handsome puppy!

One of the few pics I actually got of Green girl not wrestling!

Look at that pose! Orange boy is my little buddy!

Mostly white, Orange girl is one showy little girl!

Pink girl almost looks like a mini Bernese Mountain Dog right now!

Yellow boy has perfect beagle markings!

Yellow girl is still the smallest and in my opinion, the prettiest!

So now that you've seen what they look like, I'll bet you'd like to know how Bagel's babies are doing and what they are up to, so here are the details. The babies are getting sooooo big! Right now they weigh about 3½ pounds. They are increasingly steady on their feet, which means they can really get around now, though they still have a tendency to wobble! Yellow boy actually panicked me last night by making it out of my eyesight. I kept counting puppies and only coming up with seven, so I started frantically searching for him. I finally found him wandering just around the corner of the garage, which was further than I'd have expected one of the puppies to get, especially at just 4 weeks old, but then puppies never fail to surprise me.

Speaking of being 4 weeks old, at this age at we usually start offering our puppies a gruel of water soaked puppy chow made into a mush. At about 3½ weeks of age, Bagel's puppies started sticking their noses in mom's food bowl and mouthing on the kibbles. We took this as an indicator that they were definitely ready to start in on gruel - and given that the puppies "killed it", to quote my husband, I'd say this was an accurate assessment. Little puppies are now snacking somewhere other than just the mommy bar, which means Bagel gets at least a little break from nursing!

Speaking of food, Orange boy is bossing me and telling me it is time for his next feeding! Before I go to feed my little buddy, here are a few more pictures for you to enjoy!