~ PLEASE CHECK BACK OFTEN ~

Debbie will update this page as pups mature!

Many of you have probably already heard my story. But I am just so proud of my new family that I asked Debbie if she would share all the details here for you. She was so obliging and also agreed to update this page as my pups grow and mature. So check back often to see when my babe’s eyes open and they start bouncing around and get to meet all the alpacas. I can’t wait myself.

Well, it all began on Friday night, February 9th. I had these bouts of panting that made Debbie think that FOR SURE some pups would be arriving any moment. So after two nights of her hanging out with me in the barn until 3am and then 4am, she changed her plan. But it was so nice to have her massage my legs and keep me company. Especially since she had locked me into my whelping den and turned on an overhead light all night. NO WONDER I WAS PANTING!!!

By mid week she had Mark convinced as well and he started pulling the duty by going out every 2 hours all night long. Debbie would pull the shift until about midnight or 1:00 am and then rise early to check on my while Mark caught a few ZZZZZs. After a few more days of this, I was beginning to wonder if they’d have enough energy when the blessed event did actually occur. Besides, Debbie had all her friends in an uproar waiting, wondering, asking. She even got a group on Facebook waiting and watching and entering a contest to guess the number of pups so they could win a skein of Brookfarm yarn.

Low and behold, on Friday February 12th I started to exhibit some more dependable signs of impending birth. And that night, at about 7 pm I began holding my own Olympic Opening Games. The event was Maremma Puppy Delivery!

Panting and waiting...

After about 1.5 hours of contracting and pushing, I presented Brookfarm with a beautiful piggly wiggly female Maremma pup at 8:40pm. Debbie was anxiously waiting and watching in my den, and Mark was just outside. They wanted to be sure everything went well, since this was everyone’s first litter. By 10:45pm, a bruiser of a boy arrived to greet Debbie and Mark. After each of my pups arrived, and just as the next one was delivered, Debbie would scoop up the previous pup and swab the little one’s navel with iodine and mark a toenail with red nail polish to identify the birth order for future reference. I was glad she was there and taking charge of things for me. Lord knows I was a bit distracted during all the excitement.

Then there was a long 3.25 hour wait for my second girl pup to be delivered at 2am on Saturday, February 13th! By now, I could see the exhaustion on Debbie’s face, and Mark was already tucked into a sleeping bag snoring in the adjoining stall. At least he was there for support and emergency help, just in case!

During all this waiting, Debbie had her iphone to keep her occupied and was working on her Lava Flow knit cowl project which she had entered into the Ravelympics competition. Needless to say, I don’t think she got much knitting done that night. Before Mark settled into his sleeping bag, he would sneak into the house now and again to report on how the real Olympic opening games were progressing but assured Debbie he had them recorded for future viewing.

My three pups weighed in at 1 lb 9 oz to 1 lb. 11 oz and all three were healthy and nursing well. Debbie kept complimenting me on what a good mother I was and how attentive I was to my little ones and so careful not to lay on them. Boy they are squiggly little chubby pups.

3 pups - the perfect number. Or is it?

After 4 more hours of watching and waiting, Debbie cleaned up all the soiled blankets and towels and made sure that the heat lamp was on so my pups wouldn’t get chilled. She woke up Mark and they both headed into the house to grab some sleep, since I was through with delivery.

So Debbie and Mark caught a restless few hours of sleep, and then checked in on me and my 3 pups throughout the day, taking pictures, checking that nail polish was still there to keep us all uniquely identified. Thankfully she didn’t have to mark my boy’s toe. I’m not sure he was quite ready for a pedicure at this young age! Everyone was all piggly wiggly, nursing and doing great.

During the day, Debbie took some time to send out email and Facebook puppy birth announcements and let the contestants know there was no winner, since no one guessed 3 pups would be delivered. She informed the purchasers of the pups that she could fulfill 3 of the reserved pup orders that had come in, but that sadly could not fill the 4th pup order.

Here we are --  all 3 of us.

Night time came around and Debbie mentioned and how she and Mark were so looking forward to finally getting a good nights sleep. After Mark and Debbie did their evening chores, they tucked me back into my whelping den and returned to the house. At about 7:30pm Mark came out to check in on me and the pups, AND the heat lamp, before they had dinner. Low and behold... A FOURTH PUP HAD JUST ARRIVED!!!!

Mark rushed into the house and said, “Deb, you gotta come out here!”

At 7:30pm, or so, 17 hours after my previous girl pup was born, I delivered a fourth pup ~ another healthy girl. Debbie and Mark were in shock. They worried there could be more, that something could be wrong. Was I okay? Was I eating well, doing “everything else” as expected. Did I have a high or low temperature. The worrying began all over and another restless night of sleep began. Although by midnight I was resting peacefully with my four pups and Debbie decided she just couldn’t stay awake any longer.

So the end of the story is that I delivered four beautiful Maremma pups; 3 girls and 1 boy. The girls all have wavy coats, my one little boy has straighter hair than the girls. No more pups arrived mysteriously later and Debbie and Mark later learned that it is quite common for a dog to take a full 24 hours to whelp from start to finish; and that is exactly what I had done. Debbie told me she was so glad to be able to tell her buyers that she could fill all their orders. And even happier that all my pups would have wonderful homes guarding livestock at farms for Ryan, Carolyn, and Rebecca. But she secretly told me not to tell Mark that she was a bit disappointed not to have an “extra” pup that she must absolutely keep for Brookfarm. Maybe next time!

By the way, huge congrats to Deb Kiger who guessed I would have four pups. Deb has my brother and litter-mate, Franchesco, and lives just a few miles up the road at Kiger Family Vineyards where Franchesco watches over their baby doll sheep who assist with vineyard management. How cool is that!

So for now, here are gorgeous photos of my new family. I hope you will all tune in periodically to this page to see how they grow. Meanwhile, I need to get back to my whelping den as these little ones are constantly squeaking and looking for milk.

They are voracious little eaters, I tell ya!

3 girls hanging out together. 1 big boy! (2 days old)

3 days old

5 days old. The little noses are starting to darken.

ting to darketing to darke

1 week old ~ precious little ones.

It was at about 1 week old that Debbie and Mark gave up on marking my pups to tell their birth order. The nail polish disappeared after only a day or so, the colored pen they marked the hair on the tips of their tails was gone in a few days. Besides, the one boy is a no brainer, the first girl has a very curly coat which is distinctly different that the other two girls. And so far, the 2nd and third girls have different feet. One of them has black pads, the other one’s pads are mostly pink with just a touch of black on the edges of a few toes. So Deb and Mark are hoping that they will be able to tell us apart before that changes. Those two girls have slightly different coats as well and this should help.

11 days old

This gives you some perspective on just how big my pups are getting. They are growing in leaps and bounds. Their eyes are opening and they are standing on all four feet and starting to “toddle” around, rather than just scoot. Not to mention they have doubled their weight in size. Mark had to replace the wall in our whelping pen to keep them from “escaping”. I didn’t want one to stray and miss out on their nursing time, so he was good to do that for me. They nurse vigorously and the weight of the lightest one is up to the rest of them.

Debbie says that I am the best mom, caring for my pups and being very wary of anything who comes near. She and Mark are taking real good care of me too. I’ve been getting cottage cheese for breakfast each day since a week before my family arrived. And then they started to feed me beef each night once the pups arrived. I’m keeping up my weight (maybe even gaining a bit ~ oh dear) and my coat is thick and healthy. I’m starting to get a bit more accepting of the pacas so we will see how soon before my pups are introduced. Probably not for a few weeks more. And please note, Debbie tells me no visitors until after my pups get their first shots, which will be at about 6 weeks of age. She even wouldn’t let the kids in to touch my pups when they were here for Nancy’s birthday party. But they did get to peak through my window and the kids wondered why the pups little tails had color on the tips.  :-)

Come back and visit us all soon!

12 days old