20/11/09 Puppies are now using their individual bowls for food. They seem very civilised and each one finds a bowl and in general sticks to it when feeding.
19/11/09 Chacha is still feeding the puppies, but not that often and much more reluctantly as they now have full compliments of teeth!
18/11/09 Puppies had beef and ham paste mixed in with their food. They all seem to eat pretty much anything. Got their licence disks through so they are all legal.
17/11/09 Puppies wormed again. They are doing lots of play fighting and seem totally over their snuffles (as are all the adult dogs).
16/11/09 New photos of the puppies now up, click here.
15/11/09 Puppies were pampered today. Rachel made them a special basmati rice pudding, which they all loved.
14/11/09 More socialising, lovely to meet Yvonne & Podraig, prospective new members to the Spanish Water Dog owners club. Also delighted that Diane & Lisbeth came over from England. Diane is Chacha's breeder and one of the four people who originally brought SWDs into the UK,, so she knows a thing or two about SWDs.
13/11/09 Puppies all doing well, Some have a slight case of the sniffles, which they picked up from our other dogs, who got it from various training classes. Just one of those things, all puppies eating well and putting on weight, but with the odd, very cute sneeze.
12/11/09 Puppies had semolina today. They are getting very playful and pretty vocal. We have to watch out for our ankles when we go into the puppy pen!
11/11/09 The puppies love sardines! Also they had their first proper bath today.
10/11/09 Puppies had egg mixed in with their food today. They are becoming right little foodies!
9/11/09 In case you catch of glimpse of Chacha looking strange, don't worry, Rachel is in the middle of clipping her off. The puppies have made a bit of a mess of her coat! So strange punk hair doos are to be expected in the next few days as Rachel clips her off in stages!
8/11/09 Puppies had cream cheese mixed in with their food for the first time.
7/11/09 Puppies did more socialising, Visited by Valerie and Hugh and then Paul and Barbara, both prospective new members to the exclusive club that is Spanish Water dog owners! We have been very lucky with all our prospective new owners and very happy that the puppies new homes are going to be loving and skilful.
6/11/09 Puppies nails trimmed again. Their teeth are all coming through now and we are mushing up their food a lot less.
5/11/09 Bonfire night. We let off a few rockets just to get the puppies used to it. They didn't turn a hair. Also the puppies had another visit, this time from our friends Adeline and Wes.
4/11/09 All the puppies now have their teeth coming through. Also had pilchards mashed in with their dinner.
3/11/09 Puppies visited by Jen, a friend. More socialising! Also they were wormed for the second time.
2/11/09 Puppies got to try tinned rice pudding mixed in with their food. We do this to get them used to dairy products.
1/11/09 Lots of cuddles for the puppies as they were visited by Tracey & Darren (prospective puppy owners).
31/10/09 Puppies all doing well. No Halloween fireworks to speak of, Perhaps we'll have to buy some or use a CD!
30/10/09 The puppies are now Kennel Club Registered, as follows...
FiveNinePlus Banderillas - B - Black with white ruff
FiveNinePlus Chopitos - D - Black with thin white strip on nose
FiveNinePlus Cojonuda - B - Black with white patch, back of neck
FiveNinePlus Puntillitas - B - Gold & white
FiveNinePlus Aceitunas - B - Black
FiveNinePlus Zamburinas - B - Black with white shawl
29/10/09 The puppies had some tinned puppy food mixed in with their normal food. They seem to be enjoying their food!
28/10/09 New photos of the puppies are now up, (due to popular demand!) click here. The puppies are now playing with various toys, and they seem to like cuddling up against their stuffed toy.
27/10/09 We have now submitted the litter for registration with the Kennel Club and we will let you know their names once we know they have been accepted.
26/10/09 All the puppies have now broken the 1kg barrier.
25/10/09 The puppies had their first solid(ish) meal. Some puppy food mashed up with water and lactol. Also they all got their nails trimmed.
24/10/09 The puppies have now been moved to a puppy pen in the kitchen, much to Rachel's pleasure as she now gets a bit of sleep/ They have a large dog bed with heat mat which fits Chacha and puppies well. They also have a bit of space to wobble around in! They are also now in close proximity to our other dogs, so they are getting used to new faces (and barks!) Khizhi one of our Tibetan Terrier bitches, has puppy envy!
23/10/09 The puppies are now all looking around them, Not sure they can fully focus yet, but they are reacting to the sights around them.
22/10/09 All the puppies' eyes are now open and they are getting pretty frisky. When Chacha gets into the whelping box without lying down, they all try and climb up her to get to the milk!
21/10/09 The puppies were given their first worming last night. Some of the liquid wormer actually went in the puppies mouths!
20/10/09 Sorry for the break in this blog. I have been over in England and Rachel has had her hands full looking after the pups. They are all doing well. They are now wobbling around on their feet and their eyes are beginning to open. Their body shape has changed away from the hairy slug to a more recognisable Spanish Water Dog shape! I really noticed the difference after only seeing them on the webcams for 10 days.
10/10/09 Puppies all started their education programme, namely the Superdog stress training. This involves gently "stressing" each puppy by for example tickling between its toes with a cotton bud for around 4 seconds a day. All gained weight yesterday and are now over the 400g mark.
9/10/09 Chacha given some Lactol fomula milk this morning. All puppies doing well. All gained weight (I have now got their identification sorted!). We have a short list of kennel names and will be naming them soon. Watch this space!
8/10/09 Puppies weighed, see weight graphs. Not sure if I got the puppies identified correctly for yesterday's weigh in. I have them sorted now so graphs should stabilise.
10:20pm New photos added (this time taken by Rachel on her camera with the lights on!
7/10/09 Took Chacha and the puppies to the vets for a check up. All appeared well. Chacha given a shot of penicillin as a precaution. We would just like to thank Lyle Fleming and all at Glenburn Vets for being on standby and all there help with the litter and all our dogs.
So 6 in the litter, 5 bitches 1 dog, three with bobbed tails. Chacha an excellent mother, We did very little.
10:23pm Puppy number 6. Bitch, black with white shawl, long tail. Weight 384g
9:56pm Puppy number 5. Bitch, black with bobbed tail, 358g
8:18pm Puppy number 4 a bitch. Beige in colour. Bobbed tail, weight 410g.
7:51pm Third puppy born. Bitch, black with white patch on back of neck. Long tail. Weight 382g
7:36pm Second puppy born. A bitch black with a thin white stripe up her nose. Bobbed tail. Weight 369g.
7:15pm First puppy born. A dog, black with white front legs a long tail with a white tip. Weight 347g.
6/10/09 At approximately 6:00pm Chacha went into labour.