Steele & Sparkle’s Puppies – Day 56 (Pre-parturition)

Enjoying the final week of freedom…

Sparkle is definitely growing in size around the waistline and is clearly carrying a little team of puppies…   She is now measuring 95 cm around the waist but fortunately the extra weight doesn’t seem to be slowing her down much.  She still completely enjoys her brisk walk in the woods and quite often breaks into a full run if she happens to catch sight of a squirrel or a rabbit along the way.   Our lake is still quite chilly so she wades along the shallow shoreline and occasionally ventures out for a brief swim.

The puppies at this point are almost fully developed and the majority of energy this week will just be spent on growth (in terms of size).   They can easily be felt moving inside of Sparkle’s stomach and I’m sure by this point things must be getting pretty crowded in there.    Most authorities on the subject would suggest that the pups can be born and thrive easily anytime from this point onwards – but we are hoping that Sparkle goes the full term of her pregnancy which means puppies should be born sometime next weekend.

Until then we will do everything to keep Sparkle happy and comfortable – and will be busy getting everything in order so we are ready for the big day!!

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Steele X Sparkle Babies (Day 47 Preparturition)

Sparkle enjoying some “me”-time before the big day arrives!!

We are all counting down the days as we head into the final 2 weeks of Sparkle’s pregnancy.    Sparkle has been keeping active and eating well and is enjoying these last moments of solitude before her days are filled with maternal duties….

She is currently measuring 87 cm around the waist and is visibly getting quite a puppy tummy to carry around.   It doesn’t seem to slow her down much though – and she continues to enjoy playing with the others and even breaks into a run from time to time if she doesn’t want to miss out on something.     The lake is still quite cold so she seems to limit herself to short wades in the shallow bay and hasn’t ventured out for a full-blown swim like she would normally do.     She seems quite content to just stay close to shore and let the buoyancy of the water lighten her load a little.

At this age the puppies’ skeletons have mineralized and are well-developed.    Their liver, kidneys, lungs and other organs are all progressing and the majority of their birthweight will be gained in these last two weeks.     Amazingly the intestines are one of the last things to be addressed and don’t complete until around day 57-63 – right before birth.

We will look forward to keeping Sparkle pampered and spoiled over these next two weeks and will live by the motto “your wish is our command” until those beautiful babies make their appearance in the not too distant future.

Kingston & Lucy Puppies – 8 weeks old

Saying goodbye to old friends and ready to meet the new….

Lucy’s puppies (and Kingston’s too) have had a great week with every day continuing to be a new adventure for each of the pups.   The most interesting part of the week from my perspective was to see how the puppies deepened their relationships with both the four-legged and two-legged inhabitants of our home.    Nina and Ivy in particular have a real adoration club going for the pups – so it was fun to see the great lengths that they would go to to be with the puppies.   The boys on the other hand couldn’t care less about what the pups were up to — unless it involved left over food or toys for their own consumption in some shape or form!!    Nina in particular has always had a huge fascination with puppies and it continued to amaze me this week that she would allow them to crawl all over her, chew on her tail and legs and steal the bone from out of her mouth — all without batting an eyelash.

The weather has been hit and miss this past week so it was a varied menu of time indoors in the kitchen and sunroom and time outside – both in the puppy pen area and just romping around the snowy grounds and exploring.   The pups love the snow and thankfully we still have lots of it to keep them occupied and fascinated to their heart’s content.

We also had our official vet visit this past week which was a huge success.  This was of course proceeded by a thorough bath day and nail trimming – and the pups were all looking their best as we made our entrance into Centennial this past week for the big event.    All of the puppies passed their visit with flying colours and seem to completely enjoy the day with all of the other visitors at the clinic who completely dote on them – and then of course the vets and vet techs themselves who always treat each pup like royalty.   It was a great day for all of us and I am always so very proud of our pups and how well they behave!!

So now we come to the final chapter for Kingston and Lucy’s pups in our Puppy Chronicles.   It sure has been a wonderful 8 weeks with these very special little goldens.  I have truly enjoyed every minute and these beautiful babies have brought so much joy and laughter in to our home.   As much as it breaks my heart beyond words each time one of these puppies leaves – I feel so very blessed to have met the wonderful families that will give these pups a home.   I couldn’t ask for better homes and I know that these puppies will have the most amazing life ahead of them.

I wish these precious pups and their new families the very best that life has to offer as they head into this next new glorious chapter together.     Although you may leave us – you will always have a place in our hearts.