Puppy portraits – 8 weeks.
Most of our boys and girls have now left for their new homes but we are still looking after three pups until their new families are ready for them, so our new, slimmed-down puppy-pack are now out and about with us and their parents throughout the day, and back in their whelping quarters at night. The warmer weather has also allowed them to take regular trips outside, several times a day, as well as individual trips in the car and round and about town in the baby sling, just like their parents before them.
Ella Fitzgerald, super-feminine and most definitely her fathers daughter.
Ella, in profile.
Thelonius Monk (Milo) - bad weather prevented us from getting a 7 week head-shot of this handsome boy, but we've managed to crack it this week.
Milo again - such a wonderful, sweet-natured puppy. He's staying on with us until early Jan - not exactly a chore!
The gorgeous Charlie Parker.
Charlie Parker - melting hearts across the land.
Charlie Parker once again.
Charlie Parker with his rather wet & windswept mum (just back from the beach).
Phoenix & younglings.
Mum makes for an ideal cushion.
...and so does Dad.
...and so does Tim's son Fred (or are they forming a cushion for him?)
The dog sofa, the heart of all action, as ever.
It's a waiting game.
Such a stressful existence.
Puppy Portraits – The Final Week!
Where has the time gone?? This is the last week for the Belatarr babies before most head to their new homes and start their lives away from the pack. Sadly the appalling weather (incredibly low-light levels, freezing temps, endless hail sleet & rain) meant that the final week head-shots were very tricky to get, and not very high quality and very washed-out when we did get them, with pups (and us) shivering and looking rather glum in the driving sleet…but at least we have something to represent them as they were at 7 weeks old and before they all change once again into mature young dogs.
So, dozens of refuse bags full of soiled bedding, weeks of missed sleep, much cuddling and hundreds of chicken wings later, these are Phoenix and Mingus’ dozen, all now with their Kennel Names (Jazz themed, to follow on from Mingus) just before they leave us:
THE BOYS (minus one)
Belatarr Art Tatum (Finley)
Belatarr Charlie Parker
Belatarr Dave Brubeck (Otto)
Belatarr Dizzy Gillespie (Gryphon)
Belatarr John Coltrane (Otis)
Belatarr Miles Davis (Huxley)
Belatarr Oscar Peterson (Digby)
Belatarr Thelonius Monk
(pic forthcoming…)
THE GIRLS
Belatarr Ella Fitzgerald (Ella)
Belatarr Mahalia Jackson (Billie)
Belatarr Nina Simone (Nina)
Final Week Shots from the Dog Sofa (whilst Mum & Dad are out for a walk)
A Snoozy Ella Fitzgerald, with her fabulous (fathers) coat.
...nearly asleep...
Under scrutiny.
A very intense Thelonius Monk.
Adam & friends.
Puppy Pile-up.
Twin-Level Puppy Pile-up.
Complete take-over.
Tim & co.
Puppy portraits: Week 6!
The gang have really grown-up during this very busy week – bounding around their run and (when given the chance) the living room, wagging like crazy and giving little puppy barks. They’ve also braved the atrocious/freezing/wet weather to take three supervised trips to “the great outdoors” where, with great confidence and excitement, they encountered such wonderous new things as grass, leaves, herbs, puddles, rain and, of course, mud all for the first time:
Exploration!
Being called back uphill to return home.
Meanwhile Tim started stacking the puppies into their show stands to start to assess their potential:
Tim explains the stacking process to an attentive Mr. Indigo.
A 5-week-old Mr. Grey in action.
The Kennel Club approved all of their pedigree names (more of which anon) and we’ve begun the very exciting process of matching puppies to their waiting new homes.
No longer squish-nosed babies, by 6-weeks the Belatarr dozen have become proper young dogs:
THE BOYS
Mr. Grey.
Mr. Indigo.
Mr. Green.
Mr. Red & White.
Mr. Red & Blue.
Mr. Blue.
Mr. Brown.
Mr. Red.
Mr. Black.
THE GIRLS
Miss Orange.
Miss White.
Miss Yellow.
Puppy Pics Bonus!
A few of the boys didn’t quite look their best on their 5 week head shots, so we’ve taken 5 of them again, in natural daylight (rather than using a flash) to give a much more accurate idea of their true appearance at this stage. I think we’ll aim to all the future head-shots this way too, time permitting:
Mr. Grey.
Mr. Indigo.
Mr. Red.
Mr. Red & Blue.
Mr. Black.
Puppy Portraits: Week 5
THE BOYS
Mr. Grey.
Mr. Indigo.
Mr. Green.
Mr. Red & White.
Mr. Red & Blue.
Mr. Blue.
Mr. Brown.
Mr. Red.
Mr. Black.
THE GIRLS
Miss Orange.
Miss White.
Miss Yellow.
SHOTS FROM THE WEEK
Miss Yellow at large.
Mr. Black snoozing.
Mr Grey, with his voluminous ears.
First taste of chicken wings.
The ever-popular hide-away den.
Overspill.
Father & Son.
The aftermath.
Mr Grey snoozing (again) this time upside-down.
Puppy cuddling.
Chew-Chew.
Puppies – 4 week portraits.
Hard to believe these little guys have been with us for 28 days, but they’re now 5 times their birth weight and tipping the scales at around 2KG each.
The first teeth (canines only so far) began to appear on Friday, and Phoenix, not un-coincidentally, decided that she would no longer feed her offspring from that day forth. Luckily they are fully weaned now and chomping through 4 meals of raw meat per day. They’ve become quite skilful eaters and make far less mess these days, focussing instead on hoovering up every last morsel and then lying in a big, gently groaning heap whilst their meal digests.
This week saw the cats introduce themselves (to general puppy indifference), a few sessions of swimming in the bath and an increasing delight in running around at full tilt with entire sheets of newspaper in their mouths. The pups were finally able to meet many of their future owners for the first time over this weekend (the initial quarantine period now being over) and so received even more hugs and tickles than usual.
THE BOYS
Mr. Grey.
Mr. Indigo.
Mr. Green.
Mr. Red & White.
Mr. Red & Blue.
Mr. Blue.
Mr. Brown.
Mr. Red (his little white head patch vanished this week)
Mr. Black.
THE GIRLS
Miss Orange.
Miss White.
Miss Yellow.
Pups asleep in their mini-den.
Mr. Indigo's teeny-tiny tongue - for Annette 🙂
Week 3: Pup Update.
Another huge week for the Belatarr babies – and for Phoenix too whose 3rd Birthday was on Friday!
With appetites growing daily and Phoenix down to just 5 functional teats, we started the process of weaning at 16 days of age, when the puppies still had only limited vision.
As with teaching any new babies to feed, much mess and general hilarity ensued, but all learned to lap on their first day of trying, and by day 20 they had progressed from their starter mousse (which looks and even smells just like Brussels Paté…though no, we haven’t tried it on toast as yet) to their first raw food – the same as the adult dogs get, but puréed for ease of digestion and blended 50/50 with the mousse.
Now, at 3 weeks of age, they are all feeding with what’s best described as frenzied enthusiasm, with Phoenix popping in to top them up with milk every 4 or 5 hours.
THE BOYS
Mr. Grey.
Mr. Indigo.
Mr. Green.
Mr. Red & White.
Mr. Red & Blue (he was very sleepy for this pic!)
Mr. Blue.
Mr. Brown.
Mr. Red.
Mr. Black.
THE GIRLS
Miss Orange.
Miss White.
Miss Yellow.
Week 2: Pup-update.
An eventful week for the Belatarr Babies:
Day 10: They doubled their birth weight.
Day 12: They started to walk, like wobbly spiders.
Day 13: Mr. Blue & Mr. Red were the first to open their eyes, everyone else more-or-less followed over the next 24 hrs, although they certainly can’t yet see and so tend to keep their eyes closed almost all the time.
Day 13: They hit 1KG each with only 50/60 grams difference between the heaviest and the lightest – so, all 12 are now pretty much identical in weight for all practical purposes.
Day 14: They all had their claws cut for the first time (that’s a total 216 claws!)
Day 14: Ears opened.
Also, due to some difficulties with instantly recognising which colour was which, (something that became increasingly important as the pups started trotting around much more speedily!) three puppies have been re-branded, so Miss Pink will, from now on, be know as Miss Yellow; Mr. Magenta becomes Mr. Green; Mr Purple morphs into Mr. Red & White (or candy-stripe, if you prefer) – we promise we won’t have to do that again! so without further ado….
THE BOYS
Mr. Grey.
Mr. Indigo.
Mr. Green.
Mr. Red & White.
Mr. Red & Blue.
Mr. Blue (with tongue just peeking out).
Mr. Brown.
Mr. Red.
Mr. Black.
THE GIRLS
Miss Orange.
Miss White.
Miss Yellow - waving.
SHOTS FROM THE WEEK
Pile o' Pups.
Peaceful Mr. Green.
Mr. Blue shows off his handsome ears.
Snuggled.
Brother & Sister.
Miss Orange flumps out.
Team A hard at work.
Everyone with Mum.
All very organised.
Week 1 Puppy Portraits.
THE BOYS
Mr. Grey
Mr. Indigo
Mr. Green (formerly Magenta)
Mr. Red & White (formerly Mr. Purple)
Mr. Red + Blue
Mr. Blue
Mr. Brown
Mr. Red
Mr. Black
THE GIRLS
Miss Orange
Miss White
Miss Yellow (formerly Miss Pink)
PUPS AT REST
Mr Red & White fits in the palm of the hand.
Miss Yellow nestled amongst her brothers.
Mr. Blue curls up with Mum.
Unusual sleeping positions.
Flying ears.
Puppies!
We’re absolutely thrilled to be able to announce the arrival of 12 (yes, you read that right, 12!) bouncing bonny Belatarr babies – 3 girls and 9 boys 🙂
Pup-alanche!
Temperature monitoring suggested that Phoenix would deliver her pups on Sat eve or Sunday morning, and so it proved, with the first arrival showing up after one single contraction at 17:53 on Saturday evening. 3 more pups followed quite quickly, and then Phoenix decided it was all over and went into a kind of happy, grinning rest phase, as if to say “Aren’t I clever – look what I’ve done!” we knew that there were more puppy travellers waiting in the departure lounge, though, so after 2 and a half hours of inaction we all zipped off to the vets for a shot of oxytocin to speed things along.
Clever mum.
Everyone home safe and sound.
Puppy number 5 duly arrived at 22:50, and another 7 followed, with the final baby appearing at 01:49 on Sunday morning. Just to add to the fun, these last 8 were all born in the boot of the car, parked up at the veterinary hospital, with Tim as midwife and Adam and the vet zipping back and forth with supplies (clean towels, cups of tea – the essentials!)
Big pile of snooze.
With a litter as large as this you might expect a few weaklings amongst the bunch, but all 12 of the Baby Belatarr’s arrived kicking, and (quite literally) squeaking with vigour. They were all born at a good weight too, with relatively little variance between them. All drew breath within seconds and all were suckling within a few mins. Before announcing the news “officially” we’ve been anxiously waiting these last few days to make sure that all 12 were gaining weight nicely, and were developing as they should, and we’re delighted to say that they are all currently going from strength to strength, day by day.
All part of the snooze/eat/snooze/eat continuum.
Once they had all arrived, then the fun really began…with a litter of this size (and only 6 decent teats to feed from) we have, from a few hours after the final birth, had to split the pups into two teams, and feed each team separately to ensure that everyone gets a good meal and that the bigger boys don’t muscle out the smaller girls. This we do every 2 to 3 hours, day and night, so sleep has become something of a fond and distant memory, but who needs sleep when there are puppies on board…
Team 1 hard at work.
Team 2 waiting to be called into action.
Phoenix is a quite wonderful, utterly attentive and completely devoted mother, answering her babies every squeak (of which there can be quite a chorus!) and absolutely fastidious about keeping them all clean and content. She was very anxious to be with them 24/7 for the first few days, but as of yesterday, has decided she also wants to come out for occasional short walks in the autumn sunshine with Mingus, and it’s wonderful to see her trotting around having fun again before deciding that she needs to head back to check on the gang indoors.
That’s the story so far…watch this space for regular updates.
It's all exhausting work.
Mr Red, the first born, blissed out.
Mr. Red again, with his (probably temporary) tiny white head-spot.
Mr yellow-and-black, impersonating a baby bat.
Mr Green takes a nap.
The Milkbar is open for business.
Zzzzzzzz...
Belatarr Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla. 