Posts tagged ‘cuteness’
Puppy Portraits: week 1.
Seven days old and already around 75% heavier than when they were born, we’re pleased to report that all 12 pups have had a very satisfactorily smooth first week of life….so without further ado let’s introduce the gang:
The Boys
Mr Black.
Mr. Blue.
Mr Bronze.
Mr Green.
Mr Red.
The Girls
Miss Fawn.
Miss Lime.
Miss Orange.
Miss Pink.
Miss Purple.
Miss White.
Miss Yellow.
With no hearing, vision or coordinated movement at this age all focus is on eating and sleeping in endless, looping succession, so, with that in mind here are some additional shots of snoozing pups from throughout the week:
and finally, just to prove that they are occasionally awake!
Puppies have arrived!
Tuesday saw the arrival of our excitedly anticipated new generation of Belatarr babies as, right on schedule, Phoenix and Mingus’ second dozen were born.
The whole gang together
Miss Orange was the first to arrive, at a very respectable 10:53AM, with 10 of her brothers and sisters duly following in quick succession and puppy number 11, Miss Lime, making her appearance at 15:15 that afternoon.
Miss Lime & Miss Orange.
All of the births had been very quick and very easy, with just one or two contractions and then a new arrival. So far so good. However, after puppy number 11 things ground to a halt, although it was very evident that at least one more pup was still waiting to arrive. After a few hours of waiting and no signs of any further action we all decamped to the vets (11 puppies included) where two shots of oxytocin, a 15 min IV drip of liquid calcium, a vigorous walk up and down the road and 5 hours later puppy number 12, Miss Fawn, finally decided to put in an apperance, arriving (in the car boot) fashionably late to the party, but (despite our fears over the worryingly long wait) very fit, healthy and at a good weight.
Mr Red takes centre stage.
Now, some 48 hrs later, all 12 babies – 7 girls and 5 boys – are feeding very well and all are gaining weight at almost identical rates.
Random puppy pile-up.
As with Phoenix’ first litter there are no tiddlers or weaklings amongst the bunch and all twelve are vigorous indeed! With mum having only 6 functional feeding stations we have, as before, divided the pups into two teams and feed them one team at a time, every two hours, night and day to ensure that everyone gets their share.
Team 1 take their turn.
Whilst team 2 wait to be called into action.
Phoenix herself has been a wonderfully attentive mother, as ever, but today she surprised us by deciding that she wanted to go out with the boys for a swim in the river and a quick hurtle around the land before thinking that she really should zip back up the hill to return to her offspring.
Mum forms a comfy resting spot for Miss Yellow.
That’s the story so far.. .more pics follow below and watch this space for ongoing puppy antics and the ever-popular weekly puppy portraits too!
Mr Black and Mr Green.
Mr Blue hangs out his teeny-tiny ears.
Miss Purple.
Mr Bronze, who is so dark that his collar often looks as though it’s disappeared…
Mr Black, on the other hand, is the palest of the pups.
…and a good contortionist too!
Miss Yellow.
A snoozy heap.
…and another.
Everyone together once again.
Big Beach day out.
After seemingly endless rain the sun has finally made a return, so what better time to take everyone to the beach for a sandy romp! Little Django is now 9 months old (time certainly flies…) and is looking not so little and all-grown-up all of a sudden….looks can be deceptive, however!
Django in a rare moment of stillness.
This is a more usual pose.
Racing with dad.
…and with mum too.
The family emerges from the surf.
Django leads the charge.
A brief pause to pose with a stick.
…and swiftly back to bounce mode.
Strutting his stuff, showing off that awesome stick, whilst Phoenix looks on and hatches a plot.
In tandem with Mum…who, having hatched her plot, now has ownership of the stick.
So much sand, so little time.
And relax.
Finley – Belatarr Art Tatum
We’re extremely lucky to have the very handsome Finley living approx. 2 miles from us here at Belatarr HQ. This means that, right from the get-go, we’ve been able to see lots of him. He and his brother Django (along with their parents) have enjoyed many romps together as well as both having been obedience trained by Tracey and her team over at Puppy Gurus, just like their parents before them:
Finley arrives home.
...and re-arranges his furniture.
Settled into his new bed.
Christmas!
It's a tiring life...Finley takes to the new sofa - the one that he wasn't going to be allowed onto 🙂
Another favourite snoozing spot.
Growing up.
Finley, now 5 months old, takes a seat at the kitchen table.
Who can resist!
Belatarr Babies update Pt1.
Since the Belatarr dozen will be 6 months old this coming weekend now seems like a good (and extremely overdue!) occasion to post some of the wonderful shots that pup owners have very kindly shared with us over the past few months:
Otis – Belatarr John Coltrane
Otis (in the foreground) out with his new Cornish Vizsla family.
Otto – Belatarr Dave Brubeck
Otto at 6 months.
Digby – Belatarr Oscar Peterson
Billie – Belatarr Mahalia Jackson
Billie at 5 months.
and at 6 months of age.
…and back at 10 weeks.
Gryphon – Belatarr Dizzy Gillespie
Gryphon (left) looking very Mingus-y, with sister Billie
Gryphon at 10 weeks.
Billie and Gryphon aged 5 months.
Brother & sister settled into their new home together.
Milo – Belatarr Thelonius Monk
Milo back at 3 months of age.
Introducing Django.
An extremely exciting new chapter opens for Belatarr as young Django joins the pack on a permanent basis!
Django at 10 weeks old.
Following in his father’s paw-steps Django becomes our second Jazz dog, named, as he is, after the legendary jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt – although we understand that Tarantino is soon to release his own Django project too.
Belatarr Django Reinhardt - at 7 weeks.
Django also shares his father’s wonderful coat – deep red & harsh – and has a head so similar to Mingus’ that we can’t tell them apart in their 6, 7 and 8 week pics – see below. He’s also very confident, extremely laid back and easy-going, and is already proving to be very keen to learn and eager to train.
Django immediately gravitates to the prime spot on the dog sofa.
Centre stage, flanked by his brothers Gryphon & Charlie Parker.
Spot the difference - Mingus as he was at 8 weeks.
Django shares a snuggle with Fred.
Django with his brother Charlie Parker.
Asleep with his dad on Christmas day.
Until he’s has his second vaccination Django can’t go on the ground in public areas, so, just like his parents before him, he’s been riding around in the baby sling in order that we can introduce him to the wider world. Needless to say, much attention and many oooh’s and aaaah’s follow from onlookers wherever and whenever he appears in public in this way!
Django out-and-about on the Tarka Trail on New Years Day.
It's very frustrating when you can watch your parents running around but can't join in the fun!
Getting to be quite a handful...
Riding in (or more often attempting to wriggle out of) the baby sling.
...he would really rather be hurtling around with all those other exciting looking dogs down there.
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...
Freedom!
Now that Mingus is getting on for 5 months old we are finally able to start taking him out for slightly longer walks, and this week – for pretty much the first time – we took Phoenix and Mingus for a few trips out together, resulting in much jollity and frolicking all round (a week of non stop sunshine certainly didn’t hurt either!)
Yippee!!
Huzzah!!
The pack also expanded this week with the arrival of Tim’s son Fred who was down for the Easter Hols., and who, as ever, was seamlessly integrated into the wolf/human hierarchy as we all hit the beaches and the moors.
Mingus, Phoenix & Fred in action - skimming stones at Lyme Bay, Dorset.
Mingus at Scorhill, Dartmoor.
Mingus, trying out the "stately whilst chewing an old bone" look.
With Adam at the Scorhill stone circle.
A big pile of snooze at the end of the day.
So that’s where the last month has gone…
Shockingly it’s been over a month since our last update…slapped wrists all round…we blame pressure of work and puppy juggling… so we’ll now attempt a potted history of the last month-in-the-lives-of Mingus & Phoenix.
Twin engine.
Firstly, like Phoenix before him, Mingus has been busy at his Puppy Guru’s training classes, the third of which is coming up in a few days. His initial foray into the class was undertaken with some trepidation (but then he was only 11 weeks old at the time and hadn’t yet started getting out and about to meet and greet) but since then he’s really got into the swing of things and is incredibly quick to learn and easy to train. We’ve mastered come, watch, sit, up, down, (plus the infamous sit-up-down sandwich) heel and wait. This week should be “stay”.
Mingus at large.
Meantime Tim took our little lad along to his first ringcraft class last week, mainly to introduce him to the cut-and-thrust of the training environment. Luckily he loved the whole experience and, of course, received LOTS of attention from humans and canines alike as well as some extremely favourable comments from several of the Champ show gundog judges who were present. He also did several pretty presentable laps of the hall in fine style,so, all in all, a very pleasing start.
Having an explore on the Common.
Back at base Tim is slowly attempting to shape Mingus’ stacking technique using the same positive training methods that (eventually!) worked for Phoenix. This time round at least one of the two parties knows roughly what they’re doing, so hopefully by the time he’s 6 months Mingus should have a pretty decent stack to show the world.
Watching the action at the Wadebridge show.
We all went to visit a dog show at Wadebridge in Cornwall last weekend in order to give Mingus more full-on socialization opportunities. Despite the cavernous venue and the many, many dogs of all shapes and sizes, he took it all firmly in his stride and trotted round with great enthusiasm and curiosity – again, receiving much attention and many oohs, aahs and coos along the way.
Ready to roll at Rough Tor.
Soggy-bearded Phoenix en route to the top of Rough Tor.
At only 12 weeks old Mingus is limited to walks of 10 to 15 minutes at the moment (so as to protect his developing joints) so he still gets to be carried once his allotted walk time is up…we did manage a quick trip to the beautiful moorland of Rough Tor on the way back from Wadebridge though, and this allowed Mingus the opportunity to splash around in the shallow river and see some horses close up. Phoenix and Tim then went for a great romp up to the top of the tor itself whilst Mingus and Adam want for a snooze in the sun back at the car….
It's all go on the dog-sofa.
Phoenix & Mingus are still very much besotted with one another, but (again, with joints and hip-scores in our minds) we’re now very wary of allowing them to play together for more than a few minutes. We currently running an alternating-dog schedule of play, walks, training and confinement which, although very time consuming, seems to be working fairly well, but can’t wait for the time that they can both hit the moors and beaches together.
Throwing a semi-point on Torrington Common.
Mingus’ big-boy cage arrived last week, so he’s now upgraded to a full-on adult-sized den, which he clearly loves, and voluntarily hops into when he wants some quiet time. He’s been completely toilet trained for a few weeks now, but still wakes up a couple of times each night, so the 3AM toilet run has yet to fade into memory (unfortunately…) That’s pretty much the only area that needs work though, in all other respects he’s a total delight to live with, incredibly affectionate and responsive and such a cutie!!
Belatarr Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla. 