Borealbreeze Dream Litter

Fav pics from the last few weeks

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:19:23 GMT

Here are some of our favorite pics of the puppies from the last few weeks.

5wk old Dutch comfy sleeps!!

Don & Ditto at 5 wks old.

Ditto & Dutch playing at 6 wks old.

Half brothers Centavo and Dutch.

Centavo playing with 6 wk old puppies.

Miss Teagan's visit with the puppies!

Centavo enjoying Miss Teagan's company!

Dazzle asking Teagan for the ball!

Darwin helping to socialize the puppies. A true mountain dog.

Darwin after socialising the puppies...

Dazzle and her friend Evan.

Dharma working at a chicken back.

Dharma and Leslie during a weigh in.

Ditto posing cute at 7 wks old.

Darwin and Dutch.

Our friend Marcel socializing the puppies.

Pooped pile of puppies.

Dazzle and the tunnel at 8 weeks old.

Rachel cuddling the puppies one last time.

D is for Decisions!!

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 10:19:14 GMT

Group shot of the kids at 8 weeks old.

Okay, so I had a decision to make. This was a very hard decision because we really loved them all equally and were very pleased with the quality of the puppies. There were many things I was hoping to get from the combination that we did get. Don wanted to keep them all. Sure, that is a nice thought, but reality says we can only raise one puppy at a time. In the end, I went with my gut instinct and decided to keep Miss Ditto. She caught my eye from her birth and kept it, and now she has our hearts. We are excited to grow her up and see what a lovely girl she will grow up to be.

We will keep her name Ditto, we love the name. Her registered name will be Borealbreeze Double Take.

Dazzle is now living with our very close friends Dan and Laura Brodigan in Palmer Alaska. Dan and Laura have one of our B puppies, Bristol, and we are thrilled that they can take Dazzle and we can watch how she matures. Her new name is Daysha and her registered name will be Borealbreeze Dare to Dream.

Dharma is spoiled good by Jay Easton and Jodi Stearn in Langley BC. They are a wonderful couple who have been waiting a really long time for one of our babies and the match is just perfect. Sophie is her new name and she is going to be the ideal companion for them. I am very happy with this match and know that I will be hearing lots about how great Sophie's life will be. Her registered name will be Borealbreeze Dance of Spirits. She will be Jay and Jodi's little northern light.

And our sweet, hunky Dutch is now known as Joe. He was a big, brave boy who took a long journey to travel to his new family. Joe is now living in New Brunswick with his daddy Jed, our dear friend Trish and the Wright family (Dave, Emily and Hannah). He is absolutely adored and loved, and we couldn't be any happier. We couldn't ask for a more appropriate place for him to grow up into a wonderful big strong guy. His registered name will be Riverhaus Fly'n Dutchman v BBZ.

It has been a bittersweet time here at Borealbreeze. So sad to see the babies leave, but filled with joy knowing how happy and loved they are in their new lives. Good luck little Dreamies!!! Ditto, Gidget and your family in Whitehorse misses you all!

I'll post pics of the babies in their new homes shortly!!
I hope you enjoyed our little D litter blog, and check back periodically for updates on how these babies grow up!!

8 weeks old

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:50:00 GMT

Where has the time flown!!! The babies are 8 weeks old and we did our evaluations on March 14th. A big decision had to be made as to which family will get which puppy.

Here are the final 8 week old pictures:

Dazzle sitting

Dazzle standing

Dharma sitting

Dharma standing.

Ditto sitting.

Ditto standing.

Dutch sitting.

Dutch standing.

The puppies also went to see Candace for their health checks and microchipping. Everyone is strong and healthy!! They really enjoyed their trip into town (okay, well they didn't enjoy the 35 km car ride very much, but they did eventually settle - but they loved meeting all the folks at the clinic!!). They received their parvo vaccinations here at home.

7 week pics

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 11:15:00 GMT

Pics of the babies at 7 weeks old!!

Dazzle

Dharma

Ditto

Dutch

Some playtime pictures

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:25:45 GMT

Here are some pictures from the weekend when we had a little playtime outside, a little playtime inside, and a little play with big bro Centavo.
Puppy TV is the most entertaining channel here at Borealbreeze.

6 Week pictures

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 09:16:48 GMT

Here are the 6 week pics! Boy how they ever change in a week! The puppies have been having such a blast playing and exploring and visiting with new friends. I will post more pictures of them having fun later.
Gidget is nursing less and less often now and thus they are eating more each day. They love chicken and any red meat and have a great time chewing on little meaty bison or elk bones. I think this week we will introduce them to the joy of tripe!! I love them all and it is going to be difficult to pick the one that stays here. The girls are all so very nice but a little different in their own way. But I know I can't keep them all, and luckily I have wonderful homes who are anxiously waiting for their very own Dreamy to come and stay with them.

Dazzle

Dharma

Ditto

Dutch

Finally 5 week pics are up!!

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 12:29:16 GMT

It seems a little silly to post the 5 week photos when the puppies are 6 weeks old tomorrow, but here they are. I finally got them to upload properly. You will see how much they've grown since these pics when I post the 6 week shots on Sunday! Maybe we will get some snow pics for you since the weather man promises us not too cold and sunny. Enjoy!

Dazzle.

Dharma

Ditto

Dutch

5 Weeks old and wilder by the moment...

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:06:48 GMT

The puppies turned 5 weeks old this past weekend and we have been so busy entertaining them! Now is the time they are really starting to look for trouble!
They had more visitors and got to explore a little bit of the outside, although it is still a little cold for them. But that didn't stop Ditto! She took on the great outdoors with fearless abandon. The other three were a little more cautious and I anticipate will be making the snow trek very soon. That is if we can get the temperature to rise a little more!

I am having difficulty uploading pictures here tonight so they will have to wait!! My apologies and I will try again to post them tomorrow.

Fun pics

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 06:35:00 GMT

Tomorrow the puppies turn 5 weeks old and we will get some official pics up on the weekend. Until then I just wanted to post a few pics from this past week. They have been very busy growing and exploring their ever expanding world. They are always wanting to explore different places and the more freedom I give them, the more they want!! I tell you that they are certainly not afraid to express their unhappiness with being 'penned up' once they have had a taste of freedom. The complaints department works overtime!!
They have had some visitors and really enjoy sinking their teeth into some new flesh. They also have been introduced to some new foods. For those that don't know, I feed my dogs a raw food diet, and that also applies to my puppies. So my puppies are introduced to ground raw meats for weaning. They have tried a little turkey, chicken and organic buffalo this week. They love it all.
Here are some cute pics for you.

Dazzle's big yawn.

Dutch chatting up his main girl, Rachel.

Group shot in the pen waiting at the gate for some action.

Ditto and Dharma hamming it up.

Family pic. Momma Gidget, Ditto, Dazzle and big brother Centavo.

Dutch fell asleep under Don's chair in the diningroom.

Ditto and Dazzle fell asleep at the front door.

This afternoon Terry, Lynn, Julia and Owen came over for a visit with the puppies. It was the puppies' first meeting with younger kids and boy did they ever have fun. Julia and Owen were great with the puppies and I think the fun time was mutual. The big dogs were also quite interested in the kids, especially little Centavo.

This is Julia and Dharma.

Dutch is thrilled to finally connect with another young boy. Peas in a pod!! That is Dazzle chewing on Owen too.

Dutch and Ditto with the kids.

Group shot. Back row - Finesse, Gidget, Don, Centavo and Darwin. Front row - Lynn, Dutch, Julia, Ditto, Dazzle, Owen and Dharma. The big dogs wanted to be on the other side of the pen so badly!!

More updates on the weekend!!

4 Week Old Valentines

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:12:25 GMT

The puppies have had a busy weekend! They had more visitors, and it was Valentines Day so they got extra special loving. They are getting bigger, stronger, more playful and fuzzier everyday. We are introducing them to new places in the house and new toys. They just love to explore different things.

Here are their sweet Valentines day pictures:

Dazzle

Dharma

Ditto

Dutch

Pics of the group

We are having so much fun with this quartet and can't believe they are already a month old. They are such sweet and funny little comedians and we love being in their presence.
I hope to post more and candid pics in a couple of days.

The puppies hope everyone had a great Valentines Day!!

3 weeks old and a whole new world!

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:35:00 GMT

We have had a busy week here and I must apologize for the delay in posting the updates on the Dream Team.
The babies turned 3 weeks old yesterday and they told me it was time for them to move out of the whelping box and into something a little more exciting! Starting Thursday, we were getting more and more escapes out of the whelping box - even with modifications increasing the height of the door. The pups loved getting out and exploring the whole room. The motor skills on these babies are improving exponentially, along with their determination to get what they want!!!
Their hearing is excellent and respond to so many different sounds. All I have to do is make a kissy noise and they come running to the side of their pen crying for attention! Teeth have also erupted and they have started using them. I have had them sunk into my nose, chin, lips, fingers and toes (ouch!). Gidget is hanging in there with the nursing but you can tell she is a little uncomfortable now that they nurse with teeth!!
Play behaviour is getting more and more common and you will often see a pup latched onto another one's nose. They also have learned to bark, growl and wag our tails!!
We set up a new home for the puppies in our living/dining/kitchen area. They are now in the middle of the action. They were quite happy to get in their new pen, explore everything and play with the new toys. They also got to meet all of the other dogs who were very curious to see them. Up until this point, the babies were in another room and the big dogs had limited viewing of them - now they can lay there and watch puppy TV. Little Centavo, who is Jed's son from his previous marriage to Finesse, is 6 months old and absolutely fascinated by his little brother and sisters. Dutch was sleeping with his ear pressed into the side of the pen and Centavo cleaned his ear for him. What a nice big brother!!
We also welcomed their first group of visitors this afternoon. Up until now, the pups have only been handled by Don, myself, and a few close friends. Today they met 5 new people over the afternoon and were happy to visit, crawl on them, chew on fingers and kiss noses. They were pretty tired from all the excitement.
Let me go through some pictures from the past week:

Dutch with a toy.

Dharma (l) and Dazzle (r) wrestling.

Ditto, Dutch and Dharma having a conference. Looks like Dutch thought the girls were telling a good joke.

Group shot in the whelping box.

Left to right: Dharma, Dutch, Ditto and Dazzle. You can tell that Ditto likes to bite Dutch's ear and he does not look impressed.

Dharma enjoying another good joke.

Dutch and Dazzle on their way out of the box.

The new pen!!

Dharma investigating the new toys.

Ditto checking it out.

Dutch trying to figure out what the paper is for.

Ditto and Dazzle sleeping.

Dazzle.

Dharma found a really great place for a nap.

The aerial version of nap time.

Dazzle makes friends with Centavo.

Dutch.

Angela visiting with Dazzle and Dharma. The girls passed out on Angela.

Dazzle literally fell asleep on her back with Angela's thumb in her mouth. Now that is one relaxed puppy!!

The babies having their first meal in the new pen, compliments of momma Gidget.

Now here are the official 3 week old portraits:

Dazzle

Dharma.

Ditto.

Dutch.

Thanks for checking in on the puppies and I hope you enjoyed the pics this week. I will try to update mid week but I have to admit I would much rather be playing with the puppies than on the computer!!

Leslie

2 week old posers

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 10:25:16 GMT

As promised, we took some individual pics today.

Dazzle

Dharma

Ditto

Dutch

Momma Gidget

This posing stuff exhausts me!!

More news in a few days!

2 weeks old - escape artism runs in the family.

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 14:00:00 GMT

The puppies are officially 2 weeks old and they are starting to become little dogs, rather than simple eating and sleeping torpedos. Their eyes were fully open on Thursday and now their ears are starting to pick up some sounds. I love the look of the little ears coming forward when they hear things for the first time. It gives their little faces such great expression!
On Thursday Gidget decided she was no longer willing to accept segregation from the other dogs and jumped over the baby gate to reintegrate herself. She was so happy to be with the whole family again. So now we play doormaid to Gidget to let her in and out of the puppy room at her whim. What a silly girl!! And I think this disrespect for barriers runs in the family because I went into the puppy room after feeding the big dogs this morning and there was a squawking little Dutch in the middle of the floor outside of the whelping box!! I figured he must have used his sisters as a launch pad to push himself out the door. Looks like we are going to have to raise the height of the door to prevent further escapes!!
All of the puppies are little characters and this is the time things start to get fun. They are becoming more and more aware of each other and are pawing and mouthing each other in the beginnings of play. They are also interacting with us more and love to mouth our hands and faces. All of them are growing well. The girls are between 3.3lbs and 3.6lbs and big Dutch has just hit 4lbs tonight. What a boy who loves to eat! All are becoming more steady on their feet and have started sitting up. Their coat is growing as I am seeing little tufts popping out in places on them. The cute factor is getting high!!
Here are some pics from today. They are just candid ones from hanging out with them and I hope to get some nice individual portraits of each one tomorrow in good daylight. Enjoy!!

Ditto looking oh so cute!!

Dharma marching to the milk bar!

Dazzle waving.

Dutch chewing on the leg of one of his sisters!

Body surfing pup!

Dazzle looking so very sweet!

Three sisters. Dharma is looking forward, Dazzle is looking down and Ditto is hiding under Dazzle.

Ditto just chillaxin.

Dutch's handsome face.

Dazzle gets a kiss from Gidget.

Attack puppy!! Dazzle spent a good 5 minutes just mouthing my hand here.

Dharma lounging.

Ditto high-five!!

Dutch explaining to me the top ten reasons he should NOT be in the box.

A well fed family and content mom.

Ditto and Dazzle playing.

Eyes are open!

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 10:48:02 GMT

The puppies are 11 days old and their eyes started opening two days ago. They are now officially peeking back at me when I peek in the whelping box at them.
The fun will be starting soon...after the eyes, come the ears, then they become more aware of their surroundings. I am already getting a little glimpse into their personalities and it will be interesting to see how they develop. The girls have all reached 3lbs, with our 'little' Dharma passing by Ditto and Dazzle and outweighing them by 3 ounces. She is a very persistent puppy and pushy!! The other two girls are polite and sweet. I think Dharma is going to be one naughty puppy!! Dutch is 3 1/2 lbs now. He is a bit of a whiney boy and loves attention.
Gidget is doing so much better. She is full of beans now!! She desperately wants to spend some time with her berner family but I am still keeping her separated until the incision is fully healed. Centavo plays rough with everyone and I don't need him to cause her some damage.

Here are some pics from tonight.

Mom and hungry kids.

Little Dazzle.

Dharma using Ditto as a pillow.

Ditto peeking from behind her mom.

Sleepy Dutch.

Dazzle giving me the evil eye.

Dharma.

Ditto resting on her toy.

Dutch with a big yawn.

The giglets nursing. Can you see the 4th puppy?

I hope you enjoy the pics. I will post again on the weekend with the official 2 week update.
Leslie

One Week Old!

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 13:40:00 GMT

Well the Dream Team and their wonderful momma made it through the first week of life with no big issues! I did speak too soon on Thursday regarding the incision, however. One of the stitches that was put in on Tuesday did not hold so we were back into see Dr. Kim on Friday afternoon to have another couple of stitches put in. This has been a true testament to Gidget's character. She has been so brave and easy to have stitches put into her belly, on three different days in one week, without any sedation or local. And she did it all with her tail wagging and no hard feelings. She is such a great girl and I imagine these puppies will inherit that fabulous temperament because Jed has wonderful character as well.
The incision looks good today, a little oozing still, but otherwise holding together well. Keep your fingers crossed it will heal up perfectly in the next few days.
Gidget has amazing milk production and the puppies are growing steady and well. They have all pretty much doubled their birth weights with the girls all hovering around 2.5 lbs and big Dutch close to 3 lbs. All of them are getting up on their feet and learning to walk, albeit quite unsteady at this point, but still they are trying!! They are very strong puppies and determined to get what they want. When I cuddle them they snuggle right in and try to nurse on my chin, lip, cheek, nose, whatever their big mouths can suction up! I predict their eyes will start opening in the next couple of days. I already see a little weeping in the corners.
We are very pleased so far with the puppies and can't thank our good friend Trish Wright enough for agreeing to combine Jed with Gidget. I feel the match is a great combination and these puppies should have beautiful type, heads, coat, bone, structure, great orthopedics, longevity and most important sweet loving temperaments.
I am posting first the 'official' week old photos and then will follow with some snapshots from the day.

Dazzle

Dharma

Ditto

Dutch. He was the only one willing to 'pose' for his picture.

Here are all four bums lined up at the feeding trough.

Dazzle getting a good belly wash from momma Gidget.

Ditto passed out on her momma's paw.

Dharma passed out on Gidget's leg.

Here is Dutch up on his feet and learning to walk.

Dazzle shows she knows how to get up and around too!

Front to back is Dutch, Dharma and Ditto.

And finally here is a content Gidget sleeping with her boy.

Hope you enjoy all the pictures and check back in a few days for more updates!!

D is for Drama

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 14:35:00 GMT

One of the most difficult things with a c-section is making sure that the incision heals nicely between the weight of the milk filled teats and the activity of the babies rooting around there. In order to complicate things for poor Gidget, she developed a seroma under the incision and it started leaking a good amount of serum. The incision actually opened up in a couple of places, so on Tuesday we had to run her back to the clinic for a couple of external stitches to help close it up. She did great through it all and we came back home to take care of babies. I noticed on Wednesday that there was still a large amount of fluid accumulating around her incision so had a closer look. Sure enough, there was another hole that opened and off to the vet we went again. We came home with another 2 stitches and some antibiotics this time. Poor Gidget!! But through it all she was amazing. Happy to see her vet and fan club like nothing ever happened!!
Today the incision looks much better and there is almost no more discharge, so I am hopeful that Gidget is finally on the mend.
The problems with Gidget's incision didn't seem to mind the puppies and it seems like nothing will stop these little munchkins from eating and growing. They are 5 days old and girls all weigh 2lbs now. Mr. Dutch is a whopping 2.5 lbs! His Grandma Trish has several nicknames for him, but my favorite is McDreamy. Perfect!! All of the puppies are sweet and love to snuggle. You can see in the pictures that they are starting to develop their nose pigment. We look forward to seeing how their little personalities develop.

Here are some pics from day 5:

All 4 little sausages.

Dutch.

Dazzle.

Dharma.

Ditto.

Dharma and Dazzle.

Ditto and Dazzle.

Dutch lounging on his momma's leg.

Ditto practicing her Nike Ad Campain. Milk. Just Do It.

Hopefully our Friday will be uneventful and we'll post an update on Saturday with Week old baby pics!

2 days older!!

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:52:48 GMT

The Dream Team is now 2 days older and what an adventure they have had so far. They were born, rubbed fiercely with towels, learned how to breathe, met their momma, figured out what nipples were for, taken for a ride in the van, weighed, photographed, cleaned and so on!! Today they had the biggest adventure so far... dewclaw removal. None of the pups were happy about it, and what they hated most was being held on their backs! But they soon forgot what they were crying about within moments of it being over. The procedure went well and they look great! Thanks to Dr. Kim at Alpine Vet for doing such a great job!
Everyone is doing well and has gained weight each day. They are quite peaceful and content little puppies and rarely make a lot of noise unless someone gets lost! Truly a dream litter so far! Gidget is recovering from the stress of labour and her surgery and taking on the role of feeding machine with class. She is so sweet and gentle with her babies and is very careful when moving around them in the whelping box.
Here are some pics from the last 2 days.

All lined up at the feeding trough.

Post feeding frenzy and very full, round bellies.

This is a well-fed Dutch with his two sisters Ditto and Dharma.

The sweet, sweet face of Ditto.

All three girls clustered together with Dharma peeking her head over top of Ditto. I will often find the three girls together while Dutch is with Gidget. A true momma's boy.

Here is the momma's boy blowing a spit bubble while dreaming.

Dazzle is already practicing beating up her brother!!

And here is Dazzle's pretty face.

We are enjoying these quiet moments with the babies and spend much time just admiring them while they sleep. Check in soon for more updates!!

They are here!!

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 12:42:07 GMT

After several days of waiting for full on labour to kick in, Gidget finally started contractions and pushing at 5 am on Saturday January 17th. Unfortunately, no matter how hard she tried, she could not pass one of the pups, a big boy. So off to the vet we went where it was determined that in order to save all the puppies we needed to get them all out by Caesarian section. It was very stressful but fortunately we had a great surgeon and everything went really well. The end result is 4 beautiful big babies and a happy new momma! Gidget and Jed are the proud parents of 3 girls and one boy. Everyone is doing well!! Here is a pic of the family when we arrived home from the vet:

And here are individual pics of the pups, starting with the girls.

Above is Dazzle (white sparkle collar), she is the biggest girl.

Above is Dharma (lime green collar), our smallest pup.

And this is Ditto (Rainbow collar). She is the most similar to her momma and the most vocal!!

Here is our boy:

This is our big Dutch (blue collar). Named after the heritage of his dad, Jed, and also Don's favorite type of cooking, the Dutch oven.

We are very happy to have the puppies out safe and sound and relieved that our Gidget is also out of danger. Thanks so much to Dr. Kim and Janilyn of Alpine vet for the great job in surgery this morning! We have a beautiful family thanks to you! And also a huge thanks to our best whelping sidekick Rachel who lended some company through the labour pains and was a great help keeping babies warm and breathing after the C section. You are awesome!

Don and I will be taking shifts sleeping in the puppy room and tonight is mine. I am already living on little to no sleep for a few days but will happily keep my ears open to the activity in the whelping box tonight. Stay tuned to more updates on our dreamy D babies as they grow!
Leslie

Puppies are getting ready!

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:20:42 GMT

Well Gidget is now in labour and has been spending a lot of time sleeping between bouts of panting heavily, ripping blankets and shredding papers in the whelping box. We have been a little sleep deprived trying to make sure we keep a close eye on her. Since this is her first litter I am not sure how she will handle labour and how long she will take in each stage so I want to make sure I don't miss anything!

We hope to have news of the little D babies' arrival within the next 24 hours. Stay tuned!

Counting down the days!

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 01:50:00 GMT

We only have a few more days until the expected due date of the D litter. Gidget has a nice large round belly and you can tell she is starting to get a little more uncomfortable. We have been spending some time in the whelping room and in the box so that she can get used to her new space where she will raise her babies for the first few weeks. She seems to like it. I have started taking her temperature three times a day to see if I can catch a drop in her body temperature. This will give me an indication of when I can expect the babies to start arriving. So far it has kept steady from 99.7 to 100.8 degrees Farenheit. No drop yet! I will be taking time away from work starting on Wednesday to stay home with the expectant mother and her new family. Unless of course, she surprises us by bringing them into the world early!! But we are ready for anything!! Wish us luck and more news soon!!