PUPPY UPDATE, February 6, 2009: Sabra delivered four puppies, genders yet to be determined, this afternoon into the evening. I did see that for sure there is one male and one female. Sabra is keeping her body wrapped around the puppies, making it difficult at this point to determine much about the puppies individually. All puppies appear to be strong and healthy and have been quite vocal, the way new puppies always are - they always seem so famished the first couple days, and mama rarely goes away from them for long at all. Sabra does not want her babies bothered right now, and I respect that - when she lets down her guard, I will determine more about the puppies individually and post the information in our site. Also, hope to get pictures of the puppies posted within a couple of days. Keep checking back.....

PUPPY UPDATE, February 7, 2009: My daughter managed to quickly determine the puppies' genders while Sabra was briefly distracted with treats - three boys and only one girl.

PUPPY UPDATE, February 9, 2009: Had hoped to get individual pics of the pups while Sabra was away from them yesterday, but she returned too quickly! Did manage to get a few of them while nursing her - not the best pics, but at least shows just how tiny they are right now - none any longer than about 4". They are very demanding - crying loudly whenever Mama Sabra is away. So, of course she doesn't stay away from them long! They spend a great deal of time nursing during these early days and will put on weight quickly - soon they will have very rounded tummies! Hopefully can get some individual shots of the puppies soon......

PUPPY UPDATE, February 12, 2009: Managed to get one quick picture of the babies while Mama Sabra was away, but she came back much to quickly before I could have a chance to look over the babies or take more pictures! She is still being quite protective and guarded with her babies.

PUPPY UPDATE, February 15, 2009: We were able to distract Sabra with treats long enough to get pictures of all the babies and to look over each's particular markings. They have grown quite a bit in a week, now with very rounded tummies. Their eyes are now starting to crack open and should be completely open in a few days. Then they will be ready to explore...... They make the cutest noises! One latched on to my daughter's ear earlier. She laughed so hard, as I guess it kinda tickled and for sure was an odd feeling!

PUPPY UPDATE, February 18, 2009: All the puppies' eyes are now open, so they may soon be quite anxious to explore! Mama Sabra is still pretty guarded with her babies, but will let me look in on them - she just would prefer I not touch them......

PUPPY UPDATE, February 22, 2009: Sabra is becoming much less guarded around her puppies now, although not completely. She allowed me to take the puppies two at a time in order to take pictures of them, but she whimpered loudly while her puppies were away from her. She is such a devoted mom! Puppy #2 continues to be the largest puppy, and his body structuring will likely come to favor more his chow heritage. Puppy #4 is significantly smaller than the other puppies, and his body structuring will likely come to favor more his sheltie heritage. Puppy #3 is second largest, Puppy #1 is second smallest.

PUPPY UPDATE, March 1, 2009: Sabra is much less defensive of her puppies now. The puppies took turns visiting inside the house this weekend for tons of cuddles with my daughters. Today we took new pics of all the babies and weighed each puppy, too. Puppy #2 continues to be the largest puppy, weighing in at 4 lb. 1 oz., but Puppy #3 is a close second largest, weighing in at 4 lb. even. Puppies #1 and 4 are both quite a bit smaller. Puppy #1 weighed in at 3 lbs. 8 oz., while Puppy #4 weighed in at 2 lbs. 15 oz. The puppies are very active now, anxious to explore their environment, and very playful with each other, especially lots of play chewing on each other. They are getting quite cute at this stage!

PUPPY UPDATE, March 5, 2009: The friendliest of the puppies seems to be Puppy #1. She seeks out attention and likes to be held. It appears that she will have chow ears. Puppy #3 is the most verbal. He's a very talkative puppy and lets you know what he thinks! It appears that Puppies #3 and #2 will have sheltie ears, as their ears are starting to fold over. Puppy #4 has chow ears. Haven't yet been able to determine much about the personalities of Puppies #2 and #4. Will plan on adding updated pictures to the site over the weekend.

PUPPY UPDATE, March 8, 2009: Puppy #1 has more color variation to her face than her littermates do. Today she weighed 4 lbs. 4 oz., compared with Puppy #4 weighing 3 lbs. 13 oz. Both Puppies #2 and #3 are now over 5 lbs. 4 oz, since my ounce scale only weighs up to that weight, and it gave an error message when trying to weigh each of them. Last night I noticed the puppies tails are now starting to curl onto their backs. Also, I noted that they have teeth, since one bit down on my finger pretty hard! They are nibbling on Sabra's food and drinking water now also, but are still getting their main nourishment from nursing. Puppy #4 seems lately to be displaying some shyness. Their dad, Lucky, has always been very shy, and sometimes some of our puppies are shy. Some of them come out of it nicely, but a lot has to do with how the new owner handles it. Meanwhile we will make an effort to give him more attention in the hopes that he will develop trust and realize we people type mean him no harm! The puppies like to play with each other, making playful growls as they do. They also sometimes give out little barks to greet us when we come out to see them.

PUPPY UPDATE, March15, 2009: Yesterday we moved the puppies out to Sabra's special puppy house that has access to its own fenced area. Now the puppies will readily have access to the outdoors, which will help them with potty training. It also will be good for them to experience the outdoors, which up to this point they had not had the chance. We finally warmed up here over the weekend and sounds like hopefully we will head towards spring (although we can't count on that up here!). Unfortunately the yard is pretty wet and muddy with the snow melting, so that made it harder to get good pics of some of the puppies today!

PUPPY UPDATE, March22, 2009: The puppies got SO messy today, that I gave them baths before their pics late this afternoon. After our rapid snow melting last week, it has left our yard very muddy! The puppies all did pretty well with their baths and didn't resist much at all. The baths seemed to make them sleepy, but I sure didn't mind cuddling them up in a towel for awhile afterwards. Unfortunately they weren't completely dry when I took the pics, so that makes it hard to tell if they are clean or still dirty! Oh well. I tried. The puppies are scheduled to see our vet this Saturday morning for their first exams and first puppy shots. I think Puppy #3 may be the most cuddly - there is NO leaving him out of love times, since he reaches up and climbs up onto my lap! But Puppies #2 and #1 are right in there to make sure they get plenty of loving as well. Puppy #1 is obsessed with wanting to get at my face, mainly to paw at it, but also for licky kisses. Puppy #4 continues to show some signs of shyness, but at times curiosity gets the best of him so that he will slowly approach a hand to smell it. We continue to try to work with him to help him to develop trust. I had to laugh this evening when Puppy #4, such a small puppy, started barking at one of the adult dogs that had came near the puppies' fenced area. He seemed pretty serious about his barking, and here he is so tiny, that I don't think anyone would take him very seriously! For sure the adult dog didn't - instead he looked at him as if to say, "Just what ARE you barking about?" They can be so much fun.....

PUPPY UPDATE, March29, 2009: The puppies saw our vet this morning, and all checked out well. They received their first puppy shots and preventative dewormer. We were a bit surprised by the weights of the puppies today. Right now Puppies #1 and #4 are the same weight, even though Puppy #4 looks smaller. Maybe he has a little more baby fat! Both of those puppies weighed in at 6.4 lbs. The other surprise was the Puppy #3 now weighs more than Puppy #2, even though I "think" Puppy #2 still looks a little larger. Puppy #2 weighed in at 11.7 lbs., and Puppy #3 weighed in at 12.6 lbs. The vet agreed that Puppies #2 and #3 will both grow to be large dogs. Only one puppy got a little car sick today, and that was Puppy #1. She just excessively drooled during the rides to and from the vet. Puppy #4 was incredibly scared at the vet, and I don't think my neck has been cuddled up against harder than it was today with him! Poor little guy - he's so shy. The vet said he will need held a lot until he develops trust. Puppies #2 and #3 were both extremely verbal during the ride and while at the vet sitting in the carrier. They both wanted everyone to know that they were not very happy! But both did fine while on the examining table, not minding the extra attention. They laughed at Puppy #1, since she wanted to make sure she turned to always see exactly what they were doing - not going to let anything get past her! Soon the puppies will be going to their new homes. We will miss them, of course, but feel they are going to good homes :-).

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