A new spin on T'was A Night Before Christmas

T'was the night before Christmas
And all through the house, not a creature was stirring
even the Dane on the couch

The stockings were hung so frickin' high in the air
In hopes our Dane couldn't get them up there

The neighbors were nestled feeling safe in their beds
While visions of big dogs zoomed in their heads

With gizzards and chicken and bones going SNAP
The dog hoovered dinner and prepared for a nap.

When out from the crate there arose such a clatter
The dog had to go out and empty his bladder

Up from the floor he flew like a flash
He tore out the door and peed on the grass

He stood there so tall with a big head and lips
He blocked out the moon like a total eclipse

When what to my wondering eye should appear
But a miniature sleigh and 8 tiny reindeer

With a little old driver so lively and quick
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick

I yelled to the dog "quick come in Rover"
He ran up the stairs and knocked me right over!

And then in a twinkling I heard on the roof
the prancing and pawing of each little hoof

I got off the floor and held tight to my head
I looked to the chimney with a feeling of dread

He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot

I had concern for Santa so I put him at sit
St. Nick turned around and said "HOLY poop"

The bundle of toys he dropped at his feet,
He said "OMG, what does he eat?"

"That must be a horse or some form of cattle,
let me look in my bag and find you a saddle!"

I explained to Santa he was a great Dane
A very big dog with a really small brain.

Santa got on his knees and broke a big rule
Before I could stop him, he was covered in drool

"he wouldn't bite, not even a robber"
Santa said okay, but was covered in slobber

Santa laid on the floor all covered in jowl's
I ran to the kitchen to grab him some towels.

Santa said "It's Okay, I am no cleaner,
What a cute dog, but BOY what a leaner!"

We helped Santa up, with his bag made of silk
while dog ate the cookies and knocked over the milk!

He jumped back up, as if preparing to flee
He pulled out the presents to chuck at the tree

He backed up the chimney in a bright flash of red
I ran to my room, Rover beat me to bed!

We heard him mumble as he flew out of site
"That guys' really nice but his Dane's just not right!"

Dad Update

It seems that Guinness's first weekend showing in Alberta at the Red Deer Show he took Winners Dog/Best of Winners/ Best of Breed and a GROUP 1!!! Today he did the same in Breed but they have to wait until after lunch for Group Placements. Yeah Guinness!! If he places in Group again today he could have his championship in 2 days.

Here we go again...

Well I found a fawn male that we can do a live cover with! We'll have to take a trip to Alberta but I'm so willing to do that....or at the least send Darcy! LOL
Here are a few pictures of this handsome boy:

He is a Travis son and a cousin of Duke so the pedigree is exactly where I wanted to go, and as you can tell by the photos, he's a hunky boy!
Nava came into heat early and now Envy is starting to think about coming into season. Start thinking happy thoughts.

Happier Days

Maggie is doing well and gaining weight. She is proving that her spirit is stronger then any evil captor, and that even though she is a poorly bred Dane she still genetically knows how to 'be' a Dane. Showing off her lean, zoomies and drool skills.
Although I'm sure that I can start backing off the goats milk and whipping cream mixture, she tells me with her eyes that she's not ready to give it up just yet....think of it as a Dane friendly milk shake! What's sad is when you try and feed her high quality food, she doesn't know what to do with it. I gave her 'Deli-Fresh' food (which Darcy almost ate himself - all human grade ingredients - smells great!) and she just stared at it, but 'Alpo' she'll scoff down by the pail!
You can see where Maggie is emotionally weak by her need to have a "blankie", which is her Duck-stuffie...she grooms it and can't seem to settle down without it.

She has a smile and wag for everyone she meets and never asks for a moment of pity, only love.

Quiet Day

Poor little Karma lost her battle today. There are no pups left.
I can only hope that their senseless deaths make it so that the person that had Maggie can never own animals again.
Maggie continues to improve on a daily basis and hopefully will be shortly placed in a long term foster home.

And now we are one...

Despite all his efforts and will, little Mukti crossed over today at noon in Darcy's hands.
Precious Karma is still with us, but a bit lonely.

Still Chugging Along

Sorry to have been so quiet, but both Darcy and I have been working so hard to keep these last two puppies alive, we haven't had a chance to do much else! Both Karma and Mukti are still soldiering on. Karma is, I believe over the worst of it. Mukti is fighting like I've never seen a creature fight before! He is still far from being out of danger, but I don't hold my breath, and fear the worst every time I open the door now.
I'll post pictures soon.

Dharma

Dharma just passed away after a lengthy battle. We are heating the remaining puppies up just incase they are battling herpes as well. If we lose anyone else tonight I think it will be Karma as she is just screaming right now and I can't settle her down. Poor Maggie-Moo is beside herself with worry.

Fate always plays a role...

I have named the 4 surviving pups:

I hope everyone thinks the names are as appropriate as I do. I have great hopes for these kids as they survived the night and are gaining weight rapidly.
Does anyone else think that Kismet doesn't like the paparazzi?

Battling Pneumonia

We lost another puppy (one of the harl boys), it seems that we are battling against pneumonia from all the fluid they aspirated during their birth. The remaining four are doing well, so far, but the little blue harl boy worries me because of his size. Keep them in your thoughts.

2:12pm

Our big brindle boy passed away today at 2:12pm. With no obvious issues, he was one of the strongest and largest pups....remember that both Mom and pups have already endured more then any one creature should go through.

Puppy pics

Here are the kids, I know they aren't the best pictures but my battery on the camera needs charging so this is what you get! Also I make no promises as to the colour of "blue harl boy" is correct, I don't see any merling to his coat but their colours change so much after they are born that I wouldn't place a bet on it either way.

Pictures

Here she is before starting to have her puppies, if you scroll to the bottom you will see the picture once she was done whelping. Compare for yourself.

Maggie-Moo resting after whelping puppies.

Here are the surviving 6 puppies (there is a black girl hiding in between the harls and merlequins, the other is a brindle).

After whelping all 16 puppies.

Maggie Moo

Here is Maggie-Moo, I haven't been able to just call her 'Moo', she is so sweet that she needs a proper name. As you can see there isn't anything to her, you can count all her vertebrae, ribs and hip bones.
Laying outside enjoying the grass!

That is not a weird optical illusion, she spine really looks like it's bent.

Maggie in her whelping box, looking down her spine.
Check in for updates on this poor girl and her path to becoming a couch princess!!

Sad Day

It is with the heaviest of hearts that I let you all know that Envy is not pregnant...or at least will not be having live puppies. The vet is still confused about the movement that we spotted, but says that it looked like she absorbed the few pups she had.
I can't even begin to explain how disappointed I am, not for my breeding program and the sudden stop it has taken, but for you guys....so faithful to be rewarded with nothing.
I am so sorry.
Depending on when she comes into heat again we will most likely be driving to Colorado for a live coverage, not that it is any consolation to you....just trying to keep everyone in the loop so that you can start to make plans. For people who don't want to wait any more which I TOTALLY understand, I will be more then happy to help you find other breeders as well as recommendations to help you along.
Contact me privately with any questions you might have.

I made a funny!

So I don't know how many of you picked up the 'sound track' that went with the 'Movement' Video...we were watching 'Armageddon' on TV while filming Envy. What I didn't take into account was that I never have my volume on my laptop, so when I edited the footage it never crossed my mind. When Darcy went to check the blog to make sure I had done everything right on his computer, we were sent into fits of laughing. Between the dramatic music and voices that make it sound like the puppies were on a mission! I hope you guys got as much of a giggle as we did!

Tomorrow Envy and I are going to have the x-ray done
so hopefully we will have more pictures by dinner!

We Have Movement!!!!

Click the title of this post "We Have Movement!!!!" above and it will send you to "YouTube" to watch my movie of Envy's tummy....of course we all know about the plans of mice and men!! lol

So if you get a link and it is to the little movie I made then enjoy
watching her tummy roll and squirm!

Deli Fresh Saves the Day!

Praise be for small miracles!! I got Envy to eat 1.5 kg of Deli-Fresh Chicken and Veggie food...if I had of had more I think she would have eaten it too. Of course tomorrow I will go out and buy a bunch of it and she won't touch it again, but any amount I can get in her is cause for cheering in our household.
My new thing that I need to figure out is how to post video clips....so much learning so little time. I think that I will have to post on youtube and then post a link here.

Week #7

Not much change since the eating thing is still the tricky part! It looks like I can't fool her and mix canned dog food in with the canned cat food. Probably after Wednesday I will get an xray done to confirm numbers for whelping. By my calendar she should have them on August 1st (...hey Jack is that close enough for your birthday?? Careful, you might just get socks instead!)

Week #6.5

I am posting this picture a bit early because I think we will start to see a change for the better. I finally have been able to get Envy to eat after 2.5 weeks of barely eating. Here she is with 2 big cans of wet dog food in her gut....hopefully now that I've found something that she will ingest we will see this belly grow! You can actually see the muscle wasting in her shoulder if you look closely. I will start posting more pictures.