Puppies
Greetings, This is our "Puppies page", As you can see, they are born with beautiful silver and gray stripes. The stripes are their skin folds, that soon turns into all silver color.Then they start growing, so they lose their stripes, they gain weight every moment of the day and night.Momma feeds her babies every hour or more, when ever they arent' sleeping, they are eating, and of course as you know, when they are sleeping, they are growing! We supplement feed the pups with puppy formula, and good nutritious foods,as well as feeding "Momma" a well balanced diet during her pregnancy and after whelping her babies.She gets lots of good baby cereals,oatmeal,farina,wheatgerm, and lots of fresh fruits as well as veggies..Momma contributes to the health of her puppies while they are growing inside her, therefore we feed momma really good foods, nutritious ones while she is pregnant with her babies,and the entire time she is feeding her babies.She also gets milk replacer,and other goodies.. She gets her excersize everyday as well,she doesnt' mind going for walks,while her babies are sleeping.She loves to run around the field, and get fresh air.She allows the daddy to come in every morning to view his puppies too, and allows him to kiss them and burp them as well. The mothers are so excellant.. We assist them with their birthings,we are the ones that do most of the work,we rub her belly, deliver her puppies, and let her clean them up,eating the sac's that they grow in, we cut the umbillical cords,and then wash them gently in warm water,put idodine solution on their umbillical cords and tie them off with plain dental floss, then we put them on a heated table, where we wrap them up in soft materials,and dry them up for her, then immediately put them on momma's nipples for their first suck of momma's milk..In between delivering the puppies, we have to remove the others that have been brought into the world,So that she doesn't squish them,or lay on them while delivering her next ones.
We then monitor the momma and babies, weighing everyone of them, putting the smaller ones on her back teats, where all the storage of milk is built up.The bigger puppies get their feedings on the middle teats, but they do tend to try pushing the smaller ones out of the way.We constantly watch them 24/7 all the time.We get very little sleep during the first month of their delivery.As we have them sleeping next to us during the night, changing her bedding often throughout the night,so that none of the babies get dirty,wet, or cold.. All it takes is for one to crawl underneath her for a couple minutes,and you will have a dead puppy.That is the saddest thing you ever want to see. Especially when they are two-three weeks old, you have worked hard keeping them alive during the process, and step away for a moment or two, to come back and find one under momma, suffocated to death..So we do alot of counting all the time.We use a big whelping box with "pig rails" around the entire box, but you dont' want it too big, so that they crawl around,getting lost for momma, although their noses are going from the time they are brought into the world,after cleaning their nostrils and mouths from debris. This is the most beautiful thing and well worth the hard work of delivering the litter.It is very gratifying to watch them, and bring a little life into the world. To watch them grow, and then start walking around, when they are first born,not knowing where they are wandering around to, as their eyes arent' open quite yet.Once their eyes open, at about a week in half to two weeks of age,they are the most beautiful Saphire blue you have ever seen.. They scoot around and smell to find mommas teats. We bottle feed the babies in between momma feedings..That relieves her from them pushing momma around all at once, as once they wake up all at the same time, they are starved,and start pushing each other and momma around, to get to the best teat around..Especially when we have the large size litters that Willow has (11) this time..I thought that i would share some of this information with you, to let you know we take pride in what we do, and they are very much like a newborn baby. They do keep us up at night, and we sleep right next to them, assuring momma everything is okay, and we are there for her at all times.
Right now they are four weeks of age, and are crawling and getting into everything possible.. Eating up magazines off the bookshelf.. And also making mess's on their newspapers, which we have to constantly keep picked up,otherwise they drag the papers around and we dont' want them getting icky in the poopies on the papers.. So right now they are a ton of work.As they are crawling under the whelping box, which has to now be taken out of the whelping room, and brought back out to the kennel facility. They crawl under there while sleeping and dreaming, we lay out blankets on the floor in a corner for them to sleep on, and play with their toys, which they find most interesting right now at this age, their minds are starting to work, and learning all kinds of things.. Once in awhile they get to crawl about the house, but then you really have to keep an eye on them !!
Then comes the real work.. Chasing the puppies around, trying to keep them away from anything that might harm them outside, when we first introduce them into the outside world. We have an indoor/outdoor kennel facility that they go into during nice sunny, warm days. We start out by putting them into a childs pool,with blankets, so that they are confined to one comfy area. As they grow, which is fast ! We let them wander around by themselves, watching at all times. Letting them discover whats all around them, including the other dogs that reside here at "Whispering Willow Shores Kennel". They are also introduced to toys, and chewies, so that their tiny needle teeth arent' chewing on us, instead they get lots of things to chew on, and also get their gums rubbed during teething, they love that when you rub their gums, helping them pop their new teeth thru for them..They depend upon their momma as well as us to care for them.At two wks of age we start them on dry food that is moistened with puppy formula and mix baby cereals into that along with a can of puppy food to get their appetites going..Then by four weeks of age they are eating all hard dry foods.. with a bit of powdered formula on their food.. They would eat all day long if you let them.. They are also learning to drink water from the water dish at this age, and making a mess of the water as well, with crawling inside the dish,sitting in it, and playing in the water. Thats a true hunting dog for you!Then comes the most difficult part of the breeders processing....
Finding the most excellant homes possible is the toughest part of being a breeder. It is so hard to screen people, and believe me i drill people all about different things in their personal lives, as we dont' want our puppies wandering into the wrong hands, where they might be harmed.
When you consider adopting a puppy from us, you had better be ready to take on alot of work, and change your lifestyle some.As they do require alot of attention, love, understanding, training, patience, and excersize..So if you want a dog for the rest of your life,and are ready to make that committment, then give us a call to discuss the possibilities of adopting one of our Weimie babies ! Be ready to sign your life away on a contract. As you are required to sign one as well as we the breeders do too..This is a lifetime committment, and if it isnt' working in your house, you are going to have to surrender the pup back to us, for all costs involved, including the price you paid for your puppy. We urge people that are interested in a puppy to make a lifelong committment, and if your not ready to do that, then you shouldn't even consider one at this time..You can always put down a small deposit down for the next upcoming litter of puppies when we have them.. Currently we are only breeding one litter per year...Also You are not allowed to sell,giveaway,borrow to someone else, or place into anyone elses home.This pup or dog, MUST BE SURRENDERED BACK TO THE BREEDER FOR THE LIFETIME OF THE DOG. This is a very strict policy of ours, and we have to do it this way, in order to keep track of all our dogs, at all times.You also must be aware of the fact that, we may stop in anytime and inspect the premises that that tthe dog is residing at.. In the event that we may find that the dog is being abused, or not cared for, we do have the option of removing this dog from your premises.IF and ONLY WHEN WE FIND THAT THERE IS SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE THAT ABUSE OR MISTREATMENT IS TAKING PLACE. Which is our last resort if we have to remove a dog from someone we sold one to..I hope that i have done my homework and screened people well enough,that we will never have to resort to such a degree..
We take pride in what we do, and hope that you are understanding enough to abide by our rules and regulations.Many Thanks go out to everyone that is awaiting for their new babies. Paul & Sheri Shavlik 930 School St.Ishpeming, Michigan 49849-3169 (906)486-6799 Call soon, as we only have a couple available puppies left to place into only the absolute best possible homes. If that is YOU, then by all means give us a call or email us at WillowShores@chartermi.net
***** Here is the number you can call if you are in doubt of something your pup has eaten, and need to contact Poison control.
Call the Poison Center
1-888-4-ANIHELP anytime, day or night."
That number translates to 1-888-426-4435
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Send E-Mail to: thewillowskennel@hotmail.comCopyright © 2006 Sheri & Paul Shavlik. All Rights Reserved