Today is the 27th of February and the weigh in went well. Average weight gain was 80z but Portia has plonked the ounces on over the last couple of days, gaining10 ounces which brings her weight to 3lb. Ariel remains the heaviest at 3lb 1 0z with Caesar at 2 lb 15 0z.
The lightest puppy is Hermione who today weighs 2 lb8 0z.
Kasidi remains vigilant as far as the puppies are puppies concerned but I think it is only a matter of time before she allows Ruby in the box to help with cleaning up. Ruby is desperate to get in there but she will just have to wait until Kasidi gives her the ok.
I am the one who is suffering a little today in that my body has finally given in to tiredness, Iam up at least twice during the night checking on Kasidi and her puppies, plus putting logs in the stove to keep them all warm and today I feel exhausted. I also know that this is the easy bit and the hard work comes later, so I am hoping for one good nights sleep.
Olivia has noticed that Ariel is showing those first signs of her eyes opening. I love it when their eyes start to open as their little faces change so much. Must go as we sadly watch American Idol and it is about to start.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Puppy Diary 25th of February
Today is Sunday 25th of February and kasidi and the puppies are all doing very well. Pups were weighed again today and all are gaining weight nicely.
Puck gained the most (80z) average weight gain 60z but Ariel is still the heaviest puppy weighing in at 2lb 90z. Caesar ( my favourite) is close behind at2lb 80z.
Kasidi is happy to leave the whelping box for short periods now when the puppies are asleep and even ventured out with our other dogs when we went to see to the cows and Wilbur our pet pig. She is looking very well and seems very contented.
All puppies have dark masks except Romeo and Caesar. We are just looking forward to when they open their eyes which will be towards the end of next week.
Puck gained the most (80z) average weight gain 60z but Ariel is still the heaviest puppy weighing in at 2lb 90z. Caesar ( my favourite) is close behind at2lb 80z.
Kasidi is happy to leave the whelping box for short periods now when the puppies are asleep and even ventured out with our other dogs when we went to see to the cows and Wilbur our pet pig. She is looking very well and seems very contented.
All puppies have dark masks except Romeo and Caesar. We are just looking forward to when they open their eyes which will be towards the end of next week.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Kasidi's puppies
Monday 19th February.
Kasidi has been restless all night and has now started panting periodically throughout the morning. Experience has taught me that with Kasidi , the first puppy could still be some time away. By 3pm her contractions seem to be coming more regularly.
My daughter Olivia will be the record keeper. She will make identity collars for all of the puppies and record all details of each delivery. She will name them after Shakespeare characters.
Monday 16.25pm
First puppy is born . Bitch named Hermione, correct ridge, no kink in tail and just a little white. Weight 1lb 4oz. Placenta delivered and promptly eaten by Kasidi. First check for dermoid sinus clear.
Monday 17.06pm
Second puppy dog, Macbeth is born, weight 1lb 6oz, correct ridge, no kink in tail, a little white. Placenta retained. First check for dermoid sinus clear.
Monday 17.59pm
Third puppy, dog, Puck is born. Weight 1lb 4oz, correct ridge, little white, no kink in tail. First check for dermoid sinus clear. Placenta retained.
Monday19.03 pm
Fourth puppy, bitch, Portia is born. Breech presentation.Weight 1lb 6oz. Correct ridge, no kink in tail, a little white. Placenta delivered and eaten. First check for dermoid sinus clear.
Monday 21.07 pm
Fifth puppy, dog,Caesar is born. Weight 1lb 80z. Correct ridge, no kink in tail, ? liver nose, a little white, placenta delivered and eaten. First check for dermoid sinus clear.
Monday 21.36pm
Sixth puppy dog, Romeo is born. Weight 1lb 60z. Correct ridge, no kink in tail, a little white, placenta delivered and eaten. First check for dermoid sinus clear.
Monday 23.15 pm
Seventh puppy, bitch Ariel is born. Breech presentation. Weight 1lb 60z, Correct ridge, no kink in tail, a little white. Placenta delivered and eaten. First check for dermoid sinus clear.
Tuesday 01.53 am
Eighth puppy, dog, Hamlet is born. Back legs presentation. Weight 1lb 50z , Correct ridge, no kink in tail. a little white. No placenta delivered. First check for dermoid sinus clear.
Tuesday 03.55 am
Ninth puppy, bitch, Paris is born. Weight 1lb 70z, Correct ridge, no kink in tail, a little white. Placenta delivered and eaten. First check for dermoid sinus clear.
Tuesday 04.33am
Tenth puppy, bitch Phebe is born.Weight 1lb 70z, Correct ridge, no kink in tail, a little white. Placenta delivered and eaten.First check for dermoid sinus clear.
Kasidi is offered frequent drinks and light food throughout her labour. Her trips outside to relieve herself were closely monitored as we had 3 feet of snow and wind chill made it very cold.
Around 09.30 Kasidi was certainly giving the impression that her labours were over and she was happily feeding her puppies. My vet was not available as he was away on a course and his surgery was in the process of renovation. Her final examination was carried out by me. We had experienced problems during her last litter in that she retained a puppy (which was delivered safely) and with retained placenta and infection.(Due to appalling service by a previous vet.)
This time I was determined for everything to go well for her. On examination I could not feel the presence of any puppy and so with trepidation I gave her an injection of oxytocin as we had retained placentas to worry about.
Day 3
All puppies have gained in the region of 4 to 5 ounces in weight and Kasidi is being a model mother.
Second check for dermoid sinus is clear on all of the puppies.
I am a little concerned that kasidi is ok as I thought I saw a contraction, so I contact my vets technician and arrange for Kasidi to go to the surgery the following day for an X Ray.
We battle our way through the renovation (the surgery is closed, but my vet now back from his course has agreed to meet me at his surgery.)
As far as we can tell, the X Ray is clear. This is such a relief and we can now relax and enjoy the puppies.
Day 5
Paris has gained the least weight since birth, 7 ounces, but has a full tummy and looks well. Average weight gain is 10 ounces and Ariel (now nick named Porky ) gained 13 ounces. Average weight of the puppies is now 2 pounds.
Third check for dermoid is clear.
Kasidi has remembered from her previous litter that dog food is no longer on the menu and has now come to expect a diet of chicken, tuna, pasta, rice and organic wheetabix, oh, and she loves a matured cheddar sprinkled over just about everything.
Kasidi has been restless all night and has now started panting periodically throughout the morning. Experience has taught me that with Kasidi , the first puppy could still be some time away. By 3pm her contractions seem to be coming more regularly.
My daughter Olivia will be the record keeper. She will make identity collars for all of the puppies and record all details of each delivery. She will name them after Shakespeare characters.
Monday 16.25pm
First puppy is born . Bitch named Hermione, correct ridge, no kink in tail and just a little white. Weight 1lb 4oz. Placenta delivered and promptly eaten by Kasidi. First check for dermoid sinus clear.
Monday 17.06pm
Second puppy dog, Macbeth is born, weight 1lb 6oz, correct ridge, no kink in tail, a little white. Placenta retained. First check for dermoid sinus clear.
Monday 17.59pm
Third puppy, dog, Puck is born. Weight 1lb 4oz, correct ridge, little white, no kink in tail. First check for dermoid sinus clear. Placenta retained.
Monday19.03 pm
Fourth puppy, bitch, Portia is born. Breech presentation.Weight 1lb 6oz. Correct ridge, no kink in tail, a little white. Placenta delivered and eaten. First check for dermoid sinus clear.
Monday 21.07 pm
Fifth puppy, dog,Caesar is born. Weight 1lb 80z. Correct ridge, no kink in tail, ? liver nose, a little white, placenta delivered and eaten. First check for dermoid sinus clear.
Monday 21.36pm
Sixth puppy dog, Romeo is born. Weight 1lb 60z. Correct ridge, no kink in tail, a little white, placenta delivered and eaten. First check for dermoid sinus clear.
Monday 23.15 pm
Seventh puppy, bitch Ariel is born. Breech presentation. Weight 1lb 60z, Correct ridge, no kink in tail, a little white. Placenta delivered and eaten. First check for dermoid sinus clear.
Tuesday 01.53 am
Eighth puppy, dog, Hamlet is born. Back legs presentation. Weight 1lb 50z , Correct ridge, no kink in tail. a little white. No placenta delivered. First check for dermoid sinus clear.
Tuesday 03.55 am
Ninth puppy, bitch, Paris is born. Weight 1lb 70z, Correct ridge, no kink in tail, a little white. Placenta delivered and eaten. First check for dermoid sinus clear.
Tuesday 04.33am
Tenth puppy, bitch Phebe is born.Weight 1lb 70z, Correct ridge, no kink in tail, a little white. Placenta delivered and eaten.First check for dermoid sinus clear.
Kasidi is offered frequent drinks and light food throughout her labour. Her trips outside to relieve herself were closely monitored as we had 3 feet of snow and wind chill made it very cold.
Around 09.30 Kasidi was certainly giving the impression that her labours were over and she was happily feeding her puppies. My vet was not available as he was away on a course and his surgery was in the process of renovation. Her final examination was carried out by me. We had experienced problems during her last litter in that she retained a puppy (which was delivered safely) and with retained placenta and infection.(Due to appalling service by a previous vet.)
This time I was determined for everything to go well for her. On examination I could not feel the presence of any puppy and so with trepidation I gave her an injection of oxytocin as we had retained placentas to worry about.
Day 3
All puppies have gained in the region of 4 to 5 ounces in weight and Kasidi is being a model mother.
Second check for dermoid sinus is clear on all of the puppies.
I am a little concerned that kasidi is ok as I thought I saw a contraction, so I contact my vets technician and arrange for Kasidi to go to the surgery the following day for an X Ray.
We battle our way through the renovation (the surgery is closed, but my vet now back from his course has agreed to meet me at his surgery.)
As far as we can tell, the X Ray is clear. This is such a relief and we can now relax and enjoy the puppies.
Day 5
Paris has gained the least weight since birth, 7 ounces, but has a full tummy and looks well. Average weight gain is 10 ounces and Ariel (now nick named Porky ) gained 13 ounces. Average weight of the puppies is now 2 pounds.
Third check for dermoid is clear.
Kasidi has remembered from her previous litter that dog food is no longer on the menu and has now come to expect a diet of chicken, tuna, pasta, rice and organic wheetabix, oh, and she loves a matured cheddar sprinkled over just about everything.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Welcome to my blog
My name is Rosemary and as a way of keeping a diary of my fourth litter of Rhodesian Ridgeback puppies,I thought I would start my own blog.
We are in our 2oth year of living with this wonderful breed and I like to think I now know a little about what makes this breed so special. Every day brings new experiences and my life has become so enriched by being around these wonderful animals.
My dogs are Ruby,her son Brewster, his daughter, Lela, Kasidi, mother of Lela and lastly Raiza who is a cousin to Kasidi. It can be a little "hairy" with the boys when the girls come into season and there have been a few fallouts, but we all live together in the same house and generally get on well.
I would not recommend having 2 dogs with bitches unless you have experience with this breed and know without question and that your dogs know you are the pack leader.
Our first Ridgeback was called Joshua, named because I had lived in Matabele Land in Zimbabwe and the leader of that region was Joshua Nkomo, adversary to the current leader Robert Mugabe.
In all truthfulness, I could not tell you if Josh had a perfect ridge, but what I can say is ,he was the perfect dog. He accepted my 3 children as they came along, was a loyal, loving companion and in his later years was the donkey in the play school nativity. By now I was totally smitten with this breed and was keen to learn as much as I could.
It was during the last ten years that I took an interest in dog showing, more of a spectator in the early days, attending breed seminars and learning as much as I could about the breed standard and confirmation. I soon learned that dog showing could be a little contentious, we all have our own interpretation of the standard. I would find myself at dog shows and be staggered sometimes by some of the dogs that were awarded top honours, then other times, be in awe of some of the Ridgebacks that were out there.
I always worked prior to my moving to the states and so dog showing was always an occasional thing for me, plus my children were of an age where I was needed at home, so I was never
totally committed. If I am honest, I have never really enjoyed dog showing, people can be become obsessive and quite nasty about their own dogs and I would never wanted to become so obsessive that I cannot see beyond my own dogs . When my husband is finally able to move out here to the States permanently I will take the plunge and jump onto the campaign trail.
Meanwhile, I have more than enough on my plate raising my 3 calves, my pet pigs my Tamworth pigs which have now become pork, my 20 chickens, my large family of Ridgebacks and last but they would say least, my 3 teenage children. Plus dealing with the first truly very snowy winter and sub zero temperatures. we currently have 3 feet of snow with drifting 6 foot in places and more forecast for tomorrow.
What has evolved though, is, I have a clear idea of what type of Ridgeback I want to breed. Type being the operative word here as I strive to breed a dog that conforms to the standard but has a certain type.
I can thank many breed people for helping and guiding me to form the views I have and how I came to understand the breed standard. I will mention them later.
The first thing that dazzles me about a good dog is movement. A Ridgeback that strides out with free flowing movement surely has to be put together well. How else would they be able to move so effortlessly. One of the reasons why I was so attracted to Liz and Pauls Kiromol Kennel is that they have really nailed beautiful movement in their dogs and fortunately Kasidi has passed this on to my young bitch Lela. It was Alison Muir who owns Dempsey (Brewsters sire) who in the early days taught me the virtues of good movement and pointed out to me the wheat from the chaff at the dog shows.
I also like to see bone and substance in both bitches and dogs. How else would they be able to hold a lion at bay. Small snipey heads are not my cup of tea either. Males should stand apart from the bitches. How many times do we see dogs that could be bitches if we were just looking at a head shot. Similarly bitches should be strong but feminine. I think Ruby my bitch illustrates this perfectly.
As a breeder I have learned that It is hard produce a dog that has everything, beautiful laid back shoulders, a well angulated front, good tight feet, level topline with good quarters and ample second thigh, good rear angulation, well laid down hocks, correct ribbing, good reach of neck, the list goes on, but having a picture in ones mind and striving to produce the image into reality is all I can aim for. Then of course we have the ridge, some purists will not accept an offset ridge but are happy to award honours to what I think are more structual faults such as upright shoulders,dogs that move terribly etc . One great thing about moving to the US is part of the breed standard is to recognise a slight offset as correct.
Brewster, my male is offset, yet has produced 2 two litters with Kasidi that have produced outstanding ridges. One offset out of 19 puppiesA trait he has clearly inherited from his father Dempsey, as he too has an impressive record with ridges.
This opportunity to go on and on is quite liberating, It is of course just my opinion, but if you care to read my ramblings, please feel free to comment. Lively debate is always refreshing and we all have different views about our Rhodesian Ridgebacks. I just hope to allow people to see where I am coming from.
Thats all for now.
Rosemary
We are in our 2oth year of living with this wonderful breed and I like to think I now know a little about what makes this breed so special. Every day brings new experiences and my life has become so enriched by being around these wonderful animals.
My dogs are Ruby,her son Brewster, his daughter, Lela, Kasidi, mother of Lela and lastly Raiza who is a cousin to Kasidi. It can be a little "hairy" with the boys when the girls come into season and there have been a few fallouts, but we all live together in the same house and generally get on well.
I would not recommend having 2 dogs with bitches unless you have experience with this breed and know without question and that your dogs know you are the pack leader.
Our first Ridgeback was called Joshua, named because I had lived in Matabele Land in Zimbabwe and the leader of that region was Joshua Nkomo, adversary to the current leader Robert Mugabe.
In all truthfulness, I could not tell you if Josh had a perfect ridge, but what I can say is ,he was the perfect dog. He accepted my 3 children as they came along, was a loyal, loving companion and in his later years was the donkey in the play school nativity. By now I was totally smitten with this breed and was keen to learn as much as I could.
It was during the last ten years that I took an interest in dog showing, more of a spectator in the early days, attending breed seminars and learning as much as I could about the breed standard and confirmation. I soon learned that dog showing could be a little contentious, we all have our own interpretation of the standard. I would find myself at dog shows and be staggered sometimes by some of the dogs that were awarded top honours, then other times, be in awe of some of the Ridgebacks that were out there.
I always worked prior to my moving to the states and so dog showing was always an occasional thing for me, plus my children were of an age where I was needed at home, so I was never
totally committed. If I am honest, I have never really enjoyed dog showing, people can be become obsessive and quite nasty about their own dogs and I would never wanted to become so obsessive that I cannot see beyond my own dogs . When my husband is finally able to move out here to the States permanently I will take the plunge and jump onto the campaign trail.
Meanwhile, I have more than enough on my plate raising my 3 calves, my pet pigs my Tamworth pigs which have now become pork, my 20 chickens, my large family of Ridgebacks and last but they would say least, my 3 teenage children. Plus dealing with the first truly very snowy winter and sub zero temperatures. we currently have 3 feet of snow with drifting 6 foot in places and more forecast for tomorrow.
What has evolved though, is, I have a clear idea of what type of Ridgeback I want to breed. Type being the operative word here as I strive to breed a dog that conforms to the standard but has a certain type.
I can thank many breed people for helping and guiding me to form the views I have and how I came to understand the breed standard. I will mention them later.
The first thing that dazzles me about a good dog is movement. A Ridgeback that strides out with free flowing movement surely has to be put together well. How else would they be able to move so effortlessly. One of the reasons why I was so attracted to Liz and Pauls Kiromol Kennel is that they have really nailed beautiful movement in their dogs and fortunately Kasidi has passed this on to my young bitch Lela. It was Alison Muir who owns Dempsey (Brewsters sire) who in the early days taught me the virtues of good movement and pointed out to me the wheat from the chaff at the dog shows.
I also like to see bone and substance in both bitches and dogs. How else would they be able to hold a lion at bay. Small snipey heads are not my cup of tea either. Males should stand apart from the bitches. How many times do we see dogs that could be bitches if we were just looking at a head shot. Similarly bitches should be strong but feminine. I think Ruby my bitch illustrates this perfectly.
As a breeder I have learned that It is hard produce a dog that has everything, beautiful laid back shoulders, a well angulated front, good tight feet, level topline with good quarters and ample second thigh, good rear angulation, well laid down hocks, correct ribbing, good reach of neck, the list goes on, but having a picture in ones mind and striving to produce the image into reality is all I can aim for. Then of course we have the ridge, some purists will not accept an offset ridge but are happy to award honours to what I think are more structual faults such as upright shoulders,dogs that move terribly etc . One great thing about moving to the US is part of the breed standard is to recognise a slight offset as correct.
Brewster, my male is offset, yet has produced 2 two litters with Kasidi that have produced outstanding ridges. One offset out of 19 puppiesA trait he has clearly inherited from his father Dempsey, as he too has an impressive record with ridges.
This opportunity to go on and on is quite liberating, It is of course just my opinion, but if you care to read my ramblings, please feel free to comment. Lively debate is always refreshing and we all have different views about our Rhodesian Ridgebacks. I just hope to allow people to see where I am coming from.
Thats all for now.
Rosemary
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