Back to E-litter data page
Back to "Dogs of my own" Contents
1ST PART
mated Bocquefeuille in the beginning of April. I considered
the middle of the mating time as the starting point of the
pregnancy, and so the theoritic delivering was expected to
happen on Sunday 07/06/09 - in reality, I expected it either on
06/06/09 or 07/06/09, possibly on 05/06/09.
As soon as I install the playpen in the dining-room,
Bocquefeuille came into it and stayed there. She did this
really often during the whole gestation time, and I wondered
whether she could be aware of being pregnant. Of course the
others dogs of mine also came into the playpen to sleep in
the bed.
When she was 5-6 weeks pregnant, she was already so
"rounded" (and so heavy too when I took her in my arms !)
that I knew early that she was pregnant. Then time had still to
pass ...
knew I would come back home late in the evening. Normally, nothing would have had happened, seeing that I expected the
delivering on 05-07/06/09. Nonetheless, I wasn't quiet at all, you know, bad luck can always invite itself ... Later, a thought came
to my mind : my dogs weren't used to such long absences, and I wondered whether Bocquefeuille could worry ... And I was
getting worried a lot myself ...
At last we came back home, a few minutes before 9 o'clock . I entered in the veranda and then in the kitchen, and there, I heard
a typical sound : this sound that a newborn pup utters ... I wondered immediately how many pups were already born ... I
washed my hands carefully, poured out some water for Drezbor to drink, and then I hurried up to the dining-room. When I
opened the door, Bocquefeuille came to me ; the playpen was empty, but some pups were still crying. Bocquefeuille stayed
near me, and I had to search : I found only one pup - a little wisp of a pup, that I named Edwisp - on the carpet, so Bocquefeuille
preferred the carpet to deliver. I put the pup into the dog bed, inside the playpen, and then Bocquefeuille stayed into the bed. So
the first pup (Edwisp) was born before 9 o'clock ; the second (Eddixe) came a few minutes before 9 : 30, and the latest just a
few minutes before midnight. Finally, the bad luck had not been too bad ! Granted, I would have enjoyed to go to sleep earlier,
but of course, that wasn't an important thing. The photos of the delivering can be seen in the E-litter page.
too. Every day I took them one by one to weigh and sometimes take photos, and of course cuddle them ; my other
dogs could make their acquaintance too. When Bocquefeuille was with them inside the playpen, she let generally
all the dogs come close near the playpen, except my old Kuvasz bitch, but she let Drezbor approach the playpen,
while last year she refused that her own mother Snasha entered inside the room where the playpen was.
opened from 17/06/09 to 19/06/09, while the hind legs were becoming stronger and stronger. On 19/06/09, I saw a pup really walking
normally, but of course he walked so during a very short time.
hands or my knees etc, once (on 20/06/09), Eirelune was sucking one of my finger, then another, and this during a long time. So I decided
to bottle-feed the pups, and in fact they liked very much and sucked a lot. The pups began to come out of the playpen, Eyshnah was the first
(on 21/06/09), then the others did too. They knew my other dogs by seeing them from their playpen, but only Gidan often went into the
playpen ; in this case, the pups were generally trying to go to him. On 23/06/09, the pups began to hear the sounds.
business out of the playpen (Eyshnah was the first, on 25/06/09). On 24/06/09, while I was weighing the pups and cleaning the playpen
and all around, Fango came to us and started to lick them, when I showed him a pup in my hands, or when a pup was on the ground near
him (Bocquefeuille and the other dogs were in the garden). My she-cat Kaerenn began to go to them, the pups already knew her by seeing
her from the playpen. On 27/06/09, Bocquefeuille was in the garden with Gidan and Fango, but for once the A-brothers and Drezbor were
still inside the house when I opened the door of the playpen ; the pups were sleeping, only Eddixe and Eyshnah were awake, they came out
of the playpen and went to the adult dogs, searching to meet them, then they played together among the grown-up dogs. On 27/06/09 too, I
saw a pup lapping up Bocquefeuille's water, so I decided to give them milk in a plate the following day.
much, since they didn't knew this. I was completely wrong. Eyshnah rushed up to the plate and ate so much that I had to make a second
plate, but the other pups too ate very much, and I had to give them a third plate. Then I gave them milk in a plate 4 times a day, from
28/06/09 to 30/06/09. I began to add dry food with water and milk on 01/07/09, they ate very well, and seemed to like it too. They already
knew their mother's dry food, because they often tried to eat it for several days. I noticed too that Eyshnah like to "bath" in Bocquefeuille's
bowl of water.
decided to make the pups come out in the garden ; I opened the door, they came just a little in the garden, although their
mother and I were out ; then I took them one by one on my knees, while I was sitting on a stone at about 1 m from the
doorway ; they all came and stay in the garden, some even went away (about 2 m from me) ; in the evening, I opened the door
once again and they all went away without any hesitation, they seemed to like it ! And I gave them their food outside. On
03/06/09, I opened the door 4 times, and they ate their food in the garden. They went away far from the door, alone, and found
different places to sleep ; Eirelune found a special place : under a big kennel, but finally some other pups imitated her,
especially Esvrenne. They were precisely 1 months old, so I took a lot of photos. On 04/06/09, they came outside too, and
Eirelune was always under the kennel, each time I made the pups come inside the dining-room, I had to take Eirelune from
under the kennel where she was sleeping quietly.
the doorway (so I could clean the playpen without them because they wanted to
come in), and they pushed them easily to enter. So I thought it was time to make
them learn new things ! In the afternoon, I put a little tunnel in the doorway, they
couldn't push it and they had so to come through. Edwisp began to come, hesitated
and turned back. Eyshnah was the first to come in through the tunnel, with a little
hesitation. The others came one by one, slowly, with a lot of hesitation, I waited
without helping them, and finally all the pups went through the tunnel (in this order
Eyshnah, Eddixe, Eirelune, Eydrey, Eirzanne, Edwisp, Esvrenne and Ethollia) ; so I
did the same on 06/07/09, not in the morning because it began suddenly to rain
and I took them quickly, but at noon, in the afternoon and in the evening : the
hesitation was less but there was always hesitation, at least for some pups ;
sometimes a pup came through the tunnel directly at a moment of the day, and
hesitated more or less at a later moment of the day, while some other pups
hesitated at the beginning and no more later. In fact, it wasn't yet "natural" for all of
them to go through this tunnel, so I decided to do the same also the following day.
And on 07/07/09 in the evening, no pups showed any hesitation with the tunnel.
the first time, but later when they approach, I moved slowly one of the part (so the other moved
too), and then the pups showed more or less hesitation before coming. I let it in the
dining-room, and some pups played with it - some other preferred to try to bite it !
cm long), but I didn't think that they could try to come over it instead of through it. Some pups
came through the tunnel "naturally", some other tried and succeeded to climb on it and then to
walk on it, some other tried to push it and come aside. The second time, I put obstacles over
and along the cardboard tunnel so they were obliged to go through it, and they did, with more
or less hesitation. In the evening of the following day, they came through the tunnel "naturally".
something to block up the cardboard tunnel, so the pups had to go through the blue tunnel ; the first time, they did this
easily for some, with hesitation for some others (in particular Edwisp), in the evening all the pups came through
without hesitation - the only problem was when 3 pups tried to go through the tunnel at the same time, two of them
succeeded to came through the tunnel side by side, the third went just behind them.
In the afternoon, before letting them in the garden with my other dogs like every day, I took my she-cat Kaerenn in the
dining-room with all the pups ; I didn't know how Kaerenn would react, but Kaerenn never tried to use neither claws
nor teeth to "escape" from the pups, she just tried to flee each time that several pups together were near her or even
on her ; the pups wanted to get contact with her, sometimes with their forelegs, but never with their mouth.
In the evening, the weather was so fine that I stayed outside with the pups ; at a moment, all the pups were quiet and
more or less sleeping, except Eydrey ; so I took him in my arms, then I saw the mare near the wire fence, and I got up
with Eydrey to go near the fence, so Eydrey could see the mare closely - Eydrey didn't react at all, in fact the pups
certainly knew the mare by seeing her from the garden, when she's near the fence (for from the ground they can't see
well ...)
obstacles to prevent them to go down before the end ; the first time,
the pups came quickly and some even ran, they were perfectly
relaxed, except Edwisp and Eydrey who came a bit later, walking
slowly and with some hesitation. In the evening, no pups showed
any hesitation anymore.
garden - where they went to do their business ; Kaerenn didn't really flee, just she didn't let them touch her, but she
moved slowly and never tried to use neither claws nor teeth. At noon, the weather was favourable to stay in the garden ;
the pups were going far from the dining-room for several days, because they just followed the adults dogs (who generally
went in the center of the garden under the apple tree), but in general they didn't go near the door between the yard and the
garden ; I opened this door so the pups could discover the yard, but they hardly came ; Eirelune was the first to enter into
the yard, she stayed there but only in the beginning (about 2-3 m from the door), where I was standing ; then Eyshnah,
Eddixe and Edwisp came, the others approached a little, but preferred to stay in "their area" ; it seemed that the stairs
caused them some problems, though they were used to higher steps just in front of the dining-room door ; some pups
tried to come to me by walking on the little wall instead of climbing down the stairs, and then they were standing at about
50 cm from the ground, and I took them to the ground so they didn't fall ; Bocquefeuille asked to come back inside the
house - seeing that the other dogs and I could take care of the pups - and then Drezbor seemed suddenly very interested
by the pups and was closer to them - I had already noticed this when Drezbor and the other dogs were inside the
dining-room : when Bocquefeuille was still with them all, Drezbor didn't approach the pups too closely ...
When the pups appeared to be tired enough, I made them come back home by the well-known dining-room door, I just
put in the doorway a radiator lying on the ground, the pups didn't show any difficulty.
I took her in the dining-room with them ; the pups were not so curious than the previous day and overall left her in peace. I put a
big tunnel in the doorway (60 cm in diameter and 1 m long), they showed no hesitation. At noon, the weather was too hot and the
pups preferred to come back quickly ; I opened the door between the - their - dining-room and the kitchen, expecting they would
come in this room that they didn't know at all, and where I was working ; Eirelune came quickly and stayed, Eirzanne came a
little, the others just entered on an about 50 cm long surface. They stayed overall inside "their" dining-room, playing together or
with the objects - and with the big red tunnel, which wasn't wedged anymore and so was rolling a bit when they walked inside it,
but they didn't mind. Bocquefeuille "was taking a holiday" in the garden, and Drezbor was closer to the pups.
generally show difficulties with it. Of course I started (in the end of the morning) with only one angle, so with a kind of fence just
in front of them, they had to turn left. They began to stay in front of the fence (and in front of me), trying to push it, but when one
pup turned left and then went inside the room, the others followed him. Then I opened the door between the dining-room and
the kitchen, where my other dogs were waiting, and all the pups came into the kitchen without hesitation anymore. In the
evening, the zigzag still cause them more or less problem, and I did the same the following day - both the same zigzag, which
was assimilated enough in the end of the day, and the possibility to come into the kitchen : all the pups were relaxed in the
kitchen, but sometimes they returned in the dining-room to play with the objects on the ground, and when they got tired, they all
came back into the dining-room to find a place to sleep, except Edwisp who was still awake and in the kitchen ; I had opened
the door between the kitchen and the living-room, and I stayed there a little, with some of the dogs too, but only Eyshnah and
Edwisp entered into the living-room (at about 2 m from the door), and didn't stay there very long.
Back to E-litter data page
Back to "Dogs of my own" Contents