The Importance of Sleep

Mary-Ann Sontag February 9, 2021

Puppies grow so fast. This is Zeus from the Wildflowers at 9+ months old with one of his humans.

Also from the Wildflowers, this is Kjempe living his best life in Colorado.

The placement of puppies is a heavy lift. It is our responsibility to ensure each of the lives we have intentionally created are respected, honored, and loved in their new homes.

The tricky part is that everyone thinks their home is just fine for a new puppy and suggesting otherwise is — understandably — insulting.

But I am the one who is charged with assessing just fine for these puppies, and the responsibility weighs on me.

Being judgmental is not a quality to which I aspire, and yet — I must judge.

I value diversity of thought — and yet I am looking for homes that are willing to at least go along with my thinking about what is best for a dog.

I enjoy making people happy — and yet I will disappoint good people.

**Ears up! The ability to hear is emerging.**

You would think ten plus ten puppies, with all their messes and needs — and laundry! — would be the hard part of being a breeder; it is not. The hardest part about being a loving breeder is placing puppies, and then living with those choices for a lifetime.

Daisy nursing outside box 2-9.jpg — Moonshadows Taking Turns

It should not be a big surprise, therefore, that my #1 criteria for puppy placement has to do with sleep.

**Bright Stars Heze and Zaniah on a cozy sibling**

Specifically, I ask myself: Will I lose sleep about this home? Will worry about this puppy’s life keep me up at night?

#sleepmatters

It is a tough balance between respecting differences and being comfortable enough not to worry. I do not always get it right but I always try.

I hope your day is comfortable and respected; we all deserve both.

Evening Update

Moonshadow Neil — **Moonshadow** **Neil**

A stressful day as Claire has been under the weather, complete with a fever, vomiting, and refusing to eat. Two phone calls to the vet (she is the best). Not mastitis — likely a uterine crud issue. Antibiotics on board and this evening she is perking up — whew.

The Bright Stars are all doing just fine. The ear perking up thing has been happening all day — adorable.

All in the Family

Mary-Ann Sontag February 8, 2021

I wanted to share how the Moonshadows and Bright Stars are related — and speaking of Stars and Moons…

Perfect! Thank you, Anonymous Friend. Your kindness is lovely and appreciated.

I first heard of Fil from the late and beloved Terri Z., who shared with me that a beautiful boy from Russia was in Washington for a few months. I drove to Seattle to meet Fil and LOVED him. Not only was he gorgeous, but his temperament was superb.

Марина Зыкина Photo — **Марина Зыкина** **Photo**

My Zoey was bred to Fil and we got the iPups, and that litter included Sparkle — Claire’s mom. And so Claire is a Fil granddaughter.

This is the father of the Moonshadows, Pippin. He is a Fil grandson.

And so Pippin and Claire are first cousins, and the Moonshadows and Bright Stars are — therefore and I believe — second cousins.

Fil died at 10.3 years of age in Russia. I feel so fortunate to have met him and involved him in our litters. He was a spectacular dog and friend to all who met him.

Here are five Fil great-grandsons — the Bright Stars boys, less Perseus…

And a Fil great-granddaughter, Portia from the Moonshadows…

So that is how the two litters are related — through a wonderful boy from Russia named Fil.

Bright Stars Zaniah and Perseus with early attempts at play…

Moonshadows Kale (black and white) and Hunter

Heze is the Heavyweight Champion of the Whelping Box, Bright Stars Division…

Andy is the Heavyweight Champion of the Whelping Box, Moonshadow Division…

Capella loves the travel pillows…

Rosebud would be so sad if we had a breed that lacked tails…

I hope your wonderful day includes family, whether near or far…

Evening Photos

Super Sunday at Puppy Grand Central

Mary-Ann Sontag February 7, 2021

A danger with ten puppies is that the smaller ones get escorted out of the Milk Bar by the bigger, pushy patrons.

I observed yesterday that the gap between the biggest Bright Star and the smallest was an entire pound. Size differences are expected but that seemed excessive to me, and so I implemented an intervention both to ensure fair weight gain and increase the milk supply.

I divided the puppies into two groups. Claire nursed a group outside the whelping box until they were full and dropped off, and then she rested and refilled for 30 minutes, and then nursed the other group on the opposite side of the Milk Bar.

Repeat.

All day long.

I kept notes of group membership, and also which puppy group and Milk Bar side was next up. This is today’s list…

The data suggests this worked. The puppies gained between 5% - 9% in 24 hours with the exception of the smallest puppy — Lyra gained 15%!

Bright Stars Orion and Perseus with Lyra in the foreground

I do this kind of things with the Moonshadows as well but they are less mobile and easier to contain within the whelping box.

The Bright Stars are motoring around and hard to wrangle without separated spaces.

The process of lactation is all about supply and demand — by increasing demand, we increase supply. Infrequent or lazy nursing slows down supply as does supplementing puppies. Less demand = less supply.

The other part of increasing milk production is ensuring adequate nutrition. Claire and Daisy eat around the clock to support their ability to feed ten plus ten puppies. This is easy with Daisy, who eats anytime and anything.

Claire is harder as she continues to only eat when hand fed and she is picky — none of that is typical for her. She is perfectly healthy and so likely this is hormones and perhaps her injured knee is a factor — who knows?! Regardless, she has to eat to feed these puppies and so hand feeding from the buffet it is — every single hour.

What does Claire eat? During the day yesterday, for example, she had 4 - 5 cups of two kinds of puppy kibble, three tins of sardines, two fried eggs, four peanut butter pancakes, a bunch of meatballs, and so on. All hand fed — even the stinking (literally) sardines. Gross.

Claire won’t eat the same foods for Dear Husband as she will for me and so at night she has 5 - 6 ounces of Swiss cheese, unlimited slices of chicken breast, and animal crackers with peanut butter on them — and whatever else she will eat.

Yes, it is exhausting.