Masaya Goes Black!!!!

Harley was Bred to Emmett on Friday.  I got to meet Emmett and I am even more excited about this breeding!!  He was such a big handsome boy with a sweet personality.  I can't wait to see the pups!!  We will be doing an ultrasound around Dec 17.  Watch for updates!!

Time to Talk

It has been months since my last blog post...I can now finally talk about what happened. The puppies were doing well. They were all healthy and happy. I took them to Texas to get cropped. The crops were beautiful....but 2 never woke up from the procedure. I cried and cried. I will never crop pets again.

The two that lived through the procedure are doing well. Peanut (Blue boy-top) went his new home in Winterpark, FL. Steve and Patti are working with him and teaching him obedience and how to swim (good luck!! :-) ). Heidi (Purple Girl-bottom) stayed here with me in Alabama. She is crazy! She never stops moving. A constant blur of activity! Her housebreaking is coming along (slower than I want though, lol) and she has gone on many outings with me to aid in socialization. Next weekend she will go to her first dog show to watch her big sister Dahlia compete! Go Dahlia!!

Puppy Madness!

Well, it has been too long since my last post. The pups are now 4.5 weeks old and completely full of it..lol. A few days ago, I let them out of their X-Pens and let them run around the kitchen. Ever since then they cry and cry and cry wanting out of their pen so they can play in the kitchen and wrestle on the big dog bed. They are very "helpful" when I clean out their pen area. They tackle the paper and bark and growl. Mama Harley's crate is right next to the puppy pen. When I let them out, they go in her crate and lay on her dog bed too. They chew on the big bone that is in there and take long naps smelling mama on the bed.

I took them outside today. It is really hot today. They panted and ran in the grass. It was impossible for me to get a video. They followed me so closely it would be nothing but of the top of their backs. Here are some of the photos from the day:

Puppies at day 18

Here are the 18 day weights:

Purple Girl - 5.7lbs
Red Boy - 6.06lbs
Blue Boy - 6.08lbs
Green Boy - 5.4lbs

All the pups are moving around the whelping box. Yesterday, the entire litter attempted their first escape all at the same time! The puppies are becoming more playful and are learning to bark so it has been getting a little noisy around the living room...lol.

PUPPIES!!!!!

Well, it was a long night last week, but it ended in success. Harley started her labor Tuesday evening (July 13). A good friend of mine was having a litter of Dane pups in Kentucky at the EXACT same time. We spent quite awhile on the phone. I thought for a short time that we might have pups on the same day, but it just wasn't meant to be.

The first pup arrived at about 12:30am on Thursday. It was a brindle girl (Purple Girl). She weighed 23.9 ounces! She was a big pup! About 30 minutes later, a brindle boy was born (Red Boy). He was a little smaller (but not much!) at 23.2 ounces. Harley was doing great. It became obvious that she was going to be a GREAT mom. Thank God!

At about 2:30 the next puppy was born. It was a boy (Blue Boy)...A WHOPPER at 27.1 ounces!!! I knew we had one more puppy in there based on the xrays taken a week before.....but where was it. At about 4:00am another water broke. I knew the next one would be coming soon.....but he didn't.

At 6:30 we took Harley and the pups into the vet. The xrayed her and saw a HUGE HUGE HUGE puppy in there. It's head was at her third rib and the rear end was at her pelvis. We knew we didn't have much time and a C-Section was destined.

Harley came through the surgery great and we had ANOTHER brindle boy (Green Boy). He weighed 24.3 ounces. I was hoping that I would have a fawn in the litter, but it just wasn't meant to be.

The pups are growning like weeds now! They are 5 days old today. When I weighed them yesterday, all but Red Boy was over 2 pounds and the he was less than one ounce away.

Harley is 47 days along....

Here is a picture of Harley. She is 47 days into her pregnancy at this point. When we took her to the vet for her ultrasound, he said that he saw 3 puppies, but he wasn't going to count....well. I've been assuming that she would only have 3, but......I'm not so sure now.She still has over 2 weeks left in her pregnancy. She is getting so big. Of course that doesn't mean a WHOLE lot. She is so active. I have a hard time keeping her rough-housing. Her favorite game most of the time is to slam dogs into the side of the house. I've been really trying to keep her a little more controlled than that. Afterall, she is in no condition for Ultimate Fighting!

Ultrasound Confirmed!

Well, it's official, we will be expecting Harley and Shadow babies around the middle of July. What do you think of a 4th of July theme?? Next mystery....will they all be brindle??? Only time will tell.

A Trip to Savannah and Sobering Reminder....

This past memorial day, my husband and I took Harley and Dahlia with us to North Carolina and then to Georgia. We started off at the ruby mines in North Carolina. Dahlia and Harley had a good time visiting with a local (hounddog :) ) and checking out all the new smells. Then we headed south to Savannah, GA. What a beautiful city! After a quick trip to the beach (sadly, dogs couldn't go on the beach), we took the girls for a walk around the city. They drew and crowd and served as wonderful ambassadors. They got to walk along the Savannah River and go on a "Ghost Walk". We had a great time.

One of the most discouraging things about our trip was how unfriendly GA seemed to be concerning the dogs. It seemed like everywhere you went, someone was talking about animal control. These are not friendly times for dog owners. Watch yourselves and guard your pets. Believe it or not, but it seems as if authorities would rather take your dogs out of a loving home and put them to sleep, than not. These laws that are being proposed, and sadly passed in some places around our Nation are sponsored by the Human Society of the United States and PETA who would rather there not be any more pets. They believe that your dog would rather be dead than be owned. These organizations are NO FRIEND TO PETS.

Jake is now a TEXAN!

Here is an email I recently received from Joe, Jake's owner. I hope you all enjoy! Remember..we love hearing from all of you! "We just moved out to a lake in Texas a couple months back and Jake is absolutely loving it out here! Aside from the squirrels that taunt him all day, he's befriended an ugly duckling (we named Daphne) that has no friends other than Jake and she visits our property daily. Jake is the most curious and loving dog I've ever owned and there's not a creature on this earth that he doesn't get along with as soon as he meets them. He loves the water and spends all day eating, napping, playing and mostly following around whichever person is the most interesting at that moment. He loves to help with everything!"

Birmingham Dog Show

Sadie took Reserve Winners Bitch Friday and Sunday at the dog show in Birmingham, Alabama. Now if only she can take Winners Bitch this coming weekend...that would be awesome. Dahlia, Sadie and I are going to the Perry, GA dog show this weekend. It will be a HUGE show with more than 30 girls entered.

Dahlia also received a Normal rating for her OFA thyroid test. Yea! All we have left to check are hips. I am still waiting for her to come into heat. It is taking FOREVER!! I just hope she does....yikes! Here is Dahlia's win picture from Franklin, TN..she is so pretty!!

Catch Up

This has been a crazy past month! So much has been going on! At the end of February, Sadie and Harley competed in Marietta, GA for the International Championship. We had a blast! With the VERY APPRECIATED help from my niece, Sadie and Harley were both able to complete the requirements to obtain their International Championship titles! They are now Int'l Champion SC-N-DD IMA Knockout V Masaya and Int'l Champion Teardrop von Haus Tiefenbach.

In addition, we have wrapped up all of Harley's health testing. She was PennHipped..which is VERY interesting by the way, as having average hips for a Great Dane with no indications of Degenerative Joint Disease. Yeah!!

A couple weekends ago, Sadie, Dahlia, and I went to Franklin, TN to the dog show. While we were their, I had their thyroids tested. We are still waiting on results. It was a CRAZY weekend too! Friday and Saturday were bummers for the show ring, but Sunday, Dahlia WON! She took two points! It had crossover major possibilities, but just didn't work out. :-(. Oh well! We had a good time and Dahlia got her picture taken. I will post when the pictures come.

New Pictures in the Snow!!

We got a chance to take a few pictures this weekend of Dahlia and Harley with a Snowy backdrop! Also, here is a link to Dahlia's Movement Video and Harley's Movement Video!!

Future Stud's TV Debut!!

Shadow, the stud dog that we are planning on breeding Harley to, just had his 6th birthday. He was also featured on Houston's Fox News sunday for the advertisement for the new Marmaduke movie coming out in early June. Here is Shadow's TV Debut!

Don't forget to take a look at the Litterbox page!!

Dahlia, Sadie, and Harley are now listed on the OFA website for recent health testings complete. Harley is Cardio clear and Sadie and Dahlia are now ECHO Cardio clear! In addition, Harley and Dahlia also had their CERF certificates arrive in the mail today!! Yeah!!