Chesaroyal: 2011 Puppies

Meet our Lacey & Tuff litter born September 20th, 2011.
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This photo/narrative log is presented in reverse order (latest first - oldest last) so that you can see with latest photos without having to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page. There are three male and five female puppies. We're taking some time off during December to enjoy our Chessies, train little Allie in the good habits and behaviors, and to catch up on the thousands of little things we deferred while raising this great litter. Some time in early January we hope to replace this page with a more "grown-up" version and highlight the progression of these puppies. See you then.
Day 62 - Monday (21st Nov.)
This was our busiest weekend yet; four of the litter went to their new homes. Chris forgot to take a photo of Travis Hallman and his three well mannered children. Travis took Ace (formerly Moto or MotorMouse) home to East Wenatchee, WA. Ace will be hunt training with Uncle Gus and Maggie Mae, both owned by Chris and Mike Shannon. Cooper (formerly Dottie) will go home this coming Friday with Lynn and Gary Noland of Spokane, WA. On Sunday, the last puppy to leave will be Huck Finn, who goes with the Laidlaw family, parents Blake and Shayna, plus two-year old and two-month old girls (sorry, but our steel trap brains have rusted shut on the girls names - I'm sure Blake will fill us in when he reads this). And we're keeping Chesaroyal's Hurricane Alley (Allie). We were very fortunate this year to find great homes within Washington State; it's always fun to have several members of our extended Chesaroyal family turn out to cheer us on at a dog show, or to just drop by and visit. What is it about supper time? Last night, Peggy & Chris were about to sit down for supper, thinking, with only three devil-dogs (Finn, Cooper and Allie) left, that the evening was going to be relaxed and quiet. Not exactly, the pups succeeded in dumping over the 2-1/2 gallon water jug in the bedroom pen. Fortunately, there was only about 1/2 gallon of water in the jug - but that's still a mess. The funniest part of the story was when one of the puppies gave Peggy a sharp butt-nip while she was bent over cleaning up the soaked paper and towels. Well, Chris thought it was funny!!!

The next 4 photos are of Gretchen (formerly Trudy formerly Doo), who now lives in Snohomish WA with Moose, Cameron Eickelmann and Laura Hickey. Her big buddy, 3-year old Moose, weighs over 100 lbs. and dwarfs Gretchen, but she has the edge, hunting-wise, since he's gun shy and she's not. Cameron and Laura plan to send Gretchen off for hunt training when she's a little older.


Chesaroyal's AbbieGale Force went home on Saturday with Sydney (the cute girl), Leanne (the cute mommy) and Jason Peters. They all live on farm near Dayton, WA. When they showed up on Saturday to pick up AbbieGale, Sydney proudly proclaimed "she's MY puppy!!". Jason plans on hunt training Abbie. There are several Chesaroyal puppies in pet/hunt homes, including Princess, almost 11 years old now, who has been hunting since she was 6 mo. old, and who has also raised two young children. Leanne has promised to send lots of photos as AbbieGale grows up. Don't you wonder if Sydney will show up in most of the pictures?

	Our little playmaker, who we called Dabbie, is now Ali-Jack and lives with Karen and Don Fisher in Lynden, WA. They have six grandchildren and Don is looking forward to training Ali and his grandkids to hunt waterfowl and maybe pheasant.

Here's a montage of pictures of Uncle Gus romping in last weeks' snow, sleeping, and playing tug-of-war with his older sister, Maggie Mae.



Day 57 -Wednesday (16th Nov.)
Such a busy three days. Gus is doing fine in his new home; older sister Maggie Mae adjusted quickly to her new playmate. Three of the remaining puppy pack (7 now) revolted on Monday evening and broke out of their indoor pen in the evening while Peggy and Chris were enjoying a pleasant dinner before the late feed for the puppies. Apparently, the aroma of roasted turkey was too much for the little critters. All was peaceful and quiet (we thought the pups were napping) when our adult Chessies suddenly came to full attention. Then we see one, no two, oh-oh - three little brown blobs headed straight for the dog gate separating them from the living room. Since Lacey is very protective of her brood, we had to act quickly to avert a disaster. Hustling Lucky, Tilly and Annie into their crates (thank goodness they are compliant about crating), we scooped up the three miscreants as quickly as possible while fending off the rest of the wanna-be escapees. Lacey had that smug look of contempt on her face - "can't keep my puppies locked up, can you!!" And so our relaxed dinner morphed into a rushed puppy feed; by the time we had the pups fed, pottied and bedded down, we were too tired to finish dinner and crashed. Tuesday and Wednesday saw Chris devising more puppy escape deterrence systems; by Wednesday afternoon the newly established escape routes were barricaded. For now, anyway. Then while feeding the pups their mid-day meal it started to gently snow; a light, warm snow (it was 36 deg. F outside), but enough snowflakes stuck to give the puppies their first taste of snowmelt water. If you look closely at some of the photos of the pups below, you'll notice a few tiny white flecks of snow on them. Most of the day was spent indoors since the temperature never got much above freezing. How long does it take a Chessie litter to trash out a newly cleaned pen? About 2 minutes; they take particular delight in tearing the potty paper into shreds. On Friday Trudy and Abbie leave us, on Saturday Ace goes, and on Sunday it's Dabbie's turn to go off to a new life and new adventures.




Day 54 - Sunday (13th Nov.)
Yesterday, our first "grandchild" left for his new home; Uncle Gus went with Christina and Mike Shannon to go live with his older sister, Maggie Mae (from the Lacey/Tuff 2010 litter). When we asked Mike if Uncle Gus was someone real in his life, he said "Yah, he's my favorite uncle". Any uncle who has a Chesapeake Bay Retriever named after him should be honored. On his first night in new quarters, Gus asked to be let out of his crate three times during the night to go outside and potty. Maggie Mae hasn't quite figured out whether she wants to mother Gus or beat him up, but since he's such a laid-back dude, much like his father Tuff, in a few days they should be close buddies. The remaining seven Barbary pirates more than make up for Gus's absence in playing the roles of mischievous devil-dogs. Two of the girls have figured out how to thwart Peggy's latest defensive tactic - leaving a full laundry basket on top of the crate they'd been using as their escape route. They just push the crate to the side, and OVER the side if necessary, just in hopes of beating the others to the "mess hall". If we actually see them doing it, they get a penalty box minute inside the crate; if we just see them sitting on top of the crate, they win and do get fed in the first crew. Meals now consist of half long-soaked kibble, half broken kibble, all smothered in warm water to make a soupy broth. By the end of next week the litter will be on short-soaked (10-15 min.) kibble. Lacey delights in showing off for her kids. She races to the perimeter of their fence, then barks to get their attention, and races off to fetch the thrown tennis ball (or Frisbee), doing a couple of victory laps in front of the litter (but beyond their interference with her fun). Needless to say, all seven little heads are riveted to Lacey's every move; this is much better training than we humans can provide at this stage in the pup's lives.



Day 51 - Thursday (10th Nov.)
Sorry for the long delay in posting photos; we've been busy dealing with a band of Somali-like pirates (the litter) trying to storm us and take control of the USS Chesaroyal. Not willing to stay on the poop deck (the yard), the pups quickly learned to scale the x-pen fences up to the mess deck (feeding area). And in the main deck (the bedroom), they connived to escape from the brig (their indoor pen) by shimmying up the "crevices" formed by the intersection of x-pens and crates, then to stand on top of a crate and jump off into our (just barely) waiting arms. Taking a page from the Merchant Marine handbook on pirate control, we erected several systems to frustrate their efforts to take control from us. Plywood or Plexiglas panels mounted just below the pass-through "hatches" between the poop deck and mess deck, large round tubes with a slit the entire length to slide over the top of the x-pen fence, higher x-pen reinforcement in the "brig" pen. But each preventive step we take is quickly overcome by these little pirate; they are incredibly smart and goal-driven (FOOD!!!) - your typical Chessie. Peggy has started collar and leash training. Chris continues to fire the starter pistol daily using .22 cal. blanks; he also puts the pistol (after firing) down close to the curious puppies so they get used to the smell of discharged gunpowder. We're also using a dried mallard wing to tease and test the pups that are candidates for hunt homes. Their caloric intake has been adjusted down until their stools are all good to excellent. You might notice in the photos that they are starting to "sprout" - growing taller and lankier by the day. With the quartz-tube heater and the cozy nap-mats in front of the puphut, the litter spends at least 4 hours outside each day. Our next step in crowd control, since the pups are getting too heavy to easily (and safely) lift into and out of their brig, is being launched today. We've rearranged panels with gates so that, theoretically anyway, we can let the critters out of the brig, onto the main deck, over to the mess deck, then back into the main deck and down the ramp into the poop deck. It's going to be a learning curve for us, since they're going to conspire against this plan, just like all the others. But we're learned never to take umbrage at being outsmarted by a Chessie puppy; their ingenuity is one of the traits that endears the breed.





Day 46 - Saturday (5th Nov.)
Everybody has reached the 10 lb. threshold. Our days have been chilly and nights frosty, so the pups can't spend all day outdoors. They still get lots of play time and are pretty wild!!! Lots of roly-poly, where two or more puppies roll down the sloped grass while wrestling. Tug-of-war with four or five of them is another favorite. Pipe races (running through the 10 ft. long plastic pipe) is another favorite. Lately, they've starting playing "bowls" chasing the large yellow plastic ball down the pipe, sometimes two or three of them inside the pipe. Tons of fun. And, of course, digging. Peggy is convinced that they're going to tunnel under the adjacent deck and find the dreaded "Troll". Take pity on any poor Troll dumb enough to take on this pack; he'd be tugged apart into tiny little Troll pieces in no time. But Chris does Troll Patrol frequently to save the poor endangered species.




Day 41 - Monday (31st Oct.)
Today we decided that we're keeping Allie (either Chesaroyal's Alice Through the Looking Glass or Chesaroyal's Trudy LookingGlass) to continue this great line. As you can see, Lacey is almost entirely dried up (milkwise); she's also losing her coat as a result of the hormonal ebbing. Those of you fortunate enough to have given birth to the two-legged breed probably empathize with Lacey.


Day 40 - Sunday (30th Oct.)
How time flies with these not-so-little guys. In fact, they're getting so heavy (most are now just at or slightly over 10 lbs.), that Chris removed several deck rail stiles and changed the outdoor pen fence so that the pups don't have to be lifted quite so high to be passed over the deck rail when going between the bedroom pens and their outside playpen. We saw a couple of breakthroughs today, including that favorite Chessie pastime - DIGGING!! After failing to discourage them from enlarging a small hole that Chris exposed when he rearranged the playpen fence, Peggy shoveled out a hole right in the center of the playpen and encouraged the little ones to "dig away". But they still persist at trying to reach the "forbidden" hole - typical Chessie.



Day 38 - Friday (28th Oct.)
Sorry about not posting for a couple of days; we've been extra busy because of the slightly inclement weather. Since it's been chilly, overcast and drizzly on occasion, the litter has been rotated outdoors and back in much more often during the day (and night, too). All of the feeding is indoors, but each puppy goes outside immediately after finishing the puppymush (which now has crushed dry kibble mixed in). Every one of them will pee within a few seconds of being placed on the grass, and pooping follows within a minute or so. It was so chilly last night that Chris was out this morning picking up "poopsickles". All of the pups are very active after eating - take care of potty, then romp for 10-20 minutes, then nap time. Depending on the weather, napping is either outside, under cover (as in the "puphut"), or indoors. They're starting to sleep longer at night, so Peggy & Chris actually get maybe two 3+ hour sleep sessions in each night. For Halloween, we're going out as Zombies - don't even have to buy a costume!!! Tomorrow (Saturday) will be the litter's first inoculation, and Tuesday their 3rd worming. Growing like really big weeds now; weights range from 8-9+ lbs.



Day 34 - Monday (24th Oct.)
Another nice fall day, but a little chilly at time. The pups ate outside for breakfast, lunch and supper; the breakfast was a little rushed because it was only 40+ deg. F. Based on empirical measurements (i.e. puppy & Peggy shivering) we've set some new guidelines. Alfresco dining only at 45+ deg. F, brief outdoor lounging at 50 deg. F, and extended outdoor stays only at 55 deg. or above. All with close monitoring; some pups seem to tolerate the chill better than others. In case you're wondering why we go outside at all - it's because that's what the Chessie is all about, folks. Noise training is proceeding well; we've found that the "puff-pouches" now used for padding of shipped items works much better than bubble-wrap (how outdated now?). So now Chris has a new excuse to order something from Amazon every day - it's for the "puff-pouches". Right!!! As you can see from the few pictures taken today (very busy day), the little demons are into pulling shoestrings, biting on jeans legs, chewing on the puphut and chewing on their own appendages. They're still too young to track items, such as small tennis balls, except occasionally, but we try it every day to see who's going to pick up the instinct first. Every one of them has a very thick coat, nice stout tails and really nice heads (thank you Mr. Tuff - and Lacey, too).


Day 33 - Sunday (23rd Oct.)
The puppies enjoyed a beautiful fall day and spent almost 12 hours outside today. They had breakfast, lunch and dinner alfresco and all had hearty appetites. Loads of play time and nap time; at least five decided to give the puphut at try. Peggy spent several hours playing cuddlepuppy; that's her specialty. Chris is Mr. Cleanup and Handyman. Somehow, though, he lost track of the eighth photo; maybe he'll find it tomorrow.

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Day 32 - Saturday (22nd Oct.)
Today we changed the outdoor feed pens to the 24" tall fence, since several puppies had figured out how to "visit" their neighbor's food tray. And switched from the hubcap back to the cob-on-the-corn dishes (hey, necessity is the mother of invention) for better portion control. It was a windy, but warmish (60+) day, so the litter had lunch and dinner alfresco. They are little demons right after eating, and having the grass playground is so much better than the indoors. Tomorrow should be another nice day, but Mon. & Tues. may be too chilly; we'll see. As you can see from the photos, the little buggers stay busy rearranging the furniture (blankies), navigating the tunnel, and harassing each other. One of the boys discovered the joys of dust, finding a pocket of it under the pipe; he was promptly cleaned up - but no doubt he'll return. We commonly see the butt up - tail wagging "I wanna play" behavior, but haven't been fast enough to catch it on camera. Haven't seen any digging yet, but that too will come.


Day 30 - Thursday (20th Oct.)
Today the pups are one month old! Lots of new experiences today; eating at the "plastic buffet", roughhousing with each other, cuddling with Peggy, checking out the "puphut", and peeking into the "black hole" tunnel. While the weather stays nice (at least 60 deg. F. and dry) during the day, the litter will be fed on the deck. Chris devised a 4-way divider shield out of clear plastic to fit over the "hubcap" feeder; this keeps each puppy more or less at the right feeding position. Previously, without the divider, the more aggressive eaters would push the less aggressive right around the hubcap. It is fun to watch, but not very fair to the better-behaved pups, hence the "plastic buffet" - all you can eat (that is yours to eat). This was the pups' second day out in the grass; they were more playful and daring than yesterday. One even ventured about a foot into the play-pipe, but wasn't ready yet to make the full journey. In a few days, we'll put a cushion in the puphut so they can take short naps in comfort. It's all part of training them for whatever lifestyle their new owner will bring.




Day 29 - Wednesday (19th Oct.)
The weather was nice enough today that the pups had lunch alfresco, and got to play in the grass for about a half hour. They really enjoyed being able to run and then stop without sliding (as on the paper in their indoor kennel). A couple of them persisted in finding themselves on the wrong side of an open gate, and howling until, with a little help from Peggy or Chris, they figured out how to "go around". All things will come with time. The weather should remain mild until Sunday, so we hope to have longer excursions outside. The upper left picture is a curious Lacey checking out the camera.



Day 28 - Tuesday (18th Oct.)
Not much new today - everyone weighs over 5 lbs. now (as a litter we weigh almost one half as much as Lacey), and ALL have needle sharp canines. Lacey is only nursing once or twice a day as she requests - those teeth hurt. The puppies got their second worming dose; so far, we haven't seen any worms, so if there are any larvae, we're getting to them before they hatch. But when the pups start spending time out in the grass they'll most likely pick up some fresh larvae, so they'll be wormed again at 6 weeks of age. The weather was slightly chilly so we didn't put the little guys outside, but they can raise just as much hell indoors as outside. Alice and Ditto seem to be the usual rabble rousers. On Monday we got "COSTCO", a nice combination puppy pillow head wrapped around a small blanket. The pups have adopted COSTCO as their snuggle and ear tugging buddy.


Day 26 - Sunday (16th Oct.)
We all had a very busy day today. This afternoon the puppies had their first alfresco "puppymush" meal on the deck. Everything went well except for a couple of pesky yellowjacket wasps, which Chris kept at bay with a fly swatter. We modified the two indoor pens by eliminating the crates. Despite our express orders about not pooping in the far back corners of the crates, the pups persisted in doing this, causing Peggy great knee agony. The pups all seem to like the new arrangement, which would be called "open landscaping" in an office environment. Chris finished the new "puphut" (converted the whelping box), which is now the centerpiece of the Chesaroyal Puppy Head Quarters compound outside. Tomorrow he'll set up the fence perimeter so the puppies can play outside all day, weather permitting. Puppy teeth are coming in strong; Allie (aka Alice Thru the Looking Glass, aka Hurricane Alley) has cut her canines!! Which is why we're on a fast track weaning schedule; those sharp teeth can do serious damage to Lacey's tender spots. Currently the litter is getting puppymush every 5 hours and Lacey is nursing on demand (whenever she indicates that she needs to nurse).


Day 23 - Thursday (13th Oct.)
More mush training today, and lots of Sumo wrestling and mouth gladiating. Peggy presents a teacup saucer with a couple of spoons of puppymush to each one; they're still learning how to eat it without getting it up their windpipe. The daily schedule is five nursing sessions and two mush meals. Each day for the next week there will be more mush sessions and fewer nurses. On Saturday we'll present each individual puppy with a "self-serve" bowl of mush (with Peggy carefully observing) to make sure that they are ready for the big leagues - the HUBCAP feeder. After eating (and pooping) the whole crew joins in a tangle of legs, tails and open jaws. Ear and tail biting (until we intervene if it gets too enthusiastic). No rhyme nor reason, just puppy jousting, or maybe just pulling a blankie or towel around to rearrange the furniture. It lasts about 10-15 minutes at most before they drift off into puppy dreamland. Chris has already built a new ramp to replace the three steps down from the deck to the outdoor puppy compound. He's busy now building a new puppyhut for their outdoor sojourns, which should start in about a week, or maybe a little sooner, depending on the weather.


Day 20 - Monday (10th Oct.)
The pups are growing and developing rapidly. They're all in the mid-4 lb. range, walking and starting to play. On Saturday the indoor compound was set up, although several of them are still sleeping in the whelping box (surrounded by short x-pen to keep them from sleep walking). Today we introduced the "watering hole" and tried a Velcro collar on one of the girls to see if will help us distinguish the three "Abbies" - Abbie, Dabbie and Doo. Oh, and started the bubblewrap popping to train them to accept loud noises; it's very small bubbles to start so we don't scare them. Most of the pups are pretty good about going potty on the newspaper or absorbent pad, instead of the "blankie", but it's a long learning process. The next big step will be weaning, which should begin later this week. We'll gradually introduce the puppies to a mush made by soaking their puppy kibble in warm water and adding some PuppyGold, a nutritional supplement that has colostrum, milk protein and probiotics. Here's a dozen photos taken over the last three days to capture just a little bit of the puppy life here at Chesaroyal.com.




Day 16 - Thursday (6th Oct.)
Remember yesterday, where I said that we'd move the litter to their indoor pen from the whelping box when they started climbing out of the whelping box? Within an hour of writing that, one of the little buggers made her break for freedom (one of the Abbies we still can't tell apart). It was easy for her because we hadn't installed the slats in the two cut-outs placed to make it easier for Lacey to get into the box. So, we put the slats in place. It's just a matter of another day before they figure out how to conquer that obstacle (they are single-minded Chessies), so today Chris put together their indoor pen. It has three crates and a common play area. Sometime later this weekend we'll make the move. Nothing out of the ordinary today; ESP (eat, sleep, poop), although we are seeing the first "mouth gladiating" and will try to capture that with the camera. The puppies got their second nail trimming. The far left photo is Hurricane Allie getting her nails trimmed; it's a two person job because she is a powerful squirmworm. The far right picture shows Ditto (the left-most pup) with milk splashed on his face. There seems to still be plenty of milk to go around for all pups even though we've broken the nursing into two "seatings" of four at a time. The milkbar is the same size, whereas the patrons are almost four times as big as they were when they first started nursing. The little ones took at least 15 minutes to tank up during the first week, now it only takes them a few minutes before they fill up like bloated ticks and roll or stagger off in a milk-induced coma. Night, night, sweethearts.


Day 15 - Wednesday (5th Oct.)
Today was first worming for the puppies. They were all weighed in to determine the precise dosage of StrongidT. All of the girls weighed 3 lb. 3 oz.; of the males Spot was the largest at 3 lbs. 7 oz., Ditto was the same as the girls and Moto (MotorMouse) came in at 2 lbs. 13+ oz. Moto is much more active than the other puppies so he burns off a lot of calories. They are still nursing on a 4 hour schedule, sort of depending on Lacey's readiness. Alice (as in Through the Looking Glass) is so active that we've started calling her "Hurricane Allie" because she just bowls the other pups over when it suits her purpose. The three "Abbies" (stands for ALL BROWN BABY) are still almost impossible to tell apart. They have absolutely NO white anywhere, not even the odd toe. The only difference we've figured out so far is that one of them had dew claws on all four feet; the other two did not have dewclaws on their back left foot. Unfortunately, it's not very practical to try and figure out who has and who hasn't had which dewclaws with a dark brown dog in a dimly lit bedroom in the middle of the night. Can't wait to get puppy collars on these three with their call names (Abbie, Dabbie and Doo) written prominently!!! Maybe another week or so. At this stage of life they are all cute as the dickens, like little Teddy Bears. These photos caught them right after nursing; the little girl on the right side was particularly curious about what adventures she might find on top of the whelping box protective rail. In a couple of days some of the pups will decide that it's time to climb that wall and find out what's going on in the rest of the world (well, the bedroom part of the rest of the world). When a couple of them have managed to escape we'll move them to their indoor pen with taller fencing.


Day 9 - Thursday (29th Sept.)
Here we are, nursing and napping. On the far left is Abbie?, and the next photo is the rest of the litter, all sleeping peacefully. The other two shots show Lacey nursing; we keep it to four puppies at a time so it's not quite as hectic for Lacey. Abbie is a question mark because we have three Abbies (All Brown Baby) with NO markings at all, and it's very difficult to tell one from another. We've come up with Abbie, Dabbie and Doo for the three of them (was that a saying used the guy with the giant schnozzle, or was it the title of a song or a movie?). That still doesn't help us quickly figure out exactly who it is crying or needing a burp, but we'll get there eventually. The boys are: Spot, Moto and Ditto. Besides the 3 Abbies, the other girls are Alice and Lucy. Everyone is thriving. MotoMouse is the smallest at 1 lb. 14 oz. and Alice is the heaviest at 2 lb. 2 oz. Moto is by far the busiest, zipping around the pen always looking for something; he's acting a lot like Mocha from the previous litter. Ditto has a prominent white blaze (in this case the number 17) like Aunt Lucky. Today the puppies will have their nails trimmed for the first time. Their eyelids are just beginning to open a tad. In a couple of days, when their pretty blue eyes are fully open, we'll take some individual puppy photos. In the meantime, it's yawn time for Chris and Peggy.

Day 5 - Sunday (25th Sept.)
		Today is a very sad day, as we lost Socks. It'll be a couple of days before any more photos or news is posted, but in the meantime, all the remaining 8 puppies and mother are doing well.
Day 4 - Saturday (24th Sept.)
		How time flies; in 3-4 hour feeding increments, anyway. Socks is going very well, putting on ounces and getting his suckling strength back. Even feisty at times. Everyone got front and rear dewclaws removed today - the dewclaw is a sort of thumb that isn't good for any purpose. The process stings for a few seconds, but they little puppies quickly forget and go back to sleep. If you're wondering "why do they inflict pain on such a young puppy?", it's because a) the ACC breed standards (and hence AKC standards) disqualify any Chessie with rear dewclaws, and b) an active field dog like a Chessie can tear off a dewclaw running through rough terrain or heavy brush. That is VERY painful, and has led to some serious infections, and at the very least, a long recovery period. The removal is very simple (think fingernail clipper) at age 4-5 days but if delayed past that early formation becomes a real osteo-surgery. Lacey was pretending she was one of the puppies this morning. Not satisfied with just "nesting" and frumping all the towels in the laundry basket we often use for puppy crowd control, she decided that she would actually lay down and nap along side the litter. How and why she crammed her 80 lb. body in that basket is still a mystery to us, but sometimes Mother Nature works that way.
Day 3 - Friday (23rd Sept.)
		Today was all about Socks. At 4 am he was very lethargic, couldn't suckle, and had raspy slow breathing. So by 5 am Peggy had him out at the vet's; she checked me over and decided that he didn't have anything contagious, just a very early state of pneumonia, probably from a little milk aspiration on day-1. Antibiotic, a subcutaneous fluid injection and some milk by tummy tube, then home. By evening, Socks was doing better.
Day 2 (22nd Sept.)
		By the wee hours of this (Thursday) morning we've finally figured out, with lots of help Peggy & Chris, how to get the milk flowing. But it is sooooo good and yummy in our tummies. It took a long time for Mommy and us to all get over that nasty stuff called anesthesia, but we all sobered up during the night. Speaking of which, please don't call Peggy or Chris for a couple of days (like maybe early next week) since they're slightly sleep depraved, or deprived, or both. If you want to send a congratulatory message or have a question or comment please email us at info@chesaroyal.com. But we need to catch some sleep in snatches while the little "towel-rats" will let us. By the way, we are starting to get our beginner names. So far it's Socks, Allie, Ditto, and Tootie (that's just for four of us, not all nine). By Friday we'll all have name to go with our pretty little faces. On Saturday morning we all get to go visit the vet and have our dewclaws removed. Whoopee!!! If any cares, that's the Wall Street Journal we're lounging on. Makes for highly intelligent reading when we're not going potty on it.

Day 1 - (21 Sept.)
		Here we are, less than 24 hours old. Just a pile of puppies so far, all medium brown, a couple of us with some white chest blaze and or some white on the toes. But otherwise BROWN - because Lacey doesn't do anything else (why do you think the Chessie is called the BROWN DOG?). Because Mommy had a c-section it took her, and us, a few hours for the anesthesia to wear off, but by late evening we got our first taste of mother's milk. Good stuff!!