March 2000

We have informed the owner of the stud dog, Mustang, that we are expecting Faith to come into season at any time. This will be Faiths second season since the birth of her last litter about 14 months ago by the stud dogs father, Mustard.

March 10th 2000

The moment we have been waiting for has arrived, Faith has just come into season. We contacted Mustangs owner to let him know, and all we have to do is wait 13 days before getting them together. (13 days being the length of time before Faith was ready last time).

March 23rd 2000

Mating day has arrived. We took Faith the 25 mile or so journey to meet her boyfriend. This time at least, we thought, Faith would know what to do, unlike her initial reluctance and therefore a return journey last time. But maybe we really shouldn't think these things before they happen should we, because it didn't. Once again, Faith didn't seem to interested in Mustangs obvious attentions (or intentions) towards her, and once again we were considering a return journey, but then it was suggested that maybe Mustang could visit Faith instead of the other way around. And so it was, that in the comfort of her own home, Faith would no longer leave Mustang alone!!!, and three (!!!) successful matings later, Mustang returned home, although by this time Faith was still wanting more. All we had to now was wait......and wait......and wait. The waiting seemed like forever.

April 6th 2000

2 Weeks after the mating, Faith is still not showing any signs of pregnancy.

April 20th 2000

4 Weeks have gone by, and there are still no signs of Faith being pregnant. During the last pregnancy she was showing some initial signs so early (within the first week) that we thought she may have been having a phantom pregnancy after the mating, but it did turn out to be real.This time though, she is keeping us waiting.

May 7th 2000

6 1/2 Weeks into the pregnancy, and she is. Finally, at last she is showing signs.

May 12th 2000

Faith is putting on weight rapidly now. She took ages to show any signs at all, and now all of a sudden she's taking on the shape of a football.

May 18th 2000

Only 1 week to go, and these puppies sure are moving around a lot. We're not sure if Faith has got a lot of puppies, or just a lot of fluid like last time, but she has trouble getting up and down the stairs now.

May 21st 2000

Faith is getting very restless now, and her appetite has gone to zero. She did eat a small amount earlier, but it didn't stay down very long. We are now wondering if she is going to last until the 25th, or if these puppies may arrive a little early.

May 23rd 2000

I have been up half of the night with Faith, she has been restless and also vomiting. I eventually got a little bit of sleep, and then awoke at 07:35 AM to the sound of a puppy squeaking. We got quickly out of bed to find a new-born puppy bitch lying on the landing. We quickly picked the puppy up, and took both mother and baby downstairs and put them into the whelping box where Faith could continue to give birth to the remainder of her puppies.

At 07:48 the next puppy arrived. This one was a dog, it was white with black markings.

we waited nearly an hour for the next one to arrive, and at 08:46 it did. Another dog, but this one was mostly black with the exception of white tipped paws and chest.

09:48, and the arrival of the fourth puppy, another dog, but during the birth Faith had bitten of one of his ears leaving a bare patch of flesh where the ear should have been. We immediately contacted our vet to find out what we should do, and we were told that we should take him to the vets practice straight away for him to be examined. Our neighbours had called around just before, so we left Faith and her new puppies with them whilst we too the puppy to the vet. After the examination, we were told by the vet to take him to their other practice so that he could be sedated, and the wound where his ear should have been could be stitched up.

By the time we got back home nearly two hours later, another puppy, a bitch, had already been born at 10:31. This one again was white with black markings.

11:15, and puppy number 6 arrived. Another bitch, and once again, white with black markings. About this time we were starting to wonder if Faith was ever going to run out of puppies, as she still seemed to be very large. We knew that she still had more to go, but just how many we really couldn't guess.

After the birth of puppy number 6, we decided that we should let Faith outside for a moment to relieve herself. She had just finished giving birth to one, and these puppies now seemed to be well spaced out between births, so we thought that it would be safe enough for her to go out for a moment. Wrong again, Faith went outside and puppy number 7 arrived promptly on the garden path at 11:30.

Finally at 12:07PM, puppy number 8, a black dog with a white line down his face arrived. Faith suddenly looked much thinner than she had a few moments before, so we felt sure that there were to be no more arrivals, and for once, this time we were right. It was now time to let Faith settle down with her new family and new routine.

May 25th 2000

Time for the puppies first visit to the vets, with the exception of course of the puppy with the missing ear (Billy Boy). The puppies all had their check-up along with Faith, and they all passed without any problems.

June 2nd 2000

Time for Billy Boy to have his stitches removed by the vet. Everything has healed nicely, and no further problems are anticipated with regards to the area. Billy Boy is already growing strong, as are the rest of the puppies

FROM HERE ON THE REST OF THE DIARY WILL CONCENTRATE ON GENERAL COMMENTS ABOUT ALL OF THE PUPPIES AND FAITH. INDIVIDUAL DETAILS ABOUT EACH OF THE PUPPIES CAN BE FOUND AT THE PUPPY DETAILS SECTION OF THIS SITE

June 6th 2000

The puppies are being weighed on a daily basis to ensure that none of them are missing out on feeds. At 14 days old their weights are varying between 1lb 4 1/2 Oz and 1lb 6 3/4 Oz.. Most of the puppies have now got their eyes open

June 8th 2000

At 16 days old, all of the puppies now have their eyes open, and are all walking strongly. Their weights have all increased well, and the average weight is now about 1lb 9Oz.

June 11th 2000

Today the puppies had their first experience of lapping milk out of a saucer. All seemed to go very well, and they soon got the idea of what they had to do.

June 13th 2000

The puppies are now 3 weeks old, and are all putting weight on tremendously. They all have their teeth, and their claws are getting much sharper also. Today they had their first experience of eating solids, we gave them some readybrek, with some rather interesting if not very messy results. Some of the puppies were eating it really well, while one or two others just wanted to sit in it and have a bath, (Faith didn't mind, she had the opportunity to clean the readybrek off of her babies afterwards). We often hear little yaps and growls from the puppies now as they spend time playfully fighting each other, and Little Mo seems to be practising to get on to top of the pops with his singing at times.

June 17th 2000

25 Days old, and the puppies are all growing rapidly. They are eating readybrek once a day now, along with a saucer of milk later on in the day. The remainder of their feeds are still provided by Faith, although she is now starting to object to spending too much time with the litter, which I suppose is hardly surprising, after all, 8 sets of teeth chasing you can't be at all funny. Faith is now starting to play with the puppies, and at times, I'm sure she thinks she is still a puppy herself. The puppies now occasionally go outside in the garden if when the weather allows. At first they appeared totally lost, but they soon got used to the idea, and made the most of a bit of freedom and fresh air. They are becoming much more playful now, and we have had to raise the front of their box to 30cm to prevent them from climbing out, although we are going to have to raise it again, because one or two of them can now pull themselves up to the edge

June 21st 2000

29 Days old, and the puppies are now enjoying 2 solid meals and 1 milk feed each day, with any additional feeds coming from their mother. Their meals vary, including Readybrek, scrambled egg and they have also just started on a small amount of pedigree chum puppy food. Their weight is now starting to really pile on, and can now be followed at the new PUPPY WEIGHT CHARTS section. Benjamin decided that he was going to climb out of the box and come to see me and say hello this morning, so we have now had to raise the front of the box once again, this time to 42cm, so unless these puppies are practising to be in the circus, I don't think that they will be climbing out of there again in a hurry........I hope!!!. I started worming the puppies today, at first they thought that I was giving them a feed of milk, (yippee), but they soon discovered otherwise,(uhh oh), they really didn't go much on their medicine. We will hopefully be taking some more photo's within the next couple of days, so as soon as I get them processed they will be scanned and added to this site, so watch this space,..........well at least the photo gallery.

June 22st 2000

We have now managed to get some more photographs of the puppies which you will find at the new PHOTO GALLERY 2 . Unfortunately the quality of the photos are not the best due to the fact that the well known chemist whom we took the film too for processing altered the coloration of the photos by making some of them light, and others dark, without my consent. They tried to blame me for the camera being on different settings, but all the photos were taken on the same settings, all within 1 hour, and the only time I have any problems is when I go to this particular chain of stores (guess where I wont be going again), otherwise they always come out perfect. I have also been taking photographs for many years, using the same camera and the same techniques. Unfortunately as a result of this alteration of the photos, the darker colouring of the blue roans has not really shown up very well, but we are hoping to take some more photos very soon to add to the photo gallery.

July 3rd 2000

All of the puppies are doing very well, and growing quite big now. All of the colouring is coming through strongly, and the blue roans are getting quite dark. The puppies at 6 weeks old are now completely weaned, although if they are not watched carefully when they are out of there box, they will try and sneak a feed from their mother, although she knows better then to have 8 pairs of sharp teeth feeding from her. They all enjoy there food, and receive a variety of food throughout the day, including readybrek, scrambled egg, rice pudding and pedigree chum puppy food. We were weighing the puppies on a daily basis, but that has become an impossible task. They are all so active now, that trying to get anywhere near an accurate weight is pretty impossible. It is worming time again tomorrow, and I am sure that I will have just as big a battle with getting them to take there medicine as I did last time, if not worse. The Kennel Club certificates have all arrived, and 5 of our chosen names (Bonnie Laine, Billy Boy, Tiny Timmy, Sherry Even and Bluebell Day) have been accepted, and the other 3 (Little Mo, Daisy May and Benjamin Barker) have been accepted as the reserve names (Moonlight Caper, Dusky Dawn and Shamrock Shore). All of the puppies, with the exception of Bluebell, have now got homes to go too when they are old enough, but we are now advertising regularly, and so we are hoping that it won't be long before we have a home for Bluebell as well. It is going to seem so quiet when they are all gone, especially as they are all so noisy now. (and getting noisier by the day!!!). We are also hoping to take some more photographs tomorrow, so hopefully within the next couple of days, I will get them processed and onto the web site. 

July 5th 2000

The new photo's have now been processed and GALLERY 3 has now been added to the site. Notice how once again, Bluebell has her tongue poking out, I am starting to think that she does it deliberately!!!

July 11th 2000

7 Weeks old already. It doesn't seem 5 minutes since the puppies were just born, and yet they have only 1 week before they all venture out into the big wide world, and go to their new homes, that is all but 'Bonnie', whom we are keeping, 'Timmy' who we are looking after until his new owners come back off holiday and pick him up on the 13th August, and 'Bluebell', who still hasn't got a new home as yet. We have made the appointment at the vets for the puppies to have their check up and vaccinations on Monday 17th July, so that they will hopefully be ready to go on the 18th. The noise of 8 puppies playing is unbelievable, and we have now forgotten what the television or music sounds like, as we cannot hear above the puppies, so in one respect we are looking forward to a bit of peace, but we have loved having them, and know that we will miss them when they go. When the puppies come out of the box to play, they now have to come out in shifts of 4 at a time because it is so hectic having all 8 running around together at the same time

July 17th 2000

The day has arrived for the puppies to have their check up and 1st vaccinations. We have had to buy a new transporting box to get them all to the vet at the same time. Billy boy was the first,  the vet was very pleased with the way that Billy's ear has healed, and anticipates no further problems as a result of the injury area. Billy had no problems with receiving his injection, along with Bonnie, Sherry, and Little Mo. Bluebell, Timmy and Benjamin on the other hand, were not so good, with Benjamin ending up having his injection 3 or 4 times because he kept struggling each time the needle was in place, and moving the needle. Daisy was the only one not to receive the vaccination because her new owner preferred her to be a bit older first, but she, along with all the other puppies had their check up, and were all given a clean bill of health by the vet. It is now time to contact the new owners to tell them that the puppies are all fine, and that they can be picked up from tomorrow. We know that the majority of the puppies will be going over the next few days, but as of Bluebell, we still don't have a home for her. All the paperwork that goes with the puppies is ready, and we have also included some photo's of each puppy as they were growing up, so that the owners don't completely miss out on them when they were younger. All that remains is to telephone the Kennel Club healthcare plan line on the day the new owners collect their new family member, to activate the 6 weeks free puppy insurance they get with their new puppy.

July 18th 2000

Well, the day has arrived to say goodbye to some of the puppies, but before they go, it is time to take some more photo's which I will get processed and added to this site within the next few days. Daisy was the first to be collected at 2:00pm. We were kind of sad when it was time to see her leave, but at the same time, we were really pleased that she is going to such a nice home. Sherry was the the next to leave, at 3:00pm. Her owners were really pleased to be picking her up at last, as they had been the first to see the puppies when they were just 2 days old, and had often visited as the puppies were growing up. Billy Boy was the third puppy to go to his new home at about 6:00pm. Billy's new owners were really looking forward to getting him back home to meet their other Cocker Spaniel dog. Good news on Bluebell, we had a telephone call enquiring about her, and upon coming to see her, decided that they wanted to give her a good home. It has been a long and very busy day, at the end of which we have just 4 puppies left, including Little Mo, who leaves tomorrow, and Benjamin who is here until Thursday.

July 19th 2000

Little Mo has gone to his new home today. He was collected at 7:00pm. Again it was sad to see him leave, but knowing that he was going to a good home made it much easier. With only 3 puppies left, it was certainly much quieter around the home, and we were starting to again hear sounds  that we hadn't heard in a while..........like the television!!!.

July 20th 2000

  Benjamin, the last to leave for a while, was collected by his new owner at 6:30pm. Again, Ben's owner was really looking forward to having him around. With just 2 puppies around, Bonnie and Timmy, it is now time to remove the Whelping box, as the 2 of them can easily sleep in the transporting box during the night time, or when we are out, and when we are here then they can run around indoors and out. We can now hopefully start to train both Bonnie and Timmy to go outside when they want the toilet.The new Photo's which have now been processed sees the addition of GALLERY 4 to the site.

July 25th 2000

1 Week after the puppies have left, and we have contacted all the new owners to find out how the puppies are settling into their new homes and new way of life. We are pleased to report that they are all settling in very well, and although there were a few small jealousy problems with existing animals in some cases, that has now subsided. We also had some paperwork to deliver to the Billy's owners, so we decided to pay them a visit and see how he was doing, he was happily playing with their other Cocker Spaniel. Bonnie and Timmy are also doing very well, and don't seem to miss the other puppies too much at all. They spend a lot of time playing.

August 1st 2000

It is once again injection day for Bonnie and Timmy, the last one until this time next year.Bonnie was quite happy to be occupied by chewing on something whilst receiving her injection, but Timmy wasn't quite so easily distracted, and yelp at the top of his voice, but it was soon forgotten about, and he was back to his normal self in no time at all.

August 8th 2000

The time has come to take Bonnie and Timmy out for a walk for the first time. We started off by taking Bonnie along with her mother to the end of the road and back, she wasn't too bad on the lead, and was following Faith, so at this point there wasn't very much fighting with the lead. When we got back, Faith stayed at home, and once again I took Bonnie on the same route on her own. At first she didn't want to leave her mother, but when she got going she was fine. When we got back, we tried the same procedure with Timmy, and once again it worked quite well.

August 10th 2000

We took Bonnie and Timmy for their first walk together along the beach. They thoroughly enjoyed it, but were a bit nervous of the water. Timmy did venture close enough to get his paws wet, but Bonnie took fright of the water as it got close to her, and took off again. We spent a couple of hours on the beach, and by the time we got back home both puppies were tired out and slept for the rest of the evening. While we were on the beach, we took some more photographs which you can now see at GALLERY 5

August 12th 2000

We were woken in the early hours of the morning by barking and yapping, and upon checking what was going on we found Timmy vomiting, and has also had diarrhoea. We were concerned with the way that he was, and so decided that even though it was 4.00AM, it was a good idea to call the vet. Once again we had to travel to the practise that we took Billy too when he was first born. Upon arriving at the practice, the vet examined Timmy, but could find no obvious signs of what had caused the problem, and as he was now improving fast it seemed that he may have had some kind of reaction to something that he had eaten. He was given 2 injections to stop him from being sick anymore, and we then returned home where by the morning Timmy was back to his normal self once again.

August 13th 2000

Timmy left us today to go to his new home. we were all very sad to see him leave, but at the same time very happy knowing that he had a nice home to go to. Bonnie spent most of the day just lazing around, it was obvious that she too was missing her brother, but by the end of the day though, she started playing with Faith, and was starting too be more herself again.

MORE TO FOLLOW PLEASE CHECK BACK SOON