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Saturday 31 December 2016

Nap time




Mary Ann


Mother & daughter having a snooze.

Friday 30 December 2016

My Loves




Mary Ann


Thursday 29 December 2016

Night Vision

This is the camera view in the dark of night. I love technology!




Sent from my iPad

Wednesday 28 December 2016


   

You've received a Message from a TELUS phone.

If you don't hear or see the file, download the Quick Time player.

  Vous avez reçu un Message d'un téléphone TELUS.

Si vous ne voyez ni n'entendez le fichier, veuillez télécharger QuickTime.

Tuesday 27 December 2016

Heating Box




Mary Ann


This is where they go when I'm changing bedding. Since they were all asleep and content I just put the whole box in the whelping box. Cruz is rather confused. She wants to envelop them. She doesn't know I have a heating pad in there to keep them warm.

They are here!

8 puppies. 4 males 4 females. Everybody is healthy and doing great. The first 48 hours are crucial. If they gain weight every 12 hours things will be as they should be. Cruz can be in danger for up to a week after birth so she has to be monitored closely. Off to get some sleep! Just thought you'd like to know.
Mary Ann

Sunday 25 December 2016

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!




Mary Ann


Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from myself, Cruz and all the gang at Guardian Angel Shepherds!

Friday 23 December 2016

The warming box


Mary Ann


Sorry. Forgot an essential item! The pups that are already born get transferred here while Mom is delivering the next pup. This prevents them from being stepped on while Mom looks for the exact place she wants to deliver the next one.

Whelping Supplies



Here are all the things that will help with the upcoming whelping. The only thing you don't see is the baby bottles which are in the dishwasher right now.

Mary Ann

Tuesday 20 December 2016

Whelping box all ready to go.



This is a view from my 24/7 camera. It shows me what's going on at all times. This view is seen in complete darkness. It won't bother Mom or the pups at all. It also has audio so if I'm asleep and a pup is in distress, I'll know about it!
Mary Ann


Saturday 17 December 2016


Here's Cruz getting some much needed sleep.  She is 6.5/9 weeks pregnant.  She's already getting very uncomfortable and panting in the evenings when none of the other dogs are.  There's not a lot of room for lungs in there!  She is consuming 3 times the calories as she normally would but only getting fat in the right places!  I'm going to have to kick Indy out of "her room" to allow Cruz to have somewhere to have her puppies.  It's been over 3 years since it has been used as a whelping room and Indy (Alpha) just kind of took it over.  It wasn't a problem until now.  That process should prove interesting!

Monday 12 December 2016

Cruz is doing great!

Cruz is doing wonderfully well.  A little slower to get up than usual but other than that, she's great!  Her waist line pre-breeding was 28 inches.  I measured her a couple of days ago and she's now sitting at 32 inches!  There's an old wives tale that states you can tell how many puppies they are having by how many inches they increase.  So if I measure her a few days ahead of her whelping date, that should give us a rough idea.  But I think the better thing to do is an x-ray to get a better idea!  They are not 100% correct all the time but they give you a good general idea.  I don't do that because I'm impatient and want to know how many pups she is having as soon as possible!  I do it for the health of the Mom.  If I know there are 8 pups in there and she has given birth to six but nothing has progressed for many hours, I know there might be a pup stuck.  That can be life threatening to Mom and the remaining pups.  I need to get the vet here right away!  

But the x-ray can be wrong at times.  I've had the x-ray tell me 8 pups and there was 10!  2 pups were hiding behind the others!  So sometimes I get x-rays and sometimes I don't.  It's a judgement call I make shortly before whelping.  Will I do it this time?  Who knows!  You will all have to wait and see!

TTFN

Thursday 8 December 2016

A Tribute to Shiloh

A Tribute to Marcellus' Divine Intervention aka Shiloh

Shiloh has crossed the rainbow bridge at the age of 11.5 years.  Shiloh owned Debra Lamb and the two of them were inseparable for 11 1/2 years.  I first met Debra 12 years ago when she came to visit, looking for a K9 partner.  She was the perfect fit for a Guardian Angel Shepherd.  Loving, caring, attentive and the list goes on.  She took home Marcellus' Divine Intervention.  Shiloh was a Kahlua/Justice puppy.  She had lots of energy but lots of wisdom too.  She impressed me one day when she was inside a wire crate sleeping.  I called the puppies to dinner and the opening of the crate was facing away from the door.  She could easily see all the pups scrambling out the door and down the hall towards their dinner bowls.  She was jumping at the wall of the crate when all of a sudden she just stopped.  You could see the cogs in her head spinning.  All of a sudden she turned around and bolted in the opposite direction.  The direction of the open door.  For a 4 week old puppy to figure out if she went away from where she wanted to go to get to where she wanted to go amazed me!  Heck!  She just learned how to walk a week ago!  She continued to impress me until it was time for her to go to her new home at 8 weeks old.  From what I understand, she continued to impress people her whole life!

Debra stayed in touch with me over the years and I was always excited to see new pictures of what they were up to lately.  You could tell they had an incredible bond.

Debra has made a short video to honour Shiloh's life on YouTube.  Please check it out and if you can, please leave Debra your  condolences.  Shiloh  was a great dog and she will be sadly missed by many dogs and people alike.

Marcellus' Divine Intervention aka Shiloh


Mary Ann



Friday 2 December 2016

Cruz & Rommel have been bred!  If everything goes according to plan, we will have puppies just after Christmas!







If you're wondering why Cruz is missing the tip of her right ear, she can thank Auntie Isis for that!  Playtime got a little too rough!  I took her to the vet and they tried to stitch the split together but it wasn't successful.  We ended up with one pointy ear and one rounded one!  It's a long way from her heart!