Well the time has come to close down Strudels log - although don't worry news of the puppies as well as all the other Cilgwri hounds will start to appear on the normal new page..please keep following the puppies development.
We actually made the decision to shut down the whelping log last night but I couldn't resist putting in one final comment in - received this morning from my brother who lives in Australia. He is really a 'cat man' and I think that he thinks we are lunatic to have so many big dogs. he has however been looking at this site and into days email came up with a super observation of the puppies (which I think is particularly apt if you look at them all eating from the bowls in rows. His comment was...
" ....they look a canine rugby union team!!!"
What more could I possibly say....but he's right...what have we bred!!!!!
Well all the final puppy choices have now been made and half are already with their new owners.Its a mixture of sadness (to see them go) and happiness that they will be settling into their new homes. We still have 6 with us as I write - 1 is due to go to his new home on Sunday and we are keeping 3 more until their owners can collect them or until overseas import permits have been completed. Its likely to be a least another 6/8 weeks before we are down to our own two new puppies Evie and Clemmie and our boy Shimmy who is going to live 'down south' with 'adoptive parents'.
The Kennel Club has now also agreed all the registered names so here is the definitive list for those who have been asking. (i have printed the ones joining the 'Cilgwri clan' in bold)
Sex |
Colour | Kennel Club Name |
Pet Name |
M |
Liver/Tan |
Cilgwri A Star is Born |
Cortazar |
M |
Liver/Tan |
Cilgwri Star Turn |
Onslo |
M |
Black/Tan |
Cilgwri Wandering Star |
Nathan |
M |
Black/Tan |
Cilgwri Shimmering Star |
Shimmy |
M |
Black/Tan |
Cilgwri Just A Star |
Hughie |
F |
Liver/Tan |
Cilgwri Eternal Star |
Hope |
F |
Liver/Tan |
Cilgwri Precious Star |
Pheobe |
F |
Black/Tan |
Cilgwri Medieval Star |
Evie |
F |
Black/Tan |
Cilgwri Wish Upon A Star |
Clemmie |
F |
Black/Tan |
Cilgwri Starry Night |
Molly |
F |
Black/Tan |
Cilgwri Silver Star |
Primrose |
F |
Black/Tan |
Cilgwri Starlet |
Elly |
14th January
Well we are now down to 8 puppies with the first four off too their new homes - and the house seem almost (ALMOST!!!) empty) with 2 more off today and at the weekend we will be down to the two we are going to keep with us at home (Evie and Clemmie)and a few 'hangers-on' who are waiting for export permits or other 'movement' arrangements to be completed.
The ones who have already left to their new homes have spread out quite widely from Leicester in the UK - to Southern Ireland and to Belgium and the Netherlands. However as they will all be shown or trial we expect to see them all again later in the year. It will as always be interesting to see how well their 'promise' has developed.
Interesting development!!! I was away working for the last two days and only got home late yesterday evening to find that one of the puppies had had a wierd change - sudently grown almost human like!!!!! Actually on closer inspection it turned out to be Michael our friend from Malta who together with his wife had spent the weekend with us - although as we were short of sleeping space he seemed most at home in the bed with the puppies !!!! I put it down to them owning two of our hounds and coming from a hot climate!!! If you look very closely you will see that the puppy in the front (helped by on of his brothers and a sister) is actually trying to evict Michael form his bed by pulling on the cord attached to his shirt! It did eventually work and the puppies regained their own space...
Sometimes its the little things that make you laugh the most.
Up until now we have had very cold weather with temperatures below freezing. Not that it seems to bother the pups. They run around for 15/30 minutes before all heading into the warmth for final 5 minutes hectic play before dropping off to sleep after their meals. I normally take all the food ingredients outside and use a big table to mix it up and serve it into the bowls - this is normally accompanies by 12 puppies all trying to climb up my legs to get to the food.
However this evening all changed!
The weather has changed a little whilst still below freezing we have had a light drizzle/snowy sleet at tea time. So there I am mixing up the food as normal on the table. And I am suddenly conscious that there are no puppies jumping on my legs.
My mind (often befuddled these days) immediately thought that I just hadn't let them out.
But I had - they were all under the table sitting very quietly in the dry waiting for the meal and 'just watching me'... perhaps we aught to supply umbrellas in future? Mind you once the food hit the ground there as the usual 'bun-fight' and the drizzle didn't keep them from wrecking the garden just a bit more....!.
First puppy off to her new home in the morning - I am taking her down together with her food pack, and all the mountains of paperwork. It's really sad as we know and love them all so well now - but frankly they are now more than ready to start getting individual attention in their new homes.
7 weeks old today and already behind bars.
Special transport to vets for vaccination, chips and passports etc...all completed successfully.
Some snow today following a few days of -5 to -8 temperatures. But still the puppies love it outside. They are now going out for every meal and half way between each meal. Its working out very well - although the garden has been destroyed already - they seem particularly keen on herbs!!!
Tomorrow Elin is visiting again and we are doing some 'proper' assessments. Also Tuesday is vaccination day so its a car load of puppies off to the vet for vaccinations, chips and various paperwork for different parts of the world who all seem to want a different form....!!!
This will be the last few days that we have all 12 puppies with us as the first is off to its new home on Thursday with 3 more going on Saturday. In some ways it seems like a lifetime since they were born - but in truth it is actually only moments and we will miss every single on of them...without doubt it is the hardest part of having a litter saying goodbye to them - although as everyone is going to a home 'in the breed' with people who already have hounds and either show or trial we shall likely see them all in the UK or in Europe and watch their development with pride... PLus Eileen will turn into the mother-in-law from hell and contact them every few hours for the first few days and then 'eventually' drop down to just weekly contact...
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If there is a moral on bringing up puppies it has to be - don't turn your back for a moment!!!
After the puppies had had their lunch, now eating out in the garden - they don't seem to be effected by the -8C although I certainly am - and we had managed to find them all in their hiding holes around the garden - including the one boy (Onslow) who is making his mark by currently holding the 'how far can I get from the house before they spot me award' (halfway down the small paddock is his current record. Its good that Onslow is on his way to a trialing home - I just hope that his new owners will be able to keep up with him.
So now is our time for light lunch and a few minutes sitting down catching up on other things. 30 minutes later and Strudel is making such a fuss that I make her come into the sitting room with us which she reluctantly does and then tries to get back out to the kitchen. eventually she goes to sleep. Another 30 minutes and drift into the kitchen to find 7 puppies have made an escape bid from their compound (Now re-named Stalag CIlgwri!) and are watching me from one of the dog beds. As they have also arranged to leave a few booby traps for me (A poo and some wee) I decide to let them out into the garden whilst I secure Stalag Cilgwri and Onslow makes another break for it - establishing a new all comers under 7 week record of the end of the paddock. I am going to fit him with a long rope when I feed him this evenings meal and its dark so I won't be able to see him (No only joking!!!! - but its worth a thought.
They are all developing such personalities.
Next major milestone is vaccinations next Tuesday - we have to take them to the vet - so its going to be massed puppy transport although Eileen has escaped the task as she has volunteered Elin who will be with us then to accompany me..
In the meantime - a really happy new year to our many readers - thank you so much for your support and lovely comments this year I hope to keep the news flowing.
News update also on the News page...some very sad news I am afraid...
All well on the home front. Christmas with 12 puppies, 8 large hounds and 7 adults passed with out any problems. The puppies changed their home base for two days, but are now back ensconced in the kitchen.
They had a first today - their first 'picnic' meal outside. We are desperate to get this working as 12 puppies, with related poo's in the pen is not easy. They all poured out of their pen as normal looking for their food in the kitchen and where really dismayed to find it wasn't there. A bit of coaxing and the first few brave ones made it to the back door and out into the garden. The rest had to be lifted out. They all enjoyed the meal - as usual - before they realised that they where in the great outdoors. Whereupon a few dropped to their bellies and shivered and a few ran around the garden discovering a big new word for exploring. It will only take a few days and they will all be running outside for food etc....! It will make life so easy.
Tomorrow with have visitors from Holland Jan Grit and family for their first look at the puppies. It seems amazing that the first pups will be going to their new homes in two weeks - where has the time gone...it seemed like a lifetime at the time but now it seems to have flown by...
Another week flown by...and how the pups have grown. Elin visited mid week and was happy impressed by the puppies...she even agreed with our choices. Managed to find a few seconds to take a few photographs but I liked this one so much that's the one that you have got. Its not often we see them all neatly arranged in rows - and then 10 seconds later it was pandemonium as you can see from photo 2.!
Bit of a problem with the photographs today - I got somewhat carried away with my new camera and missed an important adjustment - so it's back to the drawing board for tomorrows photo-shoot!!!
I did however save one picture - perhaps she is laughing at me - or is that she is just being happy to be alive...
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The Peers Puppy Construction Company has struck yet again - after building - The Whelping Bed, The Day-Room bed and the Power Cut Sitting Room hideaway - we have now expanded the night-time accommodation to include a run hopefully a poo and pee area.
Where does the time go to.. its 10.30 already and we have already fed the puppies twice. Been to the local shop for papers and to post the Christmas Cards and had a food delivery (mainly for the puppies - you should see the mountain of food that we have ready for them - Eileen is is siege mode as she always thinks that everything will sell out (particularly the Radio Times) and that we will all starve to death by Christmas day.
Eileen had her first time away from pups yesterday - popping down to the hairdressers for her Christmas hairdo - bright red with silver twinkling bits and added baubles - think I am joking!!!! This left me to make and feed the puppies their lunchtime scrambled eggs - evidenced below...
Update on Strudel - she is certainly better this morning but is still not 100% - thank you for all the well wisher comments phone and email that you have sent in...we do very much appreciate all the interest.
This is team 1 the smallest group - all tucking in with obvious relish. |
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Team 2 - slightly larger - with Green colour preferring a reverse eating position |
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I know that there is food in here somewhere! |
When you eat first take up a firm stance.... |
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"...Fat bottomed girls you make the rocking world go round..." (thanks to Queen) |
Big Red Dog - big bowl and big picture all to himeself! (He is really Liver/Tan we just call him that because of the colour of his collar) |
But even the Big Red dog has to give in sometime! |
What a lot can happen in less than a week - so much that I hardly know where to start...but here goes..
As planned on Monday the 'in-laws' came a calling (along with Dad Chami - who did not actually meet his offspring but was there in spirit!). Let me tell you, when you are as tired as we are, having 6 people all bottle feed the puppies at the same time is FANTASTIC. It was also great to have the first opinions of the pups. Having three Championship Judges in the kitchen made for a very lively discussion on relative merits - the conclusion - is that we have a very showy litter with bags of potential - and at this stage (3 weeks old) what more can you hope for.
Then things started to roller coaster. First off I was ill for two days so much of the workload fell on Eileen. At the same time I had become aware that one of the puppies - orange collar - who we are calling Clemie (after Clementines - Oranges and Lemons) did not seem to thriving as much as the others. So we promptly went into top gear with her and I am now pleased to say that she has made a lot of progress and is out of the 'worry zone' - she is vocal and lively and is one of the best 'lappers' in the group.
Whilst this was going on we have had the fun of starting the weaning process. This we are doing in batches of 3 - the three smallest, then the next in size etc... until we get to the big 'bruisers' . Once again they are all starting to go well - with scrambled eggs, and Weetabix - although we seem to be getting more than our fair share of 'spill'.
Then on Wednesday we noticed that Strudel had a rather large lump on one of her teats. I popped her down to the vets who put her on antibiotics for an blocked teat which had caused an abscess. Moving on a day she got much worse and Eileen rushed her back to vets on Thursday morning. At this point she had a very high temperature, the lump had tripled in size and was hardly moving. For a short while we thought that we might lose her and were very very frightened. The good news is that she now seems to have turned the corner is eating and looks much better. She is such a good mother - despite how she must have felt she insisted on staying with her babies and let them feed from her, getting very upset if we tried to move her away from them.
Thinks that's a good week well it gets better. In the midst of all this one of our washing machines decided to break down - twice (Tuesday and Thursday) - I managed to repair it on both occasions which involves dragging the thing out into the yard and removing the very badly placed filter to clean it out. Not a hard job but one we could do without with the amount of washing that we have had.
And I have saved the best till last. On Wednesday evening we had a electricity power cut! All the power when off at around 
18.30 and did not come back on until around 22.00. At the same time we had below freezing temperatures. So we put into operation action plan 'X' or 'Y' or 'Z' - we seem to have so many that I can't remember the letter!. We quickly built a new 'compound for the puppies' in the middle of our sitting room right next to the wood-burner - which at that time was the only heat we had in the house. So Wednesday evening was spent 'camping out' - 2 humans, 6 adult Bloodhounds and 12 puppies in one room.
We heated puppy milk on the wood-burner, and I made up the bottles by candlelight and at least for a few hours felt like the clocks had been turned back 100 years. If we had the energy you might even say romantic!
As I was working on Thursday Eileen slept the night on the sofa as after the power came back on it would literally have taken until midnight to get the puppies usual nighttime home back up to heat.
So I worked on Thursday, Eileen worried about Strudel and I tried to keep in touch by phone - our great dog sitter Neil as usual was sterling and came over and helped out with the big dogs. I finished my course and headed home - only 40 miles - intending to be back by 17.00. I then ran into a major traffic accident (not involving me) and took almost 4 hours of the journey arriving home nearer 20.00!!!
Its been an interesting week!
The project for the next few days is to try and get around to taking individual photographs of each puppy...so watch this space.
Finally a couple of picture taken earlier this week ...
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All well on all fronts. The puppies have started eating solid (well milky foods) so it now startes getting really messy. They seem to have different eating styles. Those that stand gently by the edge of the feed container - a big plastic container lid which we can get 6 around at a time for them until they move up to individual bowls - and gently lap the food not being rlly sure about it yet. And those who throw themselves into the center - spread their legs and scoop up whatever they can. Mind you it is amazing how quickly 12 puppies can consume 3 scrambled eggs and how deeply they then fall asleep. We are alternating the solids still with the milk bottles and hope to have them fully weaned next week.
Just a quick word of warning for those having puppies from us this time around. They 'all' howl/sing.... yes they seem to have a couple of 'choir masters/mistresses' and when they start - usually at around 02.00 they start off all the others and some of them are just so loud, Strudel started off by retreating to save her eardrums but has now developed that motherly skill of shutting out extraneous noises.
Tomorrow is a very important day for the litter - firstly they reach their 3rd week - and secondly they are having their first official visitors Colin, Ruth, Ken and Pat - Chami's owners - who are visiting for the day. I have already had a word with each of them (and will repeating it at tomorrows morning roll-call) and warned them that they must be on their very best behavior ie no pooing on the nice clean vet bed in front of the visitors! (Some hopes!!!) Not that I think anyone will care.
All change this morning.
The puppies are now spending their days in the kitchen and then going back into the whelping room for the night. So this morning I completed setting up their new 'day-home'. I have included a picture - whilst its clean and tidy....! They are now also wearing their smart collars so we can easily identify them. Boys in Red, Blue and Purple and the girls in Yellow, Pink, Green, Orange, and Lilac.
It's also worth remembering that we have now effectively lost over 50% of our kitchen space. This may not seem important but remember Xmas is coming and we will be cooking and entertaining over Christmas - 3 people staying for 3 nights and 2 more for Xmas day itself! So space is at a premium. Plus 'puppy visitors' coming to meet the new 'Stars'.
All the other hounds were very interested in the new arrivals and have spent most of the morning leaning over the fence - although when a puppy dared to touch Grace's (Grandma) nose - Grace leapt a good foot into the air.
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Pictures from Yesterday
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Some bad news this morning I am afraid.
We have lost one of the puppies. The smallest liver/tan boy. Eileen spotted a problem in the early hours of this morning. I made an attempt to get to the vets (which would have been a waste of time - he was really to far gone and would have died before I could possibly have got there) but I couldn’t de-ice the car - it is really really frozen here this morning -and the roads were black ice anyway and I would have been lucky to drive there safely – so it was a real panic for a while – but he died a few minutes later quietly in my arms in the warmth of my office.
We have decided to call him 'Little Star' and I will bury him a little later today in the garden under the tree along with our other lost friends.
We are both really upset as you can imagine although we both know that it's just one of those dreadful things…
12.30 - just sent out a new video to all the interetsed parties - if it doesn't arrive let me know and I will resend.
0.9.00 - Pressure is starting to tell on me - last two nights sleeping in the whelping room and feeds at midnight and 6.00am are killing me. Still tonight it's Eileen turn and its back to a proper bed for me.
Apologies for anyone expecting more pictures / videos - I am trying to take more its finding the time between normal work activities (which unfortunately have to continue) puppy demands and sleep (whatever that is!). We also started the first 3 day series of worming treatment for the puppies this morning - repeating at 5 and then 8 weeks of age. They just love it (!!!!) - or rather they love spitting it right back at me when I try and syringe it down their throats...
We have stared to use what Eileen calls the 'Al-Qaeda' tape - its a tape that plays a whole range of sounds - from machine guns and explosives (hence Al Qaeda) thru trucks and buses, children playing etc. All our puppies have experienced this over the years and it really helps them in being confident with any noise. The one noise however that always gets the big hound on their feet is the one of a baby crying, they all leap up and start searching for where it is. Hedge is missing his sister - although she is now coming in to the house from the puppies fairly often its obvious that Hedge is unhappy with her disappearing and we often find him outside the gate looking longingly at the whelping room...still its not for long now as we plan to have the puppies in the house - at least during the day from next weekend.
In passing we should say that as we had a much larger litter than expected we will have a couple of puppies available to vetted homes - so if you know someone desperate for a beautiful Bloodhound puppy let them know our contact details.
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Progress update - all is well with the puppies and the new regime of topping up Strudels feeding with bottle meals is working very well - all the puppies are putting on lots of weight and growth. Some of them now have their eyes open and all are pretty well up on rather wobbly legs.
I have two more short videos taken today if you want a copy just email me - I am putting a circulation list together so I can get them out to interested parties as soon as they have been filmed.
Sorry but unable to get the videos to run - if you would like a copy emailed to you just let me know
Puppies are all doing really well but we have now started to bottle feed them - as there are just too many for Strudel to feed properly. She is still handing the night feeds, with a little midnight top-up, and then we are currently feeding every 4 hours with Strudel joining in as she wants. She is also now fully integrated back into the house and is spending some time each dayn front of the fire.
Can I draw your attention to some sad news concerning Hector just click for the news update
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Well here we are again. There have been a few very busy days - including me managing to get out to work yesterday (05.00 start and back at 21.00) so Eileen was in charge. All the puppies are doing really well - some are even, at just day 8, getting up on their feet and walking a bit... Strudel has also reintroduced herself to the 'house hounds' and spent around 30 minutes asleep on the floor in front of the fire in the siting room before she decided that she had forgotten something - a definate 'blonde moment' - she then jumped up and we all headed very quickly back to the babies. She then spent 30 minutes giving them all a very intense 'top to tai'l licking before settling down again and pretending to be a milk-bar!
The videos - another try at videos - most people seem to be able to view them OK but a few are having problems - not sure what to suggest other than the videos are formatted for Windows Media Player - which is a standard aplication on MS window machines. If you can't see them drop me an email and I can try and reform them and email a copy to you. Also they may take a little while to load as they are quite big files so leave the page open for a little while. Video 1 (left) - massed licking session this afternoon Video 2 (right) - First steps - very wobbly but also very determined at just 8 days old. Picture left - Note to myself - I must try drinking upside down - it might prove very useful one day!!! |
Who would have thought that 3 day old puppies would have so much character. We have already identified a cross section of 'individuals'.
There are the ones who make interesting sounds Including the screamer, the slurpper who can make more noise when feeding off mum for her size than I ever imagined and the one with what I can only describe as a 'bark'.
Then there are the movers - those who want to circle their mum before coming on to drink and the diggers who burrow under the others to find find and then those who wait till their brothers and sisters have fallen asleep before making their move. Night watch duty simply flies by listening and watching their activity and it comes as a complete shock when suddenly there is total silence as they and mum (And hopefully me) all sleep for about an hour ...absolute bliss!!!
Thank you all for your email and phone calls - Eileen is much better today.
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Well day two and all is fine on the western front - or should I say in the SHED.
The puppies are just fantastic and I can't praise Strudel enough - she is a complete natural mother - better even than Pheobe with her 'Norland nanny' ways. (read this in Motherhood - different styles of Bloodhound Mums in our 'Bits' section)
And technology has arrived as you will see. Video of the puppies.
Now I know how it works I will do some more.
I have managed to pass my cold on to Eileen and she is encamped full time with Strudel and the puppies - keeping warm, drinking lots of fluids etc...actually I think its a cunning ploy so she gets to spend all the time with the babies...mind you I can't blame her.
24 hours old already - were did the time go?
All the puppies are doing very well, big fat tummies and they are very very active. Strudel is feeding them all herself at the moment although we are ready to top up if/when required.
A great big thank you to all our friends and Strudels's fans from around the world who have been in touch by phone and email with their congratulations. I hope that we have replied if not it's simply an oversight in the midst of all the work, we really appreciate all the kind thoughts.
Puppies all in a box - the game is to see if you can count all 13? |
Hungry puppies find the way to the 'milk-bar'. |
This puppy is doing what we so desperately want to do - sleep! |
And after the milk the rest join him and mum for a little nap! |
Well we have PUPPIES!!!!
She started to whelp at 01.50 this morning and up to a few moments ago we had 11 puppies.
6 Boys (3 Liver/Tan and 3 Black and Tan) and 5 girls (1 Liver/Tan and 4 Black and Tan).
Strudel is proving to be a great mother all the puppies are well fed and comfortable. Biggest puppy weighs 1lb 5 oz's and the smallest 15oz's. So they are good sizes. With so many we will supplement their feeding - so its going to be back to the baby bottles - and we only expected 5 or 6!!!
More news asap - and when I get some sleep I will take some pictures as well.
UPDATE - 13.00hrs - We now have 13 puppies!!!!! (6 boys and 7 girls)
10.15 Day 63 - and still no sign of the puppies. The 'BLIMP' is getting bigger and bigger so if you hear a small explosion from the Cheshire area you know what happened!
Strudel is sleeping all day now and then getting up to go for a stroll around - every hour on the hour throughout the night - so sleep is only a distant memory for me {Robin} as I have to get up and open the whelping room door (where we are now based at night) to let her out and then back in again a few minutes later.
My money is on her whelping late today - but who knows????
Only about 7 days to go now and poor old Strudel is fit to burst. She is still hungry but on a very tightly controlled diet. We will start getting her used to the whelping room this week - sleeping out with her. The next news is likely to be of the birth itself so keep watching for latest news.
Things moving on nicely and she is getting FAT - and is always hungry - but we are monitoring her food closely.
More news when available.
Not a lot to report as yet - although Strudel is starting to look a little like a small ocean liner - she is certainly growing a very big tummy. She is also hungry most of the time so we are - carefully - slowly increasing her food intake whilst watching that she is not getting fat - other than with babies.
Now it starts - scanned for 5 or perhaps more puppies I will try and keep all her 'fans' up to date on progress.
Due date for puppies around 17th November.