The bond of natural love: Mielikki and her puppies

Mielikki and her puppies are doing really well. She is a terrific mother, and her puppies are thriving. For updates on Mielikki's puppies go to our puppy journal at http://borntotrackpuppies.blogspot.com/

Mielikki's puppies are thriving while Keena's puppies are no-shows

A couple of days ago we took Keena to a vet to verify whether she carried any pups. Unfortunately, she did not. We have had our doubts for quite a while now. She looked pregnant at 5-6 weeks but then stopped expanding. I thought that she might carry two puppies, but it was not the case. It was disappointing, that's for sure, especially for people on our waiting list.

On the other hand, good news about Mielikki and her puppies. The pups are doing  really well, and Mielikki is a Super Mom, who keeps pups' bottoms absolutely clean. Puppies are a week old now and they doubled their weight. We gave them names, which will be their registered names:
Boys:
Urho - blue
Uncas - red
Girls:
Ursula - green
Utah - yellow
Uma - white
Uschi - pink
Uta - no ribbon

The whelping box is in my den so I have a chance to watch, hear and hold puppies as much as I want to. Mielikki does not mind sharing them with us. Over the years I have seen various types of canine mothers. Some are very protective of their pups and watch you like a hawk when you touch them. They bark at any dog on the other side of the door. Mielikki is not like that at all. She certainly pays a great deal of attention to what happens to puppies, but she does not mind at all when we play with them or she hears other dogs running through the house. She is a real "people's dog" and craves our attention. When she sees us in the morning, she is incredibly happy! Often I just get into the whelping box - she really enjoys being in my lap while the pups nurse.

Mielikki is not a voracious eater, and for the first few days it was a challenge to find nutritious food that was to her liking. Right now her favorite is Omas Pride's raw mix of chicken and veggies, and today she inhaled several bowls of it. Of course, her appetite has been increasing while pups have been growing and drinking more milk.

Mielikki and Sky's puppies are finally here

Finally Mielikki has delivered her puppies but it did not go as smoothly as we wished. Let's go back to Thursday night... We did not know how many pups to expect as we did not want to subject her to unnecessary stress caused by a trip to a vet. We knew that she was huge and anticipated at least 7 pups.

She started to have contractions on Thursday evening. This was the 63rd day from the first breeding. First puppy was whelped at 9:20 PM. Then there was a very long break. Mielikki was having contractions, though not very hard, but no puppy emerged. Around midnight I called our vet at Cobleskill Veterinary Clinic, and Dr. Kevin Baldwin agreed to meet us there around 1 AM. So we packed Mielikki and her first puppy and made a 35-minute trip. Twenty minutes into the trip Mielikki delivered another puppy. It was a relief as we really wanted to avoid a C-section. She got hydrated at the clinic, and we drove back home.

The rest of the night was pretty stressful. She would whelp a puppy every two hours or so, but things were proceeding quite slowly. Two pups did not survive delivery as they spent too much time in the birth canal. By 9 AM we had 7 puppies (5 alive and 2 dead), and not much was happening any more. We knew that she still had some pups inside her. After I checked her temperature, which rose to 103, we started to be concerned and placed another call to the vets. We were advised to bring her in.

Mielikki was x-rayed, and as it turned out she was carrying two additional puppies. According to Dr. Montario if there were only one puppy, maybe we could have brought it out by giving her oxytocin and calcium. But with two pups still there, and one of them placed very far from the birth canal, he advised C-section. We agreed to do it. It was a good decision as the two pups were still OK. One of them was stuck very far in the uterine horn, and apparently Mielikki would not have been able to push it out.

So the final outcome is 7 puppies, 5 females and 2 males, ranging at birth from 7.6 oz (215 gr) to 10 oz (283 gr). They all are in a good shape. Mielikki bounced back really quickly, and on Friday afternoon was drinking, eating and cleaning the pups' bottoms. Friday night was completely uneventful, and today (Saturday) things continue to go well. All the puppies put on some weight. We will continue to report about the pups at our puppy journal. This is our U-litter, which means that registered names of the pups will be starting with the letter U. All the pups are spoken for.

A big thank you to everybody at Cobleskill Veterinary Clinic, who helped with Mielikki's litter!

Update on Mielikki and Keena as their whelping dates get closer

In the last 24 hours we have  had several e-mails asking about status of Mielikki and Keena. Mielikki was bred to Sky on March 8, 10 and 12, and she is very much pregnant. She gets regular exercise by chasing her favorite blue ball. As I said on Facebook - she lost her waistline and correct topline but she has not lost her love of ball game. We don't know how many pups she carries, probably at least seven. We will check her out when it comes closer to her due date, which should be between May 10 and 14.
 

Mielikki and her favorite blue ball.

Keena is doing well too, but she does not carry as many pups as Mielikki does. She should be whelping between May 18 and 20 so we will know more when it comes closer to the due date. She was bred to Tommy.

Mielikki and Sky's rendez-vous: a new generation of blood tracking puppies on its way?

Just a short note to those on our waiting list for a puppy that today Mielikki was bred to Sky and we will repeat the mating on Sunday. If everything goes right, Mielikki should be whelping around May 10, and this this is going to be our "U" litter.

The stylized picture above is showing puppies from our T-litter in 2012.

Our plans for two litters of puppies in 2013

In 2011 we had only one litter (Moose by Paika), which produced five "S" puppies. In 2012 we repeated the breeding and had four "T" puppies. It looks like the 2013 spring and summer will be much busier with two litters of puppies we are planning to have.

The above pictures show our FC Mielikki Raptor who came in heat on February 26 and will be bred around March 9. The sire of this litter is going to be our FC Sky von Moosbach-Zuzelek. We are very excited about this breeding as in our opinion these two young dogs are going to be a very good match. This is going to be a complete outcross, and all puppies should be wirehairs as Mielikki carries two copies of the gene for the wirehaired coat.

Our second litter this year - FC Tom vom Linteler-Forst, SchwhK by FC Keena von Moosbach-Zuzelek is also going to be a complete outcross and should produce exclusively wirehaired puppies. This is going to be Keena's last litter (Sky is her grandson).

We don't know how many puppies we are going to have. Both females come from very fertile lines but you never know an outcome in advance. We decided to take "only" 10 deposits (we have them - thank you!), and then have a reserve waiting list in case we have more than 10 puppies. We still have some room on the reserve list. We also know of several litters that other breeders are going to have this spring/summer and will be happy to refer you to them. For more info contact us at info@born-to-track.com .

Mielikki Raptor becomes a new Field Champion and passes a Small Game Hunt Test

A wirehaired dachshund Mielikki Raptor was born on December 10, 2011, in the Czech Republic. She was bred by Gabriela Skruzna, and our friend Lenka Faraislova brought Mielikki and her sister Macaria to this country at the end of February 2012. 

She went to her first field trial on October 27, and 8 days later she finished her Field Championship with three 1st places and one Absolute win. She also passed a gun steadiness test and North American Teckel Small Game Hunting Test. At a NATC Zuchtschau she got a "very good" rating with a comment that in 3-4 months she will be "excellent" when she matures more. BTW, she weighs 7.9 kg (17.5 lbs).  

Patience gets rewarded! At one point we had some doubts about Mielikki, especially when her second teeth erupted and they all looked out of place. But some friends, especially Patricia Nance, advised us to wait. We are glad that we followed the advice. Her teeth are OK now, and she proved to be a very talented versatile hunter.

On Sunday, November 4, Mielikki won her stake of OAAB, then was Best of Open and Absolute Winner of the trial

 

Mielikki opens on rabbits for the first time

Like most of the United States, we have had a stretch of really hot weather with temperatures above 90F. During the day is too hot to run dogs on rabbits or do blood tracking training. In the morning we try to give dogs some exercise in the pond, and only in the evening we run younger dogs on the cottontails.

Today Mielikki had a very good day. She had some spectacular retrieves from the pond in the morning, and then in the evening she opened on rabbits for the first time. I really liked the pitch and tone of her voice. BTW, she is going to be seven months old on July 10.

Our dachshunds love to work and play

Yesterday John ran Tommy and Joeri in Deer Search's 1000-yard certification test in Corning, NY. Tommy (FC Tom vom Linteler-Forst) got Prize I, 90 points (the highest score of the day), while Joeri (FC Joeri vom Nonnenschlag) scored Prize II, 74 points. Even though Joeri was John's primary tracking dog last season with very good success, he has never been very motivated to do artificial lines. It looks like Tommy is a better "test dog".

On Friday I snapped some pictures of four-year-old Tommy playing with Mielikki. He is extremely patient with her, and they are really good buddies.

Mielikki is clamping on Tommy's ear. Ouch!!!

Mielikki is pouncing on Tommy, who does not mind the pup's foolishness.

Tommy and Mielikki are having fun!

The below pictures show Mielikki with our eight-month-old Sky. You can see that their relationship is a little different, and he asserts himself with her much more than Tommy does.

Mielikki got a pine cone and is trying to get away from Sky. Note hackles on her back... she is serious.

Sky is intent on getting the cone from her, and he is older and bigger.

Finally Mielikki is forced to give up the cone. It looks like she is being strangled by Sky. Of course all ended well.

Last days of winter in the Helderbergs?

Today we had a gorgeous day, very warm (59F) and sunny. Probably all this snow will be gone soon as tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer. I went out multiple times with dogs and snapped some pictures. With so many young dogs and puppies, it is a challenge to give them all exercise and socialization opportunities.

I discovered that our 13-year-old Asko is a good company for Mielikki. So in the morning they are with us while we are having breakfast, and then I take them out for a walk. The first four pictures were taken during our morning walk today.

Sky can play with Mielikki only under supervision because he can be too rough on her, just like Bella is too rough on him. So Mielikki enjoys the company of middle aged and older dogs, who are patient with her. 

Anyway, it was a good days as most dogs got to run and spend some time in the sun. John is back from Trackfest, and we will write about it soon. I received a lot of nice pictures from Randy Vick from his last tracking season and will try to scan them tomorrow.

Asko and Mielikki on their morning walk

Mielikki following the ground scent

Mielikki on the top of the world

This is a portrait of Sky, who just turned seven months old.