# Chantel's & Alfie's First Litter...12 Puppies!



## spoospirit (Mar 10, 2009)

_The long awaited litter between Chantel and Alfie finally arrived today. I spent a long night lying awake listening to her pace the floors and be restless in general. I was afraid to fall asleep lest she suddenly go into labor. Dianne got up before I did and we watched Chantel for a bit. It was pretty obvious that she was getting ready to whelp. I had to run to the village to file minutes and post agendas, so I hurried down and back and lo and behold....there's the first puppy...I missed it! Ah, well. You can never be sure what they are going to do or when. 

I was there for the other 11 puppies and had the best time helping with the whelping and record keeping. Chantel took 6 hours and 10 minutes to whelp all 12 of her pups. She did really good. Being a first time mother, we weren't sure how she was going to take to motherhood. She wasn't sure what to do with that squeally little thing at first, but when her sister, Grace got in the whelping pool, she figured it out really fast. After a little guidance from Grace, Chantel decided that she could manage on her own. She got very protective of her pups, so the other dogs were no longer welcome.

Our sixth puppy, a female silver, was born dead. The placenta had separated from her, her tongue was white and her body completely limp. I was mortified. Dianne took her from me and starting working on her. After 50 minutes of constant care, she came around and by the time I left, she was as good as the rest of the litter! Dianne is quite good at what she does!

So, Chantel has 12 puppies: 5 males: 2 silver and 3 silver beige; 7 females: 6 silver and 1 silver beige. What a shock, but we are thrilled!! The first six puppies were all silver. We were feeling pretty sure at that point that Alfie must be black dominant and the entire litter would be silver. We were hoping for a litter with some color. Then, the most unexpected thing happened. A puppy came down the track and as it was passing through, I noticed that the muzzle was far lighter than the silvers. I was telling Dianne that this was going to be one really light silver when she suddenly sat up and said, "That's a brown!!" We realized we had a silver beige and were over the moon over it. We know that Alfie has a brown way back in his lineage but really didn't think it would come through. We ended up with three silver beige pups!!! We didn't get white, cream or apricot, but the silver beige made up for that!!

Chantel got a quick wash off of her lower extremities before being allowed into the whelping box that we just freshly set up. She settled right in with her babies and they all went to sleep. Momma was completely exhausted..well, at least until the raw chicken came out. 

All are doing fine. Tomorrow, Dianne and I will get some good face shots of each of the pups to post. Monday, we will do dew claws and tails ourselves. Dianne did Grace's last litter and did a really fine job of it. And, we love the length of the tails on them.

We noticed that all of the pups are long legged and lean. We were expecting this and are sure there will be some really good agility, obedience and even show prospects from this litter. 

Here is a series of photos for now:

Who flew a blimp into the house??










You're wondering why I can't lie still? I have a basketball in my belly and keep rolling around!










Yeah! I'm so ready to be done with this!










First puppy being delivered and the first sign of a silver. Look at the grey pads and white hairs. A blue has black pads and white hairs.










Chantel's sister, Grace, comes in to see what she can do as the auntie.










Hmmmm....maybe this one is mine? Noooooo, Grace!










Can I watch from here? This is old hat for me know. Nope! Once Chantel realized this was HER baby, Grace was no longer welcome....at least for another two weeks. 










Little miss silver girl.



















See my cute little silver paw?










_


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## Dallasminis (Feb 6, 2011)

*Pups!*

Wow, there you go again! I so enjoy your documentation....the pups are beautiful, Chantal such a good Mom. Fun to see Grace teaching Chantal! More pix please!


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## Ladywolfe (Jan 11, 2012)

Fantastic pictures. Congratulations, and what an ordeal for all of you. I am not sure who Dianne is; but she is an amazing lady!!! 

Silver beige............fantastic!!! Your girl certainly had a very showy litter, and such a big litter for her first time.


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## spoospirit (Mar 10, 2009)

_Only a couple of hours old and playing peek-a-boo already! Can you see two silver puppies peaking out?










This is me helping a newborn onto a teat to get its first colostrum.










Good mommy Chantel taking care of her girls.










One of the really strong girls pulling for the let down.










Dianne working diligently on our little girl who was born dead. Her tongue was white when she started; now you can see that it is still purple in the center since she is still not getting enough oxygen. Dianne did a lot of patting and hard rubbing to move the ingested fluids. We're so happy we didn't loose her, and this was a very valuable lesson for me. This little girl is wearing the rainbow ribbon now and is named Miracle. We'll call her Miri for short.










The big OMG moment!! Our first silver beige! When it broke out of the sack, I kept staring at that really light muzzle trying to figure out why it was different. They are much lighter on the muzzle and the feet than the silvers are.










Hello, you pretty thing!










Momma, Chantel, busy cleaning up her babies. They are going to be some of the cleanest babies in the world!










OK! So, I'm being funny! I had to poke Chantel's belly to see how squishy it was. The night before, it was hard as a rock; no exaggeration!










Another silver beige....just made our day!












_


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## Dallasminis (Feb 6, 2011)

Yay Diane, Miri is going to be very, VERY special! Thanks for not giving up on this little one...


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## spoospirit (Mar 10, 2009)

_I love the orange ribbon on this color puppy.










Chantel working at caring for her pups while she continues to deliver more. How does she do that. She couldn't even reach her butt when she started!










A colorful litter! Not in the way we were thinking but gotta love the rainbow of ribbons. You should have seen Dianne and I trying to pick out 13 different colors of rick-rack! It was a riot!










In sync nursing...LOL










Cute brown and black puppy butts! Excuse the mess...we don't clean up until everything is done.










Ahhhhhhh.....a freshly lined whelping box with a freshly washed off momma. Doesn't get any better than that!










A pyramid of color.










Our two piglets! Miss Yellow and Miss Pink. 










Our rainbow Miracle resting by her mother's leg. Bless her little soul!










Brown and black...a nice monochromatic scheme.














_


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## spoospirit (Mar 10, 2009)

_Time for momma, Chantel's, long awaited and well earned rest.










Very content puppies.










Whew! Now it is time for our rest too. There are more photos and a couple of videos that we will post when they are ready. Thanks for coming along on our big adventure!

_


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## Dallasminis (Feb 6, 2011)

Who is the Daddy? I must have missed the newsflash!


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## spoospirit (Mar 10, 2009)

Ladywolfe said:


> Fantastic pictures. Congratulations, and what an ordeal for all of you. I am not sure who Dianne is; but she is an amazing lady!!!
> 
> Silver beige............fantastic!!! Your girl certainly had a very showy litter, and such a big litter for her first time.


_Ladywolfe....Dianne is my sister. We live about a mile and a half apart in Southern Vermont. We co-own Wispynook Poodles together and work together with all of the dogs and puppies. Chantel, Grace, Alfie and Angel live in Dianne's home. Song and Billy live in mine. This way we can have enough dogs for breeding and still have them be an integral part of our home lives. They go everywhere with us. Dianne and I share the work and the fun._


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## Dallasminis (Feb 6, 2011)

Oh, so Alfie is Diane's male...I don't remember him, maybe you will post a pic?


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## spoospirit (Mar 10, 2009)

Dallasminis said:


> Who is the Daddy? I must have missed the newsflash!


_Actually, I am sure you didn't miss anything. We have been terribly busy between dogs and family matters. 

The daddy is our own Alfie, Pawzazz's What's It All About, CGC. His pedigree is here: Pedigree: Pawzazz's What's It All About CGC_


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## jester's mom (Nov 25, 2008)

Chantel is sleeping peacefully next to my recliner, the pups are very content, getting plenty to eat, just soft squeaky noises when one is getting itself to a teat. It has been a long, but very wonderful day! We came close to loosing one little girl, but Miracle is doing great now. 

Here are a few photos of proud daddy, Alfie.


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## momtymztu (Mar 27, 2012)

Jestersmom: Oh, I think I am a little bit in love with Alfie...what a handsome boy!! 

Spoospirit: Thanks so much for the puppy pics and birthing account, I love your detail. I will look forward to watching the babies grow and change. Can't wait for the next update!! Congrats!


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## McKay (Feb 19, 2011)

What a stunning litter! Are puppies always born 'en caul'? (In the amniotic sack). In human births it is considered quite a blessing! (I am a birth doula.) 

Someday when I'm ready for my second spoo, I want a silver! 

Thanks for sharing!


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## schnauzerpoodle (Apr 21, 2010)

Miracle aka Miri is a good name. Welcome to the world, Miri!

Thanks for sharing all the pictures! We have several silver beige minis on the forum and now it's time for us to watch some silver beige spoos grow.


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## ArreauStandardPoodle (Sep 1, 2009)

Congratulations! WOW! Twelve babies. What a blessing. I will be interested in seeing this litter as it grows because I have never seen or heard of an apricot/silver breeding. The COI on these guys must be nearly non existent! Miracle sounds like Gabriel from Holly's last litter. Seems impossible they pull through, but he is as normal as everyone else in his litter. Best of luck with all those goobers.


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## momtymztu (Mar 27, 2012)

ArreauStandardPoodle said:


> Miracle sounds like Gabriel from Holly's last litter. Seems impossible they pull through, but he is as normal as everyone else in his litter.


It is incredible how resilient those little miracle babies can be. I grew up with a "not gonna make it" Silky puppy for 16 1/2 years and she was the smartest best dog I've ever known. 

Her name was Taffy (pulled taffy) and once we heard her story we couldn't change it...According to her breeder she was the 1st puppy, breech and half out for over an hour by the time the breeder could get Momma to the vet, he thought the puppy was dead and was ready to "destroy" her to clear the path for the rest of the litter when he realized she was still kicking and wagging, so he and the breeder literally pulled her into the world....just like pulled Taffy. 

Of course, my own human babies are kind of one of those miracles too...2.13 lbs & 3.3lbs, born 10 weeks early, one not breathing at first...now 4 yrs old and magnificently normal!:amen:

I will be extra excited to watch little Miri develop, she'll probably be the star!!! Good Luck with the entire beautiful litter.


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## Tonjad (Mar 12, 2012)

Oh sooo sweet !! can't wait to see more pics --- I'm just learning about poodles so your explanations of color and such are very helpful ! beautiful mom and babies!!


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## Dallasminis (Feb 6, 2011)

Alfie is a magnificent specimen! What a face! It WILL be interesting to see how the puppies turn out with Silver and Apricot...they are both so beautiful, those puppies are guaranteed beauty...thanks for showing us the wonderful photos of Alfie.


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## Laceypoo (Aug 23, 2011)

I have always loved Chantel's color and Alfie - oh I love the silver. So excited about getting to see this litter mature. Thank you so much for allowing us to be a part of it.


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## georgiapeach (Oct 9, 2009)

Beautiful pups and parents! Thanks for giving us the color lesson, too. I can't wait to see more pics as they get older.


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## Quossum (Mar 18, 2011)

Wow, big beautiful litter! Can't wait to see these puppies grow--love the silver *and* the silver-beige! Congrats!

--Q


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## RileysMommy (Jul 18, 2011)

Congrats! They are gorgeous! I cant wait to see them grow! That's a LOT of lil puppies to keep tabs on!


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## spoospirit (Mar 10, 2009)

McKay said:


> What a stunning litter! Are puppies always born 'en caul'? (In the amniotic sack). In human births it is considered quite a blessing! (I am a birth doula.)
> 
> Someday when I'm ready for my second spoo, I want a silver!
> 
> Thanks for sharing!


_Yes, McKay, they are normally born in the sac. If you look at the photo of the pup being delivered, you will see that it is in the sac surround by the amniotic fluid. Sometimes the sac will break as it is being pushed out, but the placenta should stay in place. In the case of Miracle, the sac was intact but the placenta supplying oxygen had separated. 

In nature, the mother would immediately break the sac and start to eat it and the rest of the material; then she strips the umbilical cord with her teeth leaving about an inch of cord on the puppy. Since we don't want to risk loosing any puppies, we break the sack as soon as the pups is born then let mom start eating the material and strip the cord while we rub the puppy good with a towel and aspirate the nose and mouth for fluids to get it going right away. The puppy must be held head down all the time to allow fluids to drain out of its system. There is nothing more beautiful to hear than the first cry of a newborn puppy. 

After mom has cleaned baby, we weigh it and put a color ribbon on it for identification and return baby to mom helping it to get on a teat right away. Then we record in the whelping book the order of number the puppy was born in, sex, color, ribbon color and weight. If there is anything that we feel is of note, like Miri's situation, we make detailed notes on it on the notes page. This is all part of the breeding process and is used in the future when planning litters.

Miri was one of 3, I believe, that were born with a detached placenta. The other two were fine. I believe Miri got hung up and was too long in the sac and had started to 'breath' in the placental fluids.

_


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

13 babies! Wow, what a big poodle litter. I bet mama gets lot of extra chicken necks. I haven't heard of an apricot/silver breeding before. Just think, all those babies carry an apricot gene. Do you know the brown puppies will be silver beige because papa carries no brown?

Beautiful litter!


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## petitpie (Nov 16, 2011)

Beautiful story, pictures, parents, and puppies! Congratulations!


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## spoospirit (Mar 10, 2009)

outwest said:


> 13 babies! Wow, what a big poodle litter. I bet mama gets lot of extra chicken necks. I haven't heard of an apricot/silver breeding before. Just think, all those babies carry an apricot gene. Do you know the brown puppies will be silver beige because papa carries no brown?
> 
> Beautiful litter!


_Outwest, Alfie does have a brown in his pedigree some generations back. So he has to be carrying a brown gene. We just didn't think that he would produce it. SURPRISE! He did and beautifully!_


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## McKay (Feb 19, 2011)

_In nature, the mother would immediately break the sac and start to eat it and the rest of the material; then she strips the umbilical cord with her teeth leaving about an inch of cord on the puppy. Since we don't want to risk loosing any puppies, we break the sack as soon as the pups is born then let mom start eating the material and strip the cord while we rub the puppy good with a towel and aspirate the nose and mouth for fluids to get it going right away. The puppy must be held head down all the time to allow fluids to drain out of its system. There is nothing more beautiful to hear than the first cry of a newborn puppy. _

Thank you so much for the detailed explanation! I can easily visualize the process as you describe it. is great for us all to hear about how a good breeder does her job. 

Well Done!


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## bigpoodleperson (Jul 14, 2009)

Congrats!!! What a nice looking litter! Can I ask what the purpose of this litter was? How do future plans for your breeding line work into them?


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## spoospirit (Mar 10, 2009)

bigpoodleperson said:


> Congrats!!! What a nice looking litter! Can I ask what the purpose of this litter was? How do future plans for your breeding line work into them?


_First let me say that I don't think that I was aware that you lost Riley. I am very sorry for your loss. I know how very painful it is to loose one of our special fur kids.

Good question, bigpoodleperson.

WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF THIS LITTER
The purpose is to improve on our foundation line. We need to improve the front assemblies on our line and we also need to improve the tail sets/shelf. You can only ‘fix’ so many things in a generation. Right now we are working on a wider breadth of chest, which has been working out well, and improving the lay back and upper arm. Alfie is well put together in the front, with a nice shoulder lay back and proper placement of bones. He has nice presence and good reach and drive. This is something that we have needed to fix from the beginning. One thing we have not completely fixed in our litters so far is the occurrence of shorter necks on some of our puppies. All twelve puppies in this litter have good neck on them. Alfie and Chantel each posses the desired temperament that we strive for in therapy work and performance ethic and capability. We have also been successful in producing puppies with good rear assemblies, nice proportions in bone structure and many are very athletic. We need to improve the tail sets as well. Alfie possesses a really nice tail set that we can already see that he has passed on to some of his puppies.

HOW DO FUTURE PLANS FOR YOUR BREEDING LINE WORK INTO THEM
I am looking for a high quality bitch out of this litter to continue our line with. I am hoping it will be the silver beige bitch; but if not, I expect I will be keeping a silver bitch. I have Song from Grace’s litter from last year that is an improvement on our foundation stock in structure while keeping the temperament and drive that we are looking for. I would like to have one more bitch that is an improvement on what we have to work with to continue improving our line. Our goal is to keep a good therapy temperament and the malleability for performance work in agility, obedience, etc. So far, we have been completely successful in keeping the temperament that we desire. We are very particular about the males that we choose so that we do not sacrifice good temperament and work ethic for great show structure with questionable temperament. It is far more important to us to have dogs that are stable in every sense of the word. 

Dianne and I work very hard at producing not just well natured puppies, but well nurtured ones as well. They begin at 3 days old with biosensor stimulation. They are handled daily and under foot in the house. We follow with Pat Hastings ‘Another Piece of the Puzzle’ recommendations for each week. We make sure that they are introduced to at least the rule of 7’s; if not more. They are brought on trail walks and introduced to swimming. They start riding in the car at 4 weeks old. They begin complete grooms of bathing, fft clippering at 4 weeks and every week thereafter. At the appropriate time, our trainer does the Volhard Test for us and then again at the appropriate time, they are evaluated for conformation. 

We are not kennel blind in the least. We know what we have and know what we need to improve on and are very transparent about it. We are harder on ourselves most of the time than other breeders and handlers. We have a few long-time breeder mentors and a couple of handler mentors to guide us along on our journey to producing the best we can. We are open minded and very willing to listen to constructive criticism. 

I do hope that I interpreted your questions correctly. 
_


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