It's difficult staying awake to monitor the feedings every 90 minutes - 2 hours. Miss Dior licks the pups to help eliminate them but she also needs a little help because she gets the job "sort of" done ;) Lots of baby wipes for getting milk off faces, too, while they are nursing. So here's my sleep deprived 2 AM tribute to Baby Wipes and KC and the Sunshine Band!

On October 18, 2020, (a Sunday, of course!) Miss Dior free whelped 5 beautiful puppies .... 4 boys and 1 girl. Miss Dior was restless the day before, yet her temp had not dropped as much as we thought. That one degree dip was all she needed though, and she began 2nd stages of labor in the middle of the night. In fact, she wanted to sleep in bed with me and not be in the whelping box, so her first pup was on its way while she was by my side. Pugs. Go figure. It did require a trip to the emergency vet as the first pup's big head was stuck, but all survived and she was able to free whelp and avoid a c-section. Mother and pups are doing well and our amazing mentor in Iowa, a neonatal pug expert, has helped us tremendously with advise and wonderful techniques (like 3 tablespoons dark beer twice a day for Miss Dior to produce milk, and guidance when to tube feed to help prevent deyhdration.) In fact, amazing pug breeders from across the country offer advise and tips. Pug breeders (the good ones!) care so much about this breed and the success of other breeders. Very special people worthy of this ancient, noble breed. We did need to make a batch of Myra's formula to help with some tube feeding in the beginning as they were not able to nurse while in the er vet, and Miss Dior is quite enjoying the Green Beef Tripe, raw Goat's Milk, and other delicacies (in addition to the beer lol!). The oxygen concentrator and incubator has once again proven to be an invaluable investment as well as the OccoBaby mucus aspirators and other helpful devices. It will be a long ride for the next few weeks, as it is with all pug litters, keeping these blessed and beautiful creatures alive but well worth the loss of sleep and constant attention. (Yes, it is necessary to oversee all nursings every 90 minutes, and help with elimination, in addition to ENS, weighing, and other important protocol.) We are very excited about this litter. Porthos and Miss Dior are the sweetest pugs you will ever meet .... beautiful inside and out. 

Many prayers were answered for this litter and we Praise God for hearing these prayers and creating such beautiful puppies. Thank you Lord, Jesus!

Well that was a first! At the dog show in Lebanon, TN last weekend Marie Claire and I were just getting ready to go around the ring and suddenly my skirt fell down. All the way to the ground! I pulled it up in milliseconds and I honestly don't think anyone saw. But, thankfully, I was wearing black tights if anyone did see anything. Soooooooo, that totally necessitated another installment of "Miniature Mutt Musical" .... things you hear and see at a dog show! Here is #3, the latest installment, and then #2 and #1 below that.

The Bazinga pups turned 1 year old today (actually Robert turned 1 year old last week ...he's the older brother ;) and they each got their own Sardine cake, (and freshly dehydrated chicken paws for breakfast appetizers!) Coco's human mom sent photos of her birthday presents .... she's a lucky pup!)... her kennel name was Clicquot and she got a dog toy that's a clicquot champagne bottle! I'm not sure where the year has gone ... the pandemic has made time fly by since March ... but we are so grateful for these beautiful, loving, full of life pups! 

In just 3 outings, Robert has landed 3 major wins so he only needs another 3 points now to finish his championship. There have been some large entries and he's up against a lot of amazing class dogs and specials (35 pug entries in his last show this past weekend and LOTS of professional handlers in the ring!) Robert loves the show scene though and takes everything in stride. He stacks beautifully naturally ... nails it! ... and his movement is so beautiful it melts our hearts. His inside is as beautiful as his outside, too, and his sweet nature and desire blows us away. Robert's Rules? Be amazing and not even know how great you are ;) Here is a shot of him at the Atlanta Toy Specialty this past weekend, winning another 4 point major (and, a toy frog! He liked that more than the ribbons ;)

Robert and Lilly both did SO well at the Carolina Foothills Show Cluster, July 2020. Everyone wore masks and observed social distancing to the best of their abilities. Lilly only got to show Thursday because of entry limitations but Robert showed all 4 days. He won "Winners Dog" and "Best of Winners" out of the 9-12 Puppy class at his VERY FIRST show cluster, beating out older pugs and even specials (who already have their championships). What a pro he was and took all the noises, bangs, and giant dog barks in stride. They also got to enjoy a camping trip (Robert's 1st, Lilly's 2nd) and got to see a little bit of nature at the beautiful Paris Mountain State Park outside of Greenville, SC. Lilly also completed her final health tests (xrays of hips, patella, elbows) with Blue Ridge Imaging out of Clemson, SC. These tests can not be completed until they are 2 years of age and she just turned 2 on July 13th, 2020.  It was such a lovely week (hot and rainy at times) but a wonderful chance to be just with 2 very special pugs.

Some of the pugs were "less than amused" with this morning's photo shoot (note the "furry eyeball" sideways glance and "snort" noise ... which loosely translates from Pug to English as "talk to the paw".) But, they all loved the snuggles after each photo.  God Bless America. and God Bless these beautiful pugs one and all.

Robert the Bruce (Hill Country's I'll Bee Your Shining Star) wins Best of Breed and Toy Group 4th Place in the AKC Virtual Top Dog Challenge! He will be headed to his first in-person official show at the end of July, 2020.