1st 4 of 7 New BrownStone Puppies

Koyuk went into labor at 9:45 last evening and labored hard all night with no success.
Koyuk in her whelping-box "den".

 Karmin and I rushed her to the vet as soon as they opened.

Koyuk struggled through three doses of Pitocin given to strengthen her contractions. After 2 hours, I took her outside to pee right before she was to go in for an emergency C-section. Spotting a couple buds from her CGC class excited her enough for her water to break.

 At 10:15, 11oz, Navy boy was whelped. At 10:18 he was climbing out the warming box.

 He was hungry.

 Karmin with Navy boy.

Twins 14 oz, Pink girl and 15 oz, Red boy were whelped at 1046. Whelping manuals say it is not possible to whelp two at one time. Surprise. Karmin and I had our hands full really quickly. They shared a placenta. The vet confirmed that they were fraternal twins. Cool.

Koyuk relaxed a bit so we headed home.

11oz Green boy joined the family on the way. Karmin was in the back seat with the three pups and Koyuk. All of a sudden Koyuk jumped to shotgun and her water broke. She then dove under my steering wheel. Karmin juggled the first three with one hand while holding slippery Green boy and his slimy placenta in the other while I tried to not drive off the road. Koyuk back in the whelping-box with her four little ones.

Ahhhhh

I have been up for the most of three nights and four days. The rest of the tale will have to wait until morning. But do know that Koyuk and her 7 pups are doing wonderfully.

Cushy Seats

Another day of waiting.

Sarah came by this evening with her new model of cushy corner seats. The extra padding hindered easy installation...

 maybe if we tried it on it's side...

turn the box upside down; add Dave's weight; and a crew of Nook supervisors...

Success!  Koyuk now has the cushiest whelping box in existence. All we need now are puppies!

Paws crossed they will whelp tonight.

Naming of the Litter

What do you do while waiting for the whelping to start and you don't want to let Koyuk out of your sight. Well - first you catch up on sleep and then spend creative computer time.

BrownStone Cascade Peaks Litter
The BrownStone Iditarod Koyuk (Koyuk) x Channahon’s Kikiah Tyee (Oscar) litter will be registered as the BrownStone Cascade Peaks litter. The BrownStone Chinooks kennel belongs to Kay Lee Brown. The Cascade Chinooks kennel belongs to Marleen Mandt. Both Kay Lee and Marleen were active mountaineers. To further tie in the Cascade Peak theme with the breed, the pups will be named after the Chinook Jargon Native American name of different Cascade Peaks Kay Lee has climbed.
Chinook Jargon  
Chinook Jargon originated as a pidgin trade language of the Pacific Northwest and spread during the 19th century from the lower Columbia River, first to other areas in modern Oregon and Washington, then British Columbia and as far as Alaska and Yukon Territory. It is related to, but not the same as, the aboriginal language of the Chinook people, upon which much of its vocabulary is based. Many words from Chinook Jargon remain in common use in the Western United States and British Columbia and the Yukon, in indigenous languages as well as regional English usage.

And Waiting...

Today is the due date for BrownStone Cascade Peak litter. At the present we are still waiting..

 and waiting...

Ladies Still In-Waiting

Another hot day.

McKenzie and Cedar joined Koyuk in her chosen shade spot.

Later the dogs and I went swimming. I swear Koyuk was smiling as she stood in the water cooling her belly. Dave had mowed around the pond this morning. When I got in I noticed that it was about 6" down. Whoops - the weight of the tractor and mower must have undammed it. Time to grab the backhoe to shore it up again. Any excuse to play with the machines.

Sarah rebuilt the whelping box for Koyuk's litter and in the process made the corner seats much smaller. I whined that my big butt would not fit on the tiny new perches so she made me a personal, large, padded seat and came over to install it (with McKenzie's help).

 Too funny!

Sarah is also an excited lady-in-waiting. She got to feel the little whelps dancing around on Koyuk's innards. She too can't wait to see them dancing around in her whelping box.

Ladies in Waiting

McKenzie, Koyuk and Cedar hanging out on the office dog couch while I check e-mail this morning. For those who are monitoring such things - still no signs of labor. Koyuk is just lying around and only moves to beg for more food.

New Sled

Wonderful Mindy went to Bend and picked up my new-to-me sled. She said she got a lot of curious looks as she drove with it in the 90 degree heat. I have wanted a second sled for a long time. My sled is a racing sled with no place for passengers. Now I can train other mushers (Mindy first of course) and their dogs. (The yellow paint does have to go).
Dave and the dogs checking out the sled. McKenzie looks exactly like Chinook himself in this picture.

I wanted to stage a picture with Koyuk in the sled and McKenzie and Cedar harnessed to it. This is as close as I got.

Koyuk was not about to jump onto the basket platform. Yes, that is her stomach dragging the ground.