Just a quick note or prospective puppy owners will get angry LOL.

No puppies yet.

Tieka is being a total madam and is insisting on being waited on, hand and foot. She makes strange Lagotto noises to communicate what she wants. She never did this before but is learning quickly how to train me.

Wants to be let out, wants something to eat, no not that, want something els, yes that’s nice, more please, scratch my back, open the door, let me out again, oh Im hungry again, come on that’s not very much, oh ok if that’s all you want to give, let me in, let me out… Need I say more. Actually I may exaggerate a bit, but she is training me.

And I cant resist her, she looks sooooo cute. Do you think she is taking advantage of me? Nooooo Tieka wouldn’t do that……

Maybe she will have puppies next week? That’s how it’s looking at the moment.

I watch her tummy as she sleeps and I see the puppies tumbling around. It looks somewhat like a sheen out of the film “Alian”.

Tieka is doing it to me again….. letting me wait and wait…..

But these pups have to come out sometime so I guess it cant be long now…. Yesterday was expected date of birth…. I don’t expect pups today either. Tieka is as cool as they come, looking at me as if to say “you just wait, I’m not ready yet!” She is right, it hasn’t been long yet.

I have a short holiday now, then work a few weeks while the pups are cared for by Tieka so that my mother can “doggy sit” without too much hassle (presuming the birth etc goes well), then I work a couple of weeks for only 2 days a week, and then the last few weeks, when the pups become really annoying but lots of fun, I will be totally free. Well that’s the plan anyway, but you know how life goes, it can throw weird things at you, so we will see how it goes. But in the mean time Im enjoying the wonderful sunny weather we are having. Thank you Tieka for the excellent timing!!

Tieka has been losing a bit of mucus the last few days so I believe her body is making the way out for the pups good and slippery, they will just plop out LOL. A girlfriend I was walking with the other day became rather worried about this, thinking maybe Tieka would pop out a pup during our walk. “I hardly think so” I said “but should she do this we both have big warm pockets to put them it”. Haha she calmed down, and even though I was not worried we never the less did keep an eye on Tieke when she went to do a jobby ;-) .

She has a really warm belly and seems to like to cool it off on the cold tiles in the hall. Poor babies. Well mum knows best I guess. But she doesn’t stay there for long, in fact she often doesn’t stay somewhere for long as its quite a task to find a good position to lay down with such a moving mass of belly.

I get the impression that her back legs are nearly bending due to the extra weight… oh, poor Tieka. Still she loves to go for walks and still wants to play “fetch the pinecone”, racing Zanna to be first. I try to keep her from doing these things but she just doesn’t want to take no for an answer. However for the most part she is just walking… well plodding along is probably a better word for it.

In general I can only say Tieka is calm and happy. Oh, and hungry.

Just a extra bit of info. I have a small bird in the garden ( “rood borstje” for the dutch) , a real BARF bird, that combs the back garden for bits of left over bones from the dogs. He/she is so brave that he/she hops around by the window without being alarmed as I look out to watch him/her. Very cute. I think the bone marrow is what attracts him/her as that is good fatty food in cold times like these.

Ok, I’m really sorry it’s been a while. At times like this even a day is a long time, and here I am not writing how things are going. The new puppy owners have made this very clear to me, and quite right they are.

So again, I apologize for the silence.

You may not think the new photos arent such a big deal, but I put them on here myself!! I’m so proud LOL. But now Ernest has to tell me how to space them nicely. I’m really getting quite the computer “know it all” ROFL.

First you see Tiekas tummy at 8 weeks. In real life it’s much more impressive. Its now 3 days after the photo was taken and she has grown again… Tiekas belly is getting a tight fit for her babies.

I think the next photo with Tieka sitting on a bench is just so cute.

Then the truffle hunting photo! Well ok, I’ll tell the truth, they are eating the earth…. Under certain trees the dogs can’t resist eating the earth. Apparently it contains certain minerals that they sometimes crave. I let them go for it, hasn’t done them any harm and most probably dose them good. All 3 of my dogs do it. They get the most irresistible grubby noses, but we don’t have a photo of that so you have to take my word on that.

And the photo of Tuck, the Irish wolfhound, and Flecha lets you see what beautiful weather we are having. The water was still frozen but on the sides the sun had melted enough for the boys to get a drink. Romantic eh! Have a good look at how long Tucks tail is!!!

Today I have finally made a thing to hang the heating light on for the pups. I’m pleased with my carpenter work. With the other nest I hung the light on a standing “up light” light. So this time we are more “professional” and the light hangs on a proper “light hanger”. You will probably get to see it on photos when the pups are born. Ill make sure the photographer will include it LOL.

Tieka dropped half a degree in temperature this morning, but it came back up soon after, so a false alarm. This evening she is calm and still wanting to eat as many chicken necks as I care to give her. So no action tonight.

Since about 3 days her tummy has “dropped”, so she doesn’t actually look large from above any more, but when you see her from the side… then you see an impressive belly!

Tieka no longer reacts to Zannas teasing. She must be growing wiser as she grows heavier. Since 2 days she no longer races Zanna across the road to see who is first to get to the next place they have to wait to cross the road.

These last few days are getting heavy for Tieka, but she takes it all in her stride and constantly wags her happy tail as she dose much the same as always only in a much lower gear.

So now I go to enjoy another peaceful night’s sleep, maybe one of the last for a while.

Please dont all start thinking that Tieka has started delivering puppies, the photos are just to show you that she is testing the whelping box out!!!! And she thought is was very comfortable. Not so strange as I not only put the fluffy blanket in but also a comfy basket.

Aprox. date of whelping is 25 feb.

Tiekas tummy is now 7 and a half weeks preggy.

The last 5 photos are Zanna looking intelligent LOL.

Haven’t any preggy photos at the moment so I decide to back up my story from a while ago and show you the sheep heads.

Such a pretty sight don’t you think.

1) Zanna outside in snow.

2) Zanna and Flecha with heads in basket inside, it was late and much to cold outside.

3) What was left of them after 3 hours of me leaving them alone. Only the teeth and the very top of the scalp was all there was.

Most people think I’m really gross now. But it really isn’t as bad as you think. No blood all over the place, no brains spread all over the floor, not a stinking room. Really, it’s all dry and clean, the heads have been drained of blood before I get them, the brains don’t get a chance to touch the floor before being eaten, and its all fresh so not smelly.

Today is “whelping box” day. It’s up and down the stairs all day bringing down parts of it each time and taking up stuff I should have put in the attic ages ago.

Tieka has time to get used to the whelping box before she starts delivering…. But I think Zanna will enjoy it the most in the mean time.
I’m sure Tieka won’t have her first puppy in it. Last time Ziegor was born on my waterbed, so it’s a good bet to think that the first puppy of the next litter will also be born in such luxury. Once Ziegor was born, cleaned and checked over by both Tieka and I, I took him down stairs to the whelping box and Tieka happily came down with me and delivered the next 3 no problems. She stayed in the whelping box of her own will.

Oh, incase you are wondering, I was very prepared that Ziegor was going to be born where he was (Tieka didn’t give any doubts about that!) so I first laid an “anti leaky” sheet on my bed, a large old curtain and lots of old towels. Very comfy she was.

Time is going fast these days….

Finally…. Finally I have felt movement from 2 puppies!!!

Only just 2 short kicks, one on either side of Tiekas belly, but never the less signs of life. We are well pleased.

Two weeks to go….

Tieka photos at 6 weeks pregnant.

Isn’t she the cutest? She rolled over so obligingly for us to see her lovely belly.

Tiekas hormones are doing funny things and making poor Tieka a bit thin in the coat, but she will hopefully become her old fluffy self when her body gets back to “normal”.

The Islamic butcher is our best friend!

The dogs have never met him but I’m sure they love him. They wait in anticipation in the car while I go inside the shop.

It started one day when I finally plucked up enough courage to ask him if I could buy lambs bones from him for the dogs. I mentioned it was for the dog as other wise he may have thought I wanted choice meaty bones for myself. Well he didn’t mind at all that I asked this and said that the bones would be for free!! Gosh what luck!!

So twice a week I go to the Islamic shop which includes “our” butcher. Each time the amount of bones seems to get more! First I gave rather sparingly as to how many bones they got at each “lamb bone (plus some meat of so sort) meal”, but lately I give them generous amounts of bones to stop my freezer from becoming completely full. And let me say I have a big freezer! Not only dose the amount get more but the quality of bones as to how much meat is still left on them is getting better too. How lucky can one get??

The dogs think they are in heaven. The bones are so good to give when I have to work. Whether they are left at home to “fend for them selves” for a few hours, or that I work longer so they spend the time at “grandmas”, these bones prove the perfect solution to keep the dogs busy. They spend hours chewing and walking around swapping bones with each other. I would nearly go as far as to say that they get more exercise like this than their daily hourly walk. They gnaw and pull at the meat on the bones so hard that leg and neck mussels get a total workout. Actually they often use their whole body so also the back and hind quarters are getting a work out too. And they all have the most contended look on their face, so cute.

It’s always rather fun to go into this shop as they have all sorts of things I had never seen and tasted before. Each week I try something new, and usually something old that is just too yummy to not buy. So I get my free bones and the shop gets an extra client or two as I often take someone along with me that, like me, wants to try these “new” things too.

Oh, I get my sheep heads from there too LOL. The last time I ordered 4 of them. The butcher put them on the counter when I went to get them and a small Turkish lady looked at me in a funny but enthusiastic way and said something I couldn’t understand. I guessed she asked “what on earth do you want to do with those?” and I smiled back at her in embarrassment. The butcher told me what she actually said, which was that she really wanted a couple of heads too and if I was willing to let her have two of mine. Maybe since she lived in Holland she didn’t think it was the “done thing” to buy sheep heads and was mighty relieved to see that some Dutch idiot was buying them so it was ok for her too. LOL, well I didn’t mind at all so we shared the heads. By the way, I don’t think she bought hers for the dogs ROFL.

And now the information what most of you log in for….. Tieka. Unlike Eros’s puppies Caio’s are quiet. At least up till now. They are not moving about yet…. I spend hours with Tieka on my lap and my hands on her tummy… but nothing but a small hint of movement so I don’t dare to say for sure what I know you hope I will say. But according to the “pregnancy calendar” on the 10th this should start, so I guess I’m just being too impatient.

Oh you all won’t believe how noisy it is here!!!

I had bought a pumpkin for myself and the dogs. I peeled it and boiled it. Then I put it all in my “food processor”, put half the mash back in the pan, added a pot of stock and a beaker of “crème fraiche”, warmed it all up again and that was my pumpkin soup made!

The other half I left in the mixer, added all the peel and some of the seeds and processed it again. This is for the dogs. They say it’s very good for dogs if they have "problem stoles”. Whether they have the runs or it’s too hard, pumpkin mix fixes all!!! Pretty amazing I think. Then I got a tray and put blobs of the pumpkin mix on it, put it all in the freezer and if all goes well I can take them off the tray tomorrow and put the “blobs” in a bag for later use. To my amazement the dogs loved the stuff. I must say it did taste good in soup form so I shouldn’t have been surprised.

The seeds I have put to dry on the heater. Ground up pumpkin seeds are apparently an excellent natural way of getting rid of worms. Yes you live and learn!

The plastic beaker that contained the Crème Fraiche I gave to the dogs to lick out. And now Zanna is using it as a toy, a very noisy toy! She is throwing it around, biting it, throwing again, standing next to me growling cheekily and me growling back (yes we are nuts) and then she is rushing of again….. Hence all the noise!

And how is Tieka? Apart from being a cuddly baby Tieka is getting bigger and bigger enjoying all the extra food and if all is well its 3 weeks to go!! I sure hope this isn’t a phantom pregnancy. Only nature can make life so exciting......

My goodness, Ernest is so quick so I must make a quick note to tell you about the photos…

The first is Tiekas tummy again, now at 5 weeks. And whos head do we see popping around the back?

Second photo is a really cool photo of Saskia and I. Saskia is on the right :-)

And the third photo is Zanna and Tieka rolling in the snow this afternoon after having to stay inside all morning. They were so crazy and very cute. You may notice that Tieka, at the front, is having more difficulty rolling now she is getting chubbier.

I’m sure I have the cutest Lagotti in the world ;-)