Day 15 - Video feed problem

Sorry about the video feed being down today. We are both at work so we might not be able to get the feed going until this afternoon when one of us gets home. It's not an electrical power issue as I can remote into the other PCs at home; the problem is isolated to the laptop that drives the webcam. We'll get it going as soon as possible. Nobody misses watching it as much as we do.

Day 15 Update

All the pups have now opened their eyes. They are now 2 weeks old. We'll get some fresh pictures up this weekend. Now that their eyes are open we'll need to use natural light instead of of a flash. I'll also get some videos up on Youtube.

Day 14 - And the names are....

Without further ado (and just what the heck is ado anyway?), here are our picks for the puppies' names:

• We pick LUKE for "Jack"; actually we will call him Lucas Jackson. LUKE was submitted by Stephanie, Crash16, and Michele in Florida
• The very first name submitted for "Nightshade" was hard to top. She now will be known as MACKENZIE, suggested by Doodlebug
• Mnttwobe and Michele in Florida liked TANNER for "Tanner", and we like it too, so that will continue to be his name.

I need your e-mail addys so we send along the exclusive family portrait. Thank to everyone who took time to suggest names.

Day 13 WrapUp

The boys have not opened their eyes yet, but the little girl opened her's today. Mindymom said that's because females are more inquisitive than males, to which I opined that one should not confuse inquisitiveness with just plain being nosy. In the spirit of the season, she didn't stay mad long.

Mindy & Schuyler spent about 15 minutes together at close range earlier tonight. They even sat together on Mindymom's lap for a while. We still keep them on leads while they are near each other, and we only do this when they are upstairs away from the pups.

Nominations for names closed about a half-hour ago. Mindymom and I have our choices down to a short list, and we'll let you know what our picks are tomorrow.

Day 13 Update

Don't forget that tonight (Wed. 12/17) at 8pm EST is the deadline for you to submit names for the pups. Mindymom and I will consider all submissions, and announce the winning names tomorrow. The person(s) submitting the winning names will be e-mailed an exclusive picture of the happy family. Thanks to all who have entered so far.

Day 11 WrapUp

Here's today's statistics: they have still not opened their eyes yet, but the two little boys seem to be trying. They all continue to gain weight...

• "Jack" is now 2 lb 9 oz, up 5 oz since Saturday
  
• "Nightshade" is now 1 lb 15 oz, up 3 oz
• "Tanner" is now 2 lb 8 oz, up 5 oz

The names are in quotes because we're still calling them by their "working" names... don't forget to suggest names for them, but get them in by 8pm EST Wednesday, 12/17.

Day 11 - A Milestone of Sorts

From the Extremely Cool Department: as of today, when you Google "Mindy's puppies", this blog comes up as the first and second search results.

Day 10 WrapUp

Mindy and the pups had 3 sets of visitors today. None were people she sees on a regular basis. She was very good with everyone and let them hold and love her babies (she had to be close by, of course).

I made a mistake earlier today when I posted the weights. The little girl is 1 lb. 12 oz.

Day 10 - Name The Pups Contest

Doodlebug reminded me that I had said there would be a contest to name the pups, and when I published their pictures earlier today I called them Jack, Nightshade, and Tanner. Those are the names that Mindymom and I have started calling them, and of course their new owners can name them anything they want. But for right now they each have "working" names so that we don't have to refer to them as Number 1, Number 2, or Number 3.

So. We're open for suggestions for other working names for the pups. Doodlebug has tossed in "Mackenzie" for the girl, which does have its charm. Nominations are open until Wednesday at 8pm eastern. No prizes will be awarded, but if you win you'll get a warm feeling all over your body.

Have at it!

Day 10 Update - New pictures

My el-cheapo Olympus D-520 camera finally died. It was an adequate camera, and quite frankly I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.

The puppies are growing like crazy. They are gaining as much as 2 ozs. a day. None have their eyes open yet, but they all are trying. Here's some new pictures taken about a half hour ago with a borrowed digital camera. The pups are lined up in birth order.


The first one is called Jack. He's at 2 lbs 4 oz. The second goes by the name of Nightshade, and she weighed in today at 1 lb 10 oz. And last but not least is Tanner, and his weight today is 2 lbs. 3 oz.

We continue to encourage Mindy and Schuyler to become friendly again. Maybe in a day or two we'll try to have them in the same room without leashes.

Day 7 - Pictures from the past

Here's a picture of Mindy & Schuyler taken about a week after we got Mindy. She's probably about 9-10 weeks old and Schuyler's about a year old. We had to separate them at feedin' time because even back then Mindy would try to eat all the food. Check out the tongue action (click on the picture for a larger view).


Here's another taken at the same time. Look how small Mindy was then. She's 4 times as big as Schuyler now.

Day 7 - A Week Old!

The pups will be a week old around midnight tonight. They have grown remarkably since then and are starting to develop their own personalities. I'll take some more pictures of the three of them probably tomorrow and I'll pose them lined up like they were in the Day 2 pictures for comparison.

We're working on getting Mindy and Schuyler reacquainted with one another. We'll have them both on leashes - upstairs, away from the puppies - and let them sniff and howdy-do each other for about a minute before we separate them. We'll continue to do this daily until all signs of tension between them are gone. Hopefully they can go back to being the best friends they were before the babies came, but we don't expect this to fully happen until the pups have moved to their new homes. If anyone has experience with this scenario, we welcome your advice.

We enjoy hearing from you. We feel like we've got a community going with good folks from literally all over the world. If you've never given us a shout-out, leave a comment or drop us an email, and be sure to tell us where you're from.

Day 6 WrapUp

I weighed the puppies tonight. The lemon is 1 lb 8 oz, the black is 1 lb 4 oz, and the tan is a whopping 1 lb 9 oz.

Day 6 Update

If you're ever watching the feed with the sound on and you hear Mindy barking & howling, don't worry if everything is OK. What's probably going on is that one or both of us were down there and had just gone back upstairs. She loves it when we spend time time with her and doesn't like it to end.

Write your congressperson and suggest a Mindypup becomes our country's First Dog!

Natalee and the pups

Here's two pictures taken tonight when our granddaughter Natalee saw the puppies for the first time.
 

An Open Letter to Our New First Family

Dear President-Elect and First Lady-Elect Obama:

Sincere heartfelt congratulations on your election to our nation's highest office. In your acceptance speech America heard you promise your daughters a puppy when you and your lovely family move into the White House. I humbly suggest you consider a basset hound puppy to be Malia and Sasha’s new dog. Bassets are gentle and friendly dogs with a sad but lovable countenance. They are loyal to those they love and are fairly low-maintenance dogs. Allergy concerns should be minimal as bassets have short coats.

We would be honored and delighted if you would accept our donation of one of our Mindy’s puppies. Please contact us if you would like to be the proud owners of what would probably be the first basset hound in history to reside in the White House.

One question: since Mindy would be the mother of our Great Nation's First Dog, would she be eligible for live-in around the clock Secret Service protection? We have a comfortable couch in the basement close by Mindy's pen.

Deepest Regards,
Mindymom and Mindydad,
Shenandoah, VA

Day 5 Morning Update

Everybody is doing great. The pups are growing and Mindy is eating well. She's willing to spend a little more time away from the kids and be with us. She enjoys it when we sit on the couch beside the pen so she can jump up there with us and nuzzle up to us and get petted like she used to. The pups will whimper, though, and she's quick to jump down and get back to them. We're still keeping Mindy & Schuyler separated. In a day or two we will try letting them socialize again, but this time they will both be on a lead so we can avert any aggression.

Day 4 - This morning's action

We've been keeping Schuyler and Mindy separated since the puppies were born, particularly since she snapped at him a couple of days ago. This morning I was downstairs with Mindy - the basement door was closed - and she heard Schuyler walking around upstairs. She ran to the top of the stairs and was whimpering and her tail was wagging. I thought that since she was acting like she wanted to see him, I would let them get together again and see what happened. She ran right up to Schuyler, tail still wagging, and Schuyler immediately tensed up. I think he remembered how Mindy attacked him the other morning, because of a sudden he attacked her and a bite-fight broke out. We immediately pulled them apart and I took Mindy downstairs while Mindymom calmed Schuyler down. When I got Mindy in the pen with her puppies, I saw that my left forearm had been bitten. I think Mindy accidentally got me while I was separating them.
Mindy & Schuyler are both OK, and as for me, " 'tis only a flesh wound." (Trivia Quiz! What movie is that line from? First one to give the correct answer will be the first one to give the correct answer.)

By the way, when you answer the trivia question, or post a comment or send an e-mail, please let us know where you are from. We've heard from Canada, Manila, London, and other places. Mindy and the pups are on their way to becoming global superstars!

Mindymom bought some canned food and we gave some to Mindy. She gobbled it down quickly, which is the first meal she's eaten since the births. We're SO glad she's eating again.

Day 4 Morning Update

The pups are growing before our eyes. I weighed them Saturday, but they all look like they're gained weight since then. Mindy and Schuyler got into it this morning and I got the worst of it; I got bit on the forearm when I was pulling them apart. I'll post again later today with the full scoop (how's that for a tease?). Everybody's doing OK now, we'll have to continue to keep them separated.

Day 3 Update

Mindy and her pups are doing great. The 2 little boys are up to 1 lb. 4 oz each and the girl is 1lb. 1 oz. Mindy enjoys getting out once and a while for a quick poop'n'whiz break, but she can't wait to get back to her brood.

Schuyler the dachshund is livin' large as the only upstairs dog. He enjoys sitting with us more than he ever did. I guess he thinks we have only one dog now. Mindy is still very protective when she senses he is anywhere close to the babies so we keep them out of each other's eyesight.

Day 2 WrapUp

Mindy's been restless some today. I think the confinement may be getting old. We've let her out three times today but she can't wait to get back to the pups. She'll settle in again with the babies but will soon get restless all over again. She stays calm when we're down there and will whine and bark when we leave, but that lasts for less than a minute.

I'm shutting the video feed down about an hour earlier tonight so she can have some peace in the dark. We'll resume the feed tomorrow morning. In the meantime, be sure to check out the pictures in the previous post. They were around 36 hours old when I took them.

Mindy is doing an excellent job of motherhood in spite her restlessness.

Pictures and Statistics

As promised, here are some pictures of the babies that were taken today about 12:30pm when they were right at the 36-hour-old mark. They are lined up left-to-right in birth order.

The first one (a male) is a classic lemon color and was born on Dec. 4 at 11:54pm, weighing 13 oz. The black one (a female) was born 25 minutes later on Dec. 5 at 12:19am at 12 oz. The tan pup (another male) was born 21 minutes later at 12:40am weighing 14 oz.

Notice how pink their nose and mouth areas are. That's a sure sign of a puppy's good health.

Day 2 Morning Update

Mindy & the pups are doing great. All of the babies are very active. When I tried to line them up on the couch for a picture, none of them would hold still. They were squirming around looking for the milk bar. Mindy has been out for her morning constitutional but was very eager to get back to her babies.

We're keeping Schuyler upstairs for the time being. Mindy gets very aggressive when he comes downstairs where the babies are.

Day 1 WrapUp

Well, the puppies are almost a day old, and I have not posted to the blog today as much as I intended. We've both been sick - as our regular readers know - and I simply have not felt like doing much of anything today. We have looked in on the new family frequently to make sure all is well. Tomorrow is another day. Hopefully we'll be more up to speed healthwise and less lethargic than today.

On a programming note, we're cutting the webcam from a 24/7 schedule and will be switching it off overnight so Mindy can get some well-deserved rest without a light on all the time. We'll stream from around 6:30am to 9:00pm EST (or thereabouts), so be assured that we will continue our live video feed, but at more reasonable hours.

Pictures of the puppies and their stats WILL be posted tomorrow, I promise.

First picture of the family

Here's a shot of Mama & the kids. More to come.