Category: Whelping Journal | Dante & Chianti

One of the gifts of getting older is realizing how much you did not know when you thought you knew everything. After more than twenty years with Poodles, I should probably feel more certain than ever. Instead, my dogs have humbled me enough to understand that experience does not give us every answer. It teaches…

Long before people turned the word bitch into an insult, it was simply the proper word for a female dog. It remains the correct terminology in the world of purebred dogs and conformation. Males are shown as dogs and females as bitches, competing for placements such as Winners Dog, Winners Bitch, Select Dog, and Select…

Grooming one moving target is challenging, but managing five puppies who believe the grooming table is a playground becomes a whole different sport. 😂 At approximately ten weeks old, the puppies had their very first bath today, and they all did wonderfully. Chianti also had her bath and grooming, which meant washing six dogs altogether.…

People sometimes ask why a puppy would need chiropractic care when it has only been alive for a few weeks and seems perfectly capable of rolling over its siblings, falling asleep in impossible positions, missing the edge of the bed, and getting back up as though nothing happened. The answer is not that every puppy…

Today we set up the puppy play area so they could begin exploring new textures, toys, and a completely new environment. The play area is in my living room, where my adult dogs spend their days, giving the puppies their first glimpse into the rhythm of everyday life. Their world is gradually getting bigger, but…

The puppies are officially entering their “high activity, low respect for personal space” phase 🐾😄 Everything is becoming a game now, especially for those who are convinced that life is best experienced at full speed and with teeth involved 🐶💨 They are getting very active, tumbling over each other, testing balance, and discovering that the…

Every litter brings the same question. “Which one is the blue collar?” “Which puppy is mine?” Sometimes the question comes from families waiting patiently for updates. Other times it comes from people following along on social media. They simply want to recognize one puppy from the next. It seems like a perfectly reasonable request, and…