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Hello, and welcome to the whelping box! I'm Kathleen Sachs. I'm the librarian at an elementary school
here in Boise, and I've raised a litter of Shetland sheepdogs every year or two since 1990. This is
Bonnie's second litter. She is four years old, sable and white, and the best mother I've ever
had in this house.
Six puppies, three boys and three girls, were born on Sunday, August 15, 1999. All six are
spoken for or nearly so, and their families live from Nampa to Pocatello. That's why we have the
PuppyCam: so the families can watch their puppy grow from wherever they are, instead of calling me
every evening at supper. (Some of them still call at supper. That's all right.)
My husband Victor set it up. The camera sits on a shelf over the box, and the cord runs through the
wall to the computer in the den, which stays dialed in on our second phone line all night. If the
picture is black, somebody turned off the laundry room light, and if it's all puppies at the bottom
of the frame, they're at the front of the box waiting for supper.
See our two favorite saved frames >>
(Bonnie with her one-day-olds, and the puppy pile under the heat lamp)
PUPPY ROLL CALL
I don't name the puppies. Their families do that. Until then they go by the color of the rickrack
tied around their necks, which I change every week as they grow. Weights are from the kitchen scale
on Sunday mornings, starting with the day they were born.
| RED |
Boy. Sable and white with a full white collar. First born, at 2:10 a.m., and
still the biggest. Bossy at the food pan.
7 oz · 13 oz · 1 lb 4 oz · 1 lb 13 oz · 2 lb 7 oz · 3 lb 1 oz · 3 lb 11 oz
SPOKEN FOR · the Kendall family, Nampa |
| ORANGE |
Girl. Sable and white with a wide white blaze down her face. Watches everything
before she does it.
6 oz · 11 oz · 1 lb 2 oz · 1 lb 10 oz · 2 lb 3 oz · 2 lb 13 oz · 3 lb 6 oz
SPOKEN FOR · Candy Stowe, who wants an obedience dog, and has picked the right girl |
| YELLOW |
Boy. Tricolor: black with tan points and a white collar. The clown of the litter
and the first one out of the box when the front board came off.
6½ oz · 12 oz · 1 lb 3 oz · 1 lb 12 oz · 2 lb 5 oz · 2 lb 15 oz · 3 lb 8 oz
AVAILABLE · to a pet home that will love him. Please write. |
| GREEN |
Girl. Sable and white with a narrow blaze. The smallest at birth and the last one
born, at 7:45 a.m., but she has caught up, and she's the one chewing her brother's ear in most of the
pictures.
5 oz · 9 oz · 15 oz · 1 lb 7 oz · 1 lb 15 oz · 2 lb 7 oz · 3 lb 0 oz
SPOKEN FOR · Laverne Brickhouse, Pocatello |
| BLUE |
Boy. Sable and white, the darkest sable of the four, with a white tip on his tail
just like his mother. Sleeps through anything.
6 oz · 12 oz · 1 lb 3 oz · 1 lb 11 oz · 2 lb 4 oz · 2 lb 14 oz · 3 lb 7 oz
SPOKEN FOR · Garry and Debra Crabtree, Twin Falls |
| PURPLE |
Girl. Tricolor with a full white collar. Very pretty and very sure of it.
6 oz · 11 oz · 1 lb 2 oz · 1 lb 10 oz · 2 lb 2 oz · 2 lb 12 oz · 3 lb 4 oz
NOT DECIDED · I may keep her. Victor says I said that last time, too. |
Sable and white means a golden-to-mahogany coat with white markings. Tricolor means
black with tan and white. Bonnie is sable; the father is a tricolor dog who lives with a breeder friend
in Oregon, so we got some of each. The puppies can go to their new homes from eight weeks, which is
Sunday, October 10, on through October.
THE PUPPY DIARY
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Week One · August 15 to 21
Bonnie started tearing up the newspaper Saturday night, which is how you know. Red came at 2:10 Sunday
morning and Green, the little one, at 7:45, and by breakfast we had six. Victor slept on the laundry
room floor with a pillow and I sat up in a lawn chair. Everybody nursed right away, and Bonnie wouldn't
leave the box for anything but a quick trip outside. I fed her scrambled eggs by hand. The heat lamp
kept one corner of the box warm, because newborn puppies can't keep their own temperature up. On
Wednesday the 18th the vet took off the dewclaws, and they cried for about a minute and then went back
to sleep.
Week Two · August 22 to 28
Eyes started opening at ten days: Red first, on Tuesday the 24th, and Green last, on Saturday. They
open as narrow little slits and the puppies look like old men squinting. First worming this week.
I went back to work for the start of school, so Victor and the PuppyCam took the day shift. At lunch
I checked on them from the computer in my library. My principal said that was fine as long as I didn't
show the fourth graders. I showed the fourth graders.
Week Three · August 29 to September 4
Ears open, and the first barks, which are more like squeaks. Wobbly walking. They started crawling away
from the warm corner to sleep, which means they don't need the heat lamp any more, so it came down.
They also started climbing on the pig rail (that's the little ledge around the inside of the box that
keeps Bonnie from lying on anybody).
Week Four · September 5 to 11
Victor spent Labor Day building a bigger floor for the box. On Wednesday the 8th they had their first
mush: puppy food soaked soft, with goat's milk. Yellow walked straight through it, Red ate his and half of
Blue's, and Bonnie cleaned up everybody's face afterward. Teeth are coming in, and Bonnie is spending a
little more time out of the box every day.
Week Five · September 12 to 18
Second worming. The families came to visit on Sunday afternoon, one family at a time, shoes off and
hands washed. The front board came out of the box, and now there are puppies all over the laundry room
floor. I've started the noise lessons: the vacuum in the next room, the radio, a pot lid dropped on the
counter. A puppy that hears it all now won't be afraid of it later. On Saturday they had ten minutes on
a clean blanket on the back lawn and thought it was the moon.
Week Six · September 19 to 25
Saturday the 25th was the big vet visit: first shots and a check for every puppy. Hearts, bites, knees
and tummies all good, and everybody got a cookie. Their eyes will be checked by the canine eye doctor on
Saturday, October 2. All six are on four meals a day and sleep through the night, which is more than I
can say for myself.
Today · Sunday, September 26
Six weeks old. Fresh newspaper three times so far, and it isn't noon yet.
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WHAT TO ASK ANY BREEDER
Whether you buy from me or from someone else, please ask. A good breeder won't mind. A good breeder will
ask you just as many questions, and I certainly do.
- Can I meet the mother? She should be right there, friendly and in good shape. You may not meet
the father, but you should know who he is.
- Have the parents' eyes and hips been checked? Shelties can have eye trouble that runs in
families. Ask to see the papers, not just hear about them.
- Where are the puppies raised? In the house, around people and noise, is what you want. Not
in a shed out back.
- What shots and worming will the puppy have had? You should go home with the record and your
vet's next appointment in mind.
- Will you take the dog back? At any age, for any reason. I will, and I have.
- Is there a written contract? There should be, and you should read it.
- Be careful of anyone who always has puppies ready to go, has several breeds, or wants to
meet you in a parking lot.
If you're interested in Yellow, or in a puppy from a future litter, please write and tell me about
your family, your yard, and the last dog you had. I answer every letter, though it may take me until the
weekend while there are puppies in the house.
Puppy watchers since August 8, 1999:
    
Write to Kathleen: [email protected]
Last updated Sunday, September 26, 1999
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