New Life on the Homestead

Some new life arrives quietly without anyone noticing, such as was the case with the calla lily outside my window.  Other new life arrives with much fanfare and excitement - enter 10 new mini schnauzer puppies into the world!

Yes, you read and counted correctly - TEN!  Tachi and Cooper had 10 puppies on August 8, 2019.  Tachi had an ultrasound during her pregnancy that simply revealed she was having multiples.  (It is difficult to count puppies on an ultrasound.)  As the pregnancy progressed, I estimated she was having 6 or 7.  However, in the last week, based upon her size, I knew it was going to be a large litter.  But 10?  That's almost unheard of for mini schnauzers.

Here they are with their birth weights and name stories.​  As holding with our tradition, each of our five children gets to name and claim a puppy as "theirs" while they are here at Russell Homestead.

Chester is a salt and pepper boy that weighed 8 ounces at birth.  He is named after Chester the cricket from  A Cricket in Times Square (a book we recently enjoyed as a family read-aloud).

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Tracker is a salt and pepper boy who tipped the scales at 5 ounces (tie for the smallest in the litter with his brother, Zuma).  CJ wanted the smallest puppy, as did his brother, JJ.  I told them there are two little "twins" they can have as theirs for 8 weeks.  CJ named him in honor of the Chihuahua on Paw Patrol.

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Zuma is a salt and pepper boy who entered the world at 5 ounces (tie for the smallest in the litter with his brother, Tracker).  JJ named and claimed him because he also wanted the smallest puppy.  He chose Zuma in honor of the chocolate lab on Paw Patrol.

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Zeke is a black & silver boy who weighed 8 ounces at birth.  He is named in honor of Ezekiel, the prophet in the Old Testament.  Out of every litter, we choose at least one Bible name to recognize God as the creator of life.

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Amelia, the only salt & pepper girl, came into the world at 8 ounces.  AJ chose her as his and named her in honor of Amelia Bedelia.

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Ivan is a black & silver boy who debuted at 8 ounces.  He is named after his sire, who we affectionately call "Cooper Ivan" at times.  He is EJ's puppy for the 8 weeks we get to enjoy them.

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JD, a black & silver boy, tipped the scales at 8 ounces.  Unlike his 3 black & silver brothers, he has no white on his chest at all.  He is named after John Dennis in the Great Brain series that we read as a family.

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Auggie, a black & silver boy, joined the family at 7 ounces.  He is named for being born in the month of August.  (Isn't his pink nose adorable?)

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Faith, a black & silver girl, came into the world weighing 7 ounces.  She is named after her dam, whose full name is Tachianna Faith.

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Everest is a black & silver girl who weighed 8 ounces at birth.  She was named by MJ in honor of the husky from Paw Patrol.

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Tachi's labor and delivery went well, and all 10 puppies looked fabulous at birth.  We are monitoring Tachi and the puppies closely.  We keep her whelping area as clean as possible by changing the bedding several times a day.  We take Tachi's temperature at least twice a day and make sure she is getting lots of food and water.  We weigh the puppies 3-4 times a day.  With such a large litter, we are ready and waiting to supplement any that show signs of needing extra.  Thus far, they are all maintaining or gaining without supplementing.  Only Faith dipped a bit under her birthweight, but came back up within hours.  All the puppies show healthy signs of swimming (propelling themselves around looking for food and warmth), twitching while sleeping, sleeping in a pile, and making adorable little squeaks and squeals.

Out of the litter, 4 are salt & pepper like Tachi and 6 are black & silver like Cooper.  We can tell this by looking at their ears and their sides.  The salt & peppers have tan/silver hair on their ears and sides, while the black & silver do not.  Below, Ameila on the left is salt & pepper and Faith on the right is black & silver.

We feel overwhelming blessed!  Thanks for stopping by and enjoying new life with us today.