Pups in a box... pic's

[S.R.Patch]

Lucy had her puppies in the cradle of roots coming out from the old hard maple tree in the yard. It was in the 90's and everywhere was so hot I had her tied from a limb that allowed her to circle the tree to stay in the shade. One evening she went to scratching on the roots and I knew things were starting to move along, the next morning she had seven little wigglers and was curled around them. They stayed there for the week while the temperature remained in the 90's, letting the earth cool them as natures blanket,... but the next week was forecast rain and storms so I took a crate out by the tree and laid it on it's side beside the nest. Well, as forecast the rain and storms came and she moved them into the crate and there they've called home the last three weeks.
They now venture out of the crate and come to my feet to eat the softened gruel mix and don't mess in their box as they have the solid footing of the ground to do their business out into the grass and the crate stays clean for their bed.
Next week, I'll move them to the back yard under the peach tree for shade and they'll have fresh grass and earth to fill their noses but I've got to get some beagle netting put up as they're becoming very bold and adventuresome as their instincts and curiosity leads them farther from the nest. I only wish I had children to play with them...

And this is my new dog house I have to stay in when I'm in trouble. You can see I got to bale the hay out in the field yet.

[hogbody]

See what happens when you just let nature take it's course? We think we have to have hi tech welping pens and such and be there to help deliver every pup. The bitch and Ma Nature knows best. I like your dog house. I have a man cave it the basement but sometimes it's not far enough away from you know who!

[warddog]

Nice, healthy looking pups that mother nature blessed you with! You better get that hay bailed before the rain starts.

[mjd]

nice looking pups charles

thats a nice dog house too

[S.R.Patch]

Thanks Hogbody,
I've whelped both ways and there are times one is better than the other. The heat bring on alot of stress, so I figured a good clean piece of soil with shade would serve as well as being cooped up in a whelper. Other than picking up Lucy's droppings, I've had to do nothing, no washing, no disinfecting, and I think the stress level on Lucy and the pups has been non-existent. She always acts like she feels good and the pups have grown and become sure footed, no shyness tho they did take notice of the ole haybaler chugging along yesterday. Every time the baler kicks out a bale, the rear gate slams shut to roll another bale and it makes quite a bang but after 135 bales, my wife said they were taking no notice of it any longer.

Warddog,
I beat the rain! 135, thousand lb. bales, half of what we need but we got some wheat and clover and 30 acres of silage to cut. It was some good heavy hay, good to see the fertilizer didn't all wash down the creek with the rains.

Hi Monte!
Your puppies look great too! , that goat's milk is just the ticket, ain't it. Sorry i hadn't commented but we been cleaning up from the storms and making fire wood.
I wasn't totally honest about the "doghouse", it's really a yard shed for my wife, but she did tell me I'd be sleeping out on the porch if I didn't get the kennels rebuilt fore winter sets in. She loves gardening and potting flowers, she did let me put my chair and sip'n jug on the porch tho...that woman is just too good to me.

[Schag]

Nice looking hounds!

[ted sutton]

That's agood looking bunch of pup's and female to. Good luck with them.

[BCBeagles]

Good looking pups and a dandy little hang out there with fire pit included!!! Beatiful place you have and nice hounds!!

[Beagle Huntsman]

I can't help but wonder how many times those little puppies were tangled up in that cable....

[S.R.Patch]

To ease your mind here's a little test you can do.
Go buy a 20ft. large dog type double swivel tie out cable.
Throw one end over a limb aprox. 10ft. off the ground and snap the end back onto the cable.
Take the other end and snap it onto the collar of your 9 yr. old hound,
Now, get your lawn chair out, have a seat and watch how many times the "stiff" large dog type cable becomes looped and drawn tight.
Also notice how the upward angle of the anchor point and the outward movement of the hound lifts all the cable from the ground and allow the hound a circuit without the usual dragging of the cable on the ground, if it were anchored at ground level.
I think the "stiffness" of the new cable is a big factor along with the uplifting, it will loop but not draw down before it unwinds.
I have seen her take the feet out from under one of the pups tho...

Just last week I was threatened by a kook, with action from the Humane $$ for having a couple of pups out afield with their ears tore up from the briers and another with a cherry eye. It appeared animal abuse to him plain and simple and because they were not "butter fat", I must not be feeding them right! So, I went home and put them away to fatten up and become lazy, so they appear to be "taken care of properly".

I will take the pictures down for you, so you are not troubled or worried about the pups any longer.
Thanks for the "heads up"...

[warddog]

I can't help but wonder how many times puppies get their collars tangled up when out of the pen! How in the world do they ever survive all the debris in the field not to mention the fences. OMG, I've seen them follow their mother into stuff so thick I couldn't even get through only to watch them wiggle their way through a tight woven fence. Now that I've been given reason to wonder I suppose I'll carry them around and only put them down when their mother has ran a rabbit out into an open field. Thanks for the picture Patch as it served to make me aware that puppies need to be coddled until they are grown and then maybe they can learn how to finagle their way through the obsticles they will face in the field and with my knew thinking that collar will also have to wait until they are old enough to be able to untangle it should that happen.

[BCBeagles]

I had mine in the beagle suite whelper, senecca w/hograil, and still lost 2!! Those pups look great!!! and so does there momma. Nature has a way called the strong survive and with adequate care the strong survive, plain and simple. I hover too much over mine and I make myself a nut over them!!

We just had some friends have an old collie tied out. She is fed and watered daily and left on a run similar to yours. She just had five fat healthy surprise puppies for them and they are doing great! Funny sometimes how we tend to overprepare, LOL!!

[Bev]

Patch, that pic of your Lucy dog makes me miss Dolly. They have the same expression/head/face, etc. Bless her heart.

[hogbody]

Patch, I just finished Wilderness Patch Work by Willet Randell. I'm sure you can trace your dogs back to his original line. I bet you are proud to own such a prestigious line of hounds. Men like Willet Randell only come around every hundred years or so........Good luck with your new pups!

[S.R.Patch]

Thanks Bev. & Hogbody,

The heat and humidity are both hanging around the 93 deg.% mark so it is only short trips out to try and do some work and then, back to the house. I got a old thin worn towel and wet it down with cool water to keep around my neck and wipe my face, it sure helps to cool you off till you can't take any more. I got most of a gallon of blue berries picked(my favourite pie) and the tame blackberry are coming on. I picked a hand full of them and they are so full of juice from the rains that they bleed out in my hand while picking them.

The pups have migrated from the shade tree where they were born, to under the new yard shed where my wife pots her flowers. The shed is on 6X6runners and sits on patio blocks for leveling, this leaves about 8" off the ground sloping to the back. They've found the cool earth under the shed untouched by the sun to be of their liking during the heat of the day. It's 14'X16' so I see them popping out both ends as the play under the shade of the building on the cool ground(no stress from the heat for them). I sit their little bucket of water and a pan of powder milk coated feed at one end of the shed for them to eat and drink at will.

They were almost in BIG trouble earlier, as they thought my wife's flower bed would be a better bedding yard, but a couple had started using the shed for shade from the start and now they all have taken up the idea of using the shed, so that's what's saved them for the time-being...
I know it's only a matter of time before they get in trouble again and I have to take action against their free will and range of exploring...

Everyone try and stay cool...!