NOTE:  All the puppies have been reserved and will join their new families by the end of July

Date of birth: Litter free whelped May 29, 2010

Sire: Ch. Brush Creek's Ilanz of Blossom Hill "Ilanz"

Dam:  Ch. Landhof's Holly of Brush Creek "Holly"

Breeders:  Kathleen Borgmeyer and Brigitte Rhinehart

Number of puppies:  4 males, 6 females

Kennel name:  Brush Creek's J... of Landhof

Comment:  Holly is definitely pregnant and we are looking forward to welcoming her babies at the end of May. We are expecting some sweet and pretty puppies from our sweet and happy Holly and the handsome and mellow Ilanz. This litter will be the first for both Holly and  Ilanz.

Update 5-21-10:  The pre-whelp x-ray showed 8 to 9 puppies, Ms Holly is getting bigger by the day, her activity level has slowed down markedly, laying around and sleeping is now her preferred daily routine.

Update 5-29-10:  Holly started to have her babies at 9.40 PM on Thursday, May 28. She delivered a baby steadily on average about every 90 minutes. Since the x-ray showed 9 babies, we thought that after #9 at 10.30 AM she was done but to our surprise 4 hours later, she popped another one out. The 10 babies are good size, on average about 17 1/2 oz. and the markings are quite uniform. They are all robust and very lively and Holly is an outstanding mom. She has an abundance of milk and is a veritable cleaning machine, the babies are absolutely spotless.
Today, Holly and her brood traveled from Phillipsburg to the home of the Everman family in Smithville MO. The puppies will grow up and leave from there at the end of July. Sheila and Mike Everman and their children Elizabeth, Colin and Jenna will give the babies plenty of attention and loving so that they will be well adjusted and ready to meet the challenge of going to a new home in about 9 weeks.

Update 6-6-10:  The puppies were one week old on June 4, they are doing great and have increased their birth weight between 8 and 12 oz. They now can be identified by the color of the rick-rack collar: The boys are Black, Green, Yellow and Light Green, the girls are Purple, Turquoise, Red, Blue, Pink and Orange.

Update 6-11-10:  The babies are now 2 weeks old, they are all between 2 and 2 1/2 pounds, they are growing like weeds after a warm spring rain! Their eyes are open and they start to get up on their legs instead of just crawling. They got their first dose of wormer and in another week, they'll be introduced to solid food.

Update 6-18-10:  The puppies are growing like weeds, cute weeds, as Sheila says! Almost all are in the 3 lb+ weight range. This week, they will be introduced to solid food which at the beginning is a pretty messy affair because we start with a mixture of baby rice and milk replacer the consistency of soup. They step into it and get it all over their paws and faces which they then wipe off on their siblings. This phase does not last long as they learn quite quickly how to handle the mush. By week 4, they will be completely on soaked kibble, they will also have learnt how to drink water from a bowl.

Update 7-4-10:  The puppies were 5 weeks old on July 2, they are getting bigger by the day. Their individual personalities are starting to emerge as they are playing with each other and also interacting much more actively with people. They are having a great time running and romping around outside in the grass, having them outside in the sun and fresh air is not only healthy, it also makes cleaning up much easier. Once the puppies are fully on solid food and the mom has pretty much stopped cleaning up after them, they turn into veritable little pooping machines!

Update 7-12-10:  On July 9, the puppies turned the 6 week mark, in only 3 short weeks, they will be ready to go to their new homes. It has been hot and humid on and off during the past week, and because this kind of weather is hard on the puppies, they are staying inside most of the day, with the occasional foray into the yard later in the evening when the sun has set and and it is getting cooler.
On July 23, the puppies will travel to Brush Creek Farm, first at the vet for the blood draw for the U of MO epilepsy DNA marker study, then for the conformation evaluation. It is after the evaluation that we will make our final puppy assignment and the new families will know which baby will become their new Swissy family member.

Update 7-16-10: A bit of cooling down allowed us to let the puppies romp outside again at least for a while. They are now 7 weeks old and weigh between 11 and 14 lb, they'll be between 14 and 18 lb by the time they leave for their new homes in a couple of weeks.