Litter free whelped:   December 23, 2011

Number of puppies:  2 males, 3 females

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

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

Breeders:  Brigitte Rhinehart and Kathleen Borgmeyer

Registered name: Brush Creek's P... of Landhof


Comment:  In October, our sweet Maia traveled from Brush Creek Farm to the Everman family in Smithville MO to meet the handsome Mr. Ilanz. A radiograph taken on Dec. 19 showed 4-6 puppies. The babies will be born at Brush Creek Farm and will grow up at the Borgmeyers in Martinsburg. As always, we hope that the whelping will be smooth and all the babies pretty and healthy. This is Maia's first litter.

Update 12-30-11:  Maia had her 5 babies on Dec. 23, she whelpded them with ease, starting at 1:50 AM and fininishing at 8:35 AM. The puppies are big, with an average birth weight of 22 oz. They are nicely marked and all are very vigorous. Maia is an exemplary mom with plenty of milk to keep this medium size litter happy and growing rapidly.
When puppy #4, Ms Yellow, was born, we noticed that her hind legs were in an unusual position, they looked as they were "put on backwards". In close to 20 years of breeding Swissys, we have never had a puppy with this orthopedic phenomenon. Online research revealed that Ms Yellow might have "Congenital metatarsal hyperextension", the following website documents in great detail such a case in a Whippet puppy  Inverted Hind Legs (Congenital Metatarsal Hyperextension )
Our reproductive vet examined Ms Yellow at 4 days and at this time, he is not sure if the condition is the self limiting CMH or an orthopedic issue in the knees. Only time will tell, we'll have Ms Yellow checked again in early January.

Update 1-2-12: Good news about Ms Yellow aka Twinkletoes: the vet sees improvement and now thinks that it is CMH which can be reversed with daily frequent physical exercise consisting of flexing and extending the hind legs. We hope that Twinkletoes continues to improve and we will report on her progress regularly.
Because Maia has plenty of milk and only 5 babies, these youngsters are easily 1/4 to 1/3 bigger than puppies from larger litters. At one week, the average weight was 41 oz.
On New Year's Day, we had the first visitors for Maia and her babies. The Brooke family from Prairie Village KS with cousins Maize and Jaime stopped by to get a first peek of the puppies, they will get a show prospect girl from this litter. The girls enjoyed cuddling the puppies and mom Maia had no objection as soon as she realized that her babies were not in harm's way. Check out the video of the Brooke family visit.

Update 1-10-12:  The puppies were 2 weeks old on Jan. 6, average weight about 4 lb, they continue to do very well. As always, we start our deworming program at 2 weeks and continue on a biweekly schedule unless the pups have a heavy roundworm load in which case we will worm them weekly until no worms are present in the stools any longer.
Ms Twinkletoes aka Yellow is making excellent progress, she now uses her hind legs routinely and has even started to stand up and walk a few steps. We are very confident that she will completely recover albeit it may take her a bit longer to be fully ambulant. Check out our latest video of Maia and the babies as well as a separate one focusing on Ms Twinkletoes.

On Jan. 9, Maia and the babies traveled to Martinsburg MO where they will stay with Kathleen and Henry Borgmeyer for the next month. Because Kathleen will drive with Robert to the Westminister Kennel Club dog show which takes place on Feb. 13-14, around the second week of February, Maia will return to Brush Creek Farm and the puppies will move to the Beebe family in Lathrop MO (north of Kansas City MO) from where they will leave starting o/a Feb. 24.

Update 1-16-12:  Mom babies are doing great under the watchful eyes and loving care of Kathleen and Henry Borgmeyer. The puppies were 3 weeks old on Jan. 13. They are growing like weeds, and while they are still nursing, Kathleen has started to wean them and they should be fully on solid food in about a week. They also graduadted from their rick-rack ID collars to adjustable nylon collars. The boys are now Mr Green and Blue, the girls Ms Purple, Red and Pink. To our delight and relief, Ms Twinkletoes aka Red does not show any signs of her congenital handicap any longer, she is just as mobile as her siblings. Check the new video and visit Kathleen photo page at  http://www.flickr.com/photos/landhofgreaterswiss