Breeder's Diaries - our first Stabyhoun litter

06/06/2024

33 days old update!

All p*es and poos done outside today! I am sooooo excited! I have not had to change the pen/bedding today (yet)!

Brunello & Albarino have tried new food - sweet potato (take it or leave it 🤣). We also snuck in some soft goats cheese -

We have worked on ‘taking a treat’ protocol (with cooked chicken that they have tried yesterday) - to actually teach them to take treats from hand, before any more formal training can commence.

They woke up at 4:30am today and stayed up until 6am! So I am knackered 😴 I am going to try a different strategy tomorrow morning and give them a ‘chew project’ when they wake up!

05/06/2024

32 days old! Wow, where is the time going!

Food: they have had a taste of chicken, beef & venison as well as white potato, raspberry, banana, kefir & sauerkraut - populating the gut with ‘good’ bacteria.

Socialisation: met 13 different people (including a teenager, two children and a baby).

Toilet training: 70% is happening in the litter tray! 💪 even toileted outside several times over the last 2 days.

This morning had a first ‘proper’ awake session with noisy play (5:30-6:30am 🫣).

Brunello learnt how to climb out of the pen 🤦🏻‍♀️ (my money was on Albariño for that 🤣).

We love watching them grow 😍

01/06/2024

And just like that… our puppies are 4 weeks old!

Some of the important things that we have been doing/observing this week:

🐾 Startle recovery - introducing noises and objects to elicit startle response followed by quick recovery. 💥
🐾 Novelty - introducing a new object/experience every day - meeting new people, exploring more of the living room, as well as novel objects in the weaning pen. 🥳
🐾 Weaning - introducing new foods to their diet. Slow enough to not to upset the tummies, but frequently enough to help them develop healthy gut. 🦴
🐾 They are picking up and carrying toys. 🧸
🐾 They are able to follow movement (you should have seen me trying to clean the pen this morning 🤣).
🐾 They are actively seeking human interactions 🥰.
🐾 Brunello displayed first sign of fear (rather than startle) yesterday, so I suspect we may have hit the fear period a little bit early (expected at around 5 weeks). This is a normal behavioural milestone, just means we need to be careful with novelty/scary things for a couple of days (I won’t bring that massive rocking horse in just yet 🤷🏻‍♀️).
🐾 Socialisation continues, we are working on making them the most confident/happy pups they can be!

If you have any questions about puppy socialisation, please let me know in comments or via DM. I am planning on doing ‘live from the whelping box’ soon, so will try and answer as many of them as I can!

29/05/2024

25 days old! They look more and more like little dogs rather than guinea pigs 🤣

🐾 First ‘meal’ finished (Nutriment weaning paste with raw goats milk curtesy of The Flying Goats Dairy)!
🐾 New experience was a robot hoover - Albariño slept through it Brunello just about noticed it!

🐾 Yesterday the pups had some raw venison mince from Casey Fields Farm Shop at Vicars Game

🐾 New edible item was a tiny amount of mashed potato (with goats milk).

We are adding a new object or experience, each day, which is essential from the socialisation point of view. We also add new foods every few days, now we have started weaning (in very small amounts), to help populate their gut microbiomes.

27/05/2024

23 days old.

Novelty item (fluffy bath mat) got p*ed on.
Puppies met a new person can’t tag you Bethany!
Happily fell asleep next to the new person.
Tried to get off the bed to go to the toilet!
Albariño started picking up toys!
Sound of the robot hoover upstairs (getting stuck and beeping).

I didn’t get anything done again 🤷🏻‍♀️🤣

24/05/2024

20 days old!

In today’s news:

🐾 Introduced a new bed; 😃
🐾 Brunello has been lapping goats milk with some weaning paste; 😊
🐾 Albariño almost gave me a heart attack when I couldn’t see him in the pen; 😱
🐾 Brunello is now tall enough to reach the ‘milk bar’ even when Napa is standing up 🤯

22/05/2024

Brunello’s first bark 🥰

21/05/2024

Live from the whelping box - 17 days old

20/05/2024

Excuse the state of the pen - all the best bits I capture happen just before I change it 🤣.

I think Brunello is trying to initiate play/social interaction 😍

18/05/2024

At 2 weeks old these little Stabyhouns have trebled their birth weight, and are starting to toddle. Look at Albariño’s climbing skills!

15/05/2024

11 days old and Whelping box reorganisation 😊

We had another milestone today! Brunello & Albariño are toileting on their own! Which means we have now created a sleeping area/nest surrounded by p*e pads.
This is not yet toilet training, however puppies do have a strong instinct to keep the nest clean, so they are likely to move off the nest to to toilet.

This, of course, helps with toilet training in the future.

In other news, Brunello almost opened his eyes and Albariño is almost a kilo in weight!

Although Albariño is currently hedging his bets and doing half on half off 🤣

12/05/2024

Live from the Whelping Box!

11/05/2024

Brunello & Albariño are a week old! 🐶🐶🐾🐾

Both have doubled their birth weight yesterday!
They are starting to move around more (so we put a non-slip base in the whelping pen).
Napa is happy to spend time away from them, while still keeping an eye (so we are making sure she always has an option to escape).
Constipation is still a thing - Napa is feeding them well and they have no breaks 🤣.
I have had one almost uninterrupted night sleep 2 nights ago (last night was rough, as Napa wanted to go out to the toilet/move around/sleep next to me on the sofa for 5 minutes).
I am still sleeping on the sofa with the lights on, but I am no longer trying to stay awake/setting alarm hourly to check on them.

Once they reach a 1kg in weight, they are going to be less fragile, so I may be able to sleep through the night more often than not! 😃

10/05/2024

Today we have put a rug grip into the pen to help puppies with… you guessed it - grip!

Look at them go!!! 😍

What will the next milestone be? Eyes opening or toileting on their own? 🤔

Answers in comments 🫢

08/05/2024

They are four days old!!! 🐶🐾

Today we ventured outside for the first time, so puppies could smell some of the plants in the garden.

Albariño seemed to enjoy the outing, Brunello was not sure, as there was as no food…

In other news, with a small litter and availability of milk we have some chunky pups, that keep getting constipated because of eating too much.

Usually mum stimulates toileting by liking the pups, but I had to step up several times today with coconut oil and baby wipes.

Finger covered in coconut oil seems to be the winner. 🫣

07/05/2024

07/05/2024

Introducing scent of Rosemary to 3 days old Stabyhoun puppies 🐶🌿

05/05/2024

After a complete rollercoaster of the last 48 hours - we are happy to introduce Brunello & Albariño!

Two happy, healthy, chunky boys 🥰

We thought Napa had more, as the previous scans suggested, so after she delivered 2 pups in under 30 minutes, and then nothing happened for the following 4 hours panic set in.

After a vet trip for a scan and an X-ray (not your regular Saturday night) we were given all clear and we can now shift our focus on raising these two little pups to be the best dogs they can be 😍🐶🐾

I cannot thank our fabulous Vets for their support!

01/05/2024

Pre-whelp vet check

Puppies have strong heartbeats, are well developed and ready to come out whenever they decide to!

Our amazing vet is going to be on standby this weekend, should we need any help!

This has lifted the weight off my shoulders, as I was so anxious about the due date being over the bank holiday weekend!

28/04/2024

Names (as long as the puppies are not born on Star Wars day 🤞).

We have selected a few we can pick from. The rules of the Dutch kennnel club are: it needs to be a one word with 22 characters or less. We wanted to pick names that are not overused.

These are going to be registered names, you can, of course, choose your own name (call name) for your puppy. 😃

So here is a long list of wine related names. Do you have a favourite? 😍

Nebbiolo
Brunello
Barollo
Albariño
Gavi
Rioja
Sauvignon
Cabernet
Carmenere
Muscadet
Mavrodaphne
Trebbiano
Montepulciano

24/04/2024

Puppies are moving! I felt them today for the first time!!! 😍😍😍

23/04/2024

Sooo we are in the final few days… day 52 today.

Napa is fit as a fiddle, so not showing much. It’s anyone’s guess how many puppies are in there!

I guess it will be a good start for the puppies…

How many do you think she is carrying?

22/04/2024

Names…

We have had a nice list of wine themed names lined up (Napa is named after Napa Valley)… but with the due date being May the Fourth if she delivers then, my hand will be twisted!

Any Star Wars fans here that can come up with obscure names on the subject?

As long as she does not deliver on 4/05, we are going ahead with the wine theme. But if it is the Star Wars day, we need a backup!

16/04/2024

Puppy developmental periods and what to expect 😃

It’s a long one, so grab a cuppa ☕️

Less then 3 weeks to go until the puppies are here, so I am going to talk about developmental periods and milestones they go through. I will use pictures of Napa’s litter to demonstrate what puppies look like at each stage (Napa is the one with the green collar and a white ring on her tail 😍).

Neonatal - from birth to approximately 2 weeks of age.
Puppies are born pretty much helpless - unable to look after themselves. They are eyes and ears are sealed shut, as they are underdeveloped.
Puppies are unable to regulate their own temperature or even toilet on their own (mum stimulates toileting by licking them).
The most important challenge for us during the first few days will be to ensure that puppies are feeding, putting on weight, are not too cold and don’t get accidentally squashed by Napa.
I have already stocked up on coffee, and we will be sleeping in shifts 🫣.

Other things that are likely to happen during this time - ENS (early neurological stimulation), handling, and first introduction to nail clipping.

The key milestones during this period are: puppies will started toileting by themselves, their eyes and ears will open.

Transitional period 2-3 weeks.
This is when puppies eyes and ears will open, they will start trying to walk, may even start lapping liquids.

Important things - to avoid bright lights and loud noises while their eyes and ears adjust to new experiences.

This is when toileting and sleeping areas will be introduced (if not earlier), so toilet training will start.

We will also start introducing new tactile items in the whelping box for puppies to explore.

From week 3, the socialisation period begins! This is the time I am most looking forward to!

In week 4, we are hoping to meet all the new puppy families, as well as introducing some of our friends. So puppies will meet a wide variety of different people.

Each day, puppies will be introduced to a new object in the weaning pen, as well as new experiences, household sounds, as well as sound recordings (thunder, fireworks etc.).
Teeth will start coming through sometime between week 3-4, this is the time when mum usually becomes less eager to feed them and puppy food will be introduced.

Very important thing about this time between weeks 3-5 is that puppies don’t really have much of a fear response. Their curiosity largely outweighs their fear. So it is a prime time to introduce puppies to as many novel people, objects, sounds!

Week 5 approximately is when puppies go through their first fear period. Things that they make been absolutely fine with a couple of days before, May suddenly spook them.

We will avoid visits/too much novelty over these few days.
Week 6-7 visits can resume, and we are going to be introducing puppies to car travel, novel places (I already have a buggy 😃) and puppy friendly vaccinated dogs (in our garden). Week 7 is when puppies will get microchipped.

Week 8 - is significant as another fear period is likely to happen. One of the reasons, I do not want puppies to go to their new homes too early.
We will play it by ear this week to have puppies first vaccination done. As I do not want them to visit the vet during the fear period, to avoid creating negative associations.
Week 9-10 more new places, people, dogs, other animals (I have 2 stables lined up for visits 😊). We also run puppy socialisation sessions, which I am planning on taking some of the puppies to - those who would benefit from attending.

There are, of course a lot more details about what is going to happen and when. But it would make a very long read!
I think I will post my weekly plans once puppies are here 😃

14/04/2024

Food, glorious food!

Or how Napa is always starving! 🤦🏻‍♀️

We feed our dogs raw. I appreciate it’s not for everyone, there are limitations, especially if you travel/spend time away, and I am not evangelistic about it.

Puppies will be weaned on raw, however we will introduce a lot of different fresh foods, as well as dry food, to ensure we give them as much diversity in gut microbiome as possible, and to prepare them for all kinds of food they may be eating.

When it comes to feeding a pregnant dog, there isn’t that much in terms of resources. I will link the most useful article I found at the end, it is also shared on the UKSA website.

This is what we did earlier in the pregnancy, doing now and planning on doing up to the puppies are with us.

For the first 5 weeks of pregnancy, there are no real changes in quantity of food (Napa disagreed with us on this at every available opportunity, as she was and is starving).

However these are the things we started adding to her diet and timescales (this is as much my own diary, so I can look back at what potentially worked/didn’t work):

Wheat germ oil capsules - from start of season to 3 weeks post mating.
Raspberry leaf tablets - from week 3 post mating to the whelping.
Folic acid & omega 3 from the mating (I was told I could start it from the moment I decide I would breed, so note for next time) - so leafy greens with every meal with oily fish 2-3 times a week.
Beef broth - we have finally succumbed and got a slow cooker (saves us fortune on bone broth) - so admittedly, this is even more beneficial for our older dogs, as it’s a good joint support supplement. But Napa benefited too 😜 - from mating to 3 weeks before due date.
Sauerkraut - a little bit daily when available.
Kefir - up to 3 weeks before due date 2-3 times a week.

Please note, I am really OTT and make my own kefir & sauerkraut (as well as Kombucha and Sourdough for humans), so please don’t panic, you don’t have to 🤣.

Berries when available (we do have a lot of them in the freezer from the garden).

Eggs 2-3 times a week. And yes, she had quail eggs too (but only because I went to the farm shop and they saw me coming).

Calcium is a tricky thing. It took me a while to get my head around, and I am not sure I have completely (this is where I am hoping the experts will chip in!), but here is my understanding:
Earlier in the pregnancy having more calcium available from natural sources (food) is beneficial. Last 2-3 weeks of pregnancy, adding extra calcium should be avoided (so her endocrine system regulates it better). During whelping, calcium is a really important element, as it controls the strength of contractions, so it may need to be supplemented.
Simples, right 🤯?

Anyway, from yesterday we switched Napa from raw food that has bone (extra calcium in it) to Different Dog - cooked food (no bone), and stopped giving her kefir & bone broth (extra calcium).
However, I am working on sourcing raw goats milk - source of calcium, going to have a good quality vanilla ice cream in the freezer (calcium and sugar - energy) as well as liquid calcium supplement (fast acting) for the whelp and beyond.

I will probably post about my whelping supplies separately and closer to the date.
But here are some pictures of Napa’s dinners and the food prep we have done for her 😃

https://www.dogsfirst.ie/what-to-feed-a-pregnant-dog/

13/04/2024

Choosing a sire for the litter

You would think this would be easy, however it wasn’t…

Having said that, I have had a lot of help along the way from the Stabyhoun UK association, Suzanne Patrick – Napa’s breeder and my breeding mentor (I hope she knows that what her official title is ), quite a few European Kennels that prioritise breeding working Stabijs, in fact, I cannot thank Kennel Mirozzie Kennel Malentha and
Isolde and Janka enough!

My priorities were:

1 Health – hips and elbows were non-negotiable for me. In the past having had a dog with severe hip dysplasia and a different dog with elbow dysplasia, these were non-negotiable for me. So I ruled out any potential studs with less then A hips or 0 elbows.

CD, Epilepsy, vWD were also a consideration, Epilepsy in particular took a long time to get my head around, as it involved going through pedigrees, looking for records not just in the Stud pedigree, but in the relatives/off springs.

Zooeasy is the database where all the Stabij breed information is kept, however, it has one little issue – the documents are in the language of the country of origin. So google translate was utilised a lot, and if you have ever experienced it, it can throw up some interesting translations! But we have got through!

2 Drive/desire to work – this was important to me. I wanted to breed Stabijs that are fit for function and want to ‘do stuff’ with their humans.
Stabyhoun is classed as an HPR (hunt-point-retrieve) dog – more on that later. They are also a ‘jack of all trades’ farm dog – a dog for a farmer that could not afford many dogs for different jobs.

3 Temperament/Steadiness – anything can happen, puppy may get scared during their fear period, so you cannot control the temperament as much as you would want to (early socialisation programs, such as Puppy Culture, that we will use with the litter, will help, of course), however dealing puppies the best genetic hand possible was very important!

4 Genetic Diversity – with such limited numbers, bringing in the new genes into the population is always a good thing! This is why we looked for foreign studs (as we were in a better position to travel), so the UK studs could be used on bi***es with more family commitments!

5 Confirmation (or looks) – least important to me, as I don’t care if we breed a show champion! It would be nice, of course, to be appreciated, however my top priority is breeding dogs that are fit for function!

So with this in mind, we spent a lot of time hunting for a hunter…. However, my first priority of health (and probably some personal hang-ups) got in the way!
Something had to go, and the easiest thing to compromise on was hunting abilities.

So after reviewing close to 30 males, we found our perfect match in Flip/Guus!

Guus was an absolute start from the first point of contact to keeping in touch with his pregnant girlfriend!

So, we have found a stud that had A hips, 0 elbows, nice temperament & confirmation, who also like to hunt….

Now you think it would be easy …

We have talked about dates/travel arrangements and accommodation. Guus was prepared to travel to the UK (which we are forever grateful for), so all was arranged!

And then, boom! Napa comes into season more than a month early!

I have to give big thanks to Hessel & Guus, UKSA and NVSW for making this match happen, as much as we were looking ourselves, it’s the UKSA & NVSW that had the all information regarding the matches!

11/04/2024

Qualifying for breeding 🐶

The breeding of Stabyhouns is controlled by UKSA (UK Stabyhoun association), which is overseen by NVSW (Dutch association).

Stabijs are a rare breed of dogs and every effort is made to ensure that breeding enhances the existing gene pool and health of the population.

In order to qualify Napa for breeding we had to:

Have 2 assessments by 2 different judges with a score of very good or excellent.
Have hips and elbows scored (A or B hips and 0 or 1 elbows qualify for breeding).
Have DNA test completed, to minimise a chance of genetic diseases.

In her first assessment at Stabyfest 2022 Napa scored ‘Excellent’, and in her second assessment at Stabyfest 2023 (we managed to get in front of 2 judges) she got another ‘Excellent’ and a ‘Very Good’.

Her hips scored A and elbows 0 - which made me breathe a huge sigh of relief (having shared my life with a dog with severe hip dysplasia in the past, it’s a heartache I do not wish upon anyone)!

DNA test was satisfactory.

There are some other rules - such as minimum and maximum age, number of puppies/litters produced by the parents already, but those are to do with timings, rather than qualifying criteria.

So we were good to go.

I think it is important to highlight just how much time, effort & commitment goes into this both - from breeders as well as the UKSA!

Here are Napa’s hips & elbows score results, as well as the judges comment.

10/04/2024

Napa & Guus are expecting a litter of Stabyhoun puppies!

In this blog, I will be documenting our journey - from qualifying for breeding, selecting a mate, whelping, raising & socialising puppies.