Little Cherub Chessies

08/20/2023

Tory and Fletcher’s puppies are now ready for their fur-ever homes! They’ve received their first set of puppy shots and microchips.

* Parents are AKC registered and DNA tested for all relevant health clearances.

Please reach out asap if interested in a new four-legged best friend! Puppies are shown below with their starter names, which you are welcome to change upon adoption. (Be sure to read puppy descriptions under each photo!)

* There has been a lot of interest in the two females (Posey and Petunia), so please respond quickly if interested.

06/23/2023

I take back what I had said about Tory’s mothering skills in a previous post. She has become a very committed and “paws on” mama dog! She spends almost all her time tending to her pups, so we don’t have to do anything except change out the bedding every day or so. She’s really come along and finally seems to enjoy the process. 🥰💖🤗

06/22/2023

What do YOU think she could be dreaming about? 😴💤🤔

Share your comments below! 😁😊🤣

06/22/2023

It looks like Tory and her pups have finally mastered the whole “puppy pile / feeding frenzy” maneuver. I’m proud of my mama girl for being so patient while being mauled by a gang of squirming little piranhas! 😁😉🤣

06/22/2023

I was so exhausted from staying up most of the past week that I just had to sleep in my own bed last night. Well, of course I wound up sleeping in late, right through my Alexa alarm.

So, as I rushed downstairs knowing that the pups would be crying to be nursed…. I walked in on an alarming yet reassuring sight! 😳🥹

Tory had somehow tenderly managed to get INTO the laundry basket with her puppies and was sitting up over them to nurse. I was freaked and quickly shooed her out, sure that she was crushing some to death…. but it turns out that they were all fine, thank God.

I then moved all the pups to their “puppy pool” and encouraged Tory to finish the job there. FYI - I keep the pups in the basket with a heating pad for their safety and comfort. When their a bit bigger, they’ll spend all their time in the puppy pool or in an indoor “fenced” area.

Tory acts defensive if any pups wander near her head/face so we always try to monitor her when she’s nursing them. She’s not really what I would call a nurturing mom, as she’s more interested in a “paws off” approach to motherhood. At least she voluntarily wants to nurse them now, so I choose to celebrate our successes, rather than fuss over minor failures. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Here’s a photo of the pups in their basket along with a view of Tory nearby, to help you imagine my unexposed sight of her sitting in there to nurse them!

06/22/2023

Tory and her 7 puppies really seem to be doing well now. We’ve finally settled into a bit of a routine where the “1st shift” (also referred to as the “B Team”) consisting of the smallest 3 pups go in to nurse until they seem full, followed by the “2nd shift” (otherwise known as the “A Team”).

The 1st shift needs the most help getting settked on a ni**le and staying latched on, as they appear less coordinated as their A Team counterparts. The A Team, on the other hand, reminds me of watching a synchronized swimming event. They gots this nursing thing down pat! 😁👍😉

06/21/2023

I tried to post a few hours ago, but I guess it disappeared into the far reaches of the internet somewhere. What I attempted to post was that we took Tory to the Animal Clinic of Hammonton.

The doctor gave her a shot of pain meds and subQ fluids to help hydrate her. They think she’ll be good as long as she continues to nurse the pups.

She did a great job nursing her pups when we got home, but I noticed that one pup seemed to be a cooler temperature than it’s siblings and wasn’t nursing well, even when I held it up in position on a ni**le.

I fed the pup replacement formula using a syringe and then cuddled him in a blanket on top of a heating pad. He slept there alongside one of his siblings, as I also napped on and off. Unfortunately, when I woke up just a little bit ago, he had passed in his sleep. So now, there are only 7 survivors out of the original 10. 😢

The weak pup seemed to cry continually in his sleep, which at first I had thought was some weird puppy snores, but now I think it might be more concerning. I took a video of the sounds as we drove home from the vet visit so it’s posted it below.

06/21/2023

Here’s a short video of the puppies latched on and successfully nursing from Tory. 🤗

06/21/2023

Good news and Bad news…

The bad news is that the last girl puppy born unexpectedly yesterday afternoon didn’t survive. She had seemed a bit weak, but we thought she was finally doing better. However, she evidently passed away overnight.

The good news is that Tory voluntarily nursed her pups this morning, and they are all now happily sleeping off their milk intoxication! One drank so much that he even spit up while Neil was holding him on his lap.

I still have a vet appt to get everyone checked out, though, as it’s a prudent precaution for many reasons. I’ll post again with the results of our vet visit.

06/21/2023

It seems like the pups are having difficulty nursing from Tory. She also seems uncomfortable when they try to latch on, as well.

Her ni**les look really large and the milk ridge area is starting to feel a bit hard and lumpy. My sister advised me to get her checked for mastitis so I’ll be calling the vet first thing in the morning.

In the meantime, the pups were bottle fed using some expressed milk mixed with a supplemental formula. I hope my girl can get the care she needs ASAP to get her milk flowing properly!

06/20/2023

Tory just had ANOTHER female puppy (7:45pm)!!! I’ve never heard of a dog waiting so long between puppy births?! 😳🤷🏼‍♀️🤯

06/20/2023

Surprise update 11:47am: Tory just had ANOTHER puppy (girl)!!! 😳 I swear this dog is always pulling the magician’s handkerchief trick. Where the heck do they all come from?! 🤷🏼‍♀️

Guess what? I was wrong. It turns out that Tory had another puppy in her afterall! She always seems to pop out a surprise puppy many hours after the show seems to be over. It’s another boy, so the “final” final count of live pups is 5 boys, 2 girls. 💕🐅🐾

06/20/2023

Luckily, after the heartache of losing puppy #3, we’ve had two more pups born with remarkable ease! That brings the count up to 4 living pups.

We’re still holding out to see if there’s more to come, though. Unless I’m crazy, only one pup appears to be female, with the rest all male, including the stillborn pup.

Hubby and I finally got Tory to relax and nurse three of her pups, which I think helped with her contractions for the next pup. At first, the squirming puppies didn’t know how to latch on, so I had to get their mouths open and then push them onto a teat until they figured it out. I bet you never knew breeding dogs could be so complicated, huh? 🤷🏼‍♀️

Update 2:26am: Just had another easy birth, and it looks like another girl. 🤗

Final (?) Update 4:17am: Another male pup was born a few minutes ago. Tory handled the deed entirely on her own, except for when I dried him off with a towel to keep him from getting chilled.

I’m pretty sure that’s the last pup, according to my skills at palpating. If so, I was right on the mark with my estimates as things progressed. Total count is 6 live pups plus the 1 she lost. Nursing them should be way easier than the 12-1 in her last litter! 😁

06/20/2023

This is Tory giving birth to puppy number 2. (This turned out to be a good position for pushing, obviously.)

Warning - This video is a bit graphic as it shows “nature in action”. Watch only if you agree to experience the miracle of an animal being born!

06/20/2023

Puppy number 2 finally made it out! Tory is all business about her labor, not interested in any distractions, including her own pups. (She actually growled slightly to let me know she doesn’t want any pups near her until it’s all over.)

Short video of the two pups in the comments below, as well as a video of Tory giving birth to puppy #2 in my next post. (Watch only if interested in all the glory as it really happens!)

06/20/2023

One puppy is here! Tory was so quiet about it, I didn’t even see it come out. 😁

06/17/2023

Newflash: Tory is about to pop! 💕🦮🐾

She and Fletcher bred on April 16th, so she is due to whelp a litter of pups any day now.

I’m now on notice to perform midwife duties, so I’ll be sleeping near my girl until the pups are delivered. Her last litter produced 12 pups so I’m ready for anything at this point!

The puppies will be available to go to their new homes on or around August 13, 2023. Specific puppies can be reserved with a deposit. Please feel free to PM for more information. 😊

I will post updates on this page as things progress, for anyone interested in following our Chessie adventures.

07/16/2022

I’d like to introduce the newest member of the family, who will be coming home on Wednesday, July 27th. He’s coming from Illinois, and has superb lineage as his sire was out of Redlion Kennels in NJ.

His full AKC name will be “Fletcher’s Folly”, but I plan to just call him Fletcher. (I had dubbed one of Tory’s pups with that temporary name; but I love it so much, I’m using it again for keeps.)

For some reason, that name has always stuck in my head from a children’s book I had growing up, called "How Fletcher Was Hatched". I wonder if anyone else remembers it? (Book cover shown in comments below.)

Fletcher is a deadgrass pup who already enjoys water play. I plan to introduce him to sporting events such as dock diving (NADD) and FastCAT, which I already enjoy with my other dogs.

08/07/2021

Tory enjoyed her very first diving day at the Sunshine Diving Dogs event today. She was in two splashes and every one of her jumps was an improvement over her last.

I had expected her to jump somewhere in the Junior division range, but to my surprise she ended up with 1 Junior and 1 Senior distance!

I really think the competition atmosphere and being around all the other dogs gave her even more motivation and drive. It was such a fun time for her both of us. We can’t wait to do it again tomorrow and Sunday! 💕🦮🐾

Check out her statistics for today’s jumps below (copied from the NADD website).

07/29/2021

Hello to all the Little Cherub Chessie fans out there! I know I haven’t updated in a while, but I wanted let you know about recent events.

Some of you know that my dam Tory (mom of Ripley and her littermates)
was hit by a car in October of 2019 and suffered a fractured acetabulum (hip socket). Luckily, after FHO surgery and weeks of hydrotherapy at the Red Bank Animal Hospital in Tinton Falls, NJ, she has made a complete recovery. In fact, you’d never even know she was missing the head of her femur bone by watching her in action. She is an amazing dog who doesn’t let anything get in her way of swimming and fetching!

So, yesterday marked a special day for us both…. Tory had her very first ever pool lesson for dock diving at Sunshine Diving Dogs in Bridgeton, NJ. I’m so proud of how well she did, and she loved it so much. She has the heart of an athlete and I just knew that this would be the perfect sport for her!

In fact, the trainer, Jarrett, said that she was a natural, and did well enough to participate in a 3-day NADD event next weekend on August 6-8. 😁👏😊

I plan to expose Ripley to dock diving, as well; but for some reason she’s never taken to the water (or car rides) as much as Tory. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Are there any other Little Cherub Chessie athletes out there? Please feel free to share your stories, pics, or videos below! 💕🦮🐾

08/06/2020

Happy Birthday to Tory’s first little of 11 pups, who turned one year old today! I just love seeing all of your posts of your beautiful Chessie boys and girls. Please feel free to post your pics to this page for others to enjoy, also!!! 💕🐕🐾

12/23/2019

All 2019 puppies have been placed in furever homes! Best wishes to all the new Little Cherub Chessie families out there. Please keep in touch and feel free to post updates and pictures of your pups as they grow and prosper in your care.😘

12/07/2019

Seeking a furever home: One female pup still available!
(Please call or message for details.)

> microchipped
> current on shots (DHLPP, Lymes, Bordetella, & Rabies)
> recently dewormed

09/22/2019

09/22/2019

09/22/2019

09/22/2019

Tory and Barret's litter: 12 pups whelped on August 5, 2019.
(11 surviving puppies shown below.)

09/22/2019

09/22/2019

PUPPIES AVAILABLE!

DOB: August 5th, 2019 (Contact ASAP for availability!)
Parents are fully Health checked and DNA tested with AKC titles.

Dam: Loyal Tory Redcoat (AKC #: SR95463608)
Sire: Redlion’s Come Back Barret (AKC #: SS02499202)