News

29/01/2011

weights:

Studs: green - 1065 grams; red - 1050 grams; lilac - 940 grams; yellow - 835 grams

Females: bleu - 980 grams; brown - 940 grams - orange - 1050 grams

27/01/2011

weights:

Studs: green - 860 grams; red - 800 grams; lilac - 745 grams; yellow - 785 grams

Females: bleu - 845 grams; brown - 675 grams - orange - 930 grams

26/01/2011

weights:

Studs: green - 825 grams; red - 750 grams; lilac - 640 grams; yellow - 740 grams

Females: bleu - 790 grams; brown - 625 grams - orange - 890 grams

25/01/2011

weights:

Studs: green - 765 grams; red - 690 grams; lilac - 575 grams; yellow - 655 grams

Females: bleu - 715 grams; brown - 565 grams - orange - 820 grams

24/01/2011

weights:

Studs: green - 715 grams; red - 620 grams; lilac - 500 grams; yellow - 600 grams

Females: bleu - 670 grams; brown - 520 grams - orange - 755 grams

22/01/2011

7 pups (3 females and 4 studs) were born after a caesarean. Farouche is doing very well after surgery and the pups were immediately accepted after anesthesia. To our great relief the pups soon started to suckle goat milk and a few hours later I placed them one by one with Farouche. After a short search and a little help they soon found their way to Farouche her nipples. During birth they sound like a bunch of vuvuzela's, but little after midnight everything became quiet and throughout the rest of the night I barely heard another sound. Jojo is handling this new situation very well.

The weights of our puppies taken 23/01/2010

Green - stud - 640 grams; red - stud - 575 grams; lilac - stud - 450 grams; yellow - stud - 555 grams

Blue - female - 620 grams; brown - female - 490 grams; orange - female - 660 grams

26/11/2010

Farouche was mated with Rosacea Amaranthus.

05/09/2010

Farouche is the first belgian leonberger to achieve the B-degree watertrial works in Mengerskirchen, Germany with a score of 183/200 points and first place.

04/09/2010

Farouche is the first belgian leonberger to achieve the A-degree watertrial works in Mengerskirchen, Germany with a score of 178/200 points.

18/08/2010

Farouche is the first belgian leonberger to achieve the B-degree watertrial works in Belgium with a score of 89 points.

13/06/2010

Farouche performs an as good as perfect water trial at Rosport in Luxemburg , but in her last exersize ( rescueing a surfer in trouble) she loosens the cord from the surf board too soon, resulting in her loosing first place, but still good enough to get her first degree with a glance.

26/03/2010

Our pups are now 8 weeks old and the past days they've explored the great unknown world out there. I took a 2-week holiday, to focuse on their socialization. We were lucky having the first nice weather after a long winter, making it lovely to go out. Their first wordly impressions they received at home, as there was work to in the garden, like the paved paths in the garden that needed cleaning with a pressure washer or shredding prunings. All these noises made look up for a moment and then they went on with their play. In the middle of last week the weather became too nice to work, so I constructed this little carridge in which I took them for a stroll in our neighbourhood. Allthough we live in quite neighbourhood, that particular day it was a busy and noisy day and the little ones weren't to comfortable about it all. There were several noisy mopeds driving up and down the street ditributing commercial flyers and a few blocks from us there were a few contructing yards; creepy; creepy... After a visit with one of our neighbours they quickly eased their minds. The next day the weather was even better and we decided to take them out for another stroll in neighbourhood. We took them a little further to a pub with an outside terrace. This day we enjoyed marvelous weather and it seemed everybody was out for the first time this year. Everywhere we past we had to make a little stop to chat about the puppies and mummy. All the people we talked to gave the young ones a cuddle and the necessary attention. Today was also the first day other dogs crossed our path. A few of them, of which I was sure they were very healthy and Farouche knew them very well, were allowed closer to the pups. Although they did not react enthusiastically, they did not show any fear. On friday the future owners of our red female (she will spent the rest of her life listening to the name Josephine or Joske in short) visited us to help us out on a drive to Brasschaat for visit to a tavern with a huge play garden. Opposite to a previous ride in the car, where all went quite and calm, they now acted a little different. It felt I was traveling with a few mokeys instead of puppies. Once we got there all went fine. First we took them for a short walk to tavern, where all three of them nicely followed mum. At the tavern we them into the playground where I placed them on a slide in between a bunch of children. These kids were very polite, calm and had a lot of questions about mum and the little ones. While answering their questions the pups were busy biting and licking their fingers,which these kids enjoyed a lot. For our little young ones this was a most welcome experience for their further life. Retuning home in the car, the monkeys came out again. Friday evening we had an appointmennt with our vet for their second vaccination, a check of their chip and general health check. All three of them were considered to be in the best of health. Sunday was another busy day at the house with visits from the future owners of our young ones , Luc, Ingrid and their dog Hope. Because Hope is a gourgeous puppy-friendly dog l asked her owners to pay us a little visit. Especially Sjors (former blue) was great and had the time of his life. hE astonished during the whole past week with competence to socialize. It's my opinion Sjors is a bit of a spunge sucking up all new experiences to evolve into a confident, social and beautiful dog. I've always wanted to have a male and it will hurt to pass this one on to his new owners. On monday we were visited by the Leonberger Club Belgium and I took all 3 pups and Farouche an a leash for a walk. This walk was more tiring for me than for the dogs, but luckily we came across quite a few passengers and neighbours to take a little break for a chat and a hug. Wednesday their chips were checked and a sample was taken from Sjors and Farouche for DNA determination by the KMSH. After this visit we took the pups for a stroll on our local market here in Sint-Job. This is a tiny little market, but sufficient to meet to meet a few dogs and above all to meet a lot of people. One of the puppies was placed in the lap of a disabled person in a wheelchair. Wednesday evening we took all tree of them to dog school were they met a whole buch of other puppies of other breeds and of course heeps of attention in the cantine. Thursday we drove down to Sint-Anna beach where they could play and run in the lovely beach sand. Again the weather was beautiful, so we could enjoy a few teraces. On friday we visited a nearby garden center. The past week we we drove them somewhere by car, where we see they are are a little stressed, but this is getting better after every ride. We were also daily visited by children.

And now after 8 weeks the story ends with us for our first litter. Tommorrow we regret to have to say goodbye to Sjors and on sunday Joske will leave us. We wish our pups a healthy life, with beatutiful owners who will give there Leonberger everything he deserves. We hope we've made the best possible choice for Sjors and Joske, concerning their future owners.

The weights of our puppies taken 26/03/2010

Red (Joske): 10 kgs; green (Jojo): 10 kgs and blue (Sjors): 10 kgs. These weights were not digitally as I did in the past weeks, so there are probably still little differences in between them.

14/03/2010

Week 6 and they become firmer and more vivid by the day. In particular during the evening are livingroom becomes a regular playground or sometimes a battlefield. Luckily by the time we need to go to sleep all is peace and quiet again and while we sleep we are at no time disturbed. During the daytime we daily take are little ones into the garden, where we take them a little further every day. Noises made by meighbours and sound stimuli of all kinds (buckets, plastic bottles and watering cans) I throw around, are very well accepted. They are naot at ease when the neighbouring dogs start barking, but since they do this all the time, I think it won't be long before they get over this fear. Experience of week was a visit to our vet. First they went for first ride in the car and allthough they were lightly stressed, none of the puppies got carsick and all in all they stayed calm. Then at the vet they received their microchip and first vaccination. I heard a little squeek when they received their microchip, but the other injections went smooth as a baby. Their ears were checked, which our little green female did not like at all. She might take after her mother concerning the ears. Farouche also hates it when a vet checks her ears. Further more our vet examined their hearts , lungs and belly for possible fractures. Except for the fact that our male's testes haven't descended yet, our vet declared them fit as a fiddle.

The weights of our puppies taken 14/03/2010 at 23.00

Red: 8.1 kgs; green: 7.5 kgs and blue: 7.2 kgs.

07/03/2010

In the 5th week of their lives the pups give us a much firmer impression, which we observed in their movement and play. Although they sometimes still act very clumsy, they now move in a much more determined way. The biggest change in this week was their eager to explore the outside world. In the beginning of the past week we saw the first heads popping over the fenced area in our livingroom. At this stage I opened up the fence to give them a change to explore the rest of the house as they pleased. Last week when I gave this chance they stayed on safe and known ground, but now they go walkabout everywhere in the house. Since their eager for exploration was so big and we had some relative good weather on wednesday, I opened the door to our garden so they could catch their first breath of fresh air. Where our green female was always the first to absorb something, she now stayed in the house. She was first for the sniff, but she immediately ran back to the whelping box, to quietly observe her sister and brother taking their first paces into the garden. After these 2 had left the house the little green one quickly followed. At night we still move the puppies into the whelping box, but by saturday they were no longer happy with this as they kept us awake untill almost four o' clock in the morning screaming their lungs out. We did not give into, but by the time they became quiet again they must have found a way to leave the box as we found all 3 of them sleeping in our kitchen when we got up. The past weekend we were constantly visted and at times it got very busy, which the pups seem to find the normal way of life. When it comes to feeding we started to add soakes puppy dry food to their porridge and they seeemed to like it. The also became curious for what mummy gets and when they disturbed her when she was chewing on a bone, all 3 of them received a first lesson from mum, saying : "Do not disturb". Squeek, squeek...

The weights of our puppies taken 09/03/2010 at 21.30

Red: 7,2 kgs; green: 6,3 kgs and blue: 5,9 kgs.

28/02/2010

And they grow, grow, grow.... In our talk with our veterinary, concerning the male his tale, it was decided to leave the tail as it is and to not put him through of an amputation of a larger part of his tail. The past week the pups became more lively and curious for the world every day. On friday I saw our green female making her first attempts to climb over the fenced area in our livingroom, which was still a little step too soon. On saturday I opened the the fence to give the little ones a chance to explore the rest of the house, but all 3 of them didn't go far and preferred safer grounds. Past weekend we received heeps of visitors in the house and all was well absorbed by the puppies. Thanks to the family Pajovic our puppies received their first hugs from children of different ages, for which we thank them. The past week we introduced them to something other than mummy's milk, in the form af a porridge of goat's milk and a grain mixture. This was given 5 times a day and they loved it in a messy manner. Next week we will try to introduce them to puppy dry dog food, vegetables (carrots) and fruit (banana). Characterwise nothing changed. Our male is still the calmest of the lot and when feeding time is there the red female is still first in line. Green comes first in line when new frontiers in the world need to be explored. Among each other, we also saw them exploring the first bounderies, as we heard the first growls coming out of their little throats .

The weights of our puppies taken 28/02/2010 at 14.00

Red: 4960 grams; green: 4780 grams at blue: 4550 grams.

21/02/2010

The puppies keep on growing steadily in their third week of life. Their eyes are now wideopen and it's my impression, they actually can see now. When carefully moving my hand aroud their heads, I notice them following that hand and trying to bite my hand with their little teeth, which also started to appear this week. Day by day and mostly in the evening we see them getting more active. Friday evening I entered our livingroom to find our two females missing. The two little ladies had crawled out of the whelping box by themselves, to quietly discover our livingroom. This meant there was work to do on saturday as I had to fence our livingroom and hide some electrical wirings. Last weekend we received the first visits from people, mostly well-known to Farouche. Farouche was very happy to see these people again after three weeks hardly seeing anybody and therefore it was no problem at all they came to look at her puppies. The past few days we tried to start feeding the puppies, by letting them lick things like low fat cottage cheese or porridge from our fingers. Beginning of next week we'll try to feed them from a plate, what promisses to be a very clean job. Even after licking our fingers, they're covered in food. After such a feed Farouche licks her puppies clean again, but they also lick each other clean and in that way their social life is taken a start. Past friday the damaged end of our male's tail came off. In my opinion this came off in a nice and conical way, which makes me hope no further amputation will be necessary. I will discuss this matter with our veterinary during the following week.

The weights of our puppies taken 21/02/2010 at 21.30

Red: 4050 grams; green: 3910 grams and blue: 3550 grams

14/02/2010

Farouche is almost her own "old" self. When I pick up a stick, her eyes start to shine again and she wants to start searching for it again. This week's snowfall also helped of course. Before we take up our daily walk, I need to take a 5-minute break at a little square around the corner, where she goes for a roll and a tumble, before anything else comes to order. The puppies kept on growing at a steady pace this week, allthough it wasn't as obvious as it was the past week. Ower red female stayed first in line for feeding during this week. On tuesday I saw the first eyes starting to open with our green female, after which the two others soon followed. Though their eyes are open now, it will take another week before they actually can see. At the same time their eyes opened, they also started to play with each other and with me. Most playfull at this time is our green female. I've already watched her biting in Farouche her ears and paws. We regret we were once again struck by bad luck, as the tip of the tail of our male started to feel a bit knobbly and started to loose hair. We called in the help of our veterinary and he thinks an accident must have taken place the past few days. He thinks Farouche must have crushed his tail with one of her nails and/or weight. We never noticed anything as we never heard a painful scream the past few days and Farouche and her pups were never left alone. The wound causes that the tip of the tail started to die away. Our veterinary decided to wait until the tip comes off naturally and then to amputate one caudal vertebra more so he can end the tail in a tip again by surgery.

The weights of our puppies taken 14/02/2010 at 21.30

Red: 3090 grams; green: 2960 grams and blue: 2390 grams

07/02/2010

Farouche and her offspring have magnificently past their first crucial week. Farouche was checked 3 times by our veterinary during the past week and according to him she's recovering well from giving birth and the caesarean. Yesterday all external stitches were removed. The puppies were only visually checked, as there was no cause to do more. They appear to be in the best of health. A prevntion cure against worms was started and will be repeated by us on a weekly basis. We and everybody who saw our puppies, the past week, was overwhelmed with the speed in which they're growing. Even we, who daily see the puppies, saw them grow. Also we saw an evolution in some other things, like their tails starting to wag or their tongues slowly starting to lick. The male (blue) is the most quiet at the moment and most of the time he comes third feeding. Firste in line for feeding is always red. The couple of days Farouche didn't leave the whelping box, but since wedesday she spends most of her time out of the box, but never to loose her offspring out of sight for a second. Although the pups slightly differ in weight (this was also the case at birth) the grew most evenly the past week to end the week being very firm Leonberger puppies.

The weights of our puppies taken 07/02/2010 at 23.00

Red: 2000 grams; green: 1780 grams en bleu: 1780 grams.

30/01/2010

Thursday morning around 3.30 I was woken by the cry of our firstborn puppy (male). Around 5.30 a second one (female) followed. The little female pup started sucking immediately, while the little male kept on postponing his first little suck. After such a short night I fell asleep again, but was woken again when the third pup (female) was born. Much to our regret we saw our firstborn had died. I was woken by his crying and he kept on crying the whole time, without him starting to suck. Possibly something was wrong with the little pup (although our vet didn't see anything obviously wrong) or possibly the little died because of Farouche lying herself down on him. Both females immediately started sucking eagerly and both of them weighed ovar 500 grams. Then the birth came to a stand-still and we awaited the first visit from our vet. He decided to bring her back in labour by injecting her with som hormone, which resulted in a deadborn pup (female) around 12 'o clock. I tried reviving the poor little thing for some 10 minutes, with no luck. After that we came to another stand-still again and our vet decided to visit us again for a check on how things were going. He managed to bring the next one (male) save aand sound into the world weighing 800 grams. Unfortunately this one didn't start to suck either. In this stage Farouche was dead tired and there was at least one more puppy to come. Another injection of hormones was given to bring her back in labour. We decided then to give Farouche a little more time to bring this puppy into the world the natural way, but 7 'o clock was set as a deadline. In the meantime nothing much happened , because Farouche was too tired to to push anymore, which resulted in us leaving to the vet his practice for a caesarean. This is where our last pup (male) came to life weighing almost 800 grams as well. It was ten when both returned home deadtired, after a very long day. Farouche was still a little drunk from the surgery, but all in all she's handled the day beautifully and performed a terrific job as fresh mummy. Unluckily the day hadn't come to an end yet, as the second male wasn't sucking either. We tried to give them an appetite by letting them lick or suck our finger with honey and trying to give them a botttle with goatmilk. None of these did the trick though. Getting desperate we called Yvonne (Rosaceae) late at night and she suggested to try drops of glucose melted in water. The least scream we heard that night we got up to try either one these methods to get these poor little things to start sucking. Early the next morning I got our lastborn puppy to start sucking. We kept on trying to do the same for the other one with honey, bottles filled with goatmilk and drops of of a water-glucose solution. Also our vet payed us a visit to check on the pups and Farouche her surgery, but there was nothing he could do for the poor bugger, but advised us to keep on trying. Around 8 the puppy gave up his struggle for life, which brought some peace and rest back to our house. The survivers seem to be doing great and are very quiet. We hear a little scream sometimes when Farouche is a little uncareful moving around the whelping box or a little moan when their struggling for the fattest nipple, but apart from that they suck and sleep as they should. We regret having lost 3 puppies, but we've done all we know and can what was necessary and also Farouche is not to blame, as she exels in being a great mum. .

We introduce:

Red= a female weighing 825 grams on 30/01/2010; green= a female weighing 750 grams on 30/01/2010 and blue= a male weighing 775 gram on 30/01/2010.

09/01/2010

Last week we constructed a whelping box in our livingroom, where our puppies will spend the first 8 weeks of their lives. This way Farouche can quietly prepare this new phase in her live and from what we see, she seems quite pleased with the whelping box. At first we took her in with some sweets and a toy, but now after a few days, she frequently visits the box herself to reorganise her blankets and to take a break.

In the morning though, she still prefers our sofa.

This afternoon she received her vaccination against herpes.

30/12/2009

An echography shows we can expect puppies................................................................................

30/11/2009

Farouche was successfully mated with Rosacea Amaranthus.

26/09/2009

Farouche is the first belgian leonberger to achieve the A-degree watertrial works in Belgium with a maximum score of 100 points.