02/16/2013
What a rough year 2012 was for us. Our black & tan Ace past away. On June 23rd Our first B&T Female gave birth to 10 little Puppies out of Lobo. 3 days later she had to be put down because her stomach had flipped during delivery & gangrene had started to set in. She was an Amazing Coondog. Although we only pleasure hunted her, she was stay put tree dog Champion! I was so heartbroken but I promised her I would do what I could to make sure all the puppies survived. Feeding 10 3day old puppies was quite a task. It took an hour & a half to feed, burp ,stimulate them to potty & I fed them every 2 hours. I barely slept the first. 5 days. Jeff did what he could to help but with the shift he worked & all the other dogs to care for it was rough. After 5 days I started feeding every 3 or 4 hours during the night so I was able to get alittle sleep. By 2 weeks we were doing pretty good & they crawled all over me fighting for the bottle, one in each hand. Since it was summer I had flip flops on & soon they started using my toes as pacifiers. Although my feet are very ticklish it was worth it to quiet them down. ( you ever heard 10 starving puppies @ 3 am?). One of the pups gave me a scare. He got dehydrated & wasn't a strong drinker so he was brought in the house & fed every hour. For a couple days. He also had a hard time holding heat so Jeff would stick him up his shirt to rewarm him & talk all soft to him. Encouraging him to drink, telling the pup he was going to be just fibrin a day or two & when he wasn't around I used a sock filled with rice that I warmed in the microwave. After 2 days he was good as new. Everyday I would walk to Pearls grave & let her know of her puppies progress. I sure miss her. I remember the day we got her & Ace. Jeff wanted Ace & when I first made eye contact with Pearl I saw something very special. It was like I could see into her heart & soul & we connected. Her tail was just a wagging & she laid down rolled on her back submitting to me. She had the long ears, beautiful B&T markings. Jeff really didn't want her. I said she's beautiful & Registered we could breed her later. She was 13 mths when we got her. The only surviving pup out of her litter. After he thought about he decided we would buy her. Everyday I'd walk down to her box & chat with her a bit. The way she would look @ me during those quiet moments always touched my heart. I don't even think Jeff knew how much I cared for her. I'm not the type of person to show deep emotions easily. We like to give new dogs a couple weeks to get to know us & do some bonding before we take them hunting. Jeff then started taking Ace out. He was doing a fine job. Finally he took Pearl out. He was a proud papa when he got home. Pearl surprised him, she was better than he thought she would be, especially for a new to hunting young dog. Pearl gave us 5 years of wonderful memories & we have several of her pups from 3 crosses. It was hard to let the 10 pups go, knowing they were the last of her pups & especially since we hand raised them. We looked for special people to give them new homes & lives. I wanted to keep a female but a little girl was set on her daddy getting a girl, & I have a soft spot for little ones. We have had very good reports on the pups & have read about some on coondawgs. I love to hear how they are doing & receive pics once in awhile. It gives me comfort knowing they have good homes & are happy hunters. We still have a male left. We call him Crook because he was born with a crooked tail, lol. It's not bad but no one seems to want little crook. Hopefully now that Cinder ( 3 yr old out of pearls first litter) is better Jeff will have time to work with him. Now Cinder is another story which I hope to post about soon.
Happy Hunting
Tricia Reilly
