By Angely van Cooten:

9 October 2005
After Izzy's death on 18 September Laika is raising Izzy's pups. You can find photos of Izzy's pups on the page about Laika and Famous' litter. Click here.

13 September 2005

Finally it's started: Izzy is in labour. One day early but I don't mind at all.
We're all very curious about the puppies, what colour will they be, harlequin or black or black mantle?
Izzy has been restless for over a week now. Around 12.30 the first puppy is born, a black bitch, alive and well.

Quickly I call Veronica, my rock during this nerve-racking time.
For a little while it looks like nr. 2 will arrive too, so I can surprise Veronica with two puppies, but nothing happens.
It's not until 4 o'clock that the second puppy arrives, another black one, a male this time.
Much later Izzy gets very strong contractions and then.... she falls asleep.
So we decide to lie down for an hour or so too.
But then nothing happens, no more contractions and no more puppies. We think there should be at least another two.
We ring the vet for advice. I take Izzy to the vet and Veronica goes home, she has to go to work, groom another three dogs. Life is hard, not just for Izzy.
Fortunately the vet manages to get the last three puppies out without doing a caesarean. The first is a harlequin bitch, I'm very pleased because we really wanted one!
The last two are black males, they all weigh around 600 grams, one even around 700. Izzy is shattered. I feel sorry for her, after all it was me who wanted her to have puppies.

Back home she lies down in the puppy box and I give her all the puppies. Izzy checks them out and eats the meat I give her.
Then she falls asleep, the pups are suckling and seem very content. When Izzy wakes up, she starts licking the puppies. She won't leave them, she too is very content. She's a great mother, very careful!

I'm ringing round and emailing everybody to let them know Izzy's puppies have arrived. The emails we receive are lovely. Everybody shares our happiness.
We are going to try and write a weekly report with photos so everybody can enjoy this little wonder.

Just Laika left now, next week, o and we've just had a chick hatch!
Bit of a surprise for us. Seems we are on fertile ground!