Whelped: May 26, 2012

 This litter was a bittersweet one for us. A good breeder goes into this with her eyes and heart open, with the knowledge & preparation that problems can happen; but with the profoundest desire for healthy happy puppies and a trouble-free time. Marlie presented us with a litter beautiful puppies who stole our hearts instantly.

With many tears, we sent a little boy back across the Rainbow Bridge at 6 days old due to atresia ani (an inoperable birth defect of unknown origin that causes the pup to be born without a colon or anus).
At 5 weeks old, we lost our only brindle girl to a bowel intussception (where the bowel telescopes back upon itself & dies). We knew she was feeling poorly, and in fact she had been to see our vet that very morning because of GI problems. Who knew that everything would get progressively worse throughout the day & culminate in a midnight run to the emergency vet an hour away. The drive home alone at 3 a.m. was one of the worst drives I've ever had.

Emergency surgery is always expensive & risky, but on tiny puppies with an immature cardiovascular system it carries an extremely high (>95%) mortality rate. Regardless, as guardians of our dogs it is our responsibility to give them the best care possible and make the difficult decisions - whatever the cost.

We also had a pup born with a congenital (not genetic) abnormality of his foot that caused his dew claw to grow disproportionately and affected the development of his foot. He had surgery to correct it, and after a few months at home with us, Jack-Jack went to live with some good friends of ours who don't mind having an over-protective "grandma"!

All of the pups have thrived and grown like weeds - and continue to do exceedingly well in their new forever homes!

This breeding tied into some very old lines that were well known for their health & longevity, with the majority of those dogs living into their teens - in fact Ben's younger sister just died at Christmas, at 12 years of age. Not a bad average, for a breed commonly known to live an average of 6-8 years!

There were a whole host of reasons why we chose to go with Foxglove Big Ben - from the long lifespans, impeccable (proven!) temperaments, Therapy Dog mentality (absolutely bomb-proof) and lack of allergies, heart, eye, or hip problems; to the incomparable pedigree combination and structural qualities offered across the board.

Weeks 1-10