Posts from April 2012 – June 2013

It took me a little bit to figure out how to create an actual blog page, instead of making the dates and posts myself.  So, below are ALL the “blog posts” I’ve made over the last several months.  Sorry It’s a little unorganized, but at least you can still read all of those posts without them getting deleted!

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6/20/13 – Wow it has been a crazy couple of weeks!  Litter C is now almost 6 weeks old, and doing so awesome!  Lots has happened for them since I last wrote.  They started wet food and potty training at 3 weeks.  They have continued their socialization with people, dogs, objects, sounds, etc.  We’re now up to 76 people, almost there but that’s a lot of new people they need to see in two weeks!  Let’s see… they’ve also started hard food, and are now completely on hard food.  They’re now weaning off of mom, which is the end of the world for them.  Every time they see her they just cry and cry.  They’re so funny.  They are now 90% potty trained.  They are doing so great with it!  We still get random accidents outside of the potty box throughout the day, but for the most part they are all peeing and pooping in the potty box when they are inside.  They’re such good pups.  They are getting huge!  I haven’t weighed them yet this week, I will tomorrow, but I am guessing they are all close to or over 10 lbs, especially the males.  They love their time outside.  They are just exploring everything and getting in to everything!  They love to chase the chickens and cause havoc with them, it’s so funny to watch.  I have added some videos and pictures below of the puppies through this week.  Lots of fun pictures and video!  Enjoy! 

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5/31/13 – Litter C is now 3 weeks old and so cute!  This is a big week for them.  They will be starting potty training, wet food, their box will change around so we can potty train, they will be slowly introduced to outside (short outings), and introduced to toys.  We are constantly handling them, making loud noises and socializing them with new people.  They are growing so fast, all of them are already over 4 pounds!  Below are some individual pictures, group pictures, and a couple videos.

Early Neural Stimulation on Litter C

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5/17/13 – Litter C is now 1 week old!  Pictures below, and more pictures on their individual pages.

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5/13/13 – We have puppies!!  Our litter C has finally arrived!  They were born on 5/11/12.  It was a long and stressful day but we are happy they are finally here.  The first two puppies were born early Saturday morning.  They came out easily, and started nursing very quickly.  About an hour later Ella started having more contractions.  The third puppy was on his way.  About an hour after her first contraction started, we still didn’t have puppy #3.  We were getting concerned.  We could feel him in the birth canal, but just couldn’t get him out.  We tried to help the process along.  We walked Ella around outside to help get things open and moving.  Nothing.  We tried calcium supplements.  Nothing.  We tried putting lube around the puppy to help get him out.  Nothing.  We tried pulling on the puppy to get him out.  Nothing.  We did everything we could think of to help get that puppy out, but it was no use.  Very concerned at this point we rushed Ella to the vet.  Our vet is amazing.  We use Dr Pew, and he is the best breeding vet in Utah.  He and another vet at the office tried several different times and ways to pull that puppy out with no success.  It was time to get her in for a c section.  That puppy wasn’t coming out on his own.  After what felt like ages waiting for Ella to be out of surgery, we were finally able to go and see her and the puppies.  We had 7 beautiful puppies waiting for us.  6 of them were breathing on their own and doing great.  The 7th puppy (the stuck puppy) was struggling.  He had a very very tiny heartbeat and wasn’t breathing on his own.  He was hooked up to a respirator and the vet techs were working very hard on him to get him breathing.  After 20 minutes of nothing, they finally called it.  He didn’t make it.  I was crushed.  He was so beautiful and MASSIVE.  He was a whopping 2 lbs, when all of the other puppies were around 1.3 lbs.  I have never seen a 2 lb newborn puppy before in this breed.  No wonder Ella couldn’t get him out.  If we had gotten him to the vet a little faster maybe he could have made it… but I can’t think like that.  We all did the best we could and sometimes things just don’t work out.  We are just very happy and grateful for 6 beautiful and healthy puppies and a healthy momma.  We have 3 males and 3 females.  Perfect number.  Our theme for this litter is Hunger Games.  Keep checking back for more pictures, video, and updates on this wonderful litter of pups.  

Current Litter C @ 3 days old: Peeta, Gale, Haymitch, Katniss, Rue, & Prim

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3/14/13 – Today was such a nice day here in Utah!  It hit about 75 degrees this afternoon, and so we couldn’t pass up taking all of the Berners hiking!  It was Axel, Kyra and Cedar’s first time out on an off leash hike.  They did great!  They tried to wander a lot at first, but then caught on very quickly that they needed to stay close by and follow us and the big dogs.  They had a lot of fun romping in the weeds, chasing each other, and exploring all of the new smells.  They also had a lot of fun trying (and failing because we would correct them) to eat the many cow pies out where we hiked.  Yuck!  We wouldn’t let any of the dogs (mostly the puppies) near the cow poop.  That was a very tough challenge for them, but it only took a few corrections and they got the idea to leave them alone.  They’re all so smart.  I was a little nervous at first to get three puppies at once, but they have just been so easy and caught on so fast.  I love all of them!  Here’s a few pictures from todays hike:

Luna, Kyra, Ella, Cedar, Lilly, Axel & Dierks

Dierks

Lilly

Cedar

Lilly & Cedar

Berner chase!

Ella, Dierks, Luna & Lilly

Luna, Axel, Lilly, & Cedar

Kyra

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3/10/12 – This weekend we made a long drive to Iowa to breed Ella to Icon.  We had three successful breedings with them, so here’s hoping to a big and healthy litter!  Puppies will be due around May 12th.  We will do an ultrasound in 30 days (April 9th) to confirm the pregnancy, and then an xray a week before the puppies are due to get a rough puppy count.  Keep checking back for updates on this very anticipated litter!

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3/2/13 – How to Groom a Bernese Mountain Dog

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2/26/13 – Ella is in heat!!  We’re so excited that Ella is finally in heat!  Ella will be bred to Icon Vom Gipfelfeuer in 2 weeks, which should give us puppies in mid May.  This is going to be a fantastic breeding!  It is very long anticipated!  Keep checking back for updates on this awesome litter.

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Icon Vom Gipfelfeuer

2/21/13 – We have decided to switch up the sires for our next two up coming litters.  We were hoping to use Windrider’s Overboard (Dierk’s brother) on Ella in March, but his owner is having a hard time getting his health clearances in time.  So we decided to use him on Luna’s first litter (as long as his owner can get his health clearances) in the Fall.  For Ella’s litter in the Spring we are using Icon Vom Gipfelfeuer, a fantastic stud that lives in Iowa.  He is a very handsome boy and was imported from Belgium.  He has very impressive lines.  Icon has 29 champions in his 5-generation pedigree.  He is has OFA GOOD hips, OFA NORMAL elbows, CLEAR DM, NORMAL eyes through CERF, OFA NORMAL heart, and MSU NORMAL thyroid.   We’re very excited to use this handsome boy, and hope to keep a male from this breeding.  

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2/17/13 – Axel, Kyra & Cedar playing

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1/30/13 – Our Berners playing in the snow January 2013

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1/29/13- Cedar and Kyra are here!  After a very very long drive to New York City to pick up Kyra, and then stopping in Nebraska on the way home to pick up Cedar, they’re finally home and safe with us!  The trip was so long, but it was very worth it to bring home these two beautiful girls.  We got very lucky on our drive, and didn’t hit any major bad weather and everything went very smooth.  We were worried about driving through New York City, we really aren’t city people and have never wanted to even go near that city, but we only got honked at a couple times and everyone we spoke to was very nice and helpful.  We were very relieved.  JFK airport was an experience, though.  That place is huge!  It took us over an hour to figure out where we were supposed to pick up Kyra, and then another 2 hours of waiting for her because her flight was delayed.  But in the end everything worked out and she’s happy and home with us.  She was such a good sport the drive home, too.  Very quite in her crate in the car, and only had one accident.  We were very impressed with her.  We did use some essential oils on her at first, because we knew she would be stressed, but she really didn’t need them.  She is so confident and outgoing that she was content just hanging out in the car.  Cedar, on the other hand, hated the trip!  Luckily for her she only had to be in the car for 12 hours, instead of Kyra’s 3 days.  We used a lot of essential oils on Cedar, and that helped her whining, but she still wasn’t a happy camper.  We knew there would be lots of screaming in the car, though, so we were prepared with lots of music and books on tape to sort of drown out her whining.  They are now adjusting very well to our home and to our pack of dogs.  They love all of our dogs here.  They’re picking up potty training and crate training very very well, although Cedar is struggling a little bit more with potty training and Kyra is.  She is 10 days younger than Kyra, so she has a bit more of an excuse.  They are already best friends and play like crazy everyday.  We will keep Cedar until she is 6 months old while we train her, socialize her, and everything and then she will go to live with her co-owners in Spanish Fork.  Kyra will stay here with us.  I’ve posted pictures below of them when we picked them up.

Me giving Kyra love at the airport

Picking Kyra up from the airport

Alan snuggling Kyra while we waited for our shuttle at the airport

Cedar when we picked her up

Cedar when we picked her up (it was so windy, her ears kept blowing in the wind)

Kyra & Cedar home at last

Cedar & Kyra

Playing!

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Bob – “Windrider’s Overboard”

12/19/12 – Good news!  We had a lady contact us that has an extremely close relative to Dierks that we will be most likely breeding Ella to in March instead of Tex!  He is out of Dierks’ Sire “CH Elf Kampinoski Raj” and Dierks’ grandma “MT Visions E”.  This male’s name is Bob, registered name is “Windrider’s Overboard“.  He has 37 champions in his 5 generation pedigree!  All he needs are his health clearances which his owner will get before we breed them, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that he will pass all of them!  We will be keeping the male pick of the litter out of this breeding so that we can keep Dierks’ lines in our breeding program.  We’re so excited that Bob’s owner found us and wants to let us use him as a stud!

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12/14/12 – After the breeding between Ella and Dierks in fall 2012 not taking, we decided to get Dierks’ sperm checked because we had several other breeders that wanted to use him as a stud.  We got the results back today and found out that he is infertile.  We are very sad and shocked to hear this news.  He has such an amazing pedigree, awesome health clearances, and the ideal Berner temperament and we were excited to bring that to our breeding program.  He will just now live here with us as a wonderful family pet.  

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12/12/12 – In mid January 2012 we will be taking an 8 day road trip to New York where we will be pick up one of our new female additions, Kyra, from the airport.  She is being imported from Russia, and Russia to Utah is way too long for her to sit in a crate, so that’s why we decided to go pick her up in New York.  We will then spend a few days with some of Alan’s family, and then we will make our way back home with Kyra, where we will also stop in Nebraska to pick up our other new female addition, Cedar.  We are so excited for this trip!  Not only will we be coming back with two awesome new puppies to add to our family, but we will also get a little mini vacation (since 6 of the 8 days will just be driving, it’s definitely a mini vacation) and get to catch up with some family members.  We will post updates, pictures, and stuff  once we get back from the trip.  It’s going to be great!!

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10/29/12 – Ella had her ultrasound today and it came back negative with no puppies.  So, unfortunately the breeding between Ella and Dierks did not take.  She got sick a little after they were bred, and so we think that made her reject the puppies.  We are super bummed about it not working out, but we will try again in March when she goes into heat again with a different male.  In March the breeding will be between WCC Ella von Doglovers Ranie X INT. CH Cochise Van De Samaika, or “Tex”.  Tex is an International Champion stud from Washington that we are very excited about.  We will be keeping a female from this breeding.  Sorry for the bad news about this breeding between Ella and Dierks, but keep checking back for updates on the breeding between Ella and Tex!

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9/23/12 – Dierks and Ella have been bred!  Their puppies will be due around November 24th, and their puppies will be ready to go to their new homes around January 26th at 9 weeks old.  We will do an ultrasound on Ella in about a month to confirm the pregnancy took, and to give us a rough count on puppies.  We will then do an xray about a week before the puppies are due to give us a closer puppy count.  This will be our “C” litter, and the registration names for the puppies will be Hunger Games themed.  

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As of 9/10/11, Ella is in heat!  Dierks and Ella will be bred the week of Sept. 24th, which will give us puppies in the end of November.  The puppies will be ready to go to their new homes near the end of January.  We’re so excited!

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Current Litter B 2012 @ 6 weeks

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Current Litter “B” 2012 at 5 weeks

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Litter “B” 3.5 weeks old

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Lilly and Samson’s puppies have arrived!  Lilly gave birth to 9 beautiful puppies on April 7th 2012.  There are 7 females and 2 males.  This is our “B” litter, with registration names of the pups being movies beginning with the letter B.  Go to our puppy page to see individual pictures of each extremely well marked pup!

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WCC Berners

Experienced Dog Trainer and Bernese Mountain Dog breeder, I love Berners and am always looking for ways to better the breed and improve our breeding program from a holistic approach.

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