Solo's siblings were IV bags of saline inside socks which we heated every two hours to simulate the warmth of newborn puppies. Solo would cuddle up with his "sock siblings" and dream what puppies dream.
(Photo left) This is the litter into which Flora was born. As you can see, there are 3 nearly white or cream colored puppies. These puppies all grew up to have coloring like Flora, a reddish tan color. When they are born you can barely see where their will be spots. Spots emerge over the next few weeks and darken over time. The dam and sire of this litter were both tri-colored with chocolate colored patches. Dam: Son-Mik's Donna, Sire: Agerhonen's St Jaergnosse Stumprumpe.
Kennel Flora's First Litter
Flora's first litter was born March 18, 2001. We tried a method of AI called trancervical insemination with frozen semen from Denmark. The sire, Pelle, is pictured below. We think we perhaps inseminated too early, hence the single conception. Flora is the smallest breed in which this method of insemination has ever been tried. All in all, we must consider the experience successful, because even natural matings sometimes result in single births. As you can see, Flora's Han Solo, is quite a handsome young man!
Flora was an excellent "first time" mother, knowing just what to do instinctively. Many times when a puppy is born C-setion, the mother does not readily bond with the pup because she does not remember giving birth. Flora immediately bonded with Solo as she was just comming out of anesthesia. Flora played with Solo and taught him all sorts of puppy stuff. She seemed to know that, as an only child, he needed special attention. Since Solo had no siblings, we began socialization with our flyball team dogs soon after his first round of puppy shots. He's a great dog, suffering no ill effects from being a "solo" birth.
As you can see from the photos, the coloring of a puppy can change quite a bit from birth to maturity. Solo was born with tan eyebrows and cheeks, but as he matured, more tan color emerged all over his body.
