Longstanding readers of this blog may recall that our beloved border terrier Martha gave birth to 5 puppies on Boxing Day in 2010. Actually to be really accurate she gave birth to 4 puppies on Boxing Day and 1 more on 27th December 2 hours after all the others.

All of the pups went to good homes except the last-born ‘Rocky’ who we kept. We’re not sure Martha is delighted about this situation – there have been a few distinct sideways glances – but mother and son have established an Entente Cordiale and rub along well enough.

Martha and Rocky

It is hard to imagine that it in just a year the mole-like blob that we weighed tentatively on the kitchen scales everyday has grown into the bouncing beast that we now possess but at least he has plenty of vigour and vitality. Rocky is never going to win prizes for brains or looks (he has a kinked tail and an under-bite both of which are disdained by professional breeders) but he is very affectionate and enthusiastic and that counts for a lot.

And what of his siblings? Jezebel, the smallest and sharpest puppy was the only female and a perpetual escapee from the wooden enclosure that we erected in our sitting room. She now resides happily in the Academy Club in Soho where she is doted on by her adoring owner Mandana. Bobby, the biggest puppy by far (who we originally nicknamed ‘Fatty’) also lives with friends in London and has, on occasion, bumped into his sister in the park. Sparky, who had a fluffy red coat, has moved to Devon to enjoy coastal walks with a very outdoorsy young family and last but not least Alfie, the middle puppy in both weight and birth order, lives just down the road in Frome and enjoys chasing after his brother if ever they meet on a walk.

Jezebel and Mandana

So I’m happy to report that 1 year on there are still ‘Five Alive’ and all are doing well. Would we do it all again? Of course not – Martha would never forgive us!

Rocky

I am heartened to report that all 5 of our Border Terrier puppies are thriving as they have just reached 4 weeks age and we are no longer fearful of losing one to squashing or malnourishment. Unfortunately some cynical readers of this blog have suggested that the only reason I am writing about adorable infant dogs is to pepper my prose with wine references in an underhand attempt to promote our wares. Nothing could be further from the truth so I promise in future to desist from trying to name-check any of the delicious Yapp Brothers’ wines that have been sustaining us during our puppy-enforced house arrest.
The pups have now moved out of the whelping box in our sons’ bedroom and have taken up residence in their new run that we had fun constructing from 2 wooden wine crates and lengths of 2 metre planking. We have been weaning them onto solid food and it is very gratifying (if costly) as they chow down but comes with the seemingly high price that their mum no longer cleans up after them. On the positive side when they are awake they are hugely entertaining and far more amusing than the television. Although incredibly agile and mobile for their tender age they are clumsy and do have a tendency to end up collapsed on their backs waving their legs in the air. They still spend a lot of their time sleeping piled on top of one another and amazingly already leave the confines of their ‘bedroom’ when they need to relieve themselves – which bodes well for house-training. They are curious and cuddly and now have proper dog mannerisms albeit with ridiculously squeaky barks. Their confirmed enemy is a black rubber pig called ‘Oinky Evils’ and they are incredibly adept at upsetting their water bowl. Frankly it’s been a steep learning curve and an exhausting month for the whole family but it has been fascinating and hugely enjoyable too.

Fatty

We have already registered the puppies with the Kennel Club and had potential buyers visiting and selecting their chosen puppy and it is hard to believe that in just 3 weeks time 4 out of our 5 charges will be going away. Fortunately, we have resolved to keep 1 puppy and 3 others are going to friends so we should be able to monitor their on-going progress but don’t expect me to blog about it – I’m dog tired.

It is a day of minor celebration in the Yapp household today (and you can’t have too many of those on Mondays in January) as Martha’s litter of puppies have passed the crucial 2 week milestone which, according to The Book of the Bitch is the time when they are most vulnerable to myriad potentially terminal afflictions. TBOTB states that dog breeders should anticipate a 25-30% mortality rate amongst a litter of puppies but concedes that if they reach 2 weeks of age the outlook is considerably rosier. We appreciate that we are not out of the woods yet but we do still have ‘Five Alive’ and the puppies have all more than doubled their birth weights as carefully monitored by our boys on the graph below.

Puppy growth chart

The puppies have now started to open their eyes and are looking much chunkier which is reassuring. Their coats are beginning to lighten out into a distinctive Border Terrier ‘black and rust’ colouration and their teeth are starting to come through. There are 4 males and 1 female and we have stuck with their improvised birth nicknames although there has been plenty of lively family discussion about what to name the puppy we intend to keep. They are all still residing in the original whelping box in the boys’ bedroom but they will soon be moved to a play-pen downstairs and then we will start to wean them on to solid food.

Like most new mums Martha seems to have good days and bad days in terms of her appetite and energy levels but she is increasingly confident about leaving the puppies for short periods and has enjoyed resuming her daily walks. On Saturday I went down to our local market to stump up the stud fee to the owner of ‘Ranger’ the puppies’ father. Fortunately I had a camera on me so I managed to get a snap of him looking imperious on the back of his veg van – Ranger that is not Nick his owner.

Ranger - the proud father

Tonight we will celebrate with a bottle of the Ferrands’ excellent white Chinon: Château de Ligré 2009 which is (not very) coincidentally one of our wines of the month down to £10.25 per bottle from £11.50.

Puppy

Our much-loved Border Terrier, Martha, gave birth to a litter of 5 puppies on the night of Boxing Day which made for an interesting festive break. Martha eschewed the ‘whelping box’ which I had lovingly-crafted out of Yapp Brothers’ wine cartons and gaffer tape favouring our 9 year-old son William’s bed as the destination to bring her progeny into this world – he won’t forget that in a hurry. Fortunately all went smoothly and the puppies arrived safe and sound, although they were tiny and looked more like sleepy moles than the cute, fluffy creatures you see on greetings cards. I find it fascinating that a 3 year-old dog that hasn’t lived with other dogs since it was 8 weeks old can instinctively know how to deal with placentas and umbilical cords (never mind post natal care) but happily Martha did. I must confess that I slept through the nitty gritty of the actual ‘whelping’ leaving that to the rest of the family but my sister Rowan (who was visiting) and I did take over weighing and monitoring duties the following morning.

Puppies

In truth, we were all rather apprehensive. On the advice of our vet we were using the (wonderfully titled) ‘The Book of the Bitch’ as our birthing manual. This much-respected text is not optimistic. It is a doom-laden catalogue of disasters, defects and diseases that might (and we, of course, feared would) affect your dog and its offspring. We were agog with the prospect of breached births, caesareans, fading-puppy syndrome, cleft palates, prolapses and infections. According to TBOTB ‘it is rare for a full litter to survive’ and the first 36 hours of a puppy’s life are ‘critical’. Apparently the 3 most common causes of death to a newborn puppy are (in no particular order) being dropped, being squashed and being malnourished. The last 9 days have not been relaxing but we have been determined to keep ‘Five Alive’ and I am glad to report that the puppies have all been putting on weight and are doing well.

The Yapp Brothers Whelping Box

Of course, the star of the show has been Martha, who after initially passing the puppies around the family (for approval?) did take up residence in the whelping box and has been a caring and dutiful mother. An initial loss of form did necessitate a visit to the vet’s en famille where a mild course of antibiotics was prescribed but Martha has now regained her appetite and is confident enough to leave the puppies for a while and chase after a tennis ball as oft times before.

Martha

I nearly forgot to mention that we celebrated the new arrivals not with fizz but with a bottle of Richard Maby’s red Lirac, which (I hope you will allow) is a Border Terrier sort of wine – robust, unpretentious, earthy and utterly dependable.