Bramleys hit 6 Weeks Old - Its time to start exploring the garden.

The harsh weather conditions this November have presented us with a real challenge in introducing the Bramleys to the great outdoors. If it was summer time we could have built a nice outdoor pen and let them sunbathe all day. However with temperatures rarely getting above zero for the past week or so we have had to hold them back from garden life. We took the plunge on Sunday as the ground had defrosted slightly in the late afternoon. As you can see on the video below:

The plan is to have an hour each day at around lunchtime for them to scamp about in the garden. At least with everything frozen solid they cant get muddy paws. I guess every cloud has a silver lining.

5 Week Old English Springer Spaniels - Character Coming Out

All of a sudden, the puppies have all got big! With the food intake nearly doubled over the last seven days and Bramble still giving the occasional feed the puppies have come on leaps and bounds in the past week. Take a look at the video below to see the latest progress.

As they grow bigger and stronger the individual characters are beginning to show. They all seem like an adventurous bunch, intrigued by everything they encounter and thankfully they dwell towards the action and dont shy away to the back of their current four walls.

The snowy weather has however made us cautious about introducing them to the garden. We are hoping that over the next week or so as the snow subsides we can give them their first taste of the great outdoors.

With two puppies now sold we advise you to give us a bell if your interested in maybe having your own Bramley. Call us at 01666 829159 or maybe email luke@artbypeople.co.uk

3 Weeks Old, English Springer Spaniel First Feed Time...

After around three weeks it was time to start the weaning process and give Bramble a bit of a break. The puppies are growing nicely and are all starting to develop little sharp teeth. As they get older it obviously gets more challenging for Bramble to feed them.

In order to make the weaning process as successful as possible its best to feed the puppies the same food as Bramble. This means that the goodness in the puppies first feed should be similar to Brambles milk. We served up the well mashed weetabix and milk in a large & clean roasting tin and placed it in the middle of the whelping box, results can be seen in the video below:

Over the next few days we have given the puppies two meals a day, one first thing in the morning and the second at around 7pm in the evening. In between this Bramble has been in and out of the whelping box to feed them when she feels the need.

The pups have responded well and seem to come to life when a meal is due. They have gained quite a lot of weight since , some pictures below. Ahhhhhh.

The Puppies - Two Week Old English Springer Spaniels

In the last two weeks since whelping day all of Brambles nine puppies have come on leaps and bounds. They have doubled in weight in the last week alone and now weigh between 750g and 1kg, the lightest being one of the four bitchs. A good sign is the 'wrinkly skin' prominent on all the pups, i'm reliably informed that this is due to Bramble doing an excellent job in giving them plenty of milk to help them grow. Its almost like the skin has grown in anticipation of the rest catching up! You can see all the latest video footage and photos on this video.

Mandie very carefully clipped the front claws of the puppies in order to make it less painful for Bramble when feeding. Although very tiny the claws proved sharp and were beginning to graze Brambles skin.

As of yet none of the puppies have opened their eyes, its going to be a very exciting and manic day when this happens. I anticipate that once their eyes open each puppy will begin to develop there own personalities as they begin to react to the new world outside of their whelping box.

Whelping Day - Theres more, more and then more!

On Saturday 23rd October right on the sixty third day of pregnancy and on schedule the signs were evident that whelping wasn't to far away. Hot, panting, restlessness and temperature drop. When Bramble tried to start nesting in the shed we new the first puppy was on the way.

Low and behold the first little chap popped out in the garden at around 5pm. He caught us all by surprise so we had to improvise and let Bramble do her stuff in the garden room. A healthy pup, wriggling around with Bramble doing a quick clean up straight away. (as you can see in the photo below)

Shortly after we managed to get the new born puppy and Bramble back into the whelping box number two arrived and immediately started to suckle.

Like shelling peas now, number three!

Number seven was very small and I had to help out with proceedings by holding her upside down and blowing gently into her nose.

Job done, its now 1am in the morning, nine healthy puppies, five boys and four girls. Well done Bramble.

The next day I took this short video of the puppies whilst Bramble was exercising in the garden. What a comical racket they make.

Getting Bramble Ready for Whelping Day

With a few weeks to go before whelping it was time to get the house prepared for the english springer spaniel puppies. We found a great website that included building instructions for a cosy and safe whelping box. It took myself and Dave three hours to build on a cold autumn evening. The battons you can see in the photo help keep the puppies safe from the bitch accidentally rolling on them. As you can see Bramble seems to give us a 'why have you done this' expression when she first climbed in - little did she know!

We choose a cosy spot for the whelping box, under the eaves of the stairs in the main house. This should help keep the pups nice and warm when Bramble is not around.

With only a few days to go Bramble was only to willing to show off her belly full of puppies.

Bramble & Arty Meet for the First time

After 10 days of Brambles season I travelled back to see John Cook again with my father in law Dave in order to make 'formal introductions' between Bramble and Arty. I'm glad to say that they seemed to like each other from the off... a little video below shows the moment of meeting for the first time, dont worry its not that detailed...

We left Bramble in Kennels for the weekend and John helped successfully carry out two matings. Then it was just a matter of time to see if Bramble had taken. Obvious signs are started to show after three weeks or so, she got larger, slower and her nipples became more pronounced. Exciting times lay ahead.

Choosing Brambles Sire Dog

In late September of 2010 we returned to Flintwood Gun Dogs run by John Cook in Somerset. He's an old friend of Mandies dad, and four years ago as a 12 week old we first met and then purchased Bramble from him. John Cook is well known gun dog trainer who now judges field trials and has a number of fantastic stud dogs with very good English Springer Spaniel pedigrees.

Out of five dogs that John showed us working in his purpose built field training area we choose 'Hard at Art'. A good strong dog incredibly well trained with a pedigree that included over 12 Field Trial Champions. Our hope being that the dogs bred from Bramble would carry on the tradition of being able to be used as both working dogs and family pets.

We took a small video of 'Arty' at work and also Mandie meeting Arty for the first time. This should give you an idea of the standard of the father of Brambles Bramleys / Puppies!