# Surprise, Surprise!



## Don Turnipseed (Oct 8, 2006)

Must be the season. I went out to the shed in the far yard this morning to get the chainsaw and noticed that Maddison was nowhere around. I went to her box and scraped the snow off so I could open it and there she was, curled up with three boys and two girls. Don't kinow if she is finished yet but will check them when I get back from cutting wood.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Don Turnipseed said:


> Must be the season. I went out to the shed in the far yard this morning to get the chainsaw and noticed that Maddison was nowhere around. I went to her box and scraped the snow off so I could open it and there she was, curled up with three boys and two girls. Don't kinow if she is finished yet but will check them when I get back from cutting wood.


 =D> Congratulations!


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## Don Turnipseed (Oct 8, 2006)

Thanks Connie. When I came home there was 8 wrigglers and 4 non wrigglers. 2/3 survival rate. Beats the heck out of 20% and 30%. Same cross last time I lost 1 out of 11. Got a very special litter due tomorrow that is the same as Magnums litter out of Odin/Blondie. Very heavy because they are doubled up on mostly the same line. I am holding my breath because if it turns out carbon copies like the reversed brother and sister parents, I am going to concentrate mostly on those crosses with very little tightening after that. I should know about the initial mortality rate in the next day or so and the similarity of these to the other cross in about 8 weeks. I am looking for an 80% survival rate initially. What it boils down to is 18 years riding on the outcome of this litter. I am tense!


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## ann schnerre (Aug 24, 2006)

8 wigglers are plenty, esp w/another litter coming, don't ya think? will you get us some pics when they start looking like REAL dogs? hope you're not getting/got the snow we're getting out here...


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## Don Turnipseed (Oct 8, 2006)

8 wrigglers is plenty for me. Snow? Not till tomorrow, Monday, and Tuesday but, who knows. I think they wait to see what is actually happening then report it, change the forecast or whatever. At any rate, I doubt is what you are getting....luckily!


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## Don Turnipseed (Oct 8, 2006)

Almost forgot....about pictures. Newborn airedale pups look just like little rotties or dobies. All black with tan markings above the eyes etc. Their head, and legs slowly turn tan over the first 2 to 6 mo.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

ann freier said:


> will you get us some pics when they start looking like REAL dogs?


  I want pictures NOW!


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## Amanda Layne (Aug 9, 2006)

Congrats on your new pups Don! I would also love to see some pics


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## Don Turnipseed (Oct 8, 2006)

Pictures...MMMmmmm. How about after this other litter hits the ground and it quits raining. It has been raining all night and I would hate to open their boxes and get the little wrigglers wet so soon. Naw, the real reason is I don't want to get my camera wet. LOL The litter of 8 is well protected. Their dad, Hunter, slept just outside the box all night. He is a piece of work. I have never been able to yard him with another male. I have had to move the electric fence 2" from the fence adjoining other dog yards to keep him backed away from them. He lives his life isolated but for his live in female friends....who also find him a challenge.....but he loves his pups and always has. He is forever sticking his head right in the whelping box with mom to see his handy work. When the pups are getting teeth and start biting mom, she will come unglued snarling and carrying on and the pups will run and hide behind Hunter to escape her wrath. Really very amusing to watch all this.


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## Debbie High (Jul 2, 2006)

Don, Congrats on the pups! 

Love the photo.....what a face! 8)


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## ann schnerre (Aug 24, 2006)

what a gorgeous boy! don, i don't want to really show ALL my ignorance, so would you explain the rationale behind the clip job? heat dissapation (sp?) on top and leg protection on the legs?

ok, ok, i exposed the ignorance


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Congrats on the pups Don. 
Hunter is one fine looking terrier


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## Don Turnipseed (Oct 8, 2006)

Thanks all. The clip job is just a utility clip. Both for heat dissipation and so they still resemble what people expect to see. The correct clip would also have a full skirt, which, along with the legs, collects the most god awful assortment of cockleburrs and such. It is hard on both the dogs an myself getting them removed from the hair on the underbelly if it isn't clipped. Takes about 30 min to remove a winters coat full of crap with a pair of horse clippers.


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## Amanda Layne (Aug 9, 2006)

awwwwwwwwwww, look at that face! I like airedales  They are neat dogs.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Don Turnipseed said:


> Thanks all. The clip job is just a utility clip. Both for heat dissipation and so they still resemble what people expect to see. The correct clip would also have a full skirt, which, along with the legs, collects the most god awful assortment of cockleburrs and such. It is hard on both the dogs an myself getting them removed from the hair on the underbelly if it isn't clipped. Takes about 30 min to remove a winters coat full of crap with a pair of horse clippers.


Don, you should try hand stripping one of those big guys.  
It takes a couple of hours to strip out one of the little guys if I start from scratch.


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## ann schnerre (Aug 24, 2006)

i kinda figured the belly was clipped just so you all wouldn't have to go thru the "crap-removal"--it looks like it'd be a PITA just on the legs. i did enough "vet-clips" back in the day on farm collie-mutts in the spring that that is what i thought of first--knots, tangles, burrs, cuts in the middle of it all....

back OT: any new wigglers yet?


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## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

Oh Jeez, Bob, I'm having flashbacks. Although I mainly groomed show poodles, there were a couple of cockers thrown in, and a terrier. Show spaniels are stripped, never clipped. The terrier was ok becuase they are tough, but cockers are thin skinned nasty little bastards.


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## Don Turnipseed (Oct 8, 2006)

LOL....No way Bob! I am not going to attempt to stip one much less 23!

The original 8 wrigglers are doing fine. There is a picture below. The others are being born right now and there were 4 last time I wnt out and looked. We are supposed to get snow down to 2000 ft tonight so I am going to town to pick up a bale of shavings. I will count again later.


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## Amanda Layne (Aug 9, 2006)

OMG! They do look like little Rottie pups! They are adorable Don! Congrats again![/i]


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## Debbie High (Jul 2, 2006)

Oh my gosh, I can see the waves in that shiney black hair! Don't know how you're gonna keep from playing with those little guys. They're mighty cute!!!!


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## Don Turnipseed (Oct 8, 2006)

OMG!!! Play with them! Heck no....It is starting to snow again. I sure wish the mom having the pups now would kick it in gear. I would like to have an idea of what she is going to have before I go to sleep tonight and she is still looking like she swallowed a basket ball!


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## Don Turnipseed (Oct 8, 2006)

Stlill 2 fem and 2 male wrigglers. Also 2 non wrigglers this morning The non wrigglers were no surprise after such a long lapse in between deliveries. Blondie was only bred once but she still looks big to me. Maybe it is an optical illusion because she is much shorter backed than my other dogs. I will wait till she comes out so I can see her standing.


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