Taylor's pups are 3 weeks old today!!

Tater Tot Pups at 3 weeks old in Video!

A Breeder's Story

I always hear, "How can you give up your puppies"? "Don't you find it so hard to say goodbye"? Yes, it's hard to hand over a puppy that you've helped bring into this world and have taken care of for many weeks...so many poopy butts to clean...so many toys to play with....so many belly rubs to give...from that very first moment that they enter our world they need us to help them survive. Yes, some breeder's feel that instinct will take over and they can sit back and let Mother Nature do her thing. At Renaissance, we don't sit back...we open the sacs, suction the fluid out of their tiny little mouths and noses.... clamp and cut their cords...then we rub and rub and pinch.... and just like a baby, you want to hear them open up their lungs and scream..but this is just the beginning..not only do you have these tiny little lives that you've helped bring into this world, you have their beloved Moms ....you are constantly trying to make sure that they are drinking enough, that their temps are normal..that they are eating and pooping normally...not to mention the stress and anxiety involved when they are about to give birth to these little babies that grew inside of them for 63 days. Babies that we as breeders helped put there....You try not to get too excited because in the back of your mind you know that "Reality" can and WILL come along and give you a major slap in the face. A little reminder that we aren't God, we can only do everything that's humanly possible and that's it...You hold your breath until each and every puppy is born...and you can't wait for the time when Mom is all done and cleaned up, and you have all of the clean and fluffy bedding waiting to put a cleaned up Mom and her puppies inside so they can begin their lives outside of their Mother's womb. That is just the best feeling in the world when you see those little babies suckling on their Mother's teats and Mom has a look in her eyes that says, "Hey, look what I've done...see my babies....aren't they beautiful"? Oh they are just so proud and when they look up at you with those big dark eyes, it's like they are saying, "Thanks Mom...we did this together". The trust that these dogs put into us is truly amazing...you wouldn't want to do anything to let them down...your whole world revolves around them and their happiness and you do anything and everything in your power to keep them safe. You know it's not for the money because if you added everything up and you threw in the figure of 24/7, you'd probably come out with, (before taxes)..oh maybe 3 cents an hour. So why do we do this? It's a question I always find myself asking....and my answer is, just because...just because umm maybe I'm nuts...or maybe I love animals, or maybe I like to make a family happy? Maybe, all of the above?
You'll sometimes get a request that a family only wants a puppy with brown ears, or one with black ears...or they only want a white one...or they only want a boy...or they only want a girl...or they only want one with short legs, or with long legs, or one that is 8 lbs or 10 lbs or maybe even 15 lbs if they need a real sturdy one for the children...I think I'm pretty good at what I do, but certainly not THAT good....and why is that? It's because I just don't have that kind of power...Maybe I wish I did, or maybe not? Maybe it's because I watch the puppies grow from day to day and see their little personalities emerge and maybe I'm crazy, but it goes way beyond their color and sex for me. Well maybe I'm a redhead, or maybe a brunette? Only my hairdresser really knows for sure.
Ahhhh the responsibilities of a breeder...dealing with a living creature, a real life with a real heart that beats inside of it...very different from selling shoes... not that I ever sold shoes....I'm just guessing it is.
My beautiful darling Analiesa gave birth to 4 puppies last night..it was her 2nd litter...everything was perfect...a boy, then 1 hour later another boy, then 10 minutes later another boy, then 25 mins later yet another boy..as my daughter Justine just laughed and laughed and said she's having all boys...I had a dream that she was..."Oh, get out of here you little brat" ......They all look so much alike...if it weren't for the placement of the little spots on their backs, it would be difficult to tell them apart. One more pup to go....YAY...so she pushed and pushed and pushed and before I knew it 2 hours had gone by. I held off another few minutes and off to the ER we went...one thing I've learned is they never have their puppies during the week in the daytime..it's always in the evening or on the weekend....I think they do that just to make life more exciting...
One Ultrasound and one X-ray later..... it was learned that the remaining puppy had turned her little head somehow and was wedged in the birth canal...the Vets could feel her but couldn't get her straightened out...so Ana pushed and kept pushing while all the time looking up at me with those big black eyes as if to say, "Please help me" Long story short, Ana needed a C-section, and the puppy could not be saved. At that point, I just wanted my girl to be OK..that's all I could think about...my poor little girl who trusted me with every ounce of her being was looking to me for comfort. There was nothing I could do...I just sat on the floor beside the crate she was in and hugged her. Again I asked myself, "why did I do this to my sweet fun loving little Analiesa"? Sure, just beat myself up...YOU BET I DID!!
Meanwhile at home, her big sister Taylor, all 8 lbs of her, kept her puppies clean and fed, while doing the same for her own 3...Ahhh the love of sisters...something I no longer have the pleasure of..my beautiful younger sister Lisa left this world at the age of 42 stricken by Leukemia, 5 short years ago. Deep down I knew that Analiesa, my sister's namesake...(her name was Lisa Anne)....and Ana's formal name is "Renaissance Angel for Lisa" .... I'm now sure that I must have mixed it up..Lisa was the Angel that watched over her namesake last night.....and gave back to me my Analiesa.
When I picked up Analiesa at 10am this morning, she was so out of it....it just broke my heart...
She seems to be doing better...I haven't left her side...her 4 boys seem to be doing well...nursing and content...
I guess the moral of the story is......when dealing with living, breathing creatures, there is only so much you can do...because clearly there is a higher power that will always be there making the final decisions...and so we go on...or do we? I still don't really know for sure :)
Renaissance Coton de Tulear signing off and hopefully I can get a little shut eye tonight. Or maybe not?

Still waiting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It could be tomorrow folks....I know you are all excited about your puppy being born..but hang in there :)  She did eat a little tonight and her temp still isn't as low as it should be.  She'll be sleeping with me and Taylor and the puppies tonight.

Renaissance Coton de Tulear signing off.  Have a great night!

While we wait

The girls waiting by the telephone :)

Kobe

Just Waiting

We are just waiting for the beautiful Analiesa to have her babies.  Nothing yet....she ate her breakfast AND her lunch...her temp has dropped some, but still not enough...She is due tomorrow on the 17th..soooooo I guess we'll just have to wait :)

Taylor's pups are doing great...eyes wide open :)

                   Availability Information:

Taylor's and Analiesa's puppies are all spoken for, as well as my 1st Summer litter.  I am only taking a couple more reservations for the Summer litters.  My pups are sold way before they even conceived.  If you are interested in learning more about the upcoming Summer litters, please email me at RenaissanceCotons@gmail.com

Renaissance Coton de Tulear signing off for now.

Have a great Monday!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

Renaissance Coton de Tulear wishes everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!!

How many puppies?

Well how many of you guessed correctly?  There are FIVE puppies in Analiesa's belly and it shows!

Have a great Saturday...time to go weigh some puppies..

Renaissance Coton de Tulear signing off :)

Can you Guess how many puppies??

Here is Analiesa's Xray of her puppies....see if you can count the heads and spines...the answer will be given tomorrow :)

Renaissance Coton de Tulear signing off :)

Have fun counting :)

Here's Kylie-13 Days Old

Kassie 13 Days Old

Here's Kassie

Kassie with her sister Kylie

Kobe -13 Days Old

Here is Kobe...we call him Cappy Jr...he reminds us of his Daddy...Girls photo's will follow.

The pups have already started to crack their little peepers open and their ears are starting to come forward...tomorrow afternoon Analiesa goes for her xray..so stayed tuned...Enjoy the pics..Renaissance Coton de Tulear signing off :)

Renaissance Coton de Tulear-2 pics

Pups are doing great..Mommy is the best!  Here are 2 pics..little Kassie wasn't cooperating.... she was sleeping so soundly.... I didn't want to bother her..so here are Kobe and Kylie.  I will try to get more pics either this evening or tomorrow...they will be 2 weeks old tomorrow.

Renaissance Coton de Tulear signing off for now...Have a great day!

What 9 Day Old Coton de Tulear Puppies do--SLEEP

Pups are doing great..nice weight gains for all...Mom is getting tired of being an outcast from the rest of the family so she spends her time going back and forth.

Here's a little video clip of the puppies doing...well.....doing nothing..

Since I didn't upload it on this computer, here's the link to Youtube :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRVomG5lkrs

Here are a couple of still shots from today too.

Renaissance Coton de Tulear signing off...it's a beautiful day in CT

Kylie 1 week old!

Kassie 1 week old

Kobe 1 week old today

Kassie

Such a little angel.

Little eyebrows

The baby girls weren't cooperating today but little Kobe was..here is his pic...I just love the way the hair over his eyes looks like eyebrows..haha

Renaissance Coton de Tulear signing off for now :)

Puppies 5th Day

Pups have all gained weight and Taylor is being a good Mommy. Taylor enjoyed her veal stew yesterday :) She hoovered it right up!!

Here are a few pics taken this morning. Enjoy!

Have a great day!

Renaissance Coton de Tulear signing off :)

The Baby Tots are 4 Days Old!!

The Tots are 4 days old today..It's snowing again :(

The pups are doing great..had a big weight gain this morning.

Here's a picture of them from today.

Renaissance Coton de Tulear...... very tired and signing off..

Have a warm and fuzzy day :)

The Day After

Mom and pups are doing great....all gained weight...and that's a good thing :)

A few more pics of the little ones.

Nap time!

Renaisssance Coton de Tulear signing off :)

Have a great weekend!!

Tater Tot had 3 little Baby Tots

After a long night, Taylor had 3 beautiful puppies...First a boy, and then 2 girls followed.  One girl has a lot of color, and one girl is all white.  Taters is loving her little babies up and keeping them clean and fed.  She's an awesome little Mom!  Cappuccino did a great job..this is his first litter.  Both Taylor and Cappuccino have awesome personalities and their pups will be awesome too!

Renaissance Coton de Tulear signing off for now....hopefully Grandma Lynn will get some much needed sleep :)

Smarty Pants

Smarty pants aka: Nevaeh......Well today, Taylor had been put inside her crate to have her lunch, (she gets an extra meal because she's pregnant),...Nevaeh who is very food oriented thought she'd just open up the crate and eat Taylor's leftovers.  She just lifted up the handle with her mouth and very carefully slid it over and ever so gently put the handle back down again, gave it a little tug, and BINGO.... the door opened...I closed it quickly and grabbed my video camera in hopes she would do it again, but she didn't.  

I'll definitely get it on film the next time.

It's the 29th and the puppies will be here any day.  I don't think today, but possibly tomorrow.

Renaissance Coton de Tulear signing off.

More Snow in CT!

It's snowing here again at Renaissance Cotons.  The Cotons are LOVING it, but the humans are getting pretty sick of it.  In this photo, Nevaeh was called and called to come inside and as you can see, she wasn't listening.

Taylor's temp is dropping so the pups should be here soon.  Stay tuned.

Renaissance Coton de Tulear signing off for now :)

Grandma's Nesting

Taylor will be having her puppies in a few days and Grandma Lynn is nesting.

I like to use these double decker Rover pens for the whelping and then I have one all made up for Mama and babies to go into afterwards.  The little stuffed dogs inside are filled with buckwheat and 15 seconds in the microwave will give the puppies some added warmth.  They love to crawl up on these.

Stay tuned for the arrival of Taylor's puppies.

Nevaeh update:  Nevaeh is doing much better after her reaction to her DHPP shot.  It was a long weekend, but she's perfect now and back to her old self. :)

Renaissance Coton de Tulear signing off............

The Trials and Tribulations of being a breeder.

Today, Chyna, Nevaeh and Cappuccino went to the Vet for vaccines.  Chyna and Nevaeh had their DHPP booster and Cappuccino had his rabies vac.  All seemed OK until I noticed Nevaeh shaking her head like mad, some hours later....I picked her up to bring her downstairs to my grooming area to check her ears, and to my horror, her ears were bright red, she had a good inch of bright red on the skin surrounding her eyes, and her muzzle was red.  So I grabbed her and headed off to doggy emergency for a shot of Benadryl, STAT

She's fine now...she's supposed to be sleepy...NOT!!  She's running around happy and full of life..thank God..so all of you current and future doggy owners, always watch your pooch after being vaccinated...if you ever see any redness, itching, swelling or difficulty breathing, time is of the essence, get your pup to a Vet immediately.  It's always a good idea to keep Benadryl 25mg tablets, (Diphenhydramine) on hand.  You can give 12.5mg to a Coton en route to the ER.   Also, if your pet does have a reaction to a vaccine, it's important to pre-medicate with Benadryl before administering the vac again in the future. Talk to your Vet!

I'm now going to have some snuggle time with my Cotons and thank my lucky stars that my sweet little Nevaeh is OK.

I think a few years were taken off of my life tonight...

Renaissance Coton de Tulear signing off!  Have a great weekend!

Coton de Tulear puppies cooking in Mama's belly!

Taylor had her xray today and it looks like 3 little tater tots are on the way.

Taters is due on the 31st and we are getting our double decker rover pens put together this weekend....one for whelping, and another waiting on standby all nice and clean and plushy...Auntie Pam gave us a beautiful purple bumper and it's soooo soft.

I took a pic of the xray....it's not the best quality...here it is!!  You can count the spines and the heads :)  Have fun!!

Renaissance Coton de Tulear, signing off!

Inauguration Day at Renaissance Coton de Tulear

It's inauguration day today....the dogs don't seem to really give a hoot...hmmm, I wonder why?  Could it be that it's more fun playing in the snow?  I'm going to bet that's it!

Is it nap time yet?  I think so.

Happy Jan 20th!

Renaissance Coton de Tulear signing off :)

Football...UGH

So what is Renaissance Coton de Tulear up to today?

Well a picture says 1000 words...I hate football...I'm more of a baseball kinda gal :)

It was snowing here early this morning and the gang had a ball eating about 3 lbs of it.

Dad has been watching football and Mom has been hanging out with the gang watching a movie.

Taylor had a poop butt and now she's happy that it was only a butt wash and not a full blown bath.  She'll be getting her pre-puppy bath soon, along with a belly shave. Taylor is really showing and is constantly begging and crying for some real food.  Yesterday she had homemade chicken soup..she loved it!! She was happy with the tomatoes off of my tuna sandwich today.

She'll be going for an xray the beginning of next week.  Stay tuned....Renaissance Cotons signing off...Have a great week!

I have only one word to say!

Brrrrrrrr  Is that a word?  You know it's cold when your dogs freeze in place and you have to go outside in your slippers to rescue them.  You know it's cold when you go out to rescue them and your slippers freeze to the ground.  You know it's cold when the weather forecast says it's going to get even colder by the end of the week...Can you say sub zero?  You know it's cold when you wish that you and your dogs could stay in your jammies until next week.  Hmmm... I think that's doable :)

Poor Analiesa....she went outside today and when I looked out the door she was standing there with her front paw up in the air with a huge chunk of ice hanging from it..another rescue situation.  Cappuccino was jumping around on 3 legs and had to be rescued too..he had some ice stuck to his back foot.  The only way to get them to come inside is to crinkle some paper... they think it's a treat..hehe..they think eating ice is the best thing....well...........since ice cream.

Today our friendly UPS man came with 4 very big boxes...One big box was 400 pee pads. Stocking up for the upcoming pups.  Plus, shipping was half price. Woo Hoo!!  Hopefully, they'll last for at least 2 years!   All the Cotons are now playing with some new toys ...Ahhhh peace at last :)

Renaissance Coton de Tulear.... signing off until next time.....It's time to enjoy a warm fire and a little R&R ....YAY!   Wishing everyone the warm fuzzies.

The Girls are getting wider!

I have a very good feeling that the girls are both  pregnant...They are getting wider for sure..Now I just have to limit them from running around like maniacs with the pack.  uh huh :)  "Hey Mom, don't you know, we are Cotons de Tulear."  "We love to run around"

More snow tomorrow..6 inches or so...fun fun fun..I'm getting out all the brushes and combs and towels for a very long day of fun in the snow.

Happy New Year from Renaissance Cotons

Well it's snowing here again in CT.  I've just dematted all my little goofballs from the Xmas snowfall, and I have a good feeling that I'll be doing a whole lot more of dematting tomorrow.

Cappuccino is sitting by my side as I type crying and begging to go outside.  I'm just waiting for the ice balls to melt a little first :)

I'm thinking maybe a romp in the fields will tire them out and maybe we can all get a little nap in before the clock strikes midnight.

My February litters are all spoken for and I'm already receiving deposits for the Summer litters.  If you're interested in getting on my wait list please contact me as soon as possible.  I'm quite certain they will all be reserved before the girls even come into season.

I'm really looking forward to our 2009 litters.  Stay tuned for a wonderful surprise!

We are wishing you all a very Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year!

 

Lynn and the Renaissance kids

A Late Merry Xmas to all!

We've all been very busy here at Renaissance.  If Mother Nature cooperates we will be having puppies on Jan 31st and Feb 17th.  It was a "very" White Xmas (about a foot) here, and the dogs had a ball...they are all in need of some dematting and a nice warm bath.  I think we will start today!

If you'd like to be on our wait list for Summer, with a chance for a pup from the 2 upcoming litters, please email or phone.

Analiesa

 Analiesa will be bred to Cappuccino.  This litter is already spoken for.  She produced some really beautiful puppies with Koda and I expect that her puppies with Cappuccino will be beautiful as well.

Taylor's litter is already spoken for too.  

I am now accepting deposits for my girls that will be coming into season between March and April.  The first person on this list can most likely be moved up if the girls have the same number of pups as they had in their previous litters.

Again, I don't have a lot of dogs and I don't produce mounds of puppies here at Renaissance.  My dogs are my life and they get the one on one attention that they need and deserve.  They sleep in my bedroom and a couple of them even sleep on my bed.  

For more information, please email or phone me and I'd be happy to talk Coton with you :)