Nazli's Two-Sire Litter TWO WEEKS OLD

DNA samples (cheek swabs) have been sent to AKC.  Results back in 6 to 8 weeks.  Let's hope 6!  Stay tuned for results (hope they are conclusive so it doesn't have to be redone!).  I will post "results" as the DNA profile sent to me by AKC so my blog readers can have fun discovering themselves who sired each pup!

3 FAWN FEMALES:

Shepherds Rest Ilknaz weighed 20.4 oz at birth and 65.7 oz at two weeks old. Ilknaz means first born girl.  She was one of the first two to whelp from Nazli, so the "naz" part of her name is appropriate.  Puppies are already given registration names and microchipped for the DNA identification.  Buyers can give the pups any call names (nick names) they want. 
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Shepherds Rest Birnur weighed 22.7 oz at birth and 76.8 oz at two weeks old.  Birnur means first light in Turkish, since she was discovered already born at first light with her sister above.  It's pronounced "burner."  Fitting for her name, she will probably be so speedy she will burn up the trails.
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Shepherds Rest Hediye weighed 22.3 oz at birth and 27.3 oz at two weeks old.  Yes, you read that right.  This little girl is a fighter.  Hediye is Turkish for "gift."  Despite having trouble gaining weight, she beat the odds and is thriving as of the past couple of days.  Now she is gaining weight beautifully, but much smaller than her siblings (at least so far).  Doesn't stop her from getting milk though.  After losing 3 oz in 2 days when first born, she was fed her mother's milk with a dropper.  When mother's milk lessened to fit the need of the nursing puppies and I could no longer get enough from mother, I fed her goat milk.  There was a problem with gas so she was given a human infant gas remedy and tube fed.  Then the vet and I decided that goat milk wasn't being tolerated very well by her, so we switched her to puppy formula.  It was a very long first week and a half. 

The first 3 nights (after she had lost significant weight) she began to sleep nights on my chest.  I set the alarm every 2 hours and would spend half an hour heating the milk and feeding her, 2 more hours of sleep, half an hour of feeding, and on it went.  She spent days on a heating pad and was fed every 2 hours.  When I worked, the vet "babysat" and took care of her.  After a few days of feeding by dropper, then a few days of feeding by tubing, Hediya, called "Diya" for short, was able to transition to a bottle, and got so feisty and energetic that she could no longer sleep with me (yay!), and was in a box next to my bed on a heating pad.  

Then the night came when I was so exhausted that I didn't wake up all night.  Lack of REM sleep can really be exhausting!  Horrified when I woke in the morning, I realized what had happened, and I expected to find her dead!  I only found a very hoarse and hungry puppy.  That day she latched onto her mother by herself (probably still starved from her overnight ordeal) and within a couple days, I was able to leave her outside with mother overnight.  (I had latched her onto her mother several times a day to ensure a good transition back to mother, even though she wasn't efficient at getting milk.)  Temps were hovering about freezing overnight and the puppies were with Nazli under one heating lamp in a 3-sided shed, bedded on straw.  Again I expected to find Diya dead in the morning but she has insisted on living and is going to be quite hearty given everything she survived!  She is also a cuddler! 

Nazli is a wonderful mother, allowing me to remove her puppy then tease her with it several times a day.  She never hesitated to immediately accept Diya back!
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2 BRINDLE MALES: 

Shepherds Rest Biber weighed 21.1 oz at birth and 77 oz at two weeks old.  Biber is Turkish for black pepper, pronounced "B bear."  Not only does he look like he has been well peppered, but he looks like a little black bear!
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Shepherds Rest Soner weighed 20.4 oz at birth and 74.9 oz at two weeks old.  Soner is Turkish for "last man," since he and his brother were the last two puppies born.  Soner is pronounced SOOnur.