Habemus Puppam – We Have Puppies!

As of 5:18 p.m., we have puppies.

When we got up this morning, Stella was *really* anxious and didn’t know what to do with herself until she plopped in her box and then growled when anyone so much as moved. Oh, and she was panting uncontrollably.

stella (almost mamma)Thank goodness she got up long enough, though, for me to move her box from the kitchen to a more comfortable birthing suite downstairs, out of traffic.

For the next nine hours or so, she panted, paced, and then finally settled in while P and I gave her privacy. The first whimpers came not too long after that.

I’m not sure when she was done delivering, but there was a lot of crying going on down there. I snuck down a few times to peak, but there wasn’t much to see. She’s a good mom and was protecting them accordingly.

Around 10 p.m. the newly skinny Stella decided it was time to walk around a bit and go outside, so she, Luna, and P did so — and I got out the camera.

Here they are! All SIX of them!

the puppies!The count is: 2 colored like Stella (without the white accents so far), 1 black, 1 white, 1 brown and white (on top), and then the last one who was sleeping ever so cutely underneath that whole pile who is kind of mix of everything.

You can see that one better here:
(click to enlarge to see the colors better)

the puppies!Please excuse the poor quality of the photos but those little buggers just wouldn’t listen to my pleas to sit still. I guess that’s not surprising since they can’t even hear or see yet.

So Mamma and babies are doing well, as are Zia Luna, Nonna Sognatrice, and Nonno P (if a little taken aback by the number SIX).

And now I’m wondering…anyone want a puppy? And will you come to Calabria to pick it up?

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80 Beans of Wisdom to “Habemus Puppam – We Have Puppies!”
« Older Comments
  1. sognatrice
    10.22.2007

    Christine, isn’t that one too cute? I can’t wait until they get a little bigger so you can really see how cute they are :)

    Traveller, hmm…that’s not *too* long a trip….

    NYC, I did see that about Ellen…crazy, isn’t it?

    Christina, well it’s good you realize that having a puppy is really a full-time job…I wonder what having SIX is ;)

    Giulia, if my handy dandy camera didn’t have Image Stabilizer, I’d say you’re right ;)

    Jeni, there’s still two months to save up! And how excited I’d be to have them go to central PA!

    Shelley, I’ve told P that this means we’re just going to have live in campagna ;) My biggest fear in adopting them out will be that someone will just abandon them–hoping to keep them close to home so we can keep an eye on that at least…but…

    Rob, really?! We’ll *definitely* have to talk closer to the time. I know you wouldn’t abandon them, so this would be an exception to the “close to home” rule :)

    Audra, the worse thing about college for me was definitely the lack of a pet. Then when I was finished, in my first two apartments–no dogs allowed, so I got kitties. Love them too :)

    Debbie, hah! Maybe since I don’t have any human children yet, I’m happy to have canine children and grandchildren :)

    JoAnn, happy to see you back–I’ll be right over :)

    CQB, aw come on…don’t you think P and B need a little buddy?

    Maryann, thanks! We’re very excited :)

    SPF, how did I know that’s the one you’d pick? ;)

    Scarlett, pics forthcoming! How’d you guess?

    Robin, well just in case you want to do Paris or Rome at Christmas….

    Taffiny, pups do have a way of converting the non-doglovers, don’t they? We have no clue who the babydaddy is–we’re not even sure she was sperminated here in our village as we found her after she was already with puppies. I’m just hoping he wasn’t big.

    Jen, ooh, what great news! A little secret? Whenever I read that breed of dog, my mind says “Bitchin’ Frizzy.” Makes me laugh every time :)

    Red, understood. Completely.

    Caroline, we’ve found an owner for one of them so long as there’s at least one male in the bunch (they already have another male dog). Working on the other five….

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  2. Enza
    10.22.2007

    CONGRATS!!!

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  3. Gill
    10.22.2007

    Awwww they are so sweet! Congratulations!

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  4. Anonymous
    10.22.2007

    So your dog had puppies and now you want to give them away. Have you ever thought of “fixing” her so that doens’t happen!?!?

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  5. sognatrice
    10.22.2007

    Enza and Gill, thanks!

    Anonymous, thanks for stopping by, but if you had read more closely other posts on my blog, you’d have realized that we found Stella abandoned on the side of the road when she was ALREADY pregnant. So, as it was, we took in a pregnant dog and are now responsibly dealing with the situation as we found it.

    But thanks so much for your concern.

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  6. Sharon
    10.22.2007

    Oh in the stars..hmmmmmmmmmm!
    Contest?? And the winner gets a …no that wouldn’t work!

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  7. Taffiny
    10.22.2007

    Oh I didn’t mean “the” dog, I meant any clue as to the breed of dog, but I guess you can’t really tell from wee pups, maybe as they get older there will be some tell tale signs. Or maybe not.

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  8. sognatrice
    10.22.2007

    Sharon, hey you’re close enough to come over and get one! What color would you like?

    Taffiny, I’m thinking whatever he was, he was mixed something or other. Should be quite interesting to see how these pups develop :)

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  9. Karina
    10.22.2007

    OMG…Puppies.so.cute! I want one! sigh…

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  10. sognatrice
    10.22.2007

    Karina, come on over!

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  11. chris & erin
    10.22.2007

    wow! this post is a popular subject :) I’m so excited to hear about the puppies – keep us updated with photos as they grow a little! SO CUTE

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  12. Sara
    10.22.2007

    She whelped! She really really whelped! (Can you tell I really really like the word “whelp”?)

    OMG, they are so cute! But…six? Yikes. That is really a lot of puppies. I join with the others wishing you luck finding good and responsible homes for them all (unlike poor little Stella’s previous one).

    Snuggles and pets for anyone who wants them, and felicitations all ’round.

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  13. KC
    10.23.2007

    They are so sweet! Believe me, if we weren’t getting ready for our own little arrival, I’d come right down to Calabria and bring one of those cuties home with me!

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  14. sognatrice
    10.23.2007

    Erin, yeah, apparently lots of people love puppies :)

    Sara, I love “whelp” the word too; not so much the process, but the word is nice ;) SIX is definitely going to be a challenge, but the Christmas timing will work in our favor, I hope–more people around, at least, since plenty of people come back home for the holidays.

    KC, you mean a baby and a puppy would be too much? OK, if you think so ;)

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  15. weimie
    10.23.2007

    Precious!!

    Amazing, there were sooo many!

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  16. sognatrice
    10.23.2007

    Weimie, tell me about it! SIX!

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  17. Figs Olives Wine
    10.23.2007

    How wonderful!!! I’ve been waiting for this, but I couldn’t make your site load yesterday. Congratulations to all of you – they must be so unbelievably sweet. So wriggly already too ;)
    I had no idea that doggy labor lasted so long, by the way. I don’t know why I assumed it’d be so much faster than ours. Stella sounds like a champ. Wish I could come get one of her pups!

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  18. Linda
    10.23.2007

    Congratulations to Mom Stella and the family. They are precious.

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  19. Shameless
    10.23.2007

    I’m sure they will be snapped up! :-) She did a sterling job.

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  20. sognatrice
    10.24.2007

    Amanda, the site not loading was my fault–made an adjustment to the template and then didn’t double check what I did before I logged off. Oops! Anyway, I’m not sure how long labor technically is, but they say that dogs are usually anxious for about 12 hours before they deliver (Stella may have been anxious before we woke up that morning…only she knows!).

    Linda, thanks! As of Wednesday morning (the 24th) they are still doing well.

    Shameless, from your fingers to a higher power’s ears ;)

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  21. The Passionate Palate
    10.24.2007

    Congratulations nonna and nonno! I’m commenting late since I was away. I go away for two days and look what happens – one of my favorite bloggers becomes a grandparent. ;-)

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  22. Kathy
    10.25.2007

    Okay, I missed your birthday and the birth of the pups?!?!

    So precious. I would love to fly to Italy right now and bring one (or more!) home with me!

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  23. sognatrice
    10.25.2007

    Jeni, isn’t that always the way? Thanks for the congrats!

    Kathy, believe me, I wish you could come too :)

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  24. a far away friend
    10.26.2007

    Oops! I fell a few days behind…now I see. There are 6 little ones. How sweet!!! What a great addition for your birthday.

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  25. sognatrice
    10.26.2007

    Friend, your comment, coming from a cat person, is greatly appreciated by Stella ;)

    [Reply]

  26. Erin
    10.27.2007

    Kind of late on this one, but congratulations!!! What sweet little puppies.

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  27. sognatrice
    10.31.2007

    Thanks Erin :)

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  28. Lizzie
    11.23.2008

    I’m about a year out of date on this post but must say: HOW ADORABLE and thank goodness you found little Stella, especially as she was in the family way when abandoned. It’s good to know there are good people in the world :0)

    So funny I was just looking at photos from this time yesterday…I have to post an update on one of the pups soon :)

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  1. [...] the puppies have all been adopted out–the last one the day after Christmas. Sniff sniff. I definit... bleedingespresso.com/2008/01/doggie-update.html
  2. [...] year at this time, I was wrapping up eight exciting (and stressful) weeks with Stella’s six gorgeo... bleedingespresso.com/2008/12/love-thursday-remembering-the-puppies.html

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