Welcome, Puppies!

Liza and first four pups, 5 a.m., Sept. 6

We are very pleased to welcome seven beautiful little beagles to Beaglestone!

In the early morning hours of Friday, Sept. 5, I noticed Liza panting continually, pacing, nervous, and nesting aggressively. As I suspected, these behaviors were indicators that she'd entered stage-one labor. I was certain when she refused breakfast Friday morning that puppies were imminent!

Through the day Friday, Liza continued panting, nesting, and refusing food. Her daddy and I kept a close watch and by late evening she was alternating nesting in our bed and in her whelping box. By 2 a.m. she'd settled on the whelping box, and I fell asleep next to her between 2 and 3. 

I woke up to meet Liza's first chubby little furball, brown with a white collar and large white spot on his face, whom I've taken to calling Groot (Liza's daddy calls him The Hound). He's a big fella who always seems to be nursing, even when all the others are napping. We have three brown and white (red and white) puppies and four that look black and white so far, with some brown spots (tricolor). The second pup — and the one vying with Groot for largest in the litter — arrived at 4:45 a.m., black with white belly, paws, cute little brown eyebrows, and of course a white-tipped tail. By 7:45 Liza had whelped all seven puppies in the litter: four black and white (tricolor) and three brown and white (red and white). Of course these colors will change as they grow. All have floppy ears, white bellies and paws, and white-tipped tails!

Liza and pups, 9 a.m., Sept. 6

Liza was a champ. There were no problems at all with the births and she needed no assistance from me. I've been trying to stay as hands-off as possible, just moving puppies closer to her when they get separated from the pack. She's a natural mother, so attentive to her pups and dedicated to caring for them. She finally agreed to eat late morning yesterday when I brought her bowl into the room — and she proved to have a very healthy appetite! She went right back to nursing the pups after that, and for their part, the pups did very well nursing. I made sure they all had a chance to nurse and then left them to their mama's care!

Last night Liza devoured her second meal in the room and reluctantly agreed to go outside for just a second or two. We slept well during the night, with a few interruptions from crying puppies who'd gotten separated from their littermates. By 6 a.m. today Liza was ready for another huge meal, longer visit to the back yard, and by 6:30 wouldn't let Pip and me leave for our walk without her!

We are going to be very busy around here, but we'll try to keep you updated! We're so thankful that everything has gone well so far and hopeful that Liza and her pups will stay healthy. Very well done, Liza. What a brave, beautiful, and wise dam she is. I'm so proud of her.

For the latest photos and updates, please follow purdybeagles on Instagram or like our Beaglestone Facebook page.

8 Guatititas de Pan*

Sweet, sweet Liza is pregnant! 

We think we saw eight pups! 

Big news at Baring Veterinary Hospital today: Liza's pregnant! Dr. Davidson thought he saw eight puppies in Liza's guatita. We're very excited... and a little bit worried — we have lots of learning and preparing to do! Luckily, we will have help in September when Liza is due. Hooray, Liza! Congratulations, Pip! Hang in there, pups! Let's stay healthy! Stay tuned for updates... Be sure to check out more Pip and Liza photos at our purdybeagles Instagram page to get an idea how cute these puppies will be!


*When Liza was a puppy in Chile, she had a cute little belly full of table scraps fed to her by her breeders, and a good friend of the family gave her the nickname "Guatita de Pan" for her sweet demeanor and cute little tummy. 

Hope You're Digging the New Year!

Digging the snow!

We hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season. We enjoyed lots of visits with family and friends, plenty of walks, some snow, lots of treats, playtime, and more attention than usual while mom had time off work and dad was visiting. Things have quieted down a bit, but there is still a lot of excitement here!

Lately the snow has melted, and Liza has gone from digging in the snow to burying bones in the soft ground, as you can see by the mud on her nose below! While we always have a lot of fun, these last two weeks have been difficult for us here at Beaglestone, as Liza has been in estrus and Pip has been very out of sorts! He's been having some spa days at our favorite kennel, since Liza is still a little young for pups.

Digging the mud!

Nature has a way of taking its course, though, so for better or for worse, Liza may be expecting puppies. We missed Pip so much that we brought him home Wednesday night, only to realize quickly that he'd have to go back to the doggie spa. He slept in his crate and was supervised at all times - except while I was drying my hair! I came out to find Pip and Liza locked together in love's passionate embrace. So, we are preparing for puppies but hoping Liza can stay a pup herself for a little bit longer. Stay tuned! 

Pip and Liza Rule the World

Good morning, beagle fans! A quick Pip and Liza update: They are doing GREAT. Life is grand. Treats, walks, cuddling, playing, digging, rides in the car, park playtime with friends. That's what we do. The mother of beagles is busy, busy, busy working as a teacher and a writer to bring home the kibble! Pip and Liza help out by getting me out of bed with enthusiastic face-licking and by always greeting me with wagging tails when I come home. Right now they're waiting for their morning walk to commence -- a fabulous sniff-fest followed by that most magical of events: Dinner! Have a beag-riffic day, all.

As you can see by the photo, Liza does not play by the rules. She goes where she pleases.

It's a good day to be a beagle

Welcome to our Beagle Blog! 

Thank you for following the adventures of Pip and Liza, the most beautiful beagles in the world. I know I may be biased, but just today we met a lovely pair of Miniature Schnauzers — Daisy and Abbey— and their human was quite impressed (as many are) with Pip and Liza's beauty. He was beside himself, in fact. Cooing.

Today is just another day in the life of Pip and Liza, who are now sleeping soundly on the couch as I try to design a pleasing little blog in hopes that when Liza has puppies in the next year we'll have our pick of good homes where they will be raised with love and patience. So this is day one. Hopefully we'll have time to post some photos and more information soon.