(sire on left, dam on right)

On April 25, 1999, beginning with contractions at 4:15am (of course, the perfect time for her to choose), four Blackburn puppies were whelped out of Falling Branch Katie of Blackburn, by All Seasons B.D.L.W.D. of Dutch Creek, after matings on February 22 and February 24, 1999.  The following are details on each puppy:

1st puppy: "Bandit"

whelped 7:53am; eyes open May 8, 1999

smooth-coated male, with a black symmetrical face-mask, black left ear, half-black/half-white right ear, and no body spots.

2nd puppy: "ZZTopDog"

whelped 8:37am; eyes open May 10, 1999

broken-coated male, with a brown asymmetrical face-mask, two brown ears, and no body spots.

3rd puppy: "Windy"

whelped 9:46am; eyes open May 9, 1999

broken-coated female, all-white except for half-black/half-white left ear.

4th puppy: "Sadie"

whelped 10:34am; eyes open May 9, 1999

smooth-coated female, with a tri-colour symmetrical face-mask, one brown body spot, and one tri-colour spot at the base of the tail.

Now, the tale of the tape.  Katie started having contractions at approximately 4:15am on April 25: this was very apparent by the painful scream she let out at about that time.  So at that point, we took her to her whelping box, and began the waiting game.  Over the course of the next 3 1/2 hours, Katie continued to have contractions.  At about 6:27am, the ambionic sac began to appear, and at 7:53am, she gave birth to the first puppy.  Katie is an excellent mother, or so it seems thus far, so we didn't really need to help her much - she took care of just about everything, and tended to the needs of this puppy when he let her know he needed her.  At 8:37am, she gave birth once more, once again without any complication - this puppy not being quite as vocal as the first, but still quite active.  The third delivery was much more difficult, however.  First of all, it was a breach delivery - meaning the puppy's feet were exposed first, as opposed to the head.  Suffice to say, this is a much more difficult delivery for the mother, and it took Katie quite awhile to finally get the little girl out (1hr 9mins, to be exact).  Once she did, the puppy did need some assistance from us - it was having some trouble breathing on it's own.  But after about 10 minutes of work, she was finally completely stabilized - she never stopped breathing or stopped moving, but when she was delivered, she was rather limp.  But within 10-15 minutes of stabilizing her, she REALLY started to talk: she's the loudest of the bunch now.  And finally, at 10:34am, Katie delivered the fourth pup, once again with no difficulty, and once again, a rather quiet but active pup.  Thus ending 6 1/2 grueling hours for both Katie, and us.