JOIE has JOYOUS NEWS - PUPPIES!

Written by Joie's proud Foster Mom

Joie and her 3 puppies

Please welcome our latest arrivals to CP. Because we have so much in this world to be thankful for and happy about, Joie is a happy name. So her puppies should have happy names, too. Yesterday at noon, her due date, Joie started having her puppies. She had 4 puppies in all: Mirth, Merriment, Glee, and Jocularity

After lots of work, Joie's first puppy was born at 2:30 a.m., Monday morning, November 16th. It's a boy! His name is MIRTH and he weighs 4.7 oz. He's a tad bit redder than the rest.

Then another boy was born about 5 a.m. His name is JOCULARITY. He weighs 5.3 oz. We will call him Joc. He's a little anxious about making sure he gets enough while nursing, but he'll learn.

A tiny girl was born about 7 a.m., but her sac had broken before her birth and her lungs were too full of mucus to survive. We tried for about 40 minutes to revive her, but she'd been in distress for too long and didn't make it. Her name is MERRIMENT and she weighs 3.25 oz. Please light a candle for our sweet Merri who only drew a few breaths in this life.

Then finally at about 9:30 a.m., GLEE was born. She has a mouth on her and was already 'shouting for glee' as she came out. She's a strapping girl at 6.5 oz and she can walk all over her brothers!

Joie did an absolutely FABULOUS job. I can already tell she's going to be a wonderful mother. She lays down to let them nurse and carefully picks them up in her mouth and brings them back to her when they wander off the heating pad. My favorite is when she wraps her body around them as they're nursing, to keep them warm and safe. I can just imagine her trying to protect her previous litters in the same way. This time she has some help and I'm sure it's ever so much easier.

I also wanted to thank our 'Nursery Team' that coached me through this whelping. I wouldn't have wanted to do it without them. Not only did they help me gather supplies, get the whelping room ready, and coach me on what to expect, but they also waited through Joie's labor with me yeterday and got woken up in the middle of the night to help me with the whelping. Thanks so much, ladies! I couldn't have done it without you!

Mirth, male, 4.7oz

Jocularity, male, 5.3oz

Glee, female, 6.5oz

Thanks CP, for letting me do all of these fun, FUN things!