Today Kaspar & Lotte (5 months old) had their first grooming session – just a little bit of getting used to standing on a table and the sound of scissors. They were comfortable with the handling and trusting of me cutting a bit of the end tail hair. Afterwards we had a short baby show training session – not that we have any show to attend due to COVID but now seemed a good time to practice a little.

As mummy was getting jealous of the cheese tube we let her have a go at it too. Rumi is not yet in full shape after the litter and we are taking our time to allow her to build muscles and endurance by exercising on the treadmill and swimming. But she enjoys everything – as long as it involves some action.

Those of you who kept count of the dirty dozen may have noticed we only announced 11 puppies to have a forever loving home, so far. This means we are missing one little star in the row. Let me introduce you to:

Flatastic Red Strength

At seven and 1/2 weeks away in the litter we were confronted with the withdrawal of one of the puppy buyers. For us this was a sad thing to have to go through and it left us without a forever loving working home for wonderful Mrs Red. But let me first tell you a little about this great girl..

During the nursing period “Marjory” presented herself being a charismatic showgirl, the only puppy having milk brought to her privately in her “penthouse” in the back of the garden. The nickname Marjory arised due to the fact that she slept/sleeps on the potty tray resembling the Oracle from the freggle show. Despite her nasty sleeping habits, she is talented and extremely clever. She is Rumi 2.0 – lots of passion, but with more will to please than her mother – a great spirit and she runs towards everything interesting when she gets a chance. From day one, up front – a go getter and a very sweet girl at home. She is very gifted in reading people’s energy and responds very accurately and if you ask me she is rather pretty too. She is not suitable for inexperienced handlers (because of her love for adventures & passion), though.

We decided to name her Lotte. After the Dutch word “lot” meaning fate or lottery ticket.

As she deserves a good match too we have decided to offer her a shared home with Rumi and Kaspar, hoping that my ability to manage this unexpected family expansion will be sufficient. Exciting times to look forward to for us, training two puppies and bringing Rumi back in good competition & hunting shape. I must say, experienced breeders warned me up front: “expect the unexpected” – they were right in a manner I could not ever have imagined. First hurdle to take in this new and unexpected future is getting a bigger car to fit this pack of dogs and then I need to figure out how to walk 3 eager dogs on the leash. Enough challenge for me for the coming time I think.

Of course all the arguments of training two puppies at once not being ideal etc. plus the impact of bringing up two of the same age made our decision very difficult. But due to the circumstances I simply cannot bare to let her go to anyone not being close to our hearts. By keeping Lotte we also hope to have regained access to future possibilities of breeding. But who knows what the future will bring.. we hope to make the best of it for our trio and trust the way of the world to guide us.

Rumi is very happy with her two puppies. It turns out that they make excellent playmates and they love to copy whatever mischievousness mummy is coming up with. Today I caught them all having a little pull game with my fittflop slipper-in the vegetable garden..The look on Rumi’s face was priceless 💕

Here he is – our new family member, the dog who stole my heart the moment he entered this world. The most handsome puppy I have ever seen (yes I know I cannot think clearly):

Flatastic Black Peace

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From the very beginning he and I had a thing and this will probably be the last time in my life that I allow myself to fall utterly silly in love with a goodlooking hairy black fellow – taking the risk to be heartbroken and loose all senses 😂

He is everything I was looking for: clever, somewhat laid back (compared to his mother), funny, charming, has will to please, thinking before acting, moderate will of his own, sense of right and wrong with a very friendly character and he likes to work with a very good nose. We named him Kaspar keeping in mind that the name origins from the African wise man who came to bless baby Jesus. If that should not fit he can always be connected to the friendly ghost.

I hope that he and I will have a long and healthy love affair together.🖤

Past weekend we had the pleasure of meeting most of our puppy candidates on the waiting list. For us it was also a great moment to see how the puppies interact with humans. They loved all the attention and settled down nicely afterwards

Time has not been on our side since Rumi became ill with Mastitis and we had to ween off the puppies. Our days and nights have therefore been crazy. To give you an idea, my day started around 5-6 o’clock and ended somewhere between 23.00 and 24.00 hours. Feeding puppies, scooping pooh and milking Rumi. Luckily our efforts kept the puppies fat and happy and we even managed to start some car driving practice. We kinda had to as the Dutch Kennel Club stopped house visits for chipping and DNA testing due to Covid-19, meaning I would need to drive up to an hour at 5 weeks old. Monday was the big day and the car drive did not stress them too much and the chipping and DNA sampling went very smoothly. All puppies confidently let themselves be handled by the two strangers.

This week we continue the socialization and Rumi is busy teaching them ownership rights and bite pressure.

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It is hard to believe that my wonderful dozen is already 4 weeks old. Today was a milestone because they are now fed solid food twice a day and I no longer bottle feed. That is a huge workload relief for me. We have extended their living space every other day – whenever we heard that their interactions became more serious of sound. The space extension is in order to keep the stress of too crowded area low and to provide individuals with options to stay out of “war zones” when the playing gets rough. It is a lot of work to keep such a space clean but it just cheers my heart to see the effect of it on the puppies. They all do their big business on the gravel or at least very close to. So no more pooh on the carpets (unless they have stepped in it😷). They had a little sneak preview today outside but due to strong wind most of them decided to stay inside. Tomorrow we will try again if the weather allows. Have I yet told you how proud and happy I am with my pups? Oh no, they are not mine. All Rumi’s babies and she is thrilled too with them – especially because they have started to play a bit with her. I hope she will enjoy it too next week when they can run really fast😁. Before I forget, last week all expected owners received a little birth card with the announcement of the litter name: Aura. I am confident they will color our lives with their energy.

Yesterday the Flatastics turned two weeks old. They are still doing great growing and sleeping – eyes have opened too so they are taking in the world. They are very active with their noses and as soon as they smell me or Rumi they speed up their crawling/walking pace. They have had their first anti worm treatment and they enjoy all the teddybears and soft baby cloths. This week we are preparing the agenda for the upcoming weeks, making appointments at the vet’s and figuring out how to plan visits for future owners in a Corona proof way. It is a bit of a challenge having 12 puppies and all the families who are dying to come and have a look in combination with the adjusted policy of chipping the pups on location, meaning we have to start early getting them used to car driving if we do not want to overwhelm them with a long drive. So while we puzzle on with timemanagement please enjoy some of the photos from the last couple of days.

Time flies when you are a mom..at least when you take care of 12 little ones..

The Flatastic puppies are doing great, they are wonderful little characters full of life and energy. They come across as being strong – both physically and mentally and they gain weight and coordination every day. I am slowly starting to recognize their individual personalities and I cannot imagine ever wanting them to leave us – I am utterly in love with them.

Rumi has had a bit of a rough week. After delivery she gave herself fully to feeding and caring. Due to an unusual lack of appetite we have struggled to feed her and it is with great relief that we have finally reached the point that she has excess energy. She is now taking care of the whole feeding herself and is keen on walking with us and she enjoys her morning massages again.

We had to find her a villa instead of her nice house – it has been extended in to a minor cattle with different bedding possibilities and different temperature options. Luckily we were well prepared with all puppy stuff, because it kind of hit us having 12 puppies and the amount of work the first week was huge. Now things are settling nicely and we can slowly start attending administration and other chores besides the puppies and Rumi.

In this proces I promised myself (and Rumi) to put the dogs first, so my apologies for the lack of communication to anyone who might still be waiting for me to text or call back – please try again, because I lost track.

The waiting list for puppies is full – we do not accept any new request for puppies.

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On the 22nd of May Rumi gave birth to 12 puppies. It was a marathon and we were all very tired afterwards. The puppies are very lively and healthy with very descent weights from birth on. We are slowly getting into a routine of caring for this huge litter. We feel happy, blessed and exhausted at the same time. Rumi is very devoted to her new role as a mother and is doing her utmost to clean, nurture and feed this lot.

9 males & 3 females – as it looks at this point all little ones will be blessed with loving (working) homes.

My dream has come true..

We have another 2 weeks to go before the expected birthdate of the first Flatastic litter. Rumi is not doing much at daytime. It is too hot and she is tired. So we eat and sleep. In the evenings we try to encourage her to walk a bit more to maintain some condition. She is moving slowly like and oldtimer VW bus. She also looks a bit square too..

We are intense happy to announce that my long time wish has now officially been confirmed:

Puppies are on their way🎉

Today we went to Sterkliniek Nieuwveen to have an Utrasound of Rumi. Vet Michiel Albers performed the Utrasound and counted 5-6 puppies. But due to Rumi’s hairy belly he could not scan the whole way up. We did not want to shave her belly as this can cause stress, which will influence the puppies. So we still have to wait for some more surprise. Most importantly they all looked very healthy and alive & kicking. Heartbeats were easy to see to – this is very special. Rumi was not amused about having to be put on the back but when she discovered that it involved belly stroking – she relaxed into the position. Of course I whispered in her ear how flatastic she was doing. So my husband and I bought the loveliest champagne & rasberry tart on the way home to celebrate.