Day Six (Updated)

Mary-Ann Sontag June 10, 2025

They are like small works of art.

Capella continues to do very well. She is relaxed and happy. Here she has Star Garnet on her right leg and Topaz on the left. Puppies love to drape!

💙💙💙🩷

(Later in the Day)

The puppies had visitors — Kira and her husband, Jay, stopped by ❤️ I did not get photos — darn it! After getting a puppy fix, Kira and Jay then ran around sending off various puppy DNA swabs — Fed Ex for the France samples and the post office for the AKC DNA test kits. Much gratitude to them 🙏

Can you believe that the France samples will arrive in just two days?! That is faster than if I mailed a letter to Utah!

These puppies are so charming and beautiful! And small — look at Jasper’s tiny paw compared to Capella’s paw.

Doesn’t Capella look so proud and happy?!

Six Days Old — Puppy Pile!

Sapphire — love his ears in this photo.

Topaz is super sweet and loves to be in Capella’s fur or on her leg.

This is Sapphire and Star Garnet — and check out the beautiful whelping box!!! The rails are hickory and the sides are Sapele, an African hardwood. It was a team effort, but special thanks to the Team Captain, Logan (Bright Star Atlas’s human brother).

This is Jasper. And yes — I know. It is an epic photo.

He was taking a 30-minute solo nap to make sure his DNA did not get mixed up with his littermates (or mom) before I swabbed his cheek, and I looked over to see him doing that. SO CUTE.

Star Garnet is also super cute, but not quite as Zen in her poses.

This is Sapphire.

Thanks for following along with us ❤️

Day 5

Mary-Ann Sontag June 9, 2025

Puppies are increasingly mobile. They have a drag/lurch mode of transportation but it gets them where they want to go.

Jasper is especially active and busy, and has been since the first day. He is constantly on crawlabouts, and you can hear him doing directional sniffing around the whelping box from across the room.

Noses are starting to darken up — I call this time the Smudge Puppy stage because the puppy noses look dirty and smudged for a while ❤️

This particular fleece makes for a pretty background.

I love this photo of Star Garnet 💖

My cats are quite confused. Apparently, night time is when they do their important cat work and these all-nighters are interfering with that. Even the elusive Nikki Summer Dawn has been appearing to try and figure out what the heck is going on.

“Go to bed, human and dogs! This is Cat Time!!”

Pro Tip: When the summer heat hits, 2:36 a.m. is a great time to boil pasta.

Puppy Pile!

🥱❤️

Evening Photos

Star Garnet was licking Capella’s foot — so cute!

At 11:30 pm, all is well. Puppies gained nicely in the last 24 hours, and Capella is being an attentive and careful mom 🩷

Day 4

Mary-Ann Sontag June 8, 2025

All is well here. The arrival of milk also means the arrival of oxytocin, the Love Hormone, and it shows. Capella is currently contending for the Mother of the Year award, which makes things SO much easier.

It is currently 2:45 a.m. I have been up since about 8:30 pm last evening. Galen is helping to watch puppies — thank goodness! — but we have to find 6 - 7 hour shifts that work for his responsibilities, and that has been afternoon/evening hours. Luckily, I am so tired that I can sleep whenever the opportunity presents.

It is very odd to be awake when you know most people are not but it is not unpleasant — it is just strange. And quiet.

The puppies seem to have suffered no lingering effects from the removal of their many dewclaws. Every puppy gained a good amount of weight in the past 24 hours — yay!

And since I have time and Capella is making things easy — I made a video.

Later: Random Photos

In this photo of Star Garnet and Sapphire using Topaz as a bottom bunk, you can see what I mean about their opposing white muzzle markings.

Star Garnet is the one closer to Topaz’s head. She has more white of her left side.

Topaz did live through the experience — this is him.

This makes me laugh!

End of the Day

The Gems have been alive for four complete days now; they were born later in the day on June 4 so a complete 24 hours ends in the later afternoon.

We like to see puppies double their weight in the first 7 - 10 days, and we are on track for that. Here is how much each puppy is up from his/her birth weight:

Jasper: 58% (now weighs 26.8 oz)

Star Garnet: 51% (now weighs 21.8 oz)

Topaz: 43% (now weighs 17.4 oz)

Sapphire: 41% (now weighs 22.8 oz)

Thanks for following along 🩷