Mazatlán
(October 15, 2010 - March 15, 2011)

Marvin's coming of age came unexpectedly with the arrival of La Gorda, a brown dachshund female with a gentle quiet disposition.  She was in season and her owner, who wanted a black and tan dachshund to father her pups, thought Marvin would be a perfect mate for her.  So we set up some "playdates" at each other's houses.  This was around 10 January.

It took Marvin a little while to work out which end was which!

He did get the hang of it eventually though, and it was necessary for us to pull them apart after each time.

After the third day of them spending time together, we decided that enough was enough and what will happen will happen.

In late February, we gave La Gorda's owner a call, and were told that she was indeed "engordada".  So we dropped around to visit her.  She was pleased to see us and rolled over and lay at our feet seeking a scritch or a pat.

It looks like she will have a big litter!  They will be nice pups as La Gorda is so sweet and affectionate.

On Friday March 11, we received the call.  La Gorda was in labour and there were 8 pups so far!  Later we heard that she was taken to the vet for a Caesarean to deliver the last 3 pups, which did not survive.  Three more of the weaker pups died over the next two days while La Gorda was recovering.  We visited them on the Monday 14th, just a day before we were to head back to Oregon.  Just 5 pups were left.  They were black as were all the pups of the litter, but not deep black like Marvin.  I had expected a mixture of some black and some brown pups!

They were all very tiny, and their faces looked brown rather than black.  Here is the runt of the litter, the only male left.

Marvin didn't really know what to make of it all.  La Gorda just wanted to feed them.  You can see some of the pups standing up to drink, so we feel confident that they will do well.  We plan to keep in touch to see how they are doing.  Marvin is a daddy!