THE STORY OF VONPETA XFREE FIRTY 

Our Billidakid was mated to Esko V Haus Zygatto and Peter and Jane were genuinely excited about the pending new arrivals. On Saturday 12^th April 2014 (day 59 after mating) Peter woke to the familiar sound of “puppy squeaking” over the kennel intercom and woke Jane from her sleep and raced down to the whelping room. The two bouncing boys, weighing in at 500 gms, that had been born were already trying to suckle on Billi, even though they were a few days early.

Jane and Peter waited patiently until 9.15 am when Billi had a couple of contractions and “hey presto what have we here?’ We had a little boy who fitted in the palm of Peter’s hand and weighed just 330 gms. The rest of the litter followed and Billi was a proud and devoted Mum to 4 boys and 4 girls. Within hours it was very apparent that “Free Firty” was going to have his work cut out to survive amongst 7 siblings who all weighed in around 500 gms with a big sister who topped 620 gms.

Peter’s phone was set for four hourly bottle feeds starting that night and the sleep interruptions soon made Peter grumpier than usual. Three days later Free Firty was in extreme discomfort and was whining uncontrollably and we suspected that mum had sat on him. Off to the vet expecting that it could be the end of the line for Free Firty. Not to be X-ray all clear but he had chronic colic because between his Mum and Peter there had not been sufficient stimulation on his tummy to make him pass manure. The vet and her staff stimulated him for a couple of hours and to say he passed a lot of manure is an understatement. No more tummy aches and Free Firty was taking to the bottle like Peter at Friday night drinks! We stimulated him quite vigorously to ensure the colic did not recur and that night Peter noticed that the poor boy did not appear to have a penis. What more handicaps could possibly happen? It was quite apparent that in her endeavour to trim his umbilical cord Billi had bitten off the end of his penis. Poor little bloke passed his water out of a little fold of skin on his tummy and because it was so restricted it was like water coming out of a water pistol and he could pee in to the middle of the whelping box when his Dad stimulated his tummy.

At two weeks of age Free Firty weighed just 514 gms whilst his siblings were around 1.3 kg. On day 18 Free Firty refused the bottle and weighed just 650 gms and we thought he will just go backwards and the obvious would happen. No matter how hard we tried “you can stick that bottle Dad!” A strange thing happened from that moment. When he got on a nipple he was so strong and determined that his heavyweight siblings could not move him. He could not get on if they beat him too it but, if Peter or Jane put him on, he was always last to fall asleep. He never looked back and we started him on solids about 5 days before his siblings and now he is just over 9 weeks and is fast becoming hard to find in amongst his litter mates.

His penis is growing but the prognosis seems that, at best, he will “have half” and no end on his sheath so to speak. Our vet cleared him at 6 weeks when he had his first shots and we are confident that he can live a normal happy life.

Free Firty is our hero as he has shown a determination to live against the odds and he is as tough as nails. At 7 weeks one of his bully brothers tried to dominate him and we heard this puppy screaming. It was the bully brother flat on his back with Free Firty grabbing his neck. You don’t mess with Free Firty!

As much as we adore Free Firty, we just have to be practical and could not afford to have another male in the kennel particularly as our Kid is very close to stud age. We would like to sell Free Firty to a loving home and can assure you that he would return that love ten fold. He has superb temperament and a personality to die for. In the words of the famous footy commentator he is SPECIAL!

UPDATE 27^TH June 2014  -  One day before his “11 week birthday”, Free Firty is now known as Fred and he is operating under a temporary two month visa which has kindly been offered by two wonderful people and his new brother “Charlie the pug”. At this stage (24 hours after leaving Vonpeta), we are confident that his visa will be processed and he will be offered permanent residency within the duration of his temporary visa. We reckon, by the look of the photos, that Fred will be doing everything he can to “sway the authorities” (headed by Charlie) as that fire sure looks a bit better than a kennel at Vonpeta. Watch this space more to follow!

UPDATE 15th July 2014 - Although Fred's temporary visa has not been upgraded to permanency, most of what we see and hear suggests that young Fred is "on the right track" most of the time.  He has a new "walking coat" see pic below and he has visited his new neighbours (just to show how handsome he is) and he has started puppy school.  From all reports he is very smart!  On the downside, Fred likes to chase ducks at the local park. No need to stop chasing when the ducks are in the water "I can swim good" and "Charlie the Pug" looks on in disbelief at a very wet Fred.

UPDATE 24^TH July 2014 - Fred’s temporary visa has been upgraded to permanency and he has officially been adopted by Emma and Nathan who live fairly close to us in suburban Blackwood. This means that Charlie now has a step brother and we must thank Emma, Nathan and Charlie for the care and kindness that they have given and will continue to give this wonderful little man who is now over 11 kg and is as “handsome as”.  Last Sunday Pete had the pleasure of taking Fred in the Show Class for puppies at the GSDC of SA and we say thank you to those people who made lovely comments about Fred. Thank you also to Emma and Nathan for taking the diversion from the “beach trip” (see pictures below) to enable us the opportunity to see Fred’s wonderful progress. We have had many thrills with our beloved kids but the sight and feel of Fred “strutting his stuff” in the show class ranks right up there.   After Show Class Fred was quite willing (with Nathan’s guidance) to show Pete a couple of tricks that he has learnt and to say that that he is a character is an understatement!

UPDATE 21/12/15 - Guess who is a big boy now?  Evidently Fred is a mad swimmer but as always his best friend"Charlie the Pug" is not far away.....

SAD UPDATE 8/1/20. I am shattered to receive the news from Emily and Nathan that this special boy has passed to Rainbow Ridge as a result of severe spinal injury (causes unknown). You were a ripper Fred and sadly missed by everyone who came in contact with you. RIP Fred (survived by his famous sister VP Xmissustoo (Anni). 

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