Bristol's Second Day

Our first 24 hours with Bristol were a real challenge.  Hope's milk has not come in and Bristol was not happy with the milk replacer formula or the bottles that were designed for puppies.  Unfortunately we learned this after stores had closed and so we had to make due until stores opened again in the morning.

The good news was Bristol was very driven to nurse from Hope, so we were able to tuck a thin, narrow nipple under her lip and dribble in some milk replacer while she was latched on Mom.  This was never enough to completely fill her, just temporarily settle her, so it was a very restless night for all of us.  She was trying to nurse about every 30 minutes...so every 30 minutes we were trying to dribble in some additional sustenance to keep her going.

The next day we rushed out and bought the ingredients to make Leerburg's Bottle Feeding Recipe along with a wide variety of human bottles to hopefully find something Bristol would approve of.  Our first try with the new formula and human bottle was a great success!  She has been eating regularly and is already gaining weight.

This little puppy has been through a lot of struggles so far and has fought through everyone of them.  She truly is our little Bristol Fighter.

Here's a short video that Google "Auto Awesome" put together from some of the video and photos we've captured today.

What's in a Name: Our "Bristol" Fighter

We struggled for awhile to pick a name that really suited this strong, spirited girl.

After a little research, we settled on Bristol - name after the British car manufacturer Bristol Cars.  (it is also the name of a racetrack - the Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol Tennessee).

The history of the Bristol cars is really quite a fascinating story of a real entrepreneurial family.  They had huge success building fighter plans for the World Wars...but once they wars were finished they needed to quickly find a new source of income to ensure their 70,000 employees stayed employed.  They started building super cars!  Their second model, the 401, manufactured in 1948 was the first 2 litre engine to make it to 100 MPH!

It wasn't until we had decided that yes, she sounded like a Bristol that we discovered that the most recent model of cars in the Bristol line up was called the "Fighter".  We could not have selected any more of an appropriate name!!

Ready or not....here comes our Bristol Fighter!

Welcome Our Miracle Puppy!

We had one, very special girl born via c-section today.  She is a real fighter!

We have yet to pick a name for her - but given she is from our second litter, her name will begin with a "B" and will stick with our theme...but still reflect her strong personality.

Here's a photo of Mom and baby - you will have to look really close to see her, she's coloured just like her mother.  It doesn't show well in the photos, but she has a beautiful auburn shade to her coat - very rich.