Puppies
Avatar (the Last Airbender) Litter: Winter 2024
Aelin
+
Bailey
+ more about the parents
Birth - 1/21/2024
Somewhere over the rainbow, Aelin and Bailey had 8 beautiful puppies on Sunday, 5 males and 3 females. These pups came in a variety of colors so in addition to naming this the Avatar litter, we also have referred to it as the "recessive" litter due to so many recessive colors and traits popping up! These pups each had a 50% chance to roll the black and tan die, and four of them did. Each pup had a 25% chance to roll the dilute die, and three of them did. Two rolled both dies, and thus why we have the gray and tan pups! The two gray and tans and the dilute (or silver) tawny are all firsts for the Desert Sol kennel, last one we need born under the Desert Sol name is a buff pup (we do have Ghost which is a buff under our kennel as a pick puppy, but she wasn't officially born with us). We also hit another milestone with Katara being the first female born first at our house. Some of our satellite litters had females first, but we didn't in the first 6 litters we had!
It was a fairly uneventful birth. Aelin was the best pregnant dog by eating her food up to and including birthing day! She had a few picky days and we had to spike her kibble with chicken or wet dog food, but she ate and she ate well. Kyra and Zazu (Aelin's grandma and mom) were super picky eaters, would only eat chicken and rice, it had to be hand fed, they didn't even like wet dog food (what??) and would stop eating a few days prior to birth. I think Aelin had more energy and milk ready for her pups due to her excellent eating habits. After the first pup which had a tight squeeze, the rest flew out of her! We had a 6-hour wait between puppy #6 and #7, which allowed for a nap for me, and then we thought we were done. The x-ray clearly showed 7 puppies and although they can miss one, we felt pretty confident that was it, even when we felt her to make sure there were no others. About 20 minutes later, I tell Jon that Aelin just had a puppy and he shockingly came over to help with puppy duty! It was quite the surprise!
Jon wanted to pick this litter's theme since the other ones were mainly my ideas. We had watched Avatar: The Last Airbender and really enjoyed the show (it also had some great puppy names too). We rewatched it later on once we had children and they loved it too. A side benefit we found out is Bailey's people also loved watching the show with their son! We are excited for the live action show to start on Netflix in February!
.jpg "Introducing the Avatar litter")
PhotosThe show consists of "benders" from different tribes that have an affinity for water, fire, earth and air. We chose two names from each tribe for the puppies. Momo is technically a male in the series, but there was only one airbender (Aang) and so we chose an animal that was affiliated with airbending for our puppy that was a female so Momo is a girl in our litter. We could have chosen Appa, who is a flying bison, and Aang's sidekick through the entire series, but one of our puppy owners from the Valentine Litter named his puppy Appa so we didn't want to get them confused! Appa will make an appearance though as he is on our backdrop cloth for the weekly photos. :) So enjoy our latest puppy adventure with the Avatar litter as they grow! Don't forget we have a puppy cam!
Shout out to Nickipedia and Avatar Wiki for all the name origins below.
So now, the moment you've all been waiting for, we would like to introduce the puppies of the Avatar litter, in order of appearance:
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Pronunciation:
ka-TAR-ahSex:
FemaleWeight:
1lb 0ozName Origin:
The last remaining water-bender from the Southern Water Tribe, due to an invasion by the Southern Raiders and kidnapping of all water-benders in the tribe years previously. By the age of fifteen, she had mastered the art of water-bending. Seen as a "protective sister" for the group that can be stubborn. Sokka's sister..jpg)
Pronunciation:
ZOO-kohSex:
MaleWeight:
1lb 0ozName Origin:
Prince Zuko was originally the primary antagonist of the series, but developed into an anti-hero and tragic hero and later, a protagonist. Zuko had been exiled prior to the beginning of the series by his father and believed that capturing the Avatar was the only way to regain his honor. Nephew to Iroh, he is a fire-bender that grows in skill throughout the series..jpg)
Pronunciation:
ANGSex:
MaleWeight:
14.8ozName Origin:
The last air-bender and primary protagonist of the series. He is the current incarnation of the Avatar, the spirit of the planet manifested in human form. A reluctant hero, Aang often acts in a fun-loving, carefree manner. His pacifist and vegetarian nature demonstrate his love for life, a primary trait of Buddhism. The creators intended Aang to "defeat enemies with his wits" and be a "trickster hero". Though Aang generally acts in a playful, carefree manner, he becomes more serious during crisis and danger..jpg)
Pronunciation:
EYE-rohSex:
MaleWeight:
1lb 1ozName Origin:
Iroh is a retired Fire Nation general, a fire-bending master, and a wise mentor to his nephew Zuko. He is the older brother of Firelord Ozai. Iroh's well-known ability to breathe fire and his claims of "slaying" the last dragon earned him the honorary title "The Dragon of the West". He also loves drinking tea..jpg)
Pronunciation:
TAWFSex:
FemaleWeight:
10.9ozName Origin:
A blind earth-bending master. Her parents are overprotective and view her blindness as a disability. To avoid them, Toph learned Earthbending from Badgermoles and became a famous fighter for a time. Toph is fiercely independent, sarcastic, direct, and brutally frank.Update after the birth announcement was made. Sadly we had to say goodbye to Toph on Thursday morning. In her short time with us, she was as fierce and tough as her character namesake. Here is our eulogy we put on Facebook: Our sweet little Toph crossed over the Rainbow Bridge on Thursday at 7:30am in the arms of Jon. This "little lump" of a pup has taken a piece of our hearts with her. It's amazing that knowing this animal for such a short time, even before her real personality started to come out, we fell madly in love with her. This loss has absolutely devastated us. Toph was born 5th out of 8 on Sunday, January 21st at 8:50am. This black and tan sweetie weighed in only at 10.9oz! Although she was much smaller than her siblings, she ate furiously like the rest of them and gained over an ounce at the next weigh in on Monday morning at 12.1oz. Since she was smaller, we kept an extra eye on her and discovered that although she was always next to mom, she didn't eat on her own, even when the milk bar was empty. Tuesday morning she was about the same weight so we knew she didn't eat at all even when we weren't looking so we decided to tube feed her. We made a vet appointment for Thursday, but Wednesday night she was slowing down. I was very afraid to go to bed that night, not wanting to leave Toph for fear of her body shutting down while I was asleep. Sadly, I was right. After trying a tube feeding on Thursday morning, Jon was holding her to snuggle after feeding, that is where she died peacefully in his arms a short while later.
Although we tried everything we could, we fear that something inside Toph's body just wasn't fully developed, and that she was unable to absorb the food, which is why she probably stopped eating. This is the absolutely worst part of breeding, but looking at the 7 healthy pups in the box with their amazing mom, Aelin, taking care of them, it reminds us why we are doing this in the first place. Toph taught us how unconditional love was, and how to do things we were scared to do, like tube feeding, that we hopefully never need to use in the future, but if we do, we are prepared. It's heartbreaking thinking how she will never get the chance to make some family happy and live a wonderful life, but no matter how short it was, she was incredibly loved in her time with us. Rest well and pain free our little girl.
.jpg)
Pronunciation:
SAW-kahSex:
MaleWeight:
1lb 2.5ozName Origin:
He hails from the Southern Water Tribe, but does not have the gift of water bending and instead strives to become a worthy warrior and leader. He is frequently given opportunities to use his ingenuity and weapons, including his boomerang, machete, and a space sword he forged from a meteorite. Katara's brother..jpg)
Pronunciation:
BOO-meeSex:
MaleWeight:
1lb 0ozName Origin:
Bumi is the wild-eyed, eccentric, elderly King of Omashu. Prior to the start of the Hundred Year War, Bumi had been a close friend of Avatar Aang in his childhood. He became an old and wild man, prone to cackling and snorting laughter at jokes. Although Bumi appeared senile, he was in fact a brilliant and patient tactician, willing to wait until the opportune moment to strike in order to produce the most favorable outcome..jpg)
Pronunciation:
MOH-mohSex:
FemaleWeight:
1lb 0ozName Origin:
A winged lemur and a loyal companion of Avatar Aang and his friends. By late 99 AG, he lived at the Southern Air Temple and was the only known specimen of the winged lemur species to still be alive after the Air Nomad Genocide.of
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