Our puppies arrived the night of November 9 (black male) and November 10 (the other four). It was an easy birth process and Mom and pups are doing very well.
All of our puppies are great eaters and have been such an easy litter, compared to past litters. I moved to our lower level and spend all day every day with mom and pups. I moved my work computer here and we are in a guest room so I can spend the nights with them to hear if anything is needed. It is working out very well and I am actually sleeping. Not as much as the pups but it is manageable.
One Week Old: Not much to report the first week as they just eat and sleep. Mom is taking great care of them. She is such a gentle mom and truly loves her pups.
Two Weeks Old: Their eyes have opened. Woohoo! They are developing their sea legs also and getting a bit mobile around their whelping box. All are great nursers and I top off with goat milk first thing in the morning and last thing at night They are doing well. Still just eat and sleep for the most part. They have doubled in size in the past two weeks. My largest puppies are the parti pups. The black and white female and the brown and white male. The brown female is slightly larger than the brown male and my black male came into this world as the smallest and is still a bit smaller than the others.
Yola is causing me a lot of trouble uploading photos. I can upload words, like this blog, but not pics. Will keep trying.
Three Weeks Old: The puppies are finally walking quite well. They have discovered each other, other than sleeping in puppy piles and they now mouth each other and interact a little bit, which is adorable to watch. They are able to stay awake for about 30 minutes at a time and will play with each other after they have eaten. They’re all Hardy little eaters and extremely calm so far. The only time I hear noise out of them is when they’re excited to eat but otherwise they’re fairly quiet, and just such a joy in my life.
Four Weeks Old: they have teeth! They are playing with each other often and it was really funny watching the black and white girl trying to catch another one’s wagging tail. She finally lunged for it and fell over in the process and I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. They love to mouth each other, and they’re very gentle with each other. they’re steady on their feet and walk across the whelping box and are just starting to trot a little bit, not always successfully. Mom isn’t as interested in nursing them now that they have teeth and their claws are growing. We keep them trimmed and soft, but it’s still uncomfortable for her, especially with her canines in. Next week there front cutters should be breaking through their gums. It’s such a pleasure to watch them grow up and their new life experiences.
Five Weeks Old: I just have a hilarious bunch of puppies. They are so much fun. They will be moved this weekend to a larger run down in our living space they are ready to stretch their legs and get moving. They’re still awesome with each other play very gently together and are awake much longer between naps. They probably play for an hour hour and a half after each feeding and they don’t make a lot of noise if they wake up in the night or during the day, they can entertain themselves and I’m just amazed at how happy these little puppies are.
I have more stories to tell now that they are more active. They are learning to use their voices. Not all of them. Two of them are very quiet and three of them will use their voices and sometimes it actually scares them and that’s funny to watch. Their front teeth are starting to break through the gums now, which is probably why they want to not on each other. Poor babies are teething, but they’re sailing through it and doing very well. Today, on the cusp of their five week birthday, they were introduced to pan feeding, and they learned to lap versus sucking their meals and they actually did very well. I didn’t feel like they all needed a bath after their first introduction which is wonderful.
Six Weeks Old: this litter is a phenomenal litter. They’re very playful but they’re not loud and vocal. Maybe it’s because there’s only five of them. They’ve been sleeping through the night since they were about three weeks old and I would have to awaken them for a feeding. They are still quiet through the night, even when they hear us walking around the kitchen, they don’t whine and yelp to be fed which is something I haven’t seen in any litter. I am thoroughly enjoying them. They are a piddle pad brigade, which means that as quick as I put piddle pads down and tape them down, they work their best to pull them up and race around their pen with them as if they master the greatest feat possible. They all run up to me and climb all over me when I am sitting in the pen. The pen by the way was our dining room that we put tarps down and cushioning so that they can be close to our daily activities and listen to the sounds, and smell the smells of daily life.