Puppies – Day 33

Spring has finally arrived here with some warmer weather in the 20’s.  A couple of days ago, we set up an exercise pen on the deck and it was the puppies first time outside. They loved it! They had their lunch outside, and then played. The bigger area gave them a chance to wrestle with each other and also explore the cat tunnel again – which several puppies zipped back and forth through. Then they settled down for an afternoon nap.  Everyone did great and no one was shy about the new environment. Hopefully this nice spring weather is here to stay! Enjoy the photos!

Puppies – Day 28

The puppies are growing nicely and have a healthy appetite! We are feeding them four times a day and Lexi supplements the rest of the time – although not as often now. On Friday we expanded their home to a larger pen and they seemed to enjoy it and are very relaxed. They are also very good at using the puppy pee pad so their pen is relatively clean. The puppies spend some time exploring our hallway. It is interesting to see which ones are the most adventurous and the others who are the followers. New places, new footing, new toys are all very exciting to them! We introduced them to a tunnel yesterday. It was so fun to see them explore that! Our daughter and granddaughter came for a visit yesterday. The puppies enjoy the visitors who come out to see them. Enjoy the photos!

Puppies – Day 25

We have started to wean the puppies with soft, moist ground up puppy food with warm water hot water, milk supplement and pro-biotic. We are feeding them in individual puppy dishes so that we can monitor their feedings. The dishes provide easy access for them but can be a messy process as the puppies climb into the bowl and explore their food. It is fun to watch them! Lexi is still nursing them but is probably happy that we are supplementing them as they are getting their sharp puppy teeth. It is suggested to serve the puppy a small quantity of food multiple times a day for easy digestion. Consuming large quantities can either lead to stomach upset or vomiting, thereby providing minimal nutrition to the pup so we are feeding them 4 times a day. We have noticed that the puppies have grown quite a bit this week. They are also starting to play with each other and with some of the puppy toys. We are using soft fabric toys for their teething mouths to bite down on. They also like to cuddle with us as we play with them on the floor. It’s a good thing that I am retired so have lots of time with spend with the puppies! Enjoy the photos!

Puppies – Day 22

Morning playtime!

Puppies – Day 20

The puppies are growing nicely and have a healthy appetite! We were bottle feeding them three times a day with Lexi supplementing the rest of the time. Yesterday we started the puppies on puppy gruel. This is puppy food ground up in the blender. We are feeding Acana Puppy Food. We add powdered milk supplement, pro-biotic, and warm water to the puppy food. They certainly caught on quickly on how to lap up their new food. Lexi then goes in the whelping box and cleans everyone up. We took the railing out of the whelping box for a bit more room. An Octopus and caterpillar were added to the box. They all took to them right away and snuggled down for their nap. Enjoy the photos!

Puppies – Day 18

Happy National Pet Day! Everyone is doing very well! All of the puppies are gaining weigh nicely. They are active and vocal when Lexi comes into the whelping box! They even get excited when we come to the whelping box. The Early Scent Discrimination has ended but we enjoyed the simple daily exercised with each puppy. The rest of scents we used were wool, dirt, flower, partridge wing, and vanilla.  It helped us to get to know each individual puppy better but will hopefully accelerate their development and increase their performance in the future. The responses of the puppies ranged from avoiding the scent, to approaching the scent with some neutral responses such as going back to sleep to also loving the scent with licking, sniffing, and tail wagging. We are still supplementing the puppies with bottle feeding and will start with puppy gruel in the next few days. Here are some photos from the past two days. Enjoy!

Puppies – Two Weeks Old!

Nail day for the puppies today. Each one will have their nails clipped. Collars were added to the girls and we have marked the males with Whiteout and one light blue collar. Early Scent Discrimination is going very well! All the puppies loved the rabbit fur, ½ of them loved the cedar plank and deer antler and the other ½ were neutral. We are going to try different kind of wing this afternoon. We just starting supplementing with bottle feeding a twice a day as the puppies are getting bigger and draining Lexi quickly.  A few new toys were added to the whelping box! The puppies like to cuddle the octopus!

Puppies – Day 10

The puppies are growing nicely and Lexi is such a wonderful mom. The Early Scent Introduction is interesting. The puppies loved the duck wing and tennis ball. They were neutral or hated the orange slice and the cinnamon stick. Their eyes are just beginning to open and so at the end of the week, we should have a bit more active puppies. Right Ear boy is the first to start to open his eyes. We  put puppy collars on all of them and also marked three boys with Whiteout. We will keep notes as they develop their personalities and also for feedings as we might need to supplement with some bottle feeding. Enjoy!

Puppies – Day 7

It’s hard to believe that the puppies are 1 week old! The puppies are growing nicely.  They mostly eat and sleep but sure know when Lexi enters the whelping box. They have a wonderful sense of smell at this age.  So far, almost all of them love the smell of leather and mink but not lime or  flowers. Today we are going to try a bird wing. They are getting a bit more mobile and are wobbling around the whelping box making squeaking sounds. Enjoy the photos of sleeping puppies!

Puppies – Day 4

Lexi continues to be a wonderful mom! All the puppies are gaining weight. The puppies are starting to get mobile and noisy and they sure know when Lexi enters the whelping box! We love having puppies around – following their growth, the mother’s involvement with feeding and bringing them up. We have started the puppies on the Avidog’s Early Scent Introduction (https://www.avidog.com/early-scent-introduction-for-neonate-puppies/ )  at 3 days of age and will start the Early Puppy Neurostimulation Program (https://breedingbetterdogs.com/article/early-neurological-stimulationat)  at 5 days of age. We will introduce a new scent daily to each puppy. It will be so interesting watching the puppies fall in love or out of love with a smell. Every puppy will be handled every day for their neurostimulation, for weighings, and just for fun. We use Early Neurological stimulation and Early Scent Introduction to help aid each puppy’s development, resilience and coping mechanisms – https://pupstartsbreeders.com/puppy-raising-tips-ens-and-esi/