Puppy pics

Star playing with the toys


Nicholas, stealing a visitor's shoe


Nicholas, the big boy

Blitzen, completely exhausted after entertaining visitors

Golden retriever Blair, playing with puppies

5 weeks old

Five weeks old, and the pups are finally coming to life. This is very mellow bunch. There has been increasingly more puppy wrestling matches, more playing with toys, and the pups are starting to have playtime in the house outside of the puppy pen. This weekend, the pups began entertaining visitors, and they met their first young children and a number of adults. Just today, Blitzen and Kwanzaa FINALLY climbed over the low "half gate" that allows the adult dogs to come and go easily. From other litters, someone has climbed over this low panel at 3 1/2 to 4 weeks of age. So now there is a taller "half gate" which will likely contain this litter until they leave for ICAN. These pups may have started out small, but they have recently made up for it and have gained a huge amount of weight this last week chowing on kibble and milk. At 5 weeks of age, the boys weighed 7 lbs (Rudoph) to 8.9 lbs (Nicholas), and the girls weighed 7 lbs (Miss Piggy Joy, who was on a "diet") to 7.5 lbs (Star). Willow and the pups together are eating over 20 cups of kibble per day. As a group, the pups out weigh Willow.

Puppy pics

What begins as civil eating. . .

Soon degenerates into this!

The beloved piano toy

Joy sleeping on the piano

Joy chewing on the piano

Blitzen going for a bigger chew toy

Growing up is hard work

Rudoph on top of the puppy pile

Frosty, not enough energy to get into bed

4 Weeks Old

Look how big the pups have become

Four weeks old and growing fast. Now that the pups are getting kibble (soaked kibble and milk), they are really putting on the weight. At 4 weeks, the boys weighed 5 lbs (Rudolph & Blitzen) to 6.1 lbs (Nicholas). The girls weighed 4.7 lbs (Noel) to 5.4 lbs (Joy). The pups are now living in the full sized puppy pen with lots of toys and doing a reasonably good job using the litter box. Their favorite toy is a Little Tikes toy piano. Today, they had their first big adventure outside the pen loose in the living room. Personalities are starting to emerge:

Nicholas - big easy going pup

Joy - little Miss Piggy, a complete glutton who we need to pull away from the bowl at feeding time

Frosty - social, mellow boy who loves to sleep on his back

Rudolph - the last pup to become interested in eating kibble, just wanted Willow's milk, a little mama's boy

Blitzen and Kwanzaa - showing early signs of being adventurous

Noel and Holly - smaller, feisty pups

Star - a mellow pup who tends to keep to herself

Puppy Cam is live

Puppy cam is available at http://www.marestare.com/fcam.php?alias=icandog

Busy week

Symmetrical nursing

It has been busy in puppyland and no time to post or take many pics. The pups are over 3 weeks old and moved into the puppy pen on Saturday, and are already using the litter box at least some of the time. Current weights for the boys range from Nicholas 5.1 lbs to Blitzen at 3.7 lbs. The girls range from Noel at 4 lbs to the other three girls at 3.8 lbs. The pups are fully functional little beings - they can see, hear, move around easily, and even are getting their baby teeth. Unfortunately, the gang has had some GI issues, so more cleanup, less milk production, and more supplimental feeding. Joy, Nicholas, and Holly are the eating champs - chowing on soak kibble, canned food, and goat milk. Joy has earned the new nickname of Miss Piggy. Some the other pups are not as adventurous in the eating department and I am still coaxing them to try canned food.

Rudolph sleeping - doesn't look very comfortable

Frosty sleeping with his toys

These pups still like to row sleep (Joy, Kwanzaa, Star)

The front view

Puppy pics

Joy & Blitzen


Kwanzaa


Frosty


Mirror image - Joy & Frosty


Star with bear


Star cuddling up with Willow

Many changes

Lunch is getting rather lively these days. Note Star cuddling up with Willow.

This is the age of rapid change and the pups are transforming before our eyes. They are up and walking around, interacting with each other and the small stuffed toys in the pool. If you sit down in the pool, they come over, try to climb in your lap or just enjoy getting petted. Eyes are open and ear canals should be opening next week. We had a noisy night Thursday night/Friday morning. Initially I thought that Willow had bailed on them during the night, but instead, I woke up to a pool full of hungry pups. Willow was tapped out and the gang was looking for more chow. Not a big surprise since together, the pups weigh over 20 lbs. I introduced goat milk in the bottle Friday morning, and they weren't quite sure at first of the new texture and taste, but I got all pups to take the bottle. By bottle session #2, they were pros. If these pups learn assistance dogs skills as fast as they caught on to drinking from the bottle, they should be stars. We are bottle feeding three times a day. I also introduced canned food on Saturday. Again, not too sure of the new texture and taste, but this litter is catching on very fast to the concept of prehending food, chewing and swallowing. Often the pups try to suck down canned food at first. Yesterday, I set up the puppy pen in the living room, and sometime next week, I will move the pups from the pool to the pen, always a fun transition.

2 weeks old

Tub full of two-week old pups, waiting for their puppy pool bedding to get changed.

Hard to believe that the pups are already 2 weeks old. The boys weigh 2.3 (Rudolph & Kwanzaa) to 2.8 lbs (Nicholas). The girls weigh 2.1 (Holly & Star) to 2.3 lbs (Noel). About half the pups have their eyes open. Tonight, I will add some small stuffed toys to the puppy pool to provide environmental enrichment. In additional to their daily BioSensor exercises, the pups received their second nail trim tonight.

A few more pics

Blitzen yawning


Noel and Kwanzaa


Rudolph & Joy

Frosty wins!

Frosty wins the prize for being the first pup to open its eyes.

Puppy close up pics

Star


Frosty



Blitzen

Puppy pics 7-10 days old

Joy and Frosty


Joy sleeping on top of puppy pile


Holly poking her head out from the puppy pile

Blitzen sleeping on his back

12 Days Old

The puppy pile

Two to four weeks of age is my favorite age since the pups go from helpless little blobs to adorable beings ready to take on the world. The process has begun. The pups are starting to do a bit of walking, fairly aimlessly, but walking none the less. For the first week, Willow stimulated them to toilet by licking. Now, the pups purposely move away from the puppy pile and take care of business on their own. Eyes are just starting to crack open, still looks like we are 2-3 days away from seeing eyeballs. Pink and Orange are in the race to be the first pup to open their eyes. At 7-10 days of age, I typically give the pups nicknames since it is so impersonal to just call them by their collar color. Odds are that ICAN will rename most of them. But for now:

Males
Rudolph (yellow pup) red collar
Nicholas (black pup) blue collar
Blitzen (yellow pup) black collar
Kwanzaa (black pup) yellow collar
Frosty (yellow pup) orange collar

Females
Noel (black pup) purple collar
Holly (black pup) green collar
Star (light yellow/cream pup) pink collar
Joy (yellow pup) turquoise collar

Puppy close up pics

Green girl


Red boy


Blue boy

1 week old puppy pics

This litter does enjoy sleeping in a row (not staged)


Segregated puppies - again, not staged


Red boy sleeping in the puppy pile

Green girl cuddling with Willow

Blue boy cuddling with Willow

Black collar boy (the yellow pup) sleeping with one ear up, one ear down

1 Week Old

Lots of changes for the pupsters. All nine have doubled their birth weight which is a good rate of gain. Weights range from 1 lb 5 oz (Purple, Green, Turquoise) to 2 lbs (Big Blue). Willow's milk supply is improving, although not overflowing. She is ravenous, despite getting over 6 cups of high calorie kibble per day. The pups have moved up to the big puppy pool (the same pool used for whelping) and made the adjustment without issue. Willow enjoys being able to stretch out. BioSensor exercises continue and the pups received their first nail trim. The pups vocal range now includes mewing, squawking, a hint of a bark, and a very cute trill. The corner's of Pink's eyes are starting to crack open. I expect eyes to open mid next week.


Life in the big puppy pool