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