The seventh week in puppies' life

Tommy and Tuesday's puppies continue to develop well. They have had a very busy week. In the house they continue to sleep in their whelping box, which now is their bed. They go to bathroom in the large pen filled with wood chips. This setup males for easy cleaning. Tuesday decided that their teeth are too sharp now and stopped jumping into their pen. She loves her puppies and  she craves a close contact with them. She always wants to know where they are. But for now we are keeping them pretty much separated so she stops producing milk. 

The two pictures above show Tuesday watching her puppies while they are in their pen. The next one shows her trying to get away from the pups who still try to get a sip of milk.

During the day, when the weather allows, pups stay in a large pen outdoors. They have a variety of beds, a crate and a lot of toys there. We try to change them all the time so they do not get bored. Of course, they have each other and now they play hard.

We filled this shallow plastic and let the pups wet their feet in the water. Only Vonnie figured out quickly that if she grabs the string, she actually does not have to go all the way to get the ball. This is a the most adventurous and enterprising puppy.

We hang several toys from the tree branch above the pen, and the duck was the biggest hit.

The sweetest puppy in the litter is Vincent, who is very cuddly and affectionate.

Pups started to go for walks, and the picture below shows John who is trying to be very careful and not to step on any of them. They do have a real talent to get under our feet.

We also started to take pups for short rides. This picture was taken during their first short trip, and the pups were not impressed. Today (May 30) they were much better and more relaxed.

We also let pups regular contact with our adult dogs. This picture shows Tommy, who met them for the first time almost a week ago. He was very good with them. Even though he is a high energy dog, he adjusted his behavior and was very gentle with the pups.

Pups also met other males, Kunox and Bernie.

Puppies have learned recently about stairs and steps, and you can see a short video here.

During our meals pups are with us in the kitchen, and this picture shows them snoozing after their mid-morning snack of apples. Their diet is very diversified and includes raw mix of meat and veggies, goat milk, canned food and dry kibble.

They are agile and fast, and the next three weeks will be a lot of fun for us while we will continue working with them.

Puppies are weaned almost completely

Unfortunately it has been a while since my last post on puppies. I left for the United Blood Trackers Trackfest in North Carolina a week ago and got back home on Tuesday. 

So let's go back to the time when puppies turned 4 weeks old. In wirehaired dachshunds there is a correlation between the timing of teeth emergence and texture of coat. Usually the pups who get their teeth first will have a shorter coat. The once who get their teeth as last ones will have softer and fuller coats. The pictures below show teeth of three pups. Vivica and Vonnie will have shorter, harsher coats than Volt. Viola and Vincent will have rather soft and full coats.

Pups spend part of their day outside in a pen, where we put a crate and plenty of toys to keep them occupied. They started to use the crate right away, and it is a good start to crate training. A crate is the best tool for housebreaking puppies, but this task will be left to the pups' new owners.

In the fifth week puppies were making a gradual transition to solid food, but occasionally Tuesday would let them nurse. Now this is not a pleasant experience for her as pups' teeth are sharp like needles.

During the night and when the weather is rainy puppies stay in the house in this pen. The whelping bed serves as their bed now, which they avoid to soil. There is a large pen attached to the whelping box, which is filled with wood chips. Puppies figured out pretty quickly that this is their bathroom now. This is a great start to their housebreaking as instinctively they choose to go to bathroom as far from their bed as possible.

Puppies started to meet new people now and when I was away they had a nice play session with our friends Dan and Faith. Yesterday we had visitors from Florida, Joanna and Lorin. Joanna, who is a vet, fell in love with our dachshunds (she knew them from our website) and really wanted to see them. It was very good for the pups to be handled by strangers, and after half an hour of playing they just fell asleep in the people's laps. Vonnie and Vivica lost their collars so it is not obvious from the pics who is who but we know.

It is always a great relief for a breeder to see both testicles down in male puppies. This is the case with Volt and Vincent  BTW, Vonnie started to get out of the pen, but we have not figured out how she does it. She is a smart cookie.

V- puppies turn 4 weeks old. Puppies' sensory development.

The fourth week between 21st and 28th day in puppy development is referred to as "awareness or identification period". At this stage all puppies' senses are functioning well, and this past week pups have undergone many first experiences. For example they heard a vacuum cleaner for the first time (no problem!).  Since the whelping box is still in my den where I work on the computer, they listened to quite a few youtube sound tracks with a variety of sounds. So far I have not noticed any sound sensitivity. Sure when they hear a door slammed or a sudden loud noise they startle (which is a completely normal response), but they recover from it very quickly. Several times a day they are taken out of the whelping box and allowed free run and exploration of my den. They like that a lot. When weather allows, they get to spend some time outside in a pen, where they are exposed to a huge variety of smells, sights and sounds.

Pups still rely on Tuesday for their nourishment but yesterday for the first time they had a meal of puppy food mixed with goat milk. They were also given raw bones to play with.

Their weights are:

Volt (lime collar), was at birth 221 gr, now 1645 

Vivica (red) was 250 gr, now 1645

Viola (pink) was 210 gr, now 1565

Vincet (blue) was 232 gr, now 1525

Vonnie (yellow)  was 215 gr, now 1505

Fourth week of puppyhood will bring many new experiences

Puppies are 3.5-weeks-old, and as expected today there were many "firsts". For the first time I heard them "talking" to me and to one another. For the first time they got out of the whelping box, and then I took them outside to a pen where they spent 30 minutes on the grass. Their nails got dremeled, for the 2nd time. They start to resemble "little doggies".

Puppies are becoming more active

All is well with V-puppies. Tuesday continues to be a very attentive mother though now she takes long breaks from the whelping box. She continues to eat well and has plenty of milk, which results in chunky puppies. Now pups are starting to interact with one another, and of course with Tuesday. They wag their tails and attempt to play with toys. With every day they are getting to be more active. It is still too cold to take them outside.