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.

A sigh of relief: checking pups' teeth

Now that pups are 6 weeks old, it was a huge relief to see that they do not miss any teeth and their bites are correct. Also both male puppies have their testicles down. We could not be happier with the breeding!

Gilda's pups at 4 weeks

Tuesday was a difficult day as Gilda was sick. In the morning she was sluggish, and when I took her temperature it was 104.2. She did not want to eat, and she felt really poorly. I gave her several doses of oral calcium and in the afternoon her temperature went down to 102.7. But she still was without energy and would not eat. After talking to our vet, we put her on Clavamox (antibiotic). She improved overnight and today she was much better. Not a 100% yet though. We limited her access to puppies today, and they were fine today eating mainly raw diet.

They turned four weeks old yesterday, and today I took some pics of them.

The first picture is of Roulet, she was 1370 gr, I rated her coat as 4.5, and her teeth are just starting to come out.

Rilla (white collar) is 1320 gr, her coat is 4, and her teeth are starting to come out now.

Ranger (black) is 1440 gr, his coat is 2, and half of his teeth are out.

Remy (yellow) is 1430 gr, his coat is 2, and half of his teeth are out.

Ruger (red) is 1580 gr, his coat is 4 and his teeth are just starting to come out.

Well, it is disappointing to see three coats (out of 5) that will be on a soft and longer side. But this is something typical in wirehaired dachshunds. If a breeder selects for harsh and shorter coats, smooth coats show up. If the pendulum swings in the other direction, softer coats might dominate.

Keena's pups at four weeks

Today Keena's pups turned four weeks old. I went over them in some detail, and these are my observations:
Queenie Yellow (below) 1260 gr, her teeth are just starting to come out, coat should excellent, not too short or long, on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 very short, smooth and 5 long and soft, I'd give her 2.

Quanta Pink (below)  1500 gr, her incissors and canines are all out, looks like a short coat that I'd score 1

Quella Orange (below) 1475 gr, again incissors and canines are out, short coat with ascore of 1

Questa Lime  1275 gr, no teeth yet, coat quite short on the body, but longer on her face, 3

Quipster White 1680 gr (huge puppy), teeth are just starting to come out, coat score 4
 

 
Quantum Green don't know, we'll pick him up on Monday
 
Quick Red 1215 gr, no teeth, coat score 4

Quentin Light Blue 1470 gr, teeth are just starting to come out, coat score 2.5

Quint Navy 1260 gr, teeth are just starting to come out, coat score 3

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Also today, for the first time pups from both litters spend some time together in a pen. This is a video clip taken during this session:

To see it at a different resolution, click here.

The third week of puppies' lives

Keena's pups turned two weeks old yesterday, and Gilda's pups will do the same this coming Tuesday. This upcoming week will witness more actvity in the whelping boxes and pups will experience many "firsts".

Right now puppies can see and hear some, but their senses are going to improve dramatically. The pups are not steady on their feet yet, but in the upcoming days their mobility will get much better. They will be able to stand and take few steps without falling. They will also start interacting with their siblings and of course, with their moms. Their teeth will start to erupt and interestingly, the timing of the teeth eruption in wires is correlated with the texture of their coats they will have as adults. Pups with shorter, tighter coats will get their teeth first. Pups with longer and softer coats (as adults) will get their teeth a bit later.

In the third week pups are not ready for food supplementation yet, and they will rely on their moms for all the nurishment. And moms will continue to clean their pups' little butts. Keena and Gilda have been eating a lot and their needs for food will increase even further. Since both of them are dealing with large litters, we will be watching for any signs of eclampsia. I have seen this condition just a couple of times, but it was a very scary experience, requiring emergency. We do have oral calcium on hand, just in case. Eclampsia in dogs is different from human eclampsia, and it usually happens when pups are 2-3 weeks old and a bitch has to deal with a large litter. I think it is quite unlikely in Keena and Gilda's case as they have been eating really well, and they do not stay with puppies all the time.  For more info on eclampsia click here.

Puppy development in the third and fourth week

According to J.P. Scott Ph.D. the third week of puppy's life is the transition "period, one of very rapid change and development. At its beginning the eyes open, and at its end the puppy gives a startled reaction to sound. It can walk instead of crawl, and can move backward as well as forward. Its first teeth appear, it takes solid food, and it begins to urinate and defecate without assistance by the end of the period, which typically occurs just before 3 weeks of age.
At approximately 3 weeks of age the puppy first begins to notice other individuals at a distance and shows evidence of conditioning and habit formation. This is the beginning of the period of socialization, in which its primary social relationships are formed. At almost the same time the mother begins to leave the puppies unattended, so that there is a tendency for the strongest relationships to be developed with the litter mates rather than the mother. During the next few weeks it is easy for the human observer to form a positive social relationship with the puppy. This period of primary socialization comes to an end somewhere around 7 to 10 weeks of age, which is the normal period of weaning.

Basically the puppy before 3 weeks of age is highly insulated from its environment by the immature state of development of the sense organs, by the lack of ability for conditioning, and by maternal care."

Now when puppies are 3 weeks old we will start exposing them to various stimuli. We will continue with touch conditioning, and they will get toys made of rubber, fabric, metal, glass and leather. They will be put on various surfaces.

In this upcoming week puppies teeth will start to erupt. The first teeth to come will be the canines followed shortly by the incisors. In wirehaired dachshunds there is a correlation between the texture of the coat and the timing of the teeth eruption. Puppies with shortest hair will have the teeth early, while pups whose coats will grow longer and and soft will have their teeth quite late. Even now we can see the difference. Olive's teeth are already coming out and her coat will be the shortest. You can see the difference in the coat between Olana (left) and Olive (right). Olana's teeth have not erupted yet.