Puppies turn seven weeks old

Weights at seven weeks: Tarah - 5 lbs, Tuesday - 6 lbs, Theo - 6.5 lbs, Thor - 7 lbs. Males have both testicles, and pups have all their teeth.

Almost two weeks old and too fat

Pups' eyes are open so we will have to be careful with taking pics in the next few days. Paika is an angel; I know that she would rather run rabbits than stay with puppies but she is not showing it.  Three big pups look like walruses, they seem so fat. Yellow Female on the other hand is the smallest and most agile. She is not thin, just looks right.

In my opinion, size differences that we see now reflect pups' position in the womb and their size at birth. Over time these differences will change. For example, in the previous litter Sky was born weighing 315 grams and Summer was 300 grams. At two weeks they were 935 and 870 respectively, and at three weeks they both were the same weight 1220 grams. Now at almost 9 months, Sky is significantly larger than Summer though I don't have their currents weights.

No-nonsense approach to mothering puppies

We have not posted any updates for a couple of days as we were quite busy. Puppies are doing really well, and Paika is doing great too. I like her approach to raising puppies, and in the last 20 years I have seen many different styles of mothering.

She likes to be with her puppies, and she keeps the whelping box spotless, but now she takes long breaks away from the pups. If I am in my den, where the whelping box is,  I find her quite often in her own bed resting. If we are upstairs in the kitchen and dining area, she comes there too and spends some time with us. When Beth and Genti were here on Friday, she was schmoozing with them and their baby Dea. Puppies are not the only thing on her mind, but they are on her mind often enough.

Anyway, their eyes are still closed but they should be opening soon. When they do open, we will have to be careful with taking pups' pictures. You can't blast them with a flash when their eyes are very sensitive.

These are pups today's weights:

Blue pup 285 grams when born, now 590
Green pup 295 then, now 750
Yellow pup 275 then, now 655
Red pup 315 then, now 745
Pink pup 300 then, now 750

Gilda's pups go for a long walk

Gilda's pups went for a long walk today. They are not the same puppies as they were two weeks ago. Now they are quite independent and not that concerned whether I am around or not. They investigated and disappeared in the long grass. It took me a while to round them up and coach them to follow.
Yesterday I weighed the pups and the weights are:
Gwen 8.75 lbs
Ginie 7.5 lbs
Grannie 7 lbs
Grizzly 10 lbs
Gunner 8 lbs
Grock 7.5 lbs
Gunther 7 lbs

I also weighed (yesterday) Keena's pups who are 6 days older:

Parker 10.5 lbs

Poker 10 lbs

Pushkin 9 lbs

Petrus 9 lbs

Paika 9.5 lbs

Poppy 8.5 lbs

Patti 8.5

On average "P" pups are quite a bit larger than "G" pups, which I find odd. Gilda and Billy are larger in size than Theo and Keena, and in her previous litter Keena produced some really small pups (the smallest one is Warren Stricland's Mikki, who is just 11 lbs).