Puppies at five weeks

Yesterday was a first sunny day in  a long time, and puppies had a chance to be in the sunshine outside. They really enjoyed it. It is important now to spend some time on one-to-one basis with pups. It takes time but this way you can learn much more about the individual pups than when you watch them in a group.
Our neighbors' kids came to visit so puppies had a chance to socialize with them too. Every day pups get exposed to new items to play with - yesterday they got  fresh deer legs, a big cardboard box, and a brick (various textures, smells). They like to investigate and are drawn to new objects. To get more insights about it, I highly recommend Temple Grandin's book "Animal Makes Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals". You can read the first chapter online by clicking here.

When I look at these pups it strikes me how uniform this litter is as the pups are very alike in their conformation and body type. Their coats are almost identical. I don't recall having ever had such a litter. Pups' personalities will be different, and I can see the differences emerging now.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

In the last few days the weather has not cooperated. We have been getting a lot of rain again, and yesterday we had water in the house...again. I have never seen anything like it in my whole life. Roads are closed in many directions. Two miles from us, the Rte 443 (a major road here) is missing - 6 miles of it got washed away.

Yesterday we were looking forward to Suzanne Clothier's visit as she wanted to come and see the pups. On her way here she got trapped in a parking lot in Cobleskill where a major flooding took place, and she was stuck there for seven hours. Never made it see us. How disappointing and frustrating.

In spite of the poor weather the pups have been expanding their territory. They sleep in my office, but during the day they can move freely downstairs through the hall to the downstairs bathroom and mudroom. They really like running and playing there. Today they had a nice playing session with Bella in the mudroom, and at the same time I had a washing machine and a dryer going there. It was pretty noisy but they did not seem concerned. When they get tired they go on their own back to my office and pile up to sleep in a crate. Pretty amazing that they do that. Paika is not sleeping with them any more, but in the morning she is very anxious to see them. She lets them nurse occasionally, but I also give them solid food about twice a day. Actually they like to crunch her dry food and now their teeth are up to the task.

Playing in the mudroom

Plastic bottles make good toys. Pups thrive on novelty!

Bella was pretty good with pups, and the playing session was beneficial to her and to them.

Bella is a retrieving fanatic.

The process of weaning has started.

Pups are four and a half weeks old and they change with every day. When the weather is good they are outside, and we move them from one pen to another. When inside, they are either in my office or in our kitchen/dining area, where they are being exposed to the sound of tv, dishwasher, fridge etc. They are getting more mobile and now can walk really well. My office is divided with a board so Paika could get away from them if she wanted. Though it is not easy for them, now they can climb over the board, and every morning I find them on the other side than they were left for the night.


This morning they had their first solid meal - raw 'diet" mix of meat, organs, bone and veggies, which we get from Omas Pride. They were very enthusiastic about it! Paika is reluctant to let them nurse as their teeth are sharp and they have no mercy  :) So now the gradual process of weaning have begun.

Pups have been exposed to a deer hide and deer leg, and they liked to munch on them very much. All in all things are progressing very well.

Puppies are having their first solid meal.

Munching on a deer leg

Thinking about joining Paika on the other side of the baord

Doing it!

Water bowl - what the heck is this?

Active and playful!

At the age of four weeks puppies' weights were:
Blue pup 285 grams when born, now 1335
Green pup 295 then, now 1710
Yellow pup 275 then, now 1560
Red pup 315 then, now 1705
Pink pup 300 then, now 1655
Blue male is the smallest and probably the most active pup.

We have not started to wean the pups yet - thank you Paika for all that you do! Pups live in a rich environment and discover new sounds, smells, textures etc every day. We move them around all day long and rearrange things so they have to figure things out on their own. Today they spent several hours at three different sites, and now they are back in my den, loose. They have a crate that they use for sleeping and a couple of dog beds. Young pups like these ones have  a very old and strong instinct to avoid predators so they like to sleep in a den-like environment. When outside and ready to go to sleep, they crawl to the crate or under a wooden platform we built for them.

It looks like they all will have wirehair coat of excellent quality (this is what we have been aiming for). I checked the males' testicles and they all seem to be down. The pups don't have all their teeth yet, but it looks like they all will have full dentition. So far so good!

 

More pictures of the four-week-old pups

Puppies are four weeks old

Pups are four weeks old now, and no, we have not named them yet. The storm Irene interrupted our routine for a while and created extra work. Pups' individual personalities are starting to emerge now, but for today's update just five pics will have to do.

Getting ready for Irene

Saturday started well. Today the town of Berne had a big garage sale at multiple sites, where I was able to pick up some stuff for puppies for a very low price. Bella got three "new" toys, and puppies got a silver fox fur collar wrap just for $5.00. They will really enjoy playing with it.Then our preparations for the arrival of Irene started. My den is prone to flooding so I moved puppies and their whelping box upstairs to our living room. Our beagle club had our annual Italian Dinner tonight, and I had to prepare a salad. It went well, and it was a good evening to relax over a bottle of wine in the company of friends. The food was superb. This weekend the club is hosting a three day trial, but I think the tomorrow trial is being rescheduled. When we got back home we continued with preparations. It is not simple to take care of ten adult dogs, five three-week-old pups and one eleven-week-old pup when the heavy rain and gusty winds are expected to last at least 12 hours. We decided to bring all the dogs to the house and they are now very comfortable in their crates in our mud room downstairs. We'll see what happens in the morning and how they are going to do their business tomorrow morning in the pouring rain. We hope that Irene is kind to us!

Puppies and their new toy.

Puppies have turned three weeks old

Puppies are getting incredibly cute. They just turned three weeks old!

A good lesson for puppies about toys' ownership

Monday did not start well. Paika got sick overnight, and when I came down to my den in the morning, the floor was covered with diarrhea and vomit. I found it strange that she never let us know that she needed to go out. Other dogs would scream or jump on the door, but she always tries not to complain and tough it out. Whatever caused the trouble got eliminated from her system becausein the morning she was feeling good and had a good appetite. I called our vet just to reassure myself that things are not too serious and he recommended to give her a light diet today and several doses of Pepto-Bismol.
Puppies have been doing very well, and they have not been affected by her overnight issues. Today they are 18 days old, and I took them outside for the second time. They stayed in the outside pen, together with Paika, for several hours. Nobody complained too much.

The below video shows how they played with a furry raccoon, which they liked very much. Then two pups tried to approach the rubber toy Paika had claimed. They learned a quick and valuable lesson from their mom on what she considered inappropriate behavior. Paika is a sweetheart and I was a little surprised at her reaction, but she knows her kids the best. It is her show and unless she is ready to harm her pups (which she is not), I am not going to interfere. Some females are very permissive and they let pups do just about anything. Elli or Gela would never do what Paika did, but I actually think that Paika is a better teacher. You have to watch the video to the end to see her reaction
.

Pups are getting more active

Yesterday we had huge thunderstorms going through the area so pups spent all their day inside. Today on the other hand is very warm and we'll wait for the cool evening to put them on the grass for 15-20 minutes. I cut their nails today and the pups were not too happy about that. It is at least the second nail trimming, and it had to be done. Pups start to interact with us and with each other more and more. They certainly can hear now and they are getting more mobile with every day. Soon we will give them toys to play with, but I am afraid that now Paika would confiscate all the toys and keep them for herself. She still spends quite a bit time with the pups.

It looks like all puppies will have wirehaired coat, as we expected. Some will have more coat than others though. I can see more hair on the girl and Blue boy.

We really have to get our act together and name the pups. It is harder than you might think. We will be keeping one puppy from this litter but have no idea which one, so all the names have to be acceptable to us because we will end up with one of them. Last year we named pups early for the ease of record keeping (there were 14 pups in two litters after all). Then when we decided to keep Queenie, we had to change her name to Quenotte as John did not like the name Queenie at all. So this year we'll be more careful. And since English is my second language, some names are just plain hard for me to pronounce. As a rule we like to use a registered name as a calling name too.

Puppies turn two weeks old

Two weeks ago Paika's puppies were born. Today I took them out for the first time, and they spent half an hour in a pen outside together with Paika. Their eyes are open, but they sleep 90% of the time. Puppies crawl around their whelping box pretty well but they will be fully mobile only in a week. They certainly respond to touch and smell. Some of them were actually trying to interact with me while I was stroking them.

Towards the end of week #2

Puppies and Paika continue to do well. Pink girl opened her eyes - you can see it in the bottom picture. I think that boys will be opening their eyes tomorrow. The pups' hair is getting a little longer now.