Sorry I haven't updated, it's been a bit full on watching puppy babies I am very pleased to report that everyone is doing well, although my girl still does not have a lot of milk. They are all happy and gaining weight so just need to wait it out until they can start some real food at 21 days. Every morning each pup gets a good check over and is weighed. This is getting more difficult as they are feisty little things and don't fancy sitting quietly on the scales! Every other day they have their little toe nails trimmed. They get very sharp and grow quickly. When they are feeding they 'peddle' with their little hands, and if they are not trimmed regularly, they can scratch mum which can quickly put her off feeding the pups. This also helps for them to get used to being handled and having they nails done, hopefully saving new owners a lot of hassle in the future. They are weighed again in the evening, then take it in turns for sofa snuggles (another essential life skill ). Other than that, at this age, there is not a lot more I can do with them other than watch them wobbling round the box and wait for their little eyes to open. They are 10 days old today, so could start opening any day now.
The babies are up and walking and their eyes have opened today. Mum has much more milk, so all is well (touch wood)!
Great to hear all is going well. Must be such a relief. It's hard looking at the adorable pictures, getting broody !
If they weren't time waster before, they certainly are now. It's amazing to see them wobbling around and looking up at the world. When you hold them they really look as though they are trying to 'see' you now. Their sofa-snuggle training is going very well! I'm still sleeping next to the whelping box, but getting some good stretches of sleep now. My girl asked to go out at 3am, and based on the quantity of food she's eating, I thought it wise to believe her! Unfortunate not much sleep was to be had after that; watching puppies is so exhausting :-D
The babies are 17 days old today and I have started to toilet train them. They can all walk well now so I have removed about a third of their sleeping area and replaced it with puppy pads for them to wee on. They are currently standing and walking away from the puppy pile for a wee, so it's just a matter of teaching them to wobble over to the pads. Mum is still taking care of poos, but that will change once they start on real food on Monday. They have started slow motion playing with each other a little bit today, which means more hours will now be wasted watching their antics :-D
The little guys have started on real food now! I mush raw beef mince (frozen for 2 weeks first) into warm puppy milk. Yesterday, they had a teaspoonful each and all enjoyed it apart from one little boy, who thought it was a terrible idea! I have never had a puppy not love this mush! It took nearly a hour to feed them all yesterday. This morning I managed 2 at a time. Soon they will be on 4 feeds/day so hoping they speed up soon! They are all weeing on the paper/puppy pads more often than not, but plenty of accidents on the vetbed too. Their bedding is being changed twice a day and the paper/pads being changed regularly throughout the day. Their little nails are being trimmed every 2/3 days to make sure that they don't get scratch. Sofa snuggle training going very well indeed
Now the easy part is over! They are now on 3 feeds a day. I have moved them on to raw Nutriment weaning paste mixed with a little warm goats milk. I alternate feeds of a free-for-all tray feed, and individual bowls to ensure that no-one is missing out. The mess is really quite epic! Mum has stopped cleaning up after them now they are on real food, so my days are spent cleaning up poos. Their paper training is going quite well, but they do still wee on the bed sometimes. I currently feel as though there are just not enough newspapers in the world! Today their whelping box went and they now have a large pen in the living room which is half bed, half paper. They are becoming more playful and mum dropped some toys in for them today, which really melted my heart- what a good girl! As they get better with the toilet training, and more playful their pen will be changed around to have a small bed, a small toilet area and more room to play. So tonight, I am spending the first night back in my bed for nearly 4 weeks! I'm tired and looking forward to a full night's sleep, but I know I'll actually worry all night and spend half the night checking the cameras! At this point in having a litter, I am utterly exhausted and thinking "I won't do this again!", but I know I will! They now have teeth!!!!!!!!!!!1
The puppies are now 5 weeks old and very hard work. They are in a large pen in the living room and now spend their days pooing, sleeping, pooing, playing, pooing, eating, pooing, screaming and pooing some more. They have been playing out in the garden on the rare occasion of the sun coming out, but they need to be out more now as they are getting bored. I have no idea how people cope with a winter litter! The kennel is all ready for them and my new gazebo has arrived so that we can still have garden playtimes even if it does rain. They have met the rest of the family now. Their Uncle was over the moon and thought it want very unfair that he's not allowed to play with them yet!
Most people are happy to let me guide them once I know their personalities a bit more. There is just one person who wants to choose themselves. There is one first time pet owner who I will suggest the quietest for and one trailller who I will chose the 'smartest' for, but I do know form watching a litter for 8 weeks and making my own choices that it really is like picking a name out of a hat as they change so much as they develop. Very disappointingly, someone has given backword, so now have to start the process again of finding the perfect home for one of them. It's really disappointing when you have someone on a list for so long and it gets to this point when they back out. I also feel sad for the new people as they haven't had all the photos and progress reports from the day they were born.
Will you keep one for yourself? It is very difficult choosing on a short visit so that sounds like a good idea. We had 4 males to choose from and narrowed it down to two. I often wonder if we had gone the other way if we would have had an easier life!! However I also feel we have had the time and resources to get Toby through his cancer treatment and maybe someone else wouldn’t have. I went for size in the end and he was the biggest by birth weight.
The puppies have now moved out to the kennel so are now able to enjoy some more outside playtime. Their routine is now to play outside for an hour first thing in the morning in their large pen on the grass with tunnels and toys while I clean their kennel run. So far they have had no accidents in their bedroom. They all usually have a wee and poo as soon as they come out. Clearing up poos is fun as they all fly over to 'help'! They then have breakfast, poo a bit more, then play until they start to wind down. They go back in the kennel to sleep for 2 hours then the process starts again. The routine teaches them about the difference between playtime and downtime and they are happy to be left for 2 hours to sleep. They are super whizzy now and walking from one side of the pen to the other can be challenging with what feels like 100 puppies attached to each foot! Their new owners have been visiting a lot this week which has been lovely. They get some new people to gnaw on and I get a break from being gnawed We have been introducing them to lots of new items and noises to make sure that they are as prepared as possible for their lives in the big world! So far they have heard all the normal household noises and outside they have heard/seen the lawnmover and strimmer, gunshot, sheep, umbrellas and a few different surfaces to walk on. I change their toys twice a day to keep them interested in them. Anyway, must dash...puppies to feed. Again
