FIRSTS Litter - Day 21

Week 3 started out rough.  The puppies were moving around amazingly well for their young age, but they were very whiny to start the week.  Both of their eyes are open and getting clearer by the day.

On day 16 Green boy was especially persistent with his complaining and nothing seemed to please him.  I tried offering them some goat milk in a dish but their coordination hadn't quite allowed for them to lap it up yet, so that evening I offered Green boy some baby puppy mousse to eat.  He darn near ate my fingers with it.  It would appear that he just wasn't able to get food from mama down his gullet fast enough to please him.  Blue girl enjoyed some starter mousse as well, but not quite as much.  They were both gaining weight and perfectly healthy, but Green boy apparently LOVES his food.

On day 17 I offered both puppies a bit of ground chuck with breakfast.  They liked it, but I don't think their digestive systems were as ready for solid food as their minds were and there was a LOT of complaining with upset tummies.  We made sure everybody was pooping ok, gave tummy rubs, and slowly but surely everything caught up and by day 18 we had much happier puppies.

Days 19 and 20 were big days for coordination.  The puppies have a basic programmed idea of going potty away from the nest so as long as they have a smallish area they can define as their nest or den and an area very close they can use to eliminate, they're pretty good about going outside the nest if they can get there, even before they're able to walk very well.  As they gain coordination the puppies become more an more able to learn to eliminate in a specific area.  For most of the week about half of their area consisted of their "den" and the other half was potty pads for them to eliminate and they have been pretty consistent.  For the coming week, now that the puppies are beginning to have more refined control of their toddling, we will begin condensing their potty area and expanding their play area.

Improved coordination is also working to their advantage for dinner time as both puppies are able to take bits of meat from my hand as well as eat their ground chuck and goat milk mixture from a small dish.

The puppies have taken a couple small car trips to visit family and aren't phased by new places and people one bit.

On day 20 green boy started to show signs of his ears opening by startling when I bumped the pen and today blue girl seems to be showing signs that her ears are opening as well.  We won't be able sneak in their room and escape undetected much longer.  :)

The puppies have become pros at "creative sleeping".  They have a couple favorites:


Chin rest:

Butt rest?

Burrow:

Mom stole our bed:

Synchronized sleeping:

FIRSTS Litter - 2 Weeks!

Two weeks old today!!

The babies are toddling around already and just starting to be able to potty by themselves.  We're starting to try to get them in a potty area and will continue to do so more and more this coming week.  We like to begin this training as soon as the puppies start getting around on their own.  Puppies that learn to be clean when growing up tend to like to stay clean as adults, and while there is always some work that needs to be done to transfer the knowledge, we find it helps a ton with house training in their new homes if puppies are taught to use a potty spot as babies.

They're not really old enough to play with toys yet, but they sure like to cuddle with them!

They sure are comedians with their chosen sleeping positions

Some two week pictures of the babies:

Green Boy

Blue Girl

Weigh in:

Green Boy

Blue Girl

I can't believe I was able to get them to stay asleep when I put them in the scale.  I think this is going to be the last round in the Tupperware container to get weighed.  :)

FIRSTS Litter - Day 12

Holy smokes!!

These babies are wild!   Blue girl's eyes opened on day 11 and she immediately decided she had places to explore.  Yesterday, I had to put up the ex-pen just to keep her from wondering all over the living room.  Green boy's eyes started opening yesterday and today he's got them fully open.  He too has decided he has places to be.  I've had to hang a blanket on parts of the ex-pen because the puppies were getting upset that they could see places they wanted to explore but couldn't figure out why they can't get there.

Both puppies are getting their feet under them and toddling around amazingly well for how young they are.  It won't be long and they'll be running and exploring all over the place.

FIRSTS Litter - Day 10

They might not have their eyes and ears open yet, but boy can they motor around!  Both puppies have taken a few little upright steps in their race to the milk bar.
Mars is being such a good Mama and tends to them whenever they call.  They're still spending most of their time sleeping and eating, quickly counting down the days until they're up and exploring.
The babies have been perfecting their cuddle time and love to snuggle up with us in the evenings.

These babies are so chill that last night's early neurological stimulation exercises didn't phase green boy the least bit, he actually quite enjoyed the "supine position" where he was held on his back.
After we were done he promptly flipped on his back and zonked out.

Weigh ins:

Green Boy:  966g
Blue Girl:  897g

Everybody has officially doubled their weights, right on schedule!!

FIRSTS Litter - Day 8

Happy 1 week!!

The puppies are growing like little weeds and Mars is perfecting her working mom techniques.  Because the rest of the dogs in the house respect her limits and don't try to get near the puppies without her permission she's able to come out of the puppy room and watch some tv, take a nap on the couch, or help "prewash" plates after dinner while they nap.  She's very diligent about checking on the babies regularly and making sure they're happy and fed before she puts them down for a nap.

1 week pictures:

Green Boy

Blue Girl

And this is when we know picture time is done.  :)

 Today's weights:

Green Boy - 833g
Blue Girl - 767g