Minnie and Duncan's puppies born December 26, 2010
After staying close to home all the week before Christmas, because it seemed that Minnie was "just about" to have her pups all week she finally started to give birth in the wee hours of Boxing Day morning!
This is Minnie with her pups at one day old. Some of them are pretty tiny.
They are identified with different colours of nail polish.
Picks List as of February 15th
Boys
(1) Debbie & Rob C. - Picked Robin
(2) Elizabeth HF - Picked Rudy
(3) Jessica F. - Picked Noel
(4) Michael W. & Brittany M. - Joseph
Girls
(1) Dunsbairn - picked Carol
(2) Wee & Nickki M. and family - picked Candy
(3) Debbie & Rob C. - Holly
As you can see at one week old, the puppies are looking really good and are plumping up fast. I am super-pleased with six of the pups' weight gain but am concerned that Ivy and Rudy are gaining at a lesser rate than their siblings. But they are gaining, have full tummies and good skin tone so it is just a case now of a little more time for those two - all the pups are content with their mother and settle down fast. Minnie is an excellent mother!
Sad News: Ivy passed away early in the morning on January 5th, her 10th day. This little girl was having trouble growing and thriving. She was getting suplimental dog powder milk feedings but was at risk. Then we had a 5-hour power outage which chilled her and added to her struggle.
The puppies at week two.
Please click on their pages to see individual photos – I will wait until mid week to take a group photo, some of them are just starting to open their eyes. I am pleased with how plump they have all become, even little Rudy is catching up nicely.
I put a spot of nail polish on them to identify them at this young age except Robin and Candy who I can keep blank. It was a little sad looking at the purple nail polish and knowing it wasn’t needed for Ivy who passed away on Tuesday.
These are definitely Minnie’s pups – wiry and strong-willed and already lifting their bodies up onto their feet and moving them! It is a little shocking to see babies change so much right in front of your eyes.
The puppies at week three.
Please click on their pages to see individual photos.
The pups had a bad week. They had diarrhoea on Thursday which can be life threatening in young pups. I have never had to deal with this issue in a litter of pups before.To make matters worse it was -30C and I was snowed in my yard because our tractor was broken so could not take them into the vet.
Thanks to being well stocked with medical equipment because of taking the advice from the book "Puppy Intensive Care" by Myra Savant-Harris I was able to follow her directions and rehydrate the pups and give them approprate medicine to stop the watery diarrhoea. (It is sad to think that 5000 or so young human children die each day around the world due to diarrhoea because they don't have the simple supplies I have on hand for my dogs.)
I bathed them one time to get them clean but then they of course got cold and chilled even though I dried them fairly quickly with the blow dryer. They do not look their best in this week's photos as they could use another bath. I am not going to bath them again until they have fully normal stools - not worth chilling them just for good photos. I did get nice shots of their faces showing how they eyes are now fully open.
They have been lively and exploring at playtimes, so I'm sure they are on the mend now. I have been giving them a heated magic bag for extra comfort while they have been sick even getting up in the middle of the night to re-heat it for them. You can rest assured they are getting good nursing care and lots of love and concern. At this age pups sleep most of the day anyway so they didn't miss out on too much being sick this week.
The pups at three weeks old cuddled up to their heated magic bag.
I've heard of putting your foot in your mouth but not your brother's foot in your mouth.
The pups at 4 weeks old.
The pups had a great week. They learned a lot about being dogs this week – tail wagging; play fighting with their siblings; figuring out how to escape from the den we had them in; starting to eat mushy food – more for the entertainment than the nutrition at this point.
Health wise, it was such a relief when the diarrhoea cleared up and I celebrated with every regular poo I saw. The pups were de-wormed this week but I waited until they were all feeling good.
They sure all seem so much like their mother in energy level and escape-artistry – I have my hands full with these little guys. Thankfully this is another week when they sleep a lot of their time away – constantly growing bodies need a lot of sleep.
I have never had to put such young pups in laundry basket - but they were up and over the top of the cardboard box! They are too young at this point to go into my pen/cage in the kitchen system.
This was teddy bear week.
The pups at 5 weeks old.
The pups of course have grown again this week and there has been a change in how they see people. They love people! Little waggy tails wagging so fast when you give them a bit of fuss, and sweet puppy breath kisses (if you like that kind of thing). Hard to get photos as they keep wanting to come up to the camera so I resorted to holding them like babies for this week’s pose.
I had to trim the hair on their faces as it was growing directly into their eyes and making them run. As they get older their faces change shape and you don’t need to do this.
They are enjoying their kibble now which is still served to them soaked and mushy – but kibble is becoming an important part of their diet.
They are very wiry and strong and I would say all of them are pretty strong-willed for such little doodles. None of them enjoyed getting a bath but they all tolerate getting their nails trimmed quite well.
They moved to cage in the kitchen where they have a bed to sleep in (so far kept bed area clean) and can go outside to poop on paper whenever they would like – this area is also where they get their kibble.
These are the kind of things the pups get up to at playtime: Toys of course and terrorising me!
Here they are typically undoing my shoe laces and tugging at my pants legs. Then they also hide under the couch and generally run around.
The pups at 6 weeks old.
It was mostly an uneventful week – puppies are growing and eating four fairly large meals a day now and drinking water from a bowl. Still on their mother’s milk but she will start to wean them off this next week. They are starting to develop personalities. They are all lively and full of energy much like their mother. One nice thing about Minnie’s pups is that their ears are fast to stand up.
They are smart puppies and will need to be watched carefully at pill-taking time (got their second wormings done this week) as they already are smart enough to spit out the pills. None of them enjoy bath time – unfortunately because of the large size of the litter they require a lot of baths. All of them love exploring the house and having playtimes with toys. They are super friendly, tail-wagging, face licking little bundles of pure energy.
The pups at seven weeks old.
This week the puppies moved from softened kibble to crunchy kibble with no problems at all – they now have lots of teeth. I have been pleased to see that they keep one half of their penned area clean for sleeping and playing and use the other end with newspaper down for the bathroom. It is a constant battle to keep up with the puppy poops as you can imagine with a minimum of 28 poops per day!
This next week will be a big week for them, they will be going to vets for their inspections on Monday, they will be getting micro-chipped, and people will start deciding which puppy they want. People will be phoned in the order they are on the list to make their decisions after the vet inspection on Valentines Day. I will need to know which if any of the three add-on packages people require so that I can get photos developed and start the paperwork folders if necessary.
I still have Effie from Minnie's first litter - she was spayed before her first heat. Minnie would not tolerate other dogs around her babies but does not mind Effie near them.
