Minnies2007puppies

New idea to help with potty training!

For my first three litters, I set up the puppy cage in the shape of a square with the bed in one corner – this left the other three quarters of the space to be used for the potty as all were the same distance from the bed.

With the new rectangular shape and with the bed/toys at one end, water and feed in the middle the puppies are forced to go to the far end away from their bed to poop on the paper. It is a simple, but I must say so far seems to be a brilliant, plan to get them doing their business on paper and in the designated area. They are only four and a half weeks old and seem to be aiming for the paper with this system.

I hope this helps my customers with the potty training for this and future litters.

March 29th - The puppies this week.

The puppies are now on semi-solid food for two meals a day and these meals will be increased to four meals over the next week as the puppies are weaned. By the time you get your puppy he or she will be used to eating four times a day – early morning, lunchtime, early suppertime and around 8:00PM. Puppies usually poop within half an hour of eating…yes, each time! If you know this it can help you with housetraining. They are not getting snacks yet.

So far they have had their nails trimmed twice and one full bath (They have been spot cleaned as needed before this). Not one of them enjoyed the baths and all of them are really feisty when it comes to nail trimming time. I am trying to take a very small end off the nail each 7 to 10 days to get them used to it. (That is 112 nails per sitting!) I recommend that the new owners continue this throughout puppyhood to make the nail trimming later in adulthood less of an ordeal.

We have started nicknaming the puppies – some because of appearance – Penny because my daughter picked her up and she was sitting on a penny on the rug. This is what we nicknamed them #1 Penny, #2 Moose, #3 Spike, #4 Bear, #5 Snoopy, #6 Babe, #7 Tweety – I think a temporary name is better than a temporary number. (I haven’t yet decided which pup we are keeping). Once you have picked out your pup at seven weeks you may already have a name chosen and we will be happy to use it. I find however that most people want to meet their new pup and spend some time with him or her before coming to a final decision.

It is hard with such a large litter to find characteristics that they continually show. For instance the first time I cut toenails Snoopy was the only puppy that was co-operative, but he was just as feisty as the others when it came to the second nail cuts. We are watching carefully however and their personalities should be establishing soon.

All in all, this is a VERY lively litter – they are a friendly bunch and busy and they also sleep a lot – they often sleep on their backs without fear or a care in the world.

April 5th – the puppies this week.

The puppies are now on dry food four times a day and twice a day they get a little half-a-milkbone snack. They are growing and sleeping a lot between meals and playtimes. Their favorite thing to do is to get loose in the house and have a mad half hour before they crash into tired little heaps on the floor.

Only three of them needed baths this week, the others were spot cleaned – I don’t like to use too much shampoo on them if I can avoid it.

Their personalities are starting to come through. Because they are such a big group and other that mild mannered “Moose” and feisty little Miss Penny, they are all fairly evenly sized it is harder to tell the differences still at this age. There are so many little personalities all of which are full of fun and zest for life. I hope you enjoy the individual Easter photos - I tried to do a group shot but they were too much for me even with my son trying to help. Seven pups are are lot of puppies but especially so when they are as lively as this bunch.

The Vet Visit – April 11, 2007

The puppies had a thorough examination by Dr. Kim Beaudette of the High Prairie Veterinary Clinic. All puppies are healthy (and incidentally, so are Minnie and Malcolm who had their annual health check ups and booster shots at the same time). All the teeth are excellent, however, “Tweety” has a very slight overbite so minor it should be within breed standard.

As far as size goes this is how they weighed in:

Moose 4.4lbs

Snoopy 3.8lbs

Spike 3.6lbs

Bear 3.6lbs

Babe 3.6lbs

Penny 3.4 lbs

Tweety 3.0lbs

Puppies from this litter will go home with my newly designed folk-art binders...

April 19th 2007 – the puppies this week.

The puppies are now very busy and demanding – they loudly insist on having their playtimes which are now lasting longer and longer in duration. They are chasing each other around picking up tremendous speed for the size of them. They tug on toys, I saw six of them at one time having a tug of war on a leash that was left on the floor. It is almost impossible to sweep the floor when the baby terriers are out as they feel like a broom is a prime target for their ferocious hunting practice. They look so adorably angelic when napping that it is easy to forget all the trouble they have just got up to on their playtime.

They can go upstairs but not many can make it down again – it is a case of staying on the top stair and crying until a human friend goes and rescues them. They are busy and lovable little lumps – their presence and personalities are so large that sometimes I am shocked to see what tiny things they really are. They mostly choose to sleep separated in their cage and are taking steps towards independence. However, if they have been upset, such as by having baths, they all huddle in a protective pile rather than nap by themselves.

The photos I took this week will be the ones I use on the micro-chip registry. If you are wondering about size, it my seven-year-old daughter’s hands that are in the photos.

Five of the puppies will be going to their new homes this weekend (weather permitting), fortunately one of the owners of the new pups can’t take ownership until the following weekend, so the pup we are keeping, Mia (#6), will have someone to cuddle with when we are gone. My husband will be looking after the dogs and puppies when we are gone but he doesn't have the same kind of time as the children and I do to play with dogs and cuddle pups as he is in the midst of calving.