Archive for December, 2008
Video of 10-day old Puppies
Here is a video shot November 26, when the pups were 10 days old. Here they are just staring to open their eyes and beginning to get more mobile.
Pups Getting Stronger
The puppies are really starting to become little doggies now. They are playing more and more. Each time I enter the puppy room I’m greeted by at least 2 or 3 little heads looking at me. They are getting stronger too, and are able to lie with their heads up and some are even practicing sitting and walking! And they continue to interact more and more. Today I saw more play fighting. It is sort of like watching it in slow motion though as the pups still don’t have very good muscle control. One will try to bite his brother’s ear and miss, try again and make contact and then bark and fall over. Once he’s righted himself he’s forgotten what he is doing and crawls around wagging his tail and growling until he bumps into another brother and the whole thing starts all over again. Sometimes two will “fight” each other. Have you ever seen those nature shows about walruses fighting by waving their heads back and forth in front of each other? It’s kinda like that, but with fur.
Puppy Eyes Start to Open
Plump puppies are happy puppies.
The puppies are GROWING! They are getting bigger and fluffier every day. Their eyes began opening two days ago and now they are nearly all the way open on all of them. And as a result they can see who they are bumping into and I am beginning to see the beginnings of playing!! One of the games is to bark so loud that they knock themselves over – a very fun game as they will do it again and again. (Remember, the ears open shortly after the eyes so that is likely why – they are trying out their new voices and startling themselves at the same time). Another game is “bite your brother” which two will do at the same time to each other with their little 2 week old puppy growls up full volume! And the last game is “wag the tail” (no surprise there, it must be genetic!) which I have seen most of them doing today for the first time. I swear, these 8 are way cuter than the other litters I’ve had (I suspect I will say this again with the next litter).
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Learning the ropes
Annie’s tail bandage is holding, so the chronic happy tail is no longer bloodying up the walls of my basement. The one from the vet dropped off almost immediately, but mine has held for two whole days!!
Annie continues to be a joy, learning many commands. So far she sits on command, drops her Kong (!) to the word “drop,” knows her name and comes when called. The only problem is that she doesn’t seem to really understand the whole entire concept of not eliminating in the house. But she is learning. She clearly knows when I am NOT happy with her, and slinks around with her happy tail way down between her legs and goes and hides in her crate. All this just because I said in an old lady shaming sort of voice, “OH Annie! What have you Done??” when she pooped near the door while I wasn’t watching.
144 Puppy Toes!
Pups are worth the work!
Today’s big event was nail clipping!! Fun fun. I got around to nearly all of them, which is a lot of toes if you think of it…5 on each front foot, 4 on each back makes 18 each pup x 8 = 144 toes. Yikes! Don’t ever break it down like that, it seems overwhelming. Like, for example, I’ve done at minimum 2 loads of laundry a day since the pups were born so that makes 28 loads of laundry in two weeks. With about 6 more weeks to go that means I’ll have at minimum 84 more loads to do until these guys leave…and that doesn’t include MY household’s laundry, just puppy bedding!!! Like I said, don’t break it down. Best if you take it one day at a time, one growth milestone at a time, one warm, wet, wuffily nuzzle at a time…
