Puppies start to walk and open eyes
Well tonight (Monday) it was clear that these pups are out of the woods. And I am relieved. I noticed two days ago that some of them had little slits opening in their eye lids and today about half of them have their eyes almost completely open. We won’t be having photos for a week as the flash is harmful to their developing eye tissue. I may try on a sunny day to get some but not tonight. In addition to their eye development, they are starting to walk! It is only for a few steps, and they are very wobbly, but they are walking!! They seem to be right on schedule, so their bout of kennel cough didn’t set them back, developmentally, at all. In fact, as I watched them nurse tonight I was struck by how vigorous they all are. I think they are really hungry now, and I’ve noticed Daisy‘s food intake increasing (finally). Yes, it seems the consensus is for the name Daisy so Daisy it is. I may be supplementing their nursing sooner than I had planned…I usually wait until they can stand (duh) to introduce them to lapping formula from a bowl and that usually happens after week 3…but here we are at 2 weeks plus one day and already they seem ravenous. If Daisy can keep up, then I’ll let her.
I also gave them their first worming today and from about 1.5 pounds at day 3 they are up to 4 pounds!! Yeah. I am really proud of this group. Also, I cut toenails tonight. They were crazy long and really scratchy. You are welcome, Daisy.
8 Tiny Puppies Nursing
As promised at the tail end of Mama Dog Gets a Bath, here we have an amazing video of eight 12-day old pups nursing their mama. TURN UP THE SOUND to hear all of the precious puppy grunts and slurps!
See this video and many other CanineFostering.com videos on YouTube.
Mama dog gets a bath
Well, today was SO hot that I figured if I bathed Sandy? Daisy? Angie? (still haven’t found a name right for her) outside she wouldn’t mind the cold water and she’d dry off in a snap. Plus I figured she’d like the time outside. Boy was she freaked out by the water! It could be that it was spraying at her from the hose (I tried to be gentle but there isn’t that gentle a way for one to spray another with a hose) or that it was cold, or that she’s never had a bath or a hose bath before – I’m not sure which it is. But once she realized that all I was doing was hosing her down and that she couldn’t get away from me, she submitted. It sort of was humbling to me, how dogs let us submit our will on them rather easily. Now I know what I was doing was for her own good and she ultimately seemed to really enjoy being clean (you know how dogs do that rubbing thing on the carpet once they’re clean? She was rubbing herself along the garage door!!) but it sort of hit me how I could have been doing anything to her and she would eventually give in. How trusting, and how sad that so many people betray that trust. It just really hit me today for some reason.
But anyway, hopefully she will be ok with her next bath and hopefully I didn’t teach her to be deathly afraid of them…I think not as, like I said, she clearly got into it after a bit. And it is nice to have her clean!! Birth is a yucky business and that first week continues to be a bit yucky. Add to that her bout of whipworm and the poop that goes a long with that, and her pups crawling all over her and THEIR loose stool and… well, you get the picture. The dog needed a bath. (more…)
Chloe and pups are settling in
Here are some photos and comments of Chloe and her puppy’s new homes and lives. I so appreciate everyone who has contacted me with updates – it is so helpful to my sad heart to hear how well everyone is doing. Happy new lives puppies!
Angel (formerly Violet)
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Angel (formerly Violet) did really well last night, no crying. She had a bit of whimpering when we got her home yesterday but is really doing well this morning. She is playing outside with the girls and bouncing around with a ball we bought her. She is quite precious and we really love her. Thank you again, she is a real joy for us.
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Jackson (formerly Jacob) is doing well. He’s obviously lonely and wondering where the heck he is, but he is happy. He’s played with us, and ate well, pooped & peed outside, and is doing fairly well at sleeping in the crate. We’ll see how night #1 goes.
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We are absolutely loving having the addition of Poppy to our family — she had a big day – was at a baseball game, a pitching lesson — many visits from friends and getting used to her new home — and all through this she remained as sweet as I could ever imaging a puppy being and also a bit tired — we are going to try for a more restful day at home tomorrow. We are so grateful that you helped to allow us to have her in our family — and even our cat seems to be to ok so far : )
***************Jubilee (formerly Tulip)
Hi Kristin!! The first 24hrs have been just wonderful!! About half way home she started to whimper a little, but as long as you kept petting her she was fine. The introduction to her new home was fun. Jubilee (formerly Tulip) was a little unsure at first but my pack was excited to see her and welcomed her right in. We brought her inside to show her her new stomping grounds and she had a blast playing with all her new toys and friends. Its so funny how the play hard for a little while then it’s right back to nappy time. I thought my old lab would take awhile to warm up but she has been great from the get go!! She is already playing nicely with her, I have not seen her play with a dog like that in a long time. Jubilee only woke up twice during the night to let us know she had to go out. She has only had one accident and that was my fault for not taking her right out when she woke up (oops). I will keep you up to date as we go.
***************Amber (formerly Chloe)
I just wanted to give you a quick update on Amber (formerly Chloe). We spent Sunday with her keeping her busy (as you suggested). My husband and I took her on at least 3 walks (total of 5 miles). The boys played with her in the yard. She spent quite a bit of time outside but also made it clear that she wanted to spend time inside as well. She did pace around the house for a good 20- 30 minutes before curling up at my feet in the kitchen. In the evening she paced again for about 20 minutes and then sat at our feet in the family room. She slept on the floor of my son’s bedroom – she made it quite clear to us that she had no desire to sleep in her crate. it was kept open with the blanket in it. She was very cute when we attempted to lure her into the crate. We let her smell her treat and then placed it in the crate. She kept her 2 hind legs out of the crate and stretched to reach and eat the treat and then immediately backed out of the crate. She slept well. We have her on a schedule which should help with the adjustment. I walked her at 6am and she was wonderful (did not pull on the leash). Today she is out in the yard with the boys chasing after the tennis ball (but not returning it).
Angel is getting the hang of motherhood
The pups are getting bigger and stronger. And mama is doing better. I’m not sure what to call her, Angel doesn’t really fit…she is far too fallible and young for such a name. I had thought of calling her Brittany, which would be a perfect name for her personality wise, but I suspect she will be getting more mature more quickly than her namesake.
She is getting to be a better mother. Early on the first day as she licked her pups clean she would basically send them sailing across the blanket with the force of her tongue! But now she is more gentle and the pups are stronger so they tend to hang on and only roll around a bit. Plus they seem to be nursing well and are much better at finding and lacking onto the teats. So I am feeling a little more relieved.
Watch this video on YouTube.
Video of Angel whelping her pups
About 15 minutes after Angel‘s arrival in our home, she began to deliver her puppies. This was not exactly our plan, but nature had a different agenda. Here is a short video of the whelping scene. For a few short hours on Sunday, we had – gasp – twenty dogs in our home: Chloe and 5 of her pups were adopted out that day, but Angel arrived early and gave birth to 9 puppies, plus our 4 dogs!
Watch this video on YouTube.
