Den to Pen

Lots of changes for the pupsters.  Eyes started opening Wed evening and we had cute little puppy faces on Thanksgiving.  The pups have been tucked back in my master bath in a tented small puppy pool, not doing much other than sleeping and eating.  However, now that they can see there is a big world out there, there are starting to move around more.  This morning, I moved the pups from the pool den into a small puppy pen in the bedroom.  I added some environmental enrichment toys and beds with different textures to the pen.  They seem to be doing fine with the room temperature and are making a few attempts at walking.  Morning weights were 3 lbs 1 1/2 oz for both pups.  Stormy still looks bigger since she is a long-bodied pup but apparently Twister has managed to catch up in weight.  Let the fun begin!

Puppy pen

Riley and 13-day old pups

Twister showing off his eyes

Twister of the heated snuggle disc

After finishing up BioSensor exercises

1 week puppy pics

Monster pups, on the way to the milk bar

Success!

Riley with Stormy

Riley and Stormy

Stormy

Twister

1 week old

1 week old (smaller male on the left, darker female on the right)

The two little piglets are already 1 week old.  They are huge!  At 1 week, the female weighed 2 lbs 4 oz and the male weighed 2 lbs 1 oz.  They continue to gain 3 oz per day.  We are continuing with BioSensor exercises, the pups have had their first nail trim, and their eyes are 1/3 open.  Being so well fed, they are not very interactive, look like little blond seal pups who just lay around.  Their fur is silky soft and they are starting to enjoy some cuddling in laps.  The pups have baby names.  We decided to go with a weather theme since the pups were conceived out in Colorado during the floods and were born shortly after a nasty storm with tornados blew through Indiana.  The male is Twister and the female is Stormy. 

Baby puppy pics

Girl

Girl sleeping on her brother

Girl

Boy
 

Boy

Girl

 

Riley and pups

The small puppy pool surrounded by a tent for privacy and warmth

Mama duties, keeping the boy clean

Same for the girl

Riley and her daughter

Cuddles with mama

Another pic of Riley and her daughter

Pupdate

We had a minor scare Friday AM, but all is well. Yesterday, I woke up in the middle of the night to a fussy puppy.  I got up to see if someone was lost, and everything looked fine.  I woke up again, and the female was still fussing and would not nurse.  I feared the worse - Fading Puppy Syndrome - and got up and concentrated on warming her up with some skin-to-skin therapy.  She continued to fuss, but I was finally able to do some assisted nursing (help express the milk with her hanging onto the nipple) and at least got some milk in her.  Shortly after that, she finally started settling down and nursed on her own.  Nancy kindly came over and puppysat, and no further issues.  I am keeping the bedroom extra warm this weekend.

This morning, everyone looks great.  Poor Riley thinks she deserves more than 3 c of food per day.  With the girl having problems yesterday, the boy was able to close the weight differential.  The pups had been holding at 4 oz difference.  This morning weights were:  Girl = 1 lb 15.8 oz (18.6 oz at birth)  Boy = 1 lb 13.5 oz (14.9 oz at birth).  We are going to have 2 pounders tomorrow!  Based on ear color, the female looks like she is going to be a medium gold, probably not quite as dark as Riley or great granddam Yuma.  The boy looks like he is going to be light like his sire Brule. 

This morning

Guest photos

Riley's breeder caretaker was over for the stressful whelp and stopped by for a visit on Thursday to see the pupsters.  She shared these photos.

The girl

 

The boy

Day 3

All is well.  The pups are very vigorous and putting on weight at an amazing rate with an all-you-can-eat milk bar open 24/7.  BioSensor early neurological stimulation exercises started tonight and will continue until Day 16.  Lots of puppy pics to share.  Enjoy!

Riley and 3-day old pups

Classic puppy pair sleeping position

Mama Riley keeping her son clean

Cute little puppy tongue

Both pups are vigorous nursers

Snuggles

Hanging out waiting for the puppy pool bedding to get changed

 

The female loves to sleep in Riley's tail.  BIG puppy!

Newborn puppy pics

Newborn pup, Riley looks to be keeping it warm with her ear

Doing what newborn pups do best (other than sleeping) - less then 12 hours old

Big girl

New Golden retriever puppies

This has been a challenging litter from conception on.  Riley had a date with Brule in Colorado and we flew out on 9/11 and arrived during the Colorado floods.  I was fortunate that the roads were open so that we could make our planned date with Brule.   Based on progesterone testing, I calculated that Riley had ovulated on Friday the 13th - not a very good omen.  Although no morning sickness and I couldn't confirm pregnancy by palpation, Riley started expanding nicely at around 6 weeks and was having an easy pregnancy.  However by 7-8 weeks, she wasn't looking very big and we prepared for a small litter.  It is possible that she lost some pups midpregnancy.  Riley's due date was 11/15 (63 days after ovulation), but she showed no signs of whelping until 11/17.  Finally on Sunday evening after the monster storm blew through Indiana, Riley went into labor, despite eagerly eating a light supper a couple of hours earlier.  Dogs typically go off food 12-24 hrs prior to whelping. 

After much work on all our parts, two big puppies finally entered the world.  These pups looked 2 days old at birth since they already had black noses and gray skin pigment on their muzzles.  Term puppies are typically born without pigment and have pink noses, muzzles and pads.  The male was quite vigorous at birth, but the big girl required some resuscitation since she had been stuck in the birth canal for some time.  Riley continued to have contractions and we were hopeful there may be a third pup, but after much waiting around and palpating, finally concluded it was unlikely. 

Riley was phenomenal during the rough whelp - trusting and cooperative.  Once again, she is proving to be an excellent, calm dam.  The pups are vigorous as would be expected for such big precocious pups.  There should be no shortage of milk for these two. 

Male pup - 14.9 oz
Female pup - 18.6 oz