More puppy pics

Twister on left, Stormy on right

Stormy

Silly Stormy

Twister

Sleeping pup

Puppy cuddles with Stormy

Adventures in living room

My German shepherd Auntie Tacara supervising

Twister and Tacara

Yuma and great grand pup Twister

Half sister Carly and Stormy

Twister playing with the big dogs

Tunnel fun with a close up of Carly's whiskers adding an interesting effect

Twister coming out of the tunnel

Stormy on the slide

Stormy on quilt

Stormy tugging at comforter

4 weeks old

4 weeks old and FINALLY coming to life.  Big pups are typically a week behind developmentally.  Stormy weighs 6 lbs 6 oz and Twister 6 lbs 8 oz.  Weight gains are starting to slow down and we are gradually transitioning the pups to solid food.  Canned food was a hit earlier this week and no complaints were voiced today at soaked kibble.  The pups have a full set of baby teeth and are nursing standing up - Riley is still being very tolerant.  Although Riley wasn't keen on the idea, I started letting the other adult dogs around the pups.  While I was at work, I have left a radio on and we have been making lots of extra noise around the pups while good things are happening like cuddles and nursing.  This weekend, the pups had their first adventure in the living room and did very well.  So early socialization is in full mode.  Riley and the pups are moving over to the home of Riley's breeder caretaker to allow Sandy to have some quality puppy time, but we also allow me to get ready for Juliette's whelp next weekend. 

Twister nice and cozy

Acting like big pups, nursing standing up

Rumbles on Riley

Puppy close ups

Stormy

Stormy

 

Twister

Twister

Twister's back feet

3 week puppy pics

Twister & Riley

Mouth wrestling

More sparing

Twister using Riley as a pillow

Stormy getting some lap time

It is very easy to get Stormy to relax and cradle

Waking up

Chewing on her paws

All done!

Twister

3 weeks old

It has been a busy week, so sorry for the lack of posts.  All is well, we already have a pair of 5 pounders!  Stormy weighs 5 lbs and Twister weighs 5 lbs 1 oz.  I have added a litter box area and bumped out the pen a bit.  Twister is the litterbox champ, while Stormy just tends to fall asleep in the litter box.  With some coaxing, Riley is finally getting more comfortable having the other adult dogs around her pups.  The pups are slowly coming to life.   Being so big and heavy, they are developmentally about 1 week behind smaller more active pups from larger litters.  The pups are practicing some walking/wobbling, have discovered each other and are doing a bit of slow motion playing such as mouth wrestling, and are starting to interact with toys.  This morning, I added to the pen some toys that make noise.  We are doing more stimulating handling, handling all parts of the pups' bodies such as feet and ears, cradling them on their backs, and making funny noises.  All important experiences to maximize the chances that these pups will grow up to become confident and resilient working dogs. 

Expanded puppy pen with litter box to the left and more toys

Monster pups

Stormy walking

Stormy and toy
 

Stormy and piano

Twister doing what baby pups do best - sleep

2 weeks old

2 weeks old and thriving.  Stormy weighed 3 lbs 9.5 oz and Twister weighed 3 lbs 7 oz.  The pups had their second nail trim and first worming.  BioSensor exercises are soon ending (Day 16).  The pups are getting lots of cuddles with people which they seem to enjoy.  As is typical with these 2-pup litters with big overfed puppies, these two pups are not doing much other than eating and sleeping.  A few attempts at walking, but life has been too easy to exert too much effort.  I have felt a few wet spots in the pen, so presumably the pups are starting to urinate on their own.  Usually by this age I have introduced a litter pan, but that is for pups who are more mobile.  For these two, will probably just wait until they move into the bigger puppy pen at around 3 weeks of age. 

Mini puppy pile

Twister cuddling with Riley

Twister close up

Stormy and Riley

Silly sleeping

Twister

Twister again