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

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