Day Nine

Since they still are not doing much but eating and sleeping there isn't much to report. Bizzi will let the dogs get a lot closer now but they still are not permitted to go in the pen.  She will leave them for longer periods of time and she finally decided that she could leave them to eat. They are starting to get vocal when they think it is time to eat and they can certainly scurry around. In a couple more days their eyes will start to open.

My work has not begun yet because Bizzi is still taking care of everything. In another 2 weeks she will be turning over the some of her duties to me. I will start feeding them some and she will welcome the help.

Here are a few pictures...spots are getting more visible and some of the pups have thicker coats than others so the ones with thicker fur are not showing the spots as much as the other ones. They will shed their newborn coat and when the new hair comes in the spots will get bolder each day. In another week I will start conditioning them to associate a sound with food. I will explain all about that in another post.

Gavin climbing on Mom's back. His spots are quite visible already

Chow time!



Top to bottom is Wade, Nancy, Holly and Justin



Nancy getting a bath

Day Eight - Happy Birthday Bizzi!

My sweet Bizzi turned 4 years old today. That time really flew by and she has accomplished so much in four short years. She has earned her International Championship, and both AKC and UKC Grand Championships. She has managed to accomplish all that while being handicapped by me as her handler. She was in the UKC Top Ten in 2009 and 2010 She won then Top Spot for 2009 and the Award of Excellence for 2010! Good Girl Bizzi! Now she is proving what a great dog she is as a mother! Happy Birthday Sweet Bizzi.

 Emily must have been able to smell Bizzi's special treat of salmon because she managed to follow the scent right to the bowl.

Week One

The puppies had a very busy day today. They had their first visitors! LaDonna came to see her family namesakes and also our friend Chris came to visit. Chris owns Bella who is a full sister to Bizzi and also Ryder who is a 1/2 brother to Bizzi. This is the first time Chris ever saw a litter of one week old puppies.

Every week on their birthday I weigh the puppies and clip their toenails. Since they are one week old today this was the day. I am happy to say they puppies have all gained uniformly. At birth they weight from 12 to 14 ounces and at week one they weigh from 1 lb 6 oz to 1 lb 8 oz. They are all very strong and healthy which isn't a surprise but it is very rewarding. I always keep their nails trimmed because they get very sharp and can hurt their mom when they are nursing plus it gets them accustomed to being handled and having their nails clipped. Bizzi continues to be a wonderful mother. The good news is the fact that her boobie is all better. When I got up this morning and checked her all the redness and swelling was gone and the puppies were happily nursing on it. I am glad I caught it before it caused a problem.  Bizzi still won't leave the puppies to eat if any of the puppies is nursing so I gave her her breakfast in bed again. I then went to shower and wen I returned to get the bowl out of the pool this is what I found.

Bizzi treated that green toy like it was a puppy when she was in labor. She kept licking it and trying to get it to nurse. After the real puppies came she forgot all about her green baby until yesterday. She was acting very stressed and I didn't know what she was stressing over until I saw that one of the other dogs had her green baby in their crate. While the other dogs were outside she took her green baby and put it with the rest of her babies and then she settled down and was content again.

 I think Emily will most likely be the first one to find herself outside the pool since she likes to climb on her mother's back.

Day Six

Not much happened in the life of the puppies today. Still just eating and sleeping and growing like weeds. I am still concerned about the fact that the puppies aren't draining the rear nipple less breast. After all the other ones are empty they will nurse that one if they are still hungry but that usually isn't the case. However, Holly did nurse from it for a long time so she is my favorite one today! Below are just a few pictures taken today and one of Holly (blue collar) nursing.

Day Five

I had help tonight so I thought I would take a picture of each of their faces. So here they are in birth order.  Enjoy!

Nancy

 Holly

 Dalton

 Emily

 Kenny

 LaDonna

 Gavin

 Wade

 Justin

Because Bizzi has a rear nipple that is very small the puppies are have trouble getting milk out of it. I have been watching it and applying warm compresses and draining some of the milk so she doesn't develop mastitis in that breast.  The pups are growing so rapidly that I know she has more than enough milk.

Day Four

Today the puppies had a very busy day.  First thing in the morning they went for a car ride to the Vet to have their dewclaws removed. I have always removed dewclaws but this litter I contemplated not removing them. There is a growing number of people who believe that performance dogs benefit from having their dewclaws. I can certainly see merit in this so I was undecided as to whether or not to have them removed. Maks still has his dewclaws and I find them harder to grind than his other nails. I prefer to keep my dogs nail very short but I seem to be in the minority on this issue. I do know that long dewclaws can get torn out which is very painful. Also, long dewclaws can leave a rather painful welt on you if the dog paws at you or jump on you. Because I will have no control over the length of these puppies nails when they leave the nest I opted to have them removed. Below is a picture of the puppies after they filled they bellies and before they went to the Vet.

In the picture below you can see an ever so faint hint of spots starting to be visible!

Below is Lila looking at the new babies while Maks and Gambit play with a toy.

I believe Gambit remembers when she spent time in the pool with her babies. 

Day Three - Super Dog!

Today I started the neurological stimulation. You can read about it in the link below.

http://breedingbetterdogs.com/pdfFiles/articles/early_neurological_stimulation_en.pdf

While Bizzi was outside with Maks and Lila I took the opportunity to introduce the litter to their grandfather Garrett. He was interested in smelling them and gave them a kiss or two and he was happy. Gambit has been nearly frantic since the puppies came but Bizzi was not comfortable when Gambit tried to sneak a peek at them. I took the opportunity to let Gambit meet them too while Bizzi was outside. I only let her with them for a minute but she seemed much happier after she saw them.

At this point all the puppies do is eat and sleep so there really isn't much to tell. Gambit won't leave them to eat so I have to feed her in the pool. In a day or two she will be ready to leave them for small amounts of time but for now she will only leave them to go out to relieve herself.