Puppy pics 2 1/2 weeks old

Amazing how much more active and interactive the pups have become in just the last couple of days. 

 Butterfly checking out my shoe

 Butterfly and Olympia playing

 Butterfly contemplating an escape over the low half gate - not even 3 weeks old yet! 

 London yawning

 London toileting in litter box - good boy!

 Flame looking up

Playtime in the litter box

 

 Puppy chew fest

 Olympia chewing on my shoe

 Puppy take down by Olympia

Puppy wrestling

Into the puppy pen

I set up the puppy pen in the living room on Wed evening, and the pups started spending supervised time in the pen starting on Thursday.  Some crying when they would get lost, but they adapted easily.  On Friday evening, the pups were in the pen listening to the Olympics opening ceremonies, and I cuddled individual pups on my lap on the couch.  On Saturday morning, I moved the pups into the puppy pen for good, and took down the small pen my bedroom.  Bridget, being such a pro, had no problems with new arrangements and willingly stayed out in the main part of the house come bedtime.  And she is allowing the other adults dogs to visit with the pups.  We have even had some litter box action already, especially from London.  The biggest challenge has been to discourage Bridget from using the litter box as a nursing site. 

The pups are thriving, gaining weight, walking quite well and starting to hear.  They are enjoying a bite of canned food twice a day.  A few pups are already trying out their big dog voices - Flame was the first pup I heard bark end of last week.  The pups have already had visitations from a couple of young neighbor chilren.  The family doesn't have any pet dogs, so safe to visit the young pups.  Yesterday, both kids enjoyed sitting in the pen, holding the pups on their laps.  Mom also joined in, cuddling a pup on her lap up on the couch. 

 Nursing standing up

 Puppy pile, showing off their first real collars

 Olympia, her eyes do not look this blue normally, the effect is being magnified by the camera

Champ looking out from the puppy pile with one eye open

2 week old puppy pics

Some pics are compliments of Nancy.  Enjoy!

 Lunchtime (Butterfly, Flame, Summer and Champ)

 Butterfly with a toy - I have started add environmental enrichment items to the puppy pen

 

Butterfly and London sleeping on the new toy

 Choo Choo train (Butterfly, Flame and London)

 Flame, eyes open

 Flame yawning

 

 London meets Tengo the cat

 Olympia actively exploring

Olympia trying to make an escape.  Already acting like a Purple girl, who are notorious for being active mischievous pups. 

 Olympia sitting.  Newly opened eyes still have a blue caste, and the pups have limited vision.

 Olympia practing her walking

 Jet black little foot pads and rapidly growing toenails

 Puppy pile (Butterfly, Flame, London)

Through the ex-pen bars.  Photo credits to Nancy.

2 weeks old

My apologies for the lack of posts, I was out of town for a few days and the pups were in the very capable care of Nancy.  Amazing how much they grow in such a short time.  All the pups had their eyes open by 2 weeks of age, so fun to see all the cute little puppy faces when I got home.  With private nursings, we have been successful keeping the puppy weights very tight.  Two week body weights ranged from 3 lbs (London, Summer, Olympia) to 2 lbs 14 oz (Butterfly).  The pups have had a second nail trim and I gave them their first dose of wormer today.  BioSensor exercises end tomorrow.  Yesterday, they got their first taste of canned food, and it was a hit. Bridget is currently eating around 7 cups of high calorie food, plus 1 hard boiled egg and some chicken, although she still often requires a bit of coaxing to get eating.  Not sure why Bridget doesn't have the typical ravenous lactating retriever appetite. 

Nancy and I have noticed that this litter is especially cuddly.  They act like a bottle fed litter.  We suspect this may be because they are getting less tactile stimulation.  Bridget is not spending much time with the pups, partly because of the heat, but also her general attitude towards this litter - she is ready for retirement.  With the warm temps, the pups tend to spread out and sleep individually.  But now that they are seeing and walking more, they are starting to interact with each other.

Bright eyes

The pups are thriving and their weights are staying relatively uniform by private nursing the smaller pups.  Champion wins the prize for the first pup with its eyes open!   I was guessing Sunday would be the day, and that it would be London or Flame, but appropriately, Champ is the winner.  Liz was over this morning taking more professional quality puppy pics - looking forward to seeing the resultant pics. 

Pups showing off their new tie elastic collars

 Everyone having breakfast, including Bridget

 Summer and Champion

Butterfly, close up

 Flame sleeping on littermate

London, close up

Olympics Litter Names

 Getting big, and starting to look like a rugby scrum when nursing

I decided not to use any athlete names for this litter, just generic Summer Olympics names.  The pups are doing well, enthusiastic nursers with their cute little tails wagging while making happy puppy grunting sounds.  They had their first toe nail trim this morning and are making brief attempts at walking. 

Boys

Black  Champion

Blue  London

Girls

Purple Olympia

Green Summer

Red Flame (Olympic flame)

Pink Butterfly (swimming event)

1 week old

One week old and the pups are doing well.  Most of the pups have gained 11-13 oz since birth, should easily double by 10-14 days.  Weights range from 2 lbs (Blue) to l lb 11.6 oz (Red).  The pups are starting to enjoy stroking and gentle interactions, finally past the reactive, hypersensitive newborn stage.  Some eyelids are just starting to crack open at the inner corners.  We had a scare this weekend when Black boy suddenly became ill.  Newborn pups have almost no reserves and can quickly crash.  Don't know the reason, but I found him lethargic and dehydrated.  He responded slowly to nursing care and I checked on him through the night.  By the next morning, he was almost back to normal, but then his sister Purple was a bit off.  I gave her some extra fluids for hydration, and she quickly bounced back.  Since then, all is well other than Bridget is being a bit fussy about eating and has been slow to ramp up the milk production.  Just in case, I picked up three containers of goat milk from the local 4-H family close to my house. 

 Green girl and Blue boy

 New puppy pen - same size as the large puppy pool, but a bit less stuffy

 Silly Pink girl

 Purple and Black

 Green girl, Blue boy, and Red girl

 Red girl sleeping in Bridget's tail

 Red girl on Blue boy

Red girl, Black boy, and Purple girl