I live in a rural area, too far from emergency veterinary care (for my comfort level) in case Ophelia ran into difficulty while whelping. So after breakfast, I loaded everything that I thought I would need and everyone - Ophelia and my other dogs - into my car. I drove my other dogs and left them with my petsitters. Ophelia and I then drove on to a hotel near the veterinary school of the North Carolina State University. After checking in, I got Ophelia settled in the room and everything set up so that whelping supplies were near at hand. By this time it was late afternoon. Ophelia continued to do intermittent nesting.
Around 7 pm, I noticed that Ophelia was having strong contractions. But then Ophelia would rest. Around 8 pm, I saw that Ophelia had a "water bubble" - part of the sac of a puppy filled with water - coming out of her vulva. I consulted by phone with a fellow breeder who assured me that this was common and to watch Ophelia closely as a puppy should soon appear.
Ophelia continued to have intermittent strong contractions, but after another hour there was not any progress. The water bubble had not burst which would have lubricated the birth canal. I call the emergency phone number of my repro vets, who advised me to bring Ophelia in to be examined and they would meet me at the vet school. As I was right next to the vet school, I arrived before they did. While waiting I walked Ophelia around in the hope that this would stimulate contractions. But all that happened was that Ophelia broke the water bubble while scooting her rear end on some grass.
When my repro vets arrived, they examined Ophelia and did an ultrasound to check on the condition of the puppies. The ultrasound machine allows the vet to time the heartbeats of the puppies. All the puppies had good fast heartbeats (greater than 200 beats per minute), except for one puppy who was slightly less than the optimal number. Doing a vaginal exam the senior vet felt paws, but then observed a green discharge. This meant that there was placental separation. At this point the vets decided that an emergency c-section was the best option. The vets took some blood from Ophelia and sent it to the lab for stat pre-anethesia blood work. They also shaved Ophelia's belly and inserted an IV catheter in her arm. While we waited for an operating room to become available, Ophelia rested in a crate. Ophelia continued to have some contractions ... but no puppies. Around midnight, they took Ophelia off to the operating room.
Around 3 am, I got the phone call to come inside. I got my first look at the puppies - four males and one female. (The red tinge is from a heating lamp.) Mommy Ophelia and all five puppies were doing well. My repro vets had examined all the puppies (no cleft palates, yeah!), made sure that each puppy had spent time nursing from Ophelia, plus had tube-feed each puppy serum from a donor dog. It is important that puppies nurse in the first twelve to twenty-four hours in order to get maternal antibodies in the "first milk" (call colostrum). The serum was just an insurance policy in order to make sure that the puppies got some antibodies.
I put the puppies in a box with a heating bottle (in order to stay warm). I loaded mommy and puppies into my car and we did the long drive home, arriving around 5 am. I got mommy and puppies settled in my heated whelping box (really nursery box). I weighed the puppies, getting the following weights:
The colors refer to the colors of their collars, and will be how I refer to the puppies.
While mommy Ophelia took care of the puppies, I collapsed into bed. Staying up all night had not helped the head cold that I was fighting.
Later in the day I observed Ophelia leave the puppies and go outside for a quick potty trip. Then Ophelia hurried back to her puppies. (I have had some new mothers not leave their puppies for twenty-four hours.) Note the stains in the whelping box. This is from Ophelia, who will have discharges for several weeks. As long as the discharges are not foul smelling, this is normal.
In the evening I again weighed the puppies. Everyone - except Pink - had lost a few grams. This is normal for the first twenty-four hours or so. For the next two weeks I will be weighing the puppies twice a day.
Newborn puppies can not generate their own body heat until they are approximately two weeks old. It is important that newborn puppies stay warm, as a chilled puppy can not digest food nor fight off infections. Mostly the puppies stay warm by tucking themselves underneath Ophelia and using Ophelia's body heat. If you look closely, you can see that the puppies are in a depression in the middle of the whelping box. There is "whelping nest" underneath the bedding - a bowl hooked to a thermostat which maintains a constant (warm) temperature.
By the end of the day White, Blue, and Pink had all exceeded their birth weight. Green and Red are still below their birth weight; Green not by much, but Red is 10 grams below his birth weight.
While I am doing the daily change of the bedding in the whelping box, I put the puppies up on my bed. Ophelia is always very concerned when I pick up the puppies. Ophelia got up on my bed to comfort the puppies. Ophelia also checked carefully the dirty bedding that I had thrown on the floor while putting new bedding in the whelping box. Perhaps Ophelia thinks a puppy might have gotten trapped in the dirty bedding? My washing machine always gets a workout when I have puppies.
White joined the 200-gram club today. Everyone gained weight today, although Red is still below his birth weight.
Can you find all the puppies? Sometimes when the puppies are nursing, I have to look carefully to find all five puppies.
At this point Ophelia is doing the real work of taking care of the puppies. All I do is bring Ophelia food to eat in the whelping box, change the bedding in the whelping box, ... and worry about the puppies. In addition to weighing the puppies, I also weigh Ophelia every day. Ophelia has been losing weight since I brought her home. I have been letting Ophelia eat as much as she wants. In addition to puppy kibble, twice a day I give Ophelia a large helping of cottage cheese. Ophelia needs all the calcium she can get in order to make milk for the puppies. Hypocalcemia (low calcium) is the first thing vets check for if a nursing mother is brought to them.
White using brother Red as a foot stool
Pink joined the 200-gram club today. Red finally gained more than his birth weight; in fact, Red "passed" (weighs more than) Green in the "weight race".
In addition to feeding and weighing Ophelia, for this first week I am also taking Ophelia' temperature daily to make sure that she does not develop an infection from her c-section surgery. As long as Ophelia is nursing, I will also be checking Ophelia's teats every day. I want to make sure that Ophelia does not develop mastitis - an inflamation of the breast tissue. I check by making sure that each teat is not red or hard, and by placing my hand on the teats to see if any one teat is warmer than another.
Puppies in an arc. Just like people, sleeping puppies change their position by periodically rolling over. This can make for interesting arrangements of the puppies.
Blue joined the 200-gram club today. Blue and Green started out with the same birth weight, but Blue has pulled ahead of Green in the weight race. The order now is White (weighing the most), then Pink, Blue, Red, and Green.
While Ophelia was outside, Maggie is the first to get into the whelping box to check out the puppies. Maggie is a first cousin to the puppies, and is still a puppy herself being only eleven weeks old. I quickly shooed Maggie out of the whelping box before mommy Ophelia returned. Ophelia is very protective of her puppies.
Ophelia guarding the whelping box that contains her puppies. Note the staircase of old books so that Ophelia can easily get into the whelping box. The bricks on the right are to block older puppies from getting to - and chewing - the electrical wires.
White joined the 300-gram club today. Green joined the 200-gram club, passing Red who had been ahead. Red did not gain over yesterday, and in fact lost weight since this morning's weighing. This has me concerned.
For the past several days whenever I have checked on the puppies in the whelping box, I have made sure that Red has had an opportunity to nurse. Sometimes this involves pulling White off a nipple, and shoving Red into the space. Sometimes Red would nurse, sometimes not.
During the morning weighing, I found that Red had lost weight. Because Red is falling behind his siblings, I made the decision to tube feed Red to see if that would help. Tube feeding involves putting a tube down the throat into the stomack and then injecting Esbilac, a commercial canine milk formula. Tube feeding is basically force feeding, and it is not without risk. If the tube gets into the lungs rather than the stomach, a puppy can drown. Even with the tube in the stomach, a puppy can aspirate some formula and get pneumonia.
Mommy Ophelia and her puppies. Notice Ophelia's shaved stomach.
I tube fed Red several times today. At the end of the day when I weighed Red, his weight was up ... but still below his evening weight of yesterday.
Pink joined the 300-gram club today. Red again lost weight overnight. I continue to tube feed Red.
The puppies in a pretty arrangement.
Again at the end of the day, Red had gained some weight ... but not as much as yesterday evening.
The puppies get around by crawling. Think penguins dragging themselves along the ice, and you have a good idea of how a puppy crawls. Since puppies are blind and deaf at birth, they have to rely on their sense of smell to find mommy. Often a puppy will crawl in every widening circles to find mommy, plus start a weak cry to attract their mother's attention.
Again Red lost weight during the night, in spite of my tube feeding him several times whenever I woke up. At this point it is clear that tube feeding is not working. It may be that tube feeding is working at cross purposes to the feeding schedule that mommy Ophelia has set up. I have decided to stop tube feeding Red. Now it is up to Red. Either Red starts to gain weight ... or he is not going to make it.
Besides watching the puppies' weights, there is another sign that I look for when I check on the puppies to make sure that all is well. I want to see each puppy "twitch". This twitching or jerking is thought to be related to nerves growing. A puppy will be sleeping quietly and all of a sudden twitch. You sometimes have to stare at a puppy to see the jerk, which sometimes can be the whole body or other times just a limb. A twitching puppy is a growing puppy.
Red continued to gain weight today, and Pink joined the 400-gram club.
Newborn puppies can not pee or poop without aid. The mother licks the puppy to stimulate the puppy to pee and poop. The mother licks up the pee and eats the poop, most likely to keep the "den" clean.
White joined the 500-gram club today. Red had a very nice weight gain last night and again today. So much so that - as long as Red continues to gain - I am not going to be concened about him. There are still plenty of things for me to worry about with the puppies. The canine herpes virus could kill all the puppies. Or a puppy might start having difficulty breathing and die from puppy lung development disease. Or for an unexplained reason a puppy might stop gaining weight. But with each passing day, these things become less and less likely.
Pink opened her eyes this evening when I picked her up to weigh her.
When puppies nurse, one often sees a "head bob". A puppy will push against the mother to encourage milk to flow down to the nipple. This pushing will cause the head to move backwards. Then the puppy will relax its arms which casuse the head to move forwards. A puppy will get into a rhythm with head bobs while nursing. Note Red's tongue making a seal with Ophelia's nipple.
Blue partially opened his eyes - just slits - when I picked him up to weigh him. It was as if he was says "Why are you bothering me?"
I used human nail clippers today to blunt the nails (really claws) of the puppies. (There is a nerve and blood vessel in the middle of each claw; nails do not have such things.) I had noticed that the puppies' nails were starting to scratch mommy Ophelia's stomach.
Both Blue and Green joined the 400-gram club today, although Blue continued his lead over Green in the weight race. White, Blue, and Red all opened their eyes today when I picked them up to weigh them, and Green partially opened his eyes.
I realized after weighing the puppies and consulting my notes, that today was the day that I should have started using my "big dog" scale. My big dog scale has the feature that it averages the weight of a puppy over five seconds; very useful when trying to get the weight of a squirming puppy. The disadvantage of my big dog scale is that it only weighs to the nearest 5 grams. But the puppies are big enough now - even Red - that I will still be able confirm that they are gaining weight.
Green opened his eyes today. So now all the puppies have opened their eyes when I pick them up. Over the next few days I will be checking that the puppies continue to open their eyes when I pick them up. If a puppy does not, then we will be taking a trip to my local vet.
The puppies now feel warm to me when I pick them up. And not just from the heat of the whelping nest; the puppies are starting to generate their own body heat. I like when this happens, as it means that the puppies have another tool (body temperature) to fight off viruses.
White joined the 600-gram club today, and Red joined the 300-gram club. Red continues to gain weight.
I noticed today that, after the puppies nurse, they no longer instantly fall back to sleep. The puppies are raising their heads, even getting their front feet underneath them. The activity lasts for less than a minute, then the puppies go back to sleep. These periods of activity will slowly increase.
Since the puppies are two weeks old, it is time to worm them. Each puppy got 0.1 ml of pyrantel, a deworming medication. The puppies will get pyrantel every two weeks. Mommy Ophelia is also being wormed but with fenbendazole, a different dewormer.
While the puppies were on my bed as I was changing the bedding in the whelping box, I noticed one puppy watching me.
The puppies were all nicely lined up next to each other. But by the time I grabbed my camera, Blue had moved spoiling the symmetry.
Blue joined the 500-gram club today.
White joined the 700-gram club today, and Pink joined the 600-gram club.
I think Pink is going to win the award for "Most Precocious". Pink opened her eyes first. And today I think Pink was up on all four feet for just a second. The other puppies are getting up on their front legs ... but when they push with their front feet, they scoot backwards ... which is not the direction that they want to go! But activity only lasts for less than minute before the puppies fall back to sleep.
Blue joined the 600-gram club today, and Red joined the 400-gram club. Green's weight has been yo-yo-ing - up one day, down the next. I am watching Green carefully.
Mommy Ophelia demonstrating the nursing while-standing technique:
The puppies on my bed while I changed the bedding in the whelping box.
White joined the 800-gram club today, Green joined the 500-gram club, and Pink joined the 700-gram club.
At three weeks of age, my pessimism turns to cautious optimisim that the puppies will survive. It is also when I name the puppies. My naming convention is that names somehow have to be related to Shakespeare - either a character or actor (or a combination of their names) in a play or in a Shakespeare spin-off (something related to Shakespeare). I try to pick names from something that I have recently seen or read. For this litter that is the episode "The Shakespeare Code" from the Dr. Who television series which I am currently binge watching.
So the puppies registered names (and call names) will be
Going forward I will refer to the puppies by their call names. Call names are easily and often changed when a puppy goes to a new home. A puppy also can have more than one call name. (Many puppies in my house get refered to as "Sock stealer".) All four boys are getting names of contemporary actors of William Shakespeare (i.e., real people). Condell and Hemings were responsible for publishing the First Folio after Shakespeare's death.
It is getting crowded at the milk bar.
All five puppies sleeping on their backs.
When I gave Ophelia her morning cottage cheese (in order to keep her calcium levels up), Miss Precocious (i.e., Freema) crawled over to the dish, and stood up to sample what was in the bowl. I noticed several of the boys also trying to stand on all four legs.
I still mostly see the puppies sleeping.
I also decided that today is the day that the puppies would start to spend time in my living room, and would only go back to the whelping box during nights. Building the puppy playpen in my living room was made difficult by all the "helpers" that I had; especially by two older cousins of the puppies (who are still puppies themselves). By the time I had finished building the playpen, the cousins had dismantled the playpen at the other end. I finally just made a shortened playpen and moved the puppies in. Mommy Ophelia was not sure about this move, and got into the crate with the puppies. Yes, all five puppies plus Ophelia are in the crate. Eventually Ophelia realized that it was too crowded and moved out. There was lots of interested by my other dogs at what was in the playpen. Mommy Ophelia gave lots of growls to tell everyone to leave the puppies and the playpen alone. Eventually Ophelia got relaxed enough to get out of the playpen, but stayed nearby.
The cousins were very interested in Ringo when he came out of the crate. But the interest was not mutual and Ringo crawled back to the crate and eventually back inside.
The puppies spent most of the day sleeping in the crate, only coming out to nurse.
Dinner (in the playpen) was a repeat of breakfast. Eventually I will be feeding the puppies four times a day. But as a start, breakfast and dinner seem sufficient. Ringo again showed interest in mommy's kibble.
Billy joined the 700-gram club today, John Boy the 600-gram club, and Freema joined the 800-gram club.
The cousins asking if the puppies can come out and play. Mommy Ophelia said no, chased the cousins away, then settled down to guard the puppies.
Nursing. Yes, there are only four puppies nursing; one puppy was still in the crate and came out later.
Mommy Ophelia checking on John Boy, Billy, and Ringo (who is looking at Ophelia). Freema and Harry were inside the crate.
The puppies at least tasted dinner. The chef's feelings were hurt.
Freema plotting her escape from "prison" (the playpen).
Freema is the first "over the wall" - the wooden block that I use to try to keep the puppies inside the playpen while allowing mommy Ophelia access to the puppies. I put Freema back into the playpen and she immediately turned around and climbed out again to get to mommy.
Ringo joined the 900-gram club today.
A pile of puppies. It was chilly this morning. And shared-bodily warmth is a way to keep warm.
All the puppies can now stand ... and somewhat walk ... sort of like drunken sailors. The puppies are starting to interact with each other. Mostly bumping into each other at this stage. Note mommy Ophelia supervising from inside the crate.
The puppies all had their nails (really claws) clipped to blunt them.
The puppies spend most of the day sleeping in the crate in the puppy playpen. However if the puppies are awake ... and mommy Ophelia comes by to check on them ... then the puppies want to nurse. And nothing like a little block of wood is going to stop the puppies from getting to a nipple. Note the puppy straddling the "wall".
Again the puppies turned their noses up at dinner.
Harry joined the 500-gram club today. The order in the weight race continues to be Ringo in the lead, followed by Freema, Billy, John Boy, and finally Harry.
Billy joined the 800-gram club today.
Looking at the weights that were recorded while I was gone, Billy has joined the 900-gram club and Harry the 600-gram club. Billy has overtaken Freema in the weight race to move into the number two position after Ringo.
Even though mommy Ophelia has been allowed to eat all that she wants, Ophelia has been slowly losing weight as all five puppies take their nutrition from her. It is definitely time to begin feeding the puppies four times a day - breakfast, lunch, dinner, and bedtime. So it is now time for the chef to get back to work ...
With the puppies now eating (ground up) puppy kibble, I have put a water bowl in their playpen. Here is Harry demonstrating that puppies instinctively know how to lap up water. Note Harry's tongue.
Ringo was the first to explore outside the puppy playpen this morning. During the day Freema and Billy also explored outside the playpen. Billy found the pile of toys on the opposite side of my desk as the playpen. Freema seemed to do the most exploring, finding the dog crates across the room from the playpen and the communal water bowl that the big dogs use. However what Freema was obviously looking for was mommy Ophelia in order to get some individual nursing.
Puppies eating breakfast - At this stage it is a toss up as to whether the puppies will be interested in the kibble I prepare, or just pick at the food. For breakfast the puppies seemed hungry. For lunch and dinner the puppies just picked at their kibble. (Ophelia is always happy to eat any left-overs.) Ophelia has the puppies on a nursing schedule; I am trying to get the puppies to eat kibble on my schedule. The conflict between the two schedules means that sometimes the puppies are not interested in the kibble that I offer. It all depends on when the puppies last nursed, as mommy's milk is so much more tasty to the puppies. Slowly and eventually, the puppies will eat more kibble and switch over to my feeding schedule.
After some play, the puppies all climb into the crate in the playpen and take a nap.
This afternoon it was warm enough that I took the puppies outside for the first time for about ten minutes. That is mommy Ophelia in the upper left, and one of the cousins in the lower right. I have two cousins who are only three months older than the puppies. The cousins badly want to play with the puppies. I supervise to make sure that the cousins do not play too rough; however, the cousins are surprisingly gentle.
Mommy Ophelia guarding the puppies in the playpen.
John Boy, Harry, and Ringo (in the back) nursing. When you compare the puppies with Ophelia, you get a sense as to how much the puppies have grown.
Ringo joined the 1100-gram club today, John Boy the 800-gram club, and Freema the 900-gram club.
Billy joined the 1-kilogram club today.
Morning picture - As an "appetizer" I put down a small bowl of puppy kibble (at the top of the picture), while I prepared breakfast for everyone. I was pleasantly surprised that some of the kibble was eaten. Instead of mixing ground kibble and canned puppy food, the chef this morning experimented with putting items on the puppy pan separately. The puppies indicated that this was an improvement, and they ate a heartly breakfast. I guess the puppies do not like their different foods to "touch" each other!
I had to be out of the house for longer than I wished today. I left the puppies in their playpen, but open so that mommy Ophelia could get in to nurse the puppies. Of course this also meant that the puppies could get out of the playpen. When I got home, none of the puppies were in the playpen. Three of the puppies were napping on dog beds in my living room. Two puppies had found my bedroom and were napping together on a dog bed in my bedroom. Since the puppies are not house-trained, my floors needed mopping.
Lunch. Again the puppies had a good appetite. The chef did not grind up the puppy kibble as finely as previously.
For dinner, the chef prepared a crumbled hard-boiled egg on a bed of coursely-ground puppy kibble. The puppies rated this meal "four paws"!
John Boy taking an after-dinner nap with cousin Maggie.
Harry joined the 700-gram club today.
Ringo crawling over mommy Ophelia.
I had the puppies outside twice today. First in the morning.
The puppies began their lives in service to science today. I swabbed the inside cheek of each puppy with an Embark swab. Embark is a DNA panel testing company. I already know that the puppies are normal/clear for five of the six DNA health tests that are known for Norwich. (The one I do not know is their values for the upper airway risk marker test. But the risk marker has a low correlation with upper airway syndrome.) Embark makes the raw DNA values at over 200,000 positions available, which is what I want for some research that I am doing.
The puppies were outside for a longer period in the afternoon. I knew it had been too long when the puppies went to mommy Ophelia for a drink. I brought the puppies inside while I fixed dinner. The puppies all "crashed":
For Christmas Eve dinner, the chef prepared a traditional holiday meal of cooked ground turkey over puppy kibble. The puppies were too tired to appreciate the work that went into preparing the meal. The chef was devastated. Mommy Ophelia enjoyed cleaning up.
Ringo joined the 1200-gram club today, John Boy the 900-gram club, and Freema the 1-kilogram club.
When I looked in the whelping box, I noticed that the urine stains were concentrated on one side of the box. This indicates that the puppies are trying to keep where they sleep clean. And that now is the time to start their potty training.
Morning picture - Today I put two bowls of appetizers (plain puppy kibble) in the playpen while I prepared breakfast. The puppies ate most of the kibble, but also tipped the bowls scattering the kibble.
Right after breakfast I took all the puppies outside to potty. Now after every meal, I will be taking the puppies outside.
Ringo joined the 1300-gram club today, and Billy joined the 1100-gram club.
Morning picture - The puppies ate a good amount for breakfast. But the puppies - being like piranhas - make it difficult for mommy Ophelia to get inside the playpen to clean up. (The puppies's baby teeth are starting to come in.) Eventually the puppies get mommy to hold still so that they can nurse. (If you look closely, you can see that Ophelia has her right rear leg lifted so that the puppies can fit underneath her.) After a trip outside to play and potty, the puppies came back inside for a nap - Freema using John Boy as a pillow, Billy using a pole as pillow, and Ringo and Billy inside the crate in the playpen. Since I am now starting to potty train the puppies, I try to notice when the first puppy wakes up in order to hustle everyone outside to potty. And so repeat throughout the day ...
Today I picked up some sticks towards the end of my daily walk with my adult dogs. I put the sticks inside my yard. The puppies immediately started chewing on the sticks.
Harry trying to figure out my doggy door. "But I just saw a big dog go through ... how does it work?"
Harry joined the 800-gram club today, and John Boy the 1-kilogram club.
When outside the puppies spent time in the yard, but also on the puppy playground equipment on my porch.
Again Harry tried to figure out my doggy door:
All the puppies have their puppy teeth coming in. Here is Harry showing his uppers while wrestling. I believe Harry's upper left canine tooth - the big tooth on the right in the picture - is not coming in straight.
Family picture - mommy Ophelia and her five puppies.
Morning picture - The puppies are attacking mommy Ophelia. Ophelia wants to do clean up. The puppies want to nurse.
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil? (From left to right - Harry, Ringo, and John Boy.)
Harry next to mommy Ophelia
This afternoon the puppies were playing outside. I went inside to answer my phone. While I was talking, I watched as Ringo pushed open my doggy door and came inside. Harry followed through my doggy door a moment later.
Ringo joined the 1400-gram club today, and Billy joined the 1200-gram club.
Freema joined the 1100-gram club today.
Morning picture - After breakfast drink at the milk bar.
Cousin Maggie playing with puppies.
Freema napping with cousin "HP".
All five puppies exploring my yard.
Afternoon gathering at the milk bar.
I took Harry to my local vet today to get her opinion on Harry's mouth.
My vet felt that Harry's teeth are coming in normally. She told not to worry about the indentation on Harry's lower lip from Harry's upper canine tooth, which according to my vet is common. My vet did comment that there was more space in Harry's bite on the left than on the right. My vet checked Harry's jaw alignment but felt that it was normal. She did not seem concerned about the space as long as Harry is eating normally (which he is). So for now we will just keep an eye on Harry's bite.
Morning picture - It was chilly this morning. After breakfast and a quick trip outside the potty, all five puppies piled into the crate in the playpen to nap.
I am always amazed at how little I am able to do when I have puppies. I will start on something, then notice that a puppy has woken up from a nap. I then have to get all five puppies outside to potty. This takes a minimum of three trips - I can only carry two puppies at a time - and can take as many as five trips if the puppies have been napping in different spots scattered around my living room. Then I have to come back inside to clean up the potty accident from the puppy that I did not get to in time. After watching the puppies play and potty, I have to bring everyone back inside. I then have to remember what I was working on and get started again ... only to be interrupted by the adult dogs who want me to open the gate so that they can chase something in the nearby field. Because I have puppies, I can not leave the gate open during the day as I normally would. Back to my desk only to be interrupted a few minutes later, as some of the adults want back inside. So I have to get up and let them back in. Then I have to check on the puppies to find out where everyone has decided to take a nap. This often involves a search as I often can only easily find four of the five puppies. Back to my desk, only to be summoned by the adults who for some reason think that the way back into my house is via my back door. Back to my desk ... only to be summoned by my washing machine telling me that it is ready for another load. (Puppies generate a lot of laundry.) By this time, the puppies are waking up from their nap and the process starts all over again. I sometimes think it is a wonder that I get anything done!
Ringo jumping on cousin "JC". No ID on the puppy speeding by. The cousins, being puppies themselves and having a lot of energy, play quite a bit with Ophelia's puppies. I think the adult dogs in my house are relieved that they do not have to entertain Ophelia's puppies.
Cousin Maggie napping with Billy and Freema.
For dinner the chef prepared canned pumpkin and canned tripe on a bed of puppy kibble with a drizzle of sardine sauce. (The older dogs had sardines with their dinner.) The puppies were not impressed with this haute cuisine, and the meal only received a lukewarm response. The chef was inconsolable.
Puppies playing outside after dinner.
All the puppies have now demonstrated that they can come inside via the doggy door. (Great-aunt Mandy is in the foreground.) So far none of the puppies seem to have figured out that they can go outside using the doggy door.
Harry joined the 900-gram club today.
The puppies are now routinely going into my bedroom to play and nap.
After the puppies have a meal, I put mommy Ophelia into the playpen to clean up any leftovers. The puppies are leaving less and less. But the puppies still want mommy's milk.
Two puppies chewing on a stick.
According to breeder folklore, at around age six weeks puppies look like miniature versions of how they will look as adults. The next time this happens is when puppies are six months old, then again at eighteen months. In between these times, different part of the body grow at different rates ... similar to gangly human teenagers.
Ringo striding confidently over the baby dog walk.
The reason why I often can not get pictures - the puppies spend a lot of time in a blur of motion wrestling.
Freema. Note that Freema has dark fur around her nose, whereas Ringo does not. I believe I know why this is genetically. I am eagerly waiting on the Embark DNA results to see if my guess is correct.
I try not to be away from the house for any length of time, as I want to keep working on the puppies' potty training. But when I am unsure how long I will be away, I leave the puppies in the puppy playpen. Today was one of those days when I had to be away for longer than I expected. Thus I was not able to take a lot of pictures of the puppies.
I have to do the "puppy shuffle" when I walk about the house ... barely lifing my feet off the ground. The puppies now often dart right in my path. I could easily step on a puppy if I walked normally. I also wear slippers so that if I accidently bump into a puppy, little damage occurs. Sometimes I have puppies biting my slippers and being dragged as I try to move.
Bedtime - The puppies still spend the night in the whelping box next to my bed. Note that the puppies are all around the edge of the box. By morning as my house cools down, the puppies will all be piled in the center to take advantage of the warmth from the whelping nest.
Blue joined the 1300-gram club today, and Freema joined 1200-gram club.
Today the puppies met "Mr. Dremel" in order to trim their nails.
The cousins washed by licking the face of each puppy (here Freema) as each puppy was done meeting Mr. Dremel.
Harry demonstrating his expertise on my wobble board (really a balance board). I have been trying to get a picture of this for some time, but often by the time I grab my camera Harry would be off on new adventures. Some of the puppies try to bite the wobble board to get the board to stop moving.
Harry on the puppy dogwalk. My old puppy dogwalk (pink) and new one (blue) have gotten pushed together. The puppies find imaginative ways to make use of this juxtaposition.
I check on where the puppies (and older dogs) are frequently throughout the day. During one of my searches for the puppies today, I kept coming up with four puppies. I finally found Billy napping in a corner of my shower.
Ringo joined the 1600-gram club today, Billy the 1400-gram club, Harry the 1-kilogram club (finally!), and John Boy the 1200-gram club.
Freema joined the 1300-gram club today.
Morning picture - Hungry puppies eating their breakfast. After some play and potty outside, the puppies took naps: John Boy, Ringo, and Harry (going from top to bottom), Freema in a dog bed in my bedroom, and Billy in the dog bed underneath my desk.
The puppies seem to delight in dragging toys into the big dog crates in my living room. Here is Harry taking a nap inside a crate that he has "decorated".
I watched today as Ringo and Freema used my doggy door to go outside. Later I saw Harry go outside by himself.
The chef cooked ground turkey as a topping for dinner today. It is always good to have a comfort food on a cold miserable day.
Mommy Ophelia letting the puppies nurse. Ophelia now will growl at a puppy if Ophelia does not want a puppy to nurse. The puppies very sharp puppy teeth are now fully in ... as my toes and ankles can attest if they are not covered. The puppies also like to bite my pants legs. If a puppy bites instead of suckles while nursing, Ophelia growls and walks away.
Billy climbed the ramp onto my bed today. So now I have to make sure that I pick the ramp up during the day when the puppies are loose.
All the puppies seem to have figured out how to go through my doggy door to go outside. With puppies going in and out this makes it harder keeping track of where everyone is. The puppies are starting to demonstrate that they have an idea that they are supposed to go outside to potty. There are still potty accidents inside my house, but it is nice to see progress. At night I still carry the puppies outside to potty. But during the day, I now act like the Pied Piper and periodically call the puppies to follow me outside. Once the puppies are outside, they remember that they are to potty. (Helped by me saying my potty command, which is "Do your business".)
Ringo joined the 1700-gram club today, and Harry the 1100-gram club.
I had to take several of my adult dogs today to Raleigh (for pre-anesthesia blood work prior to their annual dental cleanings). I had the choice of leaving the puppies home in the playpen for four hours, or taking the puppies with me. I decided to take the puppies with me. I loaded the two largest - Ringo and Billy - in one crate, and put the rest - Freema, John Boy, and Harry - in a second crate. When we arrived, after checking the adults in, I set up an x-pen on some grass and let the puppies out. As near as I can tell, none of the puppies had any potty accidents in their crates. (At almost two months of age, the puppies should be able to "hold it" for approximately two hours.) The puppies came out of their crates, peed, and I gave the puppies some water. In twos or threes, I think the majority of the receptionist staff and vet techs came outside to see and hold the puppies. So the puppies got their socialization for the day! Also the puppies got to see cars whiz by on the nearby road ... something that the puppies do not see at my house. None of the puppies seemed scared or upset by the cars going by. After my adults gave blood, we all drove home. Again, none of the puppies had any potty accidents in their crates during the drive home.
Since the puppies missed lunch during our travels, when we got home the puppies had "lupper" - the meal between lunch and supper.
Freema working on a hole. Adult Norwich are not "diggers" ... unless they are trying to get to get to a critter. Puppies, on the other hand, seem to like to dig. I think every litter of puppies that I have had tries to excavate a hole around my porch.
Beside wrestling, the puppies play all the usual children games - tag, keep away, tug of war, etc. Here are Ringo and Billy about to play. Note the "play bow" of Billy - front down, butt slightly in the air - that says he wants to play. I am also impressed that Billy was able to get up on my old baby dogwalk, as - without the pads which previous puppies have torn off - the up and down ramps are slippery.
Ringo joined the 1800-gram club today, Billy the 1500-gram club, John Boy the 1300-gram club, and Freema joined the 1400-gram club.
High winds and heavy driving rain here all day today. Interestingly the puppies are quite willing to go out into the rain to potty. I have been impressed with how few potty accidents the puppies have had today. Given how nasty it is outside I would have expected more potty accidents.
John Boy got some private time at the milk bar.
Harry at the communal water bowl. The water is green because of a water additive called Healthy Mouth - highly recommended.
All five puppies nursing after dinner. With Ophelia in the process of cutting the puppies off from milk, I am always interested if I can catch that "last time".
John Boy tucked between the x-pen and the block of wood. Another view.
When awake, the puppies seem to be in continuous motion ... which makes it hard to get pictures.
Harry joined the 1200-gram club today.
Lunchtime - Note the dogs outside the playpen (top and bottom) eyeing the food.
John Boy - letting it all hang out - on a pillow underneath my desk. I had to replace the dog bed underneath my desk because the puppies - aided by the cousins - chewed a hole in the bed and started pulling out the stuffing.
John Boy playing in the mud.
Harry about to make my baby teeter go bang.
Ringo joined the 1900-gram club today, Billy the 1600-gram club, John Boy the 1400-gram club, and Freema the 1500-gram club.
Today I had to take several of my adult dogs for their annual dental cleanings. Since I expected to be gone most of the day, Ophelia and the puppies came with me. Because Ringo is the largest, he got his own crate; the other puppies were two to a crate. After dropping off the adults at my dental vet's office, we visited a close friend and the puppies got breakfast and a chance to play outside. Later in the morning a breeder-friend, Liz, came over to evaluate the temperament of each puppy. Liz breeds Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.
Dog breeders have come up with several "tests" of a puppy's temperament. However there is not a lot of scientific evidence that these puppy temperament tests are predictive of adult temperament. And how a puppy acts for a couple of hours may not be how they normally act; the puppy might be sleepy, etc. But I like to get an independent viewpoint about the puppies that I breed, especially when I have to make decisions about which puppy is best for which home.
Liz did several tests. "Greet a friendly stranger" - one at a time I put each puppy on the ground a few feet from Liz. Liz crouched down and called the puppy, who then came to Liz. Did the puppy come quickly or slowly? "Strange surface" - Liz put down a plastic bag and encouraged each puppy to walk on it. Was the puppy confident or hesitant? "Reaction to a loud noise" - Liz dropped a pan which made a loud bang. How did the puppies react? Confident or scared? (All the puppies aced this test, just looking at Liz and the bang. My household has lots of strange and loud noises!) "Playing with toys" - Liz dragged a rope toy to see if a puppy would follow it. Liz also rolled a small ball to see how each puppy would react. "Ability to learn" - Liz gave the puppy a treat, then moved her hand an inch or two. When the puppy went to the hand, Liz gave another treat. Liz repeatedly did this to see how quickly the puppies would learn to follow her hand. There were other tests of a similar type. All the puppies did well; no puppy was overly shy nor overly aggressive. Liz thought that all the puppies would make great pets.
The puppies were exhausted after all the testing.
Liz and I also discussed Harry keeping part of his mouth open. I have been doing a bit of reading on the subject. While breeders might call it a "wry mouth", the more scientific name seems to be "asymmetric malocclusion". The scientific concensus is that unless it is causing functional difficulty, it is a cosmetic fault. In humans we often do things to correct a cosmetic fault; to do so in dogs is considered unethical. (The pain of treatment outweighs any cosmetic improvement about which the dog does not care.) Harry does not seem to have any trouble eating, nor any other functional problem. So I think Harry's partially opened mouth is cosmetic. My vet will have another look at Harry's mouth when we go in for first puppy shots next week.
Ophelia doing her motherly duty.
After picking up my adult dogs from my dental vet, we did the long drive home arriving after dark. I fed everyone a late dinner, let the puppies potty and play, then we all went to bed early. It had been a long day. Little did the puppies know, but this was going to be their last night sleeping together in the whelping box.
The puppies got their biweekly dose of pyrantel - a dewormer - today.
In my house when puppies are eight weeks of age, several things happen that affect their lives. No longer will the puppies be weighed daily first thing in the morning; now weighing once a week is sufficient. The weight race was not very exciting this litter - Ringo kept his lead throughout, followed by Billy, then Freema, next John Boy, and finally Harry.
This morning after breakfast I packed up the puppy playpen in my living room. The puppies now have the idea of potty training. But the puppies will often search out a nearby soft absorbant spot to pee - such as the playpen. By picking the playpen up, I reduce the areas of temptation.
Next I packed up the whelping box and then built the puppy condo next to my bed. The puppies will now sleep and eat in individual crates. Instead of my looking down at the puppies in the whelping box, the puppies will be looking down at the adult dogs and myself in my bed. I finished all the pick up and construction in time for the puppies's lunch.
Another thing that changes for the puppies is the number of meals that the puppies get. The number reduces from four (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and bedtime) to just three (breakfast, lunch, and dinner).
As I have been doing during the night, I got up every two hours or so and took the puppies out to potty. Around 4 am, the puppies - realizing that they were hungry since there had not been a bedtime meal - made noise to wake me up. I took everyone out to potty and then put the puppies back in their crates. Then the puppies woke me up at 5 am. Same drill, out to potty then back to bed. Again at 6 am. Finally at 7 am, after taking the puppies out to potty, I fixed the puppies (and everyone else) breakfast. Even after a large breakfast, the puppies wanted milk from mommy. The butler had to pick up the post-breakfast battlefield.
Morning pictures:
Even though he may be the runt of the litter, Harry still initiates wrestling, usually with John Boy. I have noticed that Ringo often plays and runs with his larger cousins.
The puppies were particularly wild today especially this morning ... like little piranhas. My bare feet got more scratches from sharp puppy teeth as I tried to get to the shower. And afterwards anytime I tried to walk across the room, the puppies would grab my pants legs. With three or four puppies hanging on, walking is difficult.
Puppies nursing. Mommy Ophelia is slowly cutting the puppies off from the milk bar. I have noticed that the time nursing when it occurs is getting shorter and shorter. Ophelia sometimes only lets just a few puppies nurse.
Even with my feeding them, the puppies still want mommy's milk. Then after play and potty, the puppies settle down for a morning nap:
The puppies usually wake-up mid-morning for a drink of water. I encourage the puppies to go outside and potty. The puppies then play but come in for another nap. Around noon I fix and feed the puppies lunch (30 mL of kibble). The afternoon is a repeat of the morning - play, nap, play, nap.
All five puppies at the milk bar.
Dinner at my house is served around 4 pm. For the puppies, dinner is 60 mL of kibble. Right now the puppies rarely finish all the food offered. This will change as the puppies continue to grow.
Four puppies nursing. Note that Ophelia has her right rear leg lifted to accommodate everyone.
After dinner the puppies have another play session, followed by another nap. While the puppies are napping, the butler puts a bedtime treat in each puppies' crate. (No, not a chocolate mint on their pillows. Rather a freeze-dried chicken treat.) Then after a final potty session outside, each puppy is put in its crate for the night. And then the night duty team takes over ...
I have noticed that after the puppies nurse, the puppies burp. The puppies must be swollowing air as they nurse now.
Ringo in a heavy sleep
Today as I was working on my computer, Billy got up from his nap, went outside on his own, crossed my porch to my yard, squatted and peed. I was so proud of him! It gives me hope that my efforts to potty-train the puppies is having an effect. (Male puppies do not start lifting their legs to pee until puberty. Until then they squat like girls.)
John Boy showing off his "Norfolk" ears. Norwich terriers and Norfolk terriers were originally one breed, separated solely on the basis of ear carriage in the 1960s and 1970s - "prick" ears (Norwich), and "drop" ears (Norfolk). Accompanying that one change were differences in temperament and health. Norfolk like to be with their people; Norwich love their people. Norfolk are ferocious hunters; Norwich less so. Norfolks are plagued by a heart issue (mitral valve disease); Norwich have uppper airway syndrome as their primary health problem (and very little evidence of heart disease). As a Norwich puppy grows, ears go up and down ... until they finally stand upright. I have a note to myself not to worry if ears are not up by now; the ears will be "prick" in a few more weeks.
The puppies have adjusted to being in crates. Inititally there was grumbling (especially by Ringo). But now the puppies when they see me carrying food bowls, now the puppies run into my bedroom and wait at my feet for me to pick them up so that they can be fed in their crates. When I put the puppies to bed in the evening, they find both a treat (left by the puppies' butler) and something to chew on during the night (bully sticks). There are some used bully sticks on top of the puppies' crates in the picture. When a stick get small, I take it away so that a puppy will not choke on it. (My adult dogs will finish it off.)
The puppies had another long car ride to Raleigh and back today, while I took aunt Izzy to NC State University to see if Izzy is pregnant. (Sadly Izzy is not.) I have known Norwich that get car sick. Rarely do I get reports of dogs that I have bred getting car sick. I think this is because of all the car trips that my puppies take when they are with me.
While I was taking Izzy to NC State, the puppies stayed with friends, and had a communal lunch. John Boy feel asleep afterwards with his tail in the water bowl. (Thank you, Mark, for the picture!)
Note that a crumbled treat keeps a puppy occupied - and on the scale - so that I can get a weight. But a crumbled treat does not help with getting a good facial picture.
The puppies' big adventure for today was a trip to the vet to get their first puppy shot. Here are the puppies in the waiting room.
You may be thinking that it is rather late for the puppies to be getting their "first" puppy shot, as vets usually recommend that first puppy shots be given somewhere between six and eight weeks of age. However before the puppies were born, Ophelia had some blood drawn which was spun down (in a centrifuge) to get serum. This serum was send to the University of Wisconsin's titer testing lab. From the amount of antibodies in Ophelia's serum, the lab is able to give a more precise timeframe as to when Ophelia's puppies should get their puppy shots. Recall that during the first 12 to 24 hours of a puppy's life, a puppy's intestines allow large molecules (like antibodies) to pass into a puppy's bloodstream. When the puppies first nursed and got that first milk ("colostrum"), the puppies got some of Ophelia's antibodies. These antibodies have been protecting Ophelia's puppies. But antibodies gradually decay. Puppies usually are given three puppy shots - often three weeks apart - in the hope of hitting the "sweet spot" when the vaccine can stimulate the puppies' immune system. Too early and the maternal antibodies will block the effect of the vaccine; too late and a puppy is unprotected for a period of time. From the titer (amount) of Ophelia's antibodies, the lab is better able to predict when her puppies should be given their shots. Evidently Ophelia had lots of antibodies, which is why her puppies are getting their first puppy shot later than usual.
But before seeing the vet and getting their DHPPC vaccine shot (DHPPC standing for Distemper, Hepatitus, Parvovirus, Parafluenza, Corona; Distemper and Parvo often being deadly diseases) - each puppy first had to have his or her temperature taken and a fecal sample collected.
Then the vet came in and gave each puppy a head to tail examination, including listening to each puppy's heart and lungs. The puppies were examined in the same order as previously.
My vet looked carefully at Harry and his slightly open mouth, but could not see any problem. My vet still believes Harry's slightly open mouth is just a cosmetic issue.
My vet reported that she could feel two balls (testicles) on each boy ... although testicles can still go back into the abdomen at this age.
After the exam, it was time to play "pass the puppy" among the receptionists (and anyone in the waiting room who wanted to hold a puppy). I take all the puppy socialization help that I can get!
As near as I could tell during the rest of the day, the puppies did not have any adverse reaction to their first vaccination.
The puppies had an appointment with Mr. Dremel today. Each puppy initially complained, but by the second paw (or third in the case of Ringo) remembered that Mr. Dremel was not going to kill them and that there was a tasty treat (Nutri-Cal) with every paw. Instead of smearing the Nutri-Cal on their faces, I let each puppy lick the Nutri-Cal from the tube.
I was looking closely at Harry and noticed today that his ears do not seem to stick out from his head at the same angle. It is as if his right ear is sticking up, but his left ear is sticking out slightly to the side. This would seem to indicate that it is not his teeth, but his entire skull that is slightly misshapen on his left side. I am not sure what this means or what would cause this. These puppies were born by c-section, so a misshapen skull was not be caused by the birth process. This deformity still seems to be just cosmetic.
When I open my refrigerator door, I often have to scoop puppies out so that I can close the door. The puppies obviously want to investigate the interesting smells in the fridge.
Someone - and the offending party has not confessed - is leaving me little solid presents in my bedroom and bathroom. So now during the day I am closing off those rooms to restrict the puppies to my living room.
I am amazed that Ophelia continues to let the puppies nurse. Other than two helpings of cottage cheese a day, Ophelia is back on her pre-puppy diet. I have noticed that the time Ophelia lets the puppies nurse seems to be getting shorter as the puppies get older.
Ringo discovered that there was a "squeaker" in the toy and that by biting down hard the toy would make a noise. For ten minutes or so, I was serenaded by Ringo repeatedly making the toy squeak.
I had to take cousin Maggie to a noon class today. My other dogs - including the puppies - stayed at home. The puppies did very well about taking themselves outside to potty. And because I was away at noon, the puppies did not get any lunch. As the puppies are pretty plump, I was not worried about them missing a meal.
The chef cooked chicken livers as a kibble topping for today's dinner. As this was a new food for the puppies, they only got a very small portion on top of their kibble.
My adult dogs had their annual eye exams today, so again I was out of the house mid-day and the puppies did not get any lunch. Plus I had to leave the puppies under the supervision of the cousins - which is scary as the cousins are still puppies themselves, being almost six-months old. But my house was still intact when we returned, plus I did not find any potty accidents. Good puppies!
After dinner mommy Ophelia said "no" when the puppies asked for milk. And Ophelia continued to say "no". I think this is the first day that I have not seen Ophelia let the puppies nurse. It is time to cut Ophelia back to one helping of cottage cheese a day.
I do not think I have mentioned puppy hickups or puppy dreams. Sometimes a puppy will get the hickups. There is not much to do when a puppy gets the hickups, and the hickups eventually stop. Sometimes when a puppy is sleeping, a puppy will start making "yipping" sounds. And if the puppy is deeply asleep, the puppy will sometimes move its legs. It is thought that these "puppy dreams" are about chasing something.
The big event of the day were visitors to see the puppies.
Mommy Ophelia letting the puppies nurse.
I was thinking this morning about the fact that the puppies have destroyed two dog beds over the past couple of weeks. The puppies tore the beds open with their sharp puppy teeth and started pulling out the stuffing, which meant that the beds had to go into the garbage. Now I am used to a plush toy or two being destroyed, but not a dog bed ... and certainly not two beds. Then I realized that I had not given the puppies something that it is ok for them to destroy - a cardboard box. So I gave the puppies a box and the destruction began! The puppies immediately started tearing the box apart plus played "king of the mountain" (or more precisely "I get to sit in the box"). The cousins (on the left) also did their share of helping and playing. At the end of the initial play session, the poor box was looking the worse for wear.
Some of the puppies' future owners have told me what they plan to call their puppy. From now on, Harry will be "Baerli" (German for "little bear") and pronounced "bear-ly". John Boy will be called "Yahtzee". Billy - I was happy to hear - will be called "Billy". I am trying to get used to the new names. The puppies are too young yet to recognize names.
The puppies had another appointment with Mr. Dremel today.
The box towards the end of the day. My floor is now littered with small pieces of cardboard box. After the puppies go to bed, I plan to give the box a proper burial.
I put out a bigger box this morning for the puppies to destroy. (Cousin Maggie is on the left.) By the middle of the day, the puppies had flipped the box over, climbed on top, and were working to create an opening.
All five puppies greeting us as I bring the older dogs back home after a walk.
On the subject of chewing, for some time now I have had a bully stick in each of the puppy's crates. At night - especially after I bring the puppies back inside after a potty trip - I will hear the puppies chewing on their bully stick. Unfortunately I can not leave bully sticks out during the day as the adult dogs - who are more powerful chewers - will eat the bully sticks. At this point the puppies just make dents in their bully sticks.
While I was taking a shower this morning, it sounded like the World Cup was taking place in my living room. Instead of a soccer ball, the puppies were using an empty plastic bottle and at other times an empty soda can. The puppies moved the "ball" from one end of my living room to the other, making loud bangs when the "ball" ran into something.
Ringo and Yahtzee spooning. A few minutes later, Baerli joined them. Notice the darker coat of "guard" hairs that Baerli has. All the puppies are slowly losing their guard hairs as the hairs fall out, but Baerli and Billy have darker coats.
Billy sleeping on the dog bed underneath my desk.
The puppies greeting us as my other dogs and I returned from a walk.
Notice tha Billy, Yahtzee, and Freema have dark snouts; while Ringo and Baerli have red snouts. The dark snouts are due to the "Em" allele on the E-locus that Billy, Yahtzee, and Freema have. ("E-locus" and "Em" are the traditional canine coat color terms; we now now it is controlled by variations in the MCR1 gene on chromosome 5 of the canine genome.)
I have not found any potty accidents from the puppies today.
The puppies continue to work at destroying the box. The puppies got into and out of the box on their own. At one point there were three puppies in the box, all wrestling to be "king of the box".
I am not cooking puppies. But I do let my dogs clean plates and pans ... plus I give the plates and pans another wash when I pick them up.
At night over the past week I have been letting the interval between potty trips outside get longer and longer. The puppies are also learning to scratch at their crate door to wake me up when they want to go out to potty.
The big adventure for the puppies was a car ride with my other dogs. We were headed to an agility lesson. But the weather was not cooperating for an outdoor agility lesson, so we had to return home without a lesson.
Billy made a dash for freedom today. My adult dogs were assuring me - by barking furiously - that there was something in the nearby forest that needed chasing. As I was letting my adult dogs outside my fenced yard, Billy slipped out with them. The adults - who were in full gallop - quickly left Billy behind. While Billy - who did not get far from my house - was wondering where everyone had gone, I was able to quickly rescued him. As I carried Billy back to my house, I do not think Billy believed me as I told him that there are flying monkeys who like to carry off wandering Norwich puppies.
Being the first of the month, all my dogs got dosed for fleas and ticks plus heartworms. During the winter months (Dec/Jan/Feb) or when I have puppies in the house, I use "Revolution" (selamectin). Revolution is a topical, meaning that is it put on the skin near a dog's shoulder blades. Besides providing protection for fleas and ticks plus heartworms, selamectin kills cheyletiella mites. These mites live on the skin of a Norwich. Normally these mites are kept under control by a healthy adult Norwich's immune system. But in pregnant Norwich (whose immune system is reduced) or puppies (who have immature immune systems), these mites can quickly multiply. The mites are itchy and cause a dog to scratch excessively. The mites can also jump to humans. I can personally attest that the mites are itchy!
Morning pictures:
The weather being nice, I loaded everyone in the car and we set out (again) for an agility lesson. After a long car ride, we arrived at Ali's house. Recall that the puppies stayed with Ali for a weekend back in December when they were just one month old. (Ali calls them the "Christmas puppies" because of the Christmas card with the puppies that Ali made.) Ali has a full set of agility equipment in her back yard and gives agility lessons. I connected two x-pens that I brought, and set the puppies up in their own private space so they could watch.
Now in my house everybody does agility. So after all my other dogs had their turns, the puppies had their chance.
First, we set a jump bar on the ground and encouraged each puppy to run between the uprights and over the bar.
Each puppy got several tries (while I tried to get a good picture). Next, we put each puppy in turn on the down ramp of a dogwalk and encourage the puppy to come down the ramp. This is a little scary for the puppies as they were initially about four feet off the ground on a 12 inch wide plank. (Ali was next to each puppy as they came down, giving encouragement and treats as needed to lure each puppy down.)
Ali's husband, Mike, holding Freema and Baerli. (Freema is in Mike's right hand.)
We then made the long drive home where the puppies had a late lunch and some milk.
I then took the older dogs for a walk in the nearby forest. We were greeted by the puppies when we came back.
A quiet day today. The puppies ate, played, and slept ... and then repeated until it was night-time and time for bed.
The puppies - and my other dogs - had their weekly appointment with Mr. Dremel today.
Mommy Ophelia is still letting the puppies nurse. But the amount of milk can not be much - a comfort sip at most - as Ophelia is drying up.
Visitors! Tom and Karissa stopped by to see the puppies, plus drop off the puppies' great-aunt Winnie who will be staying with me for a week while Tom and Karissa are on vacation. The puppies were excited to meet this new relative.
Baerli says "visitors are exhausting" as he uses brother Billy as a pillow, while brother Billy uses Karissa's foot as a pillow.
In my house most things considering my dogs are done in seniority order. For example, daily tooth brushing starts with my oldest dog (great-aunt Mandy), then I do the next oldest (currently great-aunt Winnie, who is visiting), and I work my way down the dogs by age until the youngest. (If a dog is too young to have its teeth brushed - those whose adult teeth have not yet fully come in - the dog gets put on my grooming table for a look at its teeth.) Similarly when I do the bi-monthly weighings of the dogs; the dogs are weighed in age order. The dogs know the order, and thus there is no disagreement among the dogs about being "first" (because there is usually food or a treat involved). One exception is at meal time. All my dogs are fed in their crates. Puppies get fed first; then I do the older dogs, putting their food bowls in their crates (where the dogs are waiting) in seniority order. Now that the puppies are getting older, the older dogs complain (by barking) about not following the seniority rule. Actually the older dogs started complaining as soon as the puppies moved into being fed in crates.
The puppies had to skip lunch again today, as cousin Maggie had a class in the middle of the day. The puppies have enough reserve that I am not worried about the puppies occasionally missing lunch. The puppies are probably old enough where they could only be fed twice a day, but I like to keep feeding lunch for a couple more months.
The puppies greeting us as the older dogs and I return from a walk this afternoon.
Mommy Ophelia allowing some of the puppies a sip of milk after breakfast.
The big adventure of the day - at least for Baerli - was a trip to the vet to get his certificate of health (technically called a "certificate of veterinary inspection") plus his microchip.
Afterwards there were cuddles from the receptionists:
Ringo posing for the camera and showing the current status of the work on the box.
Baerli carrying a toy. A few minutes later, Freema and Baerli were playing tug-of-war over the toy. Yahtzee and Billy were wrestling over possession of a baby sheep. Notice Billy's sharp puppy teeth.
Morning picture of all five puppies, and the last time they are all together as all mine.
I had to go into Raleigh today for a regular check-up with a doctor. I went early and thus was able to deliver Baerli to his new home.
Napping pictures:
Yahtzee's big adventure for today was a trip to the vet to get his certificate of health and his microchip.
I had scheduled mommy Ophelia's annual dental cleaning for today, thinking that by the time that the puppies were twelve weeks old that Ophelia would be done nursing. (I was wrong - Ophelia is still letting the puppies have a sip, but it is obvious when I look at Ophelia's nipples that Ophelia is drying up.) We were up early in order to take Ophelia to the vet. I brought all four puppies with me. After dropping off Ophelia, we visited Baerli while we waited for Ophelia to be finished.
The future owners of Baerli's brother Yahtzee had arranged to meet us at Baerli's house to pick up their new puppy. (My thanks to Nancy and Mark for letting this all happen at their house.) Before Yahtzee left for New York City, we let all five puppies have one last chance to play together.
Finally it was time for Ed, Lisa, and their son Eddie to leave with Yahtzee.
The puppies and I then picked up mommy Ophelia and began the drive home. So now there were just three of Ophelia's puppies in my care:
The puppies had a visitor today. Karissa stopped by to pick up great-aunt Winnie who had been staying with us for a week while Karissa traveled. Of course Karissa could not resist playing with the puppies. Here is Karissa holding Billy and Ringo. Billy in on the left in the picture, in Karissa right arm.
I have not seen Ophelia let the puppies nurse today. I think Ophelia has finally cut them off.
It was still rainy and overcast today, as you can see from the wet footprints on my porch. (Billy is looking out through the fence; Ringo and Freema have tired of the view.) When it rains, I put a towel down on the inside just next to the doggy door. This way my dogs automatically "wipe their feet" as they come inside.
I have not seen any evidence that Ringo, Billy, and Freema are missing their littermates Baerli and Yahtzee. I have noticed that mommy Ophelia seems to be paying more attention (playing with? teaching manners?) to her remaining puppies.
Here is the view from the other side of the fence than yesterday, as the older dogs and I returned from a walk. From left to right, Ringo, Freema, and Billy.
From left to right - Ringo, Billy, and Freema - "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil"
A quiet day today.
The big adventure today for Billy, Freema, and Ringo was a trip to the vet. Here they are in the waiting room. The purpose of the visit was to get their second puppy shot and microchip. Also Billy was there to get his certificate of veterinary inspection (informally known as a "certificate of health").
All the puppies got their second puppy shot and then their microchip. Canine microchips come in two sizes: regular and mini. I want my puppies to have the smallest, so rather than use the regular sized microchips at the vet's office, I bring mini microchips that I have purchased. Even being "mini", it still takes a large-bore needle to insert the microchip.
None of the puppies complained about their second puppy shot nor their microchip being inserted. Brave puppies!
Afterwards the puppies got cuddles from the receptionists as we played the game of "pass the puppy".
As of this evening, none of the puppies have shown any outward reaction to their second puppy shot. (I did not expect any.)
Morning picture - Ringo, Billy, and Freema. (Freema is closest to the camera.)
The puppies greeting us as the older dogs and I returned from a walk. (From left to right - Freema, Billy, and Ringo.)
Morning picture - Ringo, Billy, and Freema. (Ringo is closest to the camera.)
Today Ben and Dylan came to pick up Billy and take Billy home with them. (Ben is holding Billy.) I am always sad when a puppy leaves for a new home. I have done everything that I could to prepare Billy for a new home. I know that Billy will make Ben and Dylan happy.
And then there were just two - Ringo and Freema. (Freema is closest to the camera.)
This seems like a good point to end this puppy diary. Freema will be staying with me. The right home has not come along yet for Ringo. I am sure that it will; until then Ringo will stay with me.
For further updates about my dogs - both those in my homes and those in other homes - see the Shaksper News.
