Week 4

Puppies are growing every day. They are becoming much more active and it is time that they start eating on their own. we start out with raw hamburger offer each puppy one ball they will suck it out of your hand. After they are accustomed to that we advance to rice meal for filler, then add in wet puppy food mashed up and gradually reduce rice meal as we increase puppy food and make the consistency less thick until they are eating puppy chow. This process takes about 2 weeks and by 6-7 weeks mama will no longer be feeding them. Mama knows that she does not have sufficient amount of milk to sustain these puppies so she starts to stand while feeding this is the beginning of the weaning process and it encourages balance and agility.

Puppies at play

They are starting to interact with each other. The beginnings of play. They are still unsteady on their feet but getting stronger every day. Soon they will be ready to move into a larger play area.

Transitional period

Yellow boy

Brown Boy

Green boy

White Girl

Light blue boy

Black Girl

Red Boy


It is now day 12 and we are entering the Transition period. This period last from 13-21 days and is characterized by the rapid development of motor skills and the onset of vision and hearing. By the end of this stage the puppies will receive the basic tools of Life: sight, hearing, walking, ability to eliminate by themselves, chewing, and a more refined sense of smell. You can see by the pictures above their eyes are beginning to open.

Cut Those Nails

Brown Boy

Black Girl

Green Boy



 

Yellow Boy


 

It is important to cut puppies nails. This needs to be done every week without fail. If you do not do this, the dam’s teats will become scratched and very sore from the pup’s pummeling action,

and she will wean the pups early, strictly because of pain

to her breasts.

Early Nuerological stimulation

Q-tip toe tickle
Green boy

Perpendicular to the ground
White girl

on the back in palm of hand
Whit boy

Head held down
Red boy

on cold damp cloth
Brown boy

Mild forms of stress create many changes in newborns including changes in electrical activity in the brian, muscle tension, and changes in oxyen levels and breathing. When tested later as adults the stress dogs were better able to withstand stress than their non-stressed littermates. Battaglia says "kicking the neorolgocal system into action earlier than normal will benefit the pupppy with improved cardiovascular, stonger heart beats, stronger adrenal glands, more tolerence to stress and greater resistance to disease". Puppies were also more active, more exploratory, calmer, and less distracted when working. We perfom these exercises from day 3-16.



blackgirl 1 lb 5.9oz

green boy 1lb 7.4 oz



red boy 1lb 7.5oz



yellow boy 1lb 8.4 oz






white girl 1lb 7 oz



 

white boy 1lb 7oz

 

 

 

Puppies need to be weighed daily to ensure that they are gaining weight. If you notice that one puppy is not gaining as well as the others it is important to make sure that puppy is getting enough time with mamma to ensure he is not being inched out.



Puppies born

Well puppies started arriving around 10:30 pm on Thursday night and after a few suprises we were done around 3 am. It is not uncommon for bitches to whelp in the wee hours of the night when things are more quiet. We ended up with 6 males and 2 females. They are an array of colors 2 white buffs, 2 brown sables, and 4 black combinations ( some black with white chest/toes and some with black/brown). The first week of a puppies life they are completly dependent on their mother for warmth and food. She will spend most of her time in th box getting up only to eliminate and eat. She is very attentive to their needs constantly cleaning them to stimulate them to eliminate waste as they cannot do this themselves yet. Puppies can not see or hear at this stage but they can smell there way to their mama when they are hungry. Often Shawnee will grunt when a puppy has strayed and is loooking for her and that is my que to go get puppy for her. My role at this stage is make sure mama is happy and content so that she can tend to her job.