It seems this is the new way to let people invade into your life and follow along with what is going on. As has also been pointed out to me, it is a great way of being accountable by way of a training diary as well as a record to look back on, which I think is a great idea having the puppies that I want to remember everything about, but am not writing it down anywhere.
Brief overview of the current events around here. Argus and Impulse are the proud (okay, in Argus' case, terrified) parents are 6 beautiful babies who are are growing everytime I turn around. The babies were born on Dec 12/09, 3 boys, 3 girls, 3 blacks, 3 blues. I have to admit, I was a little freaked out in the beginning, what on earth was I doing having a litter of puppies? Regardless of all the reading and preparation and seminars I've done, I felt totally unprepared, still do with regular occurance. So far, we've made it to week 2 and all is well. First of all, the equipment. I opted to build a corroplast whelping box. Puppies are not something I'll be doing often, so at this point do not need a heavy duty box. So far, I love this box. It is lightweight, easy to manouvere, and will be easy to store under a bed as it will unfold flat once untaped. When Petcetera closed they had puppy pee pads on sale, and although I hate these for housebreaking, I figured they might be handy for puppies. In hindsight, I wish I had bought every package they had. For the whelping they were wonderful, as soon as they got messy, they got changed out for new ones. In the future I might do multiple layers of them, so I can just take out the dirty ones and clean ones will be under the female already. Now, with puppies, I am using them under the towels. In the whelping box I have a set of foam interlocking blocks, then two layers of cut to size blankets, then a layer of disposable pee pads and finally a single layer of towels. It is so easy to clean the box through the day, take out the wet towels, change out any wet pads and replace. Possibly a pricier way to go, but there is something to be said for ease of cleaning. I'm still unsure of how I will be setting up the expen.
I weighed all the puppies daily until they reached double their birthweight, which they did between day 7-9. They are now weighed weekly and doubled their weight again. I feel a bit neurotic being so anal about weights, but without being able to do my typical baby assessment that I'm used to be able to do with human babies I felt a bit lost. Sure I could see them nurse, but was everyone getting enough? No diaper to check for number of pees and poops, no ability to take my public health nursing knowledge and apply to puppies. So, depended on weights to tell me that everyone was getting enough and growing, which they were.
Day three saw the removal of dewclaws and tails. Being as my own vet does not do this I had to go to a vet I am not familiar with, and I ended up with tails far longer than I was hoping. Between my inexperience and the tails being left longer than what we had agreed on, I got home and promptly freaked out about their tail length. Thanks to everyone on the aussieboard for setting my mind at ease, and to Cathy for sending me much information for next time! Puppies have grown into their tails, though they are still longer than I like. However, they aren't going to have weird half tails hanging off their bums like I was expecting. On one hand I was sad to see their tails go, on the other, couldn't wait to make my puppies look like aussies. Puppies recovered instantly like everyone had told me they would. Sutures were removed yesterday which was tougher on the puppies than the actual tail removal was. They all have scabbing at the end of their tails and removing the sutures pulled on the scabs which in turn pulled on the hair. Dewclaws have healed nicely.
Day four I started with Dr. Battaglia's Neurological Stimulation exercises. http://www.breedingbetterdogs.com/ Neuro stim is supposed to start on day 3, however I was so stressed from the whole "tail too long" debacle that I put off starting it for a day. It was interesting to see all the puppies get used to being handled as each day progressed. They have gone from screaming when I picked them up to making happy little snuffling noises. Some puppies have been laid back from day one, such as the blue boy and the black boy two. The solid black puppies and the blue girl one are definitely the fiestiest in the litter and still have a lot to say about being manhandled. Heavy socialization via snuggling on the couch is in order I think. ;)
Christmas and the holidays hit and admittedly I did not get the neuro stim done daily. Puppies are handled often, as well as nails being cut every three days so they have had at least some of the exercises done daily.
Week two and I eagerly peered into each puppy's little face to see if I could see eyeballs. They were a bit slow in this department. All eyes have been wide open for a couple days now (day 18) and it is so fun to watch them discover their world. Everyone is up on their feet as well, starting around day 13, day 14. They all wake up, toddle off to pee and then look around for the milk bar to present herself. They will be moved out to the living room so they have a bigger area to play in, and have seperate play, potty and sleep areas. First, the christmas tree must come down. A couple of the boys are already trying to climb their way out of the whelping box when I come into the bedroom.
The big dogs all have different reactions to the little peeping and barking that comes out of the strange white box in the bedroom. Turner and Argus have been introduced, both are terrified of the puppies. Jurny will have to wait until they're a bit bigger as he's a bit intense about them.
The latest development with the puppies is them discover how to play. In the last few days there have been new sounds coming from the box, little barks, howls and growls. This morning as I peered into the box I saw the first little attempts at play. Funny now as they try to bite each other and then fall over, growling and protesting. At this point, the blue girl one and black boy two are the most playful, I'm sure the rest will catch up as they get a little more steady on their feet. For the most part, their lives are ruled by nursing followed by sleeping.
From here on out I'll try to keep posts a little more concise and focused, but wanted to make up for some lost time with this one!
