Puppies

Bringing Up Puppies

Some things I did with my first litter:
  • Early scent introduction (You can see a blog post I wrote about these two things here)
  • Early Neurological Stimulation
  • Extensive exposure to things to climb on and go through
  • Individual crate training
  • A lot of work on potty training. Since this litter will be due at about the same time as my first litter, I can hope that the weather will be as cooperative in how much outside time the puppies will get. I have a 30 foot x 70 foot attached dog yard where they spent a lot of (supervised) time.
  • Exposure and play with my intact male Border Terrier Jag. He weighs 15-16 pounds, so is not that much bigger than an 8 week old Flat-Coat puppy, and he was invaluable with the first litter.
  • Learning to negotiate our dog door
  • Learning to negotiate ramps to get inside and outside
  • Group attention training
  • Individual lessons in position changes, recalls, retrieving and beginning targeting work
  • Individual time outside learning about following and walking on different surfaces
  • Exposure to game birds
  • Several car rides in crates
  • Introduction to whistle recalls
  • Twice a week toenail grinding
  • Paw hair trimmed several times

I plan to do all of these things with my February 2018 litter.

 

March 10 Puppy Update

On Tuesday March 8, I started feeding the puppies a mush made of ground kibble, water and goat’s milk. Helen Szostak of Grousemoor Retrievers, who has been such an incredible help to me in this breeding journey, saw them at lunch time that day. More importantly, she heard them complaining…

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Day Two

We lost power last evening for about 2 hours due to high winds, which made me very grateful that the puppies were already born. Whelping by flash light and book lights would not have been fun! I clipped a blanket over the top of the whelping box to help retain heat, and while the temperature did drop some in the whelping box, it never went below 67. I had to pull it back some because Sonic started to get too warm.

I think the puppies woke me up at least once every hour of the night last night, with someone fussing a bit, usually because Sonic had gotten up and moved around. Except for the littlest boy (green), all the rest gained at least some weight over last night. Pink girl, who had lost a bit from birth to last night’s weighing, gained an ounce overnight, the most of all nine. Little green has been getting some semi-private nursing time today to try to give him a boost. Solo time doesn’t work because then Sonic insists on licking him so much that she knocks him off the nipple, which defeats the purpose.

As mama and puppies figure out this living together in the outside world thing, it has turned into a mostly peaceful day in the whelping room. Big Bubba’s tail wags as he nurses, and I’ve seen several of their tails doing this kinked thing that Sonic and several of her littermates did when they were about 3 months old.

Sonic with her kinked tail 3 months old
Sonic with her kinked tail 3 months old

I am thoroughly enjoying spending time helping Sonic and just watching the babies figure out how to get where they want to go. Sonic is getting smarter about how to lie down so she doesn’t squash them, but I still try to stay near to help her get them sorted out.

We took a < 5 minute trip around our yard this afternoon to give her a mental break and a chance to run a bit, which she very happily did. Now she’s back in the box with the gang of grunting and squeaking parasites. Good Mama!

We have been having internet problems since the power outage, which I think is fixed. I have a video I hope to get posted to YouTube to share.