Heather Puppies Are Here

October 14th, 7 weeks, 1 day. And I have to apologize to everyone because I forgot yesterday was Friday and pictures were due. Been a busy week. All the pictures below were taken today. I added names of puppies where I could and tried to get everyone in.

October 6th, 6 weeks. Been a busy week. They are all doing fine, running and playing. Today first shots. Tomorrow Vet Check so another busy week for them. Pictures below. Some are singles we took as we have started to pull out picks for show homes. All of them have great personalities. I have not found an alpha female in the bunch yet. May be one, too early to tell :)

September 29th, 5 weeks. This is about the time we want them to stop growing cause they are getting so cute. They have found their legs and are runing around the pen and in and out of the dog door. New game is going in the dog door and dragging the toys out. Weather has been great. No rain. Very hot days and nights in the upper 60s so puppies have been spending nights out in days in. Today the temp has dropped and they spent most of the day outside. Not too cool this evening so we supect they will curl up in the dog house and only make trips in to steal toys. Pictures of the week below, enjoy.

September 22th, 4 weeks. This was a big week since we moved them out to the puppy palace where they can stay inside or out. Gettting them out on the grass helps with potty training later on as puppies learn to potty by tecture on their feet (pee on the grass, not the blanket is our goal). First couple of days we locked them in at night because they did not know how to use the dog door. By day 3 they figured out the door and as long as the weather holds (around 70 and no rain at night) they prefer to sleep outside. Mid day, the temp is still running in the 90s so they are sleeping inside where it's air conditioned and has a ceiling fan to keep them cool. Top row pictures below, I took this morning. Right now they are licking the door flap to get it to submit and let them out (that is a new flap now covered in puppy kisses). It's cute and whatever works. By week 6 they will be diving in and out and we will add a second flap. The bottom 2 rows I took throughout the week.

September 15th, 3 weeks. Eyes open, ears open, they have teeth. This week always seems the longest as they get all their front teeth in one week. Pups are getting close to 4 pounds (all that extra nursing). They are up on their feet, playing, growling and even barking now that they can hear. Starting to get very cute. Started them on lapping up puppy milk substitute today as mom can no longer keep up. Pictures below taken throughout the week, left to right. Will be moving them out of the whelping box very soon as they are escaping :)

September 8th, 2 weeks. Puppies are still smell driven at 2 weeks. By this time, they have tripled their birth rate. On Tuesday (10 days) eyes started to open. Still not fully open and they can't see but normal progression. The top left picture below was taken at 8 days, bottom right at 14 days. You can see the growth looking at those 2 pictures. They will start getting cute at 3 weeks.

September 1st., 1 week. Puppies are a week old tonight. Not a lot going on the first week. Eat sleep and cry. Puppies cry when they are hungry or wonder off in the whelping box and can't find the rest of the litter. They are growing fast. Average weight gain at this point is 2/3 of a pound. They are all chubby so mom has lots of milk.

August 26th. Heathers puppies were born last night and mom and pups are all doing well. Pictures below were all taken this am. In the 3rd picture, Heather lined all the puppies up in a neat pile before she asked to go outside to potty. Then came right back in to make sure they are all ok. To cute.