Puppy blog 20.-22.2.2010 25.2.2010 2.3.2010 6.3.2010 9.3.2010 19.3.2010 19.3.2010 The small ones are growing fast. They are all walking and running around on 4 legs and it is getting noisy in the puppy box. Last week we made the box larger so that the pups would have more space to train their walking and playing. I stopped weighing the pups on an every day basis when the pups turned 3 weeks last Monday. I will weigh them a couple of times a week but they are getting so wild that weighing them takes much longer time because they wont stay still in the bowl. I also started to give some minced meat to the pups a week ago. Then on Monday they got some Maizena porridge with minced meat and yesterday I also started to mix in some moist puppy pellets. They eat the mixture very well, some of them still insists that mummy's milk is the best, so if the pups realize that mummy is in the same room they wont eat the food as eagerly as when Selma is outside the room, out of sight. Clever ones... Some of the new owners have been on visits and some more are coming during the weekend. But there is still one male and (because of cancellation) two females available! So if you're looking for a companion to the forest, to the obedience court or for rescue training, then contact me! 9.3.2010 The small ones became 2 weeks old yesterday. They also got dewormed for the first time yesterday and that stuff was really not tasting good ;P the faces they made when they tried to get rid of the awful stuff that "the hand" (=me) put in their mouth were unbelievable :)). All the puppies have opened their eyes and yesterday it seemed at several occasions like some of them actually saw something. All of them are also moving around on four legs, it's still quite shaky walking, but you can see it's getting better for each day. Yesterday evening and this morning I have seen something that looks like playing as well, some of them a bit more actively than the others. It's getting more and more interesting to see them develope, to see what kind of small labs they are turning into :) Their weights are also increasing for each day, the results from this morning is as follows: Dog 1 - 1395 gr. Bitch 1 - 1414 gr. Bitch 2 - 1081 gr. Dog 2 - 1396 gr. Bitch 3 - 1277 gr. Dog 3 - 1309 gr. Dog 4 - 1423 gr. Bitch 4 - 1308 gr. 6.3.2010 For a couple of days now we've been pooping, and a lot and loose poop. It started with some of the pups having a bit loose poop and when it continued the following day I called the vet who told me to go to the Pharmacy and get some paste containing stomach calming properties. Selma also got some similar stuff. During this time all the pups gained weight normally and were normally active. Yesterday their stomaches had finally calmed down and hopefully it will continue this way. It's not all that fun to have to clean out poop in the puppybox so that not all the pups will crawl in it :( All the pups are now starting to do some trials to walk on four legs, very shaky trials so far :) and their eyes are also starting to open. Their weight this morning: Dog 1 - 1207 gr. Bitch 1 - 1227 gr. Bitch 2 - 919 gr. Dog 2 - 1232 gr. Bitch 3 - 1128 gr. Dog 3 - 1122 gr. Dog 4 - 1214 gr. Bitch 4 - 1099 gr. So even the smallest bitch is now getting to closer to the 1 kg , all the rest already above :) 2.3.2010 The puppies continue to increase in weight. They are eating and sleeping all through the days. The Selma is taking care of the pups real well, making sure that the pups feel well. The scale showed the following weights this morning (day 8): Dog 1 - 933 gr. Bitch 1 - 899 gr. Bitch 2 - 695 gr. Dog 2 - 971 gr. Bitch 3 - 857 gr. Dog 3 - 835 gr. Dog 4 - 911 gr. Bitch 4 - 860 gr. 25.2.2010 Today Selma and the pups have been to the vets. Because of the 9th puppy that was born death and much later than the rest of the pups there was a fear that there would be a 10th pup as well still in her uterus. After being in contact with a vet I decided to be on the safe side and x-ray Selma. And because there are no regular vet in Hanko, we had to go to the next town Tammisaari. If there had been a 10th pup in her uterus that one would have been removed by surgery, and the pups would have been to long without feeding and the closeness of mummy, so the pups came along in a box, wrapped into blankets. Fortunately Selmas uterus was empty, and everything looked fine. The vet also took a quick look at the pups and thought that they looked good as well. The pups are eating and sleeping, and sleeping and eating, and consequently they are also growing :) The weighing this morning gave the following results: Dog 1 - 558 gr. (+199 gr.) Bitch 1 - 558 gr. (+192 gr.) Bitch 2 - 394 gr. (+145 gr.) Dog 2 - 599 gr. (+199 gr.) Bitch 3 - 484 gr. (+165 gr.) Dog 3 - 494 gr. (+160 gr.) Dog 4 - 614 gr. (+224 gr.) Bitch 4 - 492 gr. (+150 gr.) 20.-22.2.2010 At around 8 p.m. Saturday evening (20.2.) Selma's temp dropped below 37 C (36.6 C) and the opening phase was begun. Selma became a bit restless and was making a nest, but in between she was calm and sleeping normally. The night came and so did Sunday morning and the temp stayed below and around 37 C. It wasn't until Sunday evening that you could notice a difference in Selma's behaviour and around 11.45 p.m. her water broke. At 2.24 a.m. (22.2.) the first puppy was born and after that 6 more puppies were born until the 8th was born at 6.27 a.m. 2.24 a.m. -  Dog 1 - 359 gr. 2.47 a.m. - Bitch 1 - 366 gr. 3.49 a.m. - Bitch 2 - 249 gr. 4.02 a.m. - Dog 2 - 400 gr. 4.23 a.m. - Bitch 3 - 319 gr. 4.57 a.m. - Dog 3 - 334 gr. 5.44 a.m. - Dog 4 - 390 gr. 6.27 a.m. - Bitch 4 - 342 gr. After this Selma calmed down and started to take care of her small ones, but there was a small hesitation in her caretaking. The explanation came about 10 hours later when the 9th puppy was born, dead. After this last birth Selma started to seriously take care of the small ones and it looks like she'll become an excellent mum. The puppies are all very lively and "talkative", crawling around in the puppypen and making lound noises when not finding mummy's nipples at once.