Oh Yeah, You Blend

I finally got some pictures of them playing with each other (they’ve been doing this for a few days now):

Bitey Dogs 1

Bitey Dogs 2

Lefty Says "Don't Shoot!"

Aww

Come here so I can bite you!

Day 17:

All Lined Up

The Usual Suspects

Miss Thing 1 (Oh, The DRAMA!)

Zebra Pillow

Day 16 pictures:

Day 16 Pile 'o' Puppies

Mine!

Still Mine!

Zonked Jack

(catching up on a few days of pictures)

Here are some pictures from day 15:

Pile 'o' Puppies (and a yawn)

Look How Big They Are Getting!

Wee Snoozing

Zonked

They are two weeks old today. They got their first deworming today with PPS (Strongid), which is very safe and banana-flavored. They liked it! It was the first thing they’ve tasted that wasn’t Nina-milk or each other.

TWO WEEKS OLD!

They were waiting until just after I changed them to pee all over their nice clean bedding.

They actually seem to look at you now, although they are still sort of squinting at the world.

Nina has started feeding them standing up or sitting, instead of lying down.  Smart cookie that she is, this way they can all eat at the same time.

Trimming nails again for Nina’s sake, three down, four more to go.

They are all over a pound and a half now, even Wee.  They love their Kate-house, all this space!  They scoot around in it surprisingly quickly sometimes.  I am still working out how to manage the bedding, I don’t have enough of the good fleece pads from WhelpWise, and the two I have aren’t big enough for this box, so I have to use both at once.  So right now I’m trying towels over flat dog beds, so they have some cushiness without anything to get stuck under (I hope).  I will start putting some toys in for them this weekend.

Only 2 days of Early Neurological Stimulation to go – days 3-16 is what you’re supposed to do, and we’re already at day 14, I can’t believe it!

So I got the puppies set up in their new house that Kate built for them.

New House Day 13

It’s beautiful and they have SO much more room now, they are really crawling around exploring.  Nina has been in to feed them and I think she approves of the fact that she has enough room to get comfortable without having to really wedge in around them.  This hasn’t stopped them from nursing on each other, mind you, but they have room to stretch their legs now!

Comfy

Thanks a million Kate!!!

In other news, they really do sound like dogs now.  Dogs who’ve been inhaling helium, yes, but dogs nonetheless.  Little barks, whines, growls and squeaks.  And their eyes are open, so they spend a lot of time squinting at things like Mr. Magoo.

Tomorrow they will be two weeks old (already!) and they will get their first deworming with PPS (a very safe dewormer).  It is flavored and tastes sweet, so they should like it, it will be the first thing they have ever tasted other than Nina’s milk and each others tummies.

Jack was over 800 grams today, the rest were all in the 700’s, with Wee gaining well and coming in at 653 this morning.  Miss Thing 2 didn’t gain as much as I’d have liked her to, so we’ll make sure she gets extra time today.  I do really think it all balances out over time, though.

…is here! And it’s gorgeous! I’m just going to wipe it down and then the puppies will move into their new house! Pictures to follow, it’s so exciting, it’s beautiful and the puppies and Nina will have enough room (they are growing so fast there’s almost no room in the box for Nina anymore). Kate should build them to sell, this is way nicer than most of the other whelping boxes I’ve seen.  Thanks Kate!

Dog Spelled Forward is an excellent dog training blog written by a dog trainer and behavior consultant in New Jersey.  He does commentaries about episodes of the Dog whisperer, and deconstructs them well (and gives credit where credit is due).  We need more like him!

Since Debbie asked…Names are tough. We have registered names picked out (performance cars starting with “A”), but call names for while they’re here are proving tough. We have Wee and Immelmann and Jack, who were named very early on. Triangle Boy is Triangle Boy because Jim refuses to call him anything else and sings “Particle Man” by They Might Be Giants to him, but with “Triangle Boy” and Vallhund-specific lyrics.  Lefty is Lefty because his right paw is white (I know, it makes no sense, but it stuck, and it’s better than “Righty”).  The two other long tailed girls (one of whom is hopefully my keeper) are (Miss) Thing 1 (white chest girl) and (Miss) Thing 2 (white throat girl) (from “The Cat In The Hat“) for now.

Woo!  Just after I wrote about how their eyes would be opening soon, I was checking them over and doing their SuperDog exercises…and their eyes are opening!  Littlest girl Wee has her right eye almost all the way open, and some of the others have tiny little openings.  Welcome little ones!  They are growing up!