Day 12 Eyes are still opening

Eyes are still opening:

Day 11 Eyes Open Whiskers working

Eyes are open and whiskers are working. One can clearly hear them scenting for Mom. Click on picture to see whiskers more clearly.

Day 10 With Eyes Open

Day 10:

Day 9 Puppy Burritos

This is an order of puppy burritos:

Sleep deprivation does strange things to one's sense of humor.

Day 8 The Puppy Scrum

The pups now spend most of the day in the “Scrum”. This is the pile in the center of the box where they twitch, and emit high pitched barks (and other indescribable puppy sounds), and jockey for position.  They are now able to use coordinated forelimbs and hind limbs to locomote quickly as soon as Flo returns for a feeding, though the limbs still do not lift the puppies belly off the mat. 

The Puppy Scrum:

Specks of pigmentation are taking hold on the nose.

Flo is apparently completely back to her old self. She has returned to her tasks around the house and yard with the characteristic spring in her step.  Her rib cage has shrunk;  we will have to lower the pig rails as she can easily slip under them now. 

Day7 Early Neural Stimulation

At this age, 0-12 days old, the eyes and ears are closed but the pup is still able to interact with it's environment via the olfactory, vestibular and proprioceptive senses. While the puppies seem to be sleeping most of the time, they are easily aroused by mere proximity to the dam as she returns to the box, showing us that the myriad of olfactory and tactile sensations they register.

Puppies should be weighed daily to assess physical development and they should be introduced to mild stresses to enhance neural development. Daily neural enhancement exercises include holding the puppy gently for a few seconds in the various planes in relation to gravity: upright, head down and tummy up.  These vestibular and proprioceptive stimulations are generally not what the puppy usually encounters in his whelping box. Such early stimulation has been well documented to increase brain size and improve body functions such as heart rate, blood pressure etc in the adult dog.

On the other hand, the world within the whelping box provides far more stresses to the developing pup than my morning weighing and toe tickling, especially when the litter is large, like this one. There is the competition to make it to a teat first, then there’s the competition to elbow the other littermate out of the way if you are the odd pup. 

Day 6 Everything and nothing much going on

The pups continue to gain weight nicely and look good -- although now my heart skips a beat whenever I find one lying perfectly still when Flo leaves the box. 


Certain personality traits are revealing themselves: some are always the first to become noisy and demanding and others are quiet.  Tiny little barks are emerging: one or two are very ferocious. Squeals of indignation are heard as one pushes the other off a nipple. It's a dog eat dog world in the whelping box.


Sleeping cycles are becoming longer during which there are definite bouts of "active sleep" when coordinated movements occur. Maybe they are all having dreams of Ms Pink who seems to be getting more than her share; all the while she complains the most.


Feeding cycles are about 2 hrs now. In between the feeding cycles, Flo spends her time outside to clear her head, eat, drink and take relief.

Day 5 Pics

Flo has settled into a cycle of feeding and cleaning up the pups and followed by an outdoor time to clear her head.  Sadly, last night we lost one pup, cannot be sure of the reason as we were close by when it happened. It had been gaining weight like the rest and active. Perhaps it was smothered in the feeding melee'. A more likely explanation is PDA (patent ductus arteriosus). This is a small vesset that bypasses the lungs while the  pup is still in the womb. It must close for the blood to be oxygenated by the lungs once the pup is on its own. It is possible this pup's ductus arteriosus had not closed completely. 

Here's the day 5 pics.

Day 4 Greetings come first

Today we had a guest. So much for wondering how Flo would deal with the demands of motherhood and her natural propensity to make all visitors feel more than welcomed. There was a solid puppy abandonment while the visitor was here. It was as if to say: "Whew. This has been real work; I need a break!"

Puppies continue to gain 1.5-2 oz daily, some have hit 1lb already. Flo is looking much lighter on her feet.

Day 3 May 21st Settling down

Flo says that bowl of vanilla ice cream sure hits the spot.

Whew! Activities are settling down.  Puppies have distinct periods of nursing and sleep now. It works out great when there were 2 shifts: 4 on, 5 off etc. There just doesn't seem like enough space for 9 there all at once. I am puzzling about this because now they are so small and there still does not seem like enough space. What is going to happen as they grow bigger?

The whelping box is 3x4 which seems like a good size. It gives her space to get up and go to the other side and lie down and get the puppies organized again.

Day 2 May 20th Pics of the Pups

Flo stayed with her puppies all night. What a good Mom!

I was worried that she might leave them to come to her usual bedtime spot but she did not. The pups now settle down quickly when she returns to the box instead of the  wails of woe that issued yesterday.

7 AM and she's out for quick relief and then she wants back in to check her pups: she's a lady on a mission. A quick meal of salmon, cottage cheese and puppy chow and she's settling those pups again.

Puppies were weighed and checked. All gained 1 oz or more!   It's never too early to start ones show career so here they are (by popular demand):