Birthday, 1/21/2023
4 puppies were born early in the morning, 2 boys and 2 girls. Two are nearly solid colors and two have a lot of white. All their colors will be changing with time though!
They start nursing immediately after birth. It’s important to get their Mom’s first milk, called colostrum. It gives them a lot of the immunity they need before their immune system fully develops. All the pups are tiny, but Lucy is very tiny. She is strong and immediately started nursing though, so she’ll be gaining weight in no time!
1 week old
They’re definitely gaining weight! We weigh them every day for the first week to make sure all of them are gaining. They’ve all doubled their weight except Lucy, who has almost tripled her weight!
2 weeks old
Mama Punkin is still doing most of the work. They do lots of eating and sleeping, and snuggling together and with their Mama. Eyes are just opening up now, but they probably aren’t seeing very well yet. Their coat colors are starting to show up better now.
3 weeks old
Happy Valentines Day! They’re starting to move around a little more and climb out of their box on occasion. Still spending all of their time with their Mama, except when we’re holding them of course!
4 weeks old
They’re really moving now! They climb out of their box and are starting to eat food a little bit. Punkin “asks” to be away from them more as they wean–she likes to go sleep in the sun while they play happily. They wrestle a lot and we’re starting to hear tiny barks and growls as they practice being big dogs.
5 weeks old
They love to play and wrestle. They’re getting more and more of their food from their dish, rather than their Mama. She still spends time with them though, teaching them how to be big dogs. This video is from puppy playtime, where they run around the living room and play with us and our other dogs as well as seeing new sites and finding new toys.
6 weeks old
Still growing! Almost weaned now–Mama growls sometimes when they try to nurse. They’re getting more coordinated and love to run and pounce on each other. They all love to snuggle and get individual time being held every day. They adore their big sister Tikka, our Chesapeake Bay Retriever, and she is very patient and gentle with them as they chew on her nose and ears. Getting a group picture is a lot of work–wrestling matches are constantly breaking out! My apologies to Petie for being out of focus on the group picture. I didn’t get them all in focus in the split second that they were all sitting still!
