Eating + Sleeping = Growing
Ellie’s Puppies Returning To Their Clean Whelping Box
Time To Sleep
Dark Blue Boy, Look At Those Beautiful Eyes!
Ellie’s New puppies feeding and Ruska’s puppies are starting to open their eyes
It is with great excitement we announce “The Puppies Have Arrived!”
We are pleased to announce that Ellie and Brinkley’s puppies have arrived. They welcomed a litter of 5 puppies – 3 boys and 2 Girls on Saturday August 8, 2020. Unlike Ruska, she didn’t make us wait. Her puppies arrived before “The Big Day” countdown for her due date hit “0” LOL.
Ellie, a first time mom, did an amazing job! It’s hard work whelping, even more so for Ellie as the puppies were a good size. We stayed right beside Ellie and the new puppies for the first twenty-four hours to make sure things were going smoothly. Now it is Ellie’s turn and her “round the clock job” has begun. She will spend her days and nights cleaning, feeding and keeping her puppies warm .
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Day 10 – Is a Puppy Milestone Weight Check
The puppies are now 10 days old. This is the day we do a “milestone weight gain evaluation”. Ideally puppies should double their birth weight at the 10-day point. We had one puppy reach this milestone at nine days. Two more puppies achieved this goal today.
Previously with a large litter (more than 8), I have notice it takes a day or two extra to reach this milestone of doubling their birth weight. All of our puppies have been gaining weight daily and are progressing well to achieve this goal in the next couple days.
Ruska has the ability to feed eight puppies at the same time, leaving three puppies “waiting their turn”. During the day at feeding time, I have been rotating the six larger puppies through this “waiting” by putting them in a “waiting box”in the whelping area – three on one feeding, the other three on the next feeding. This was easily done when they were first born but now that they have become more mobile, they have less patients to wait their turn and climb out of the “waiting box” trying to sneak in for a snack! So, I have had to remove them from the whelping box all together and contained them in a larger “Waiting Box” until it is their turn to nurse.
Adorable Faces
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ELLIE’s puppies ………. the countdown is on
Ellie has about one week until her puppies arrive. She is still eating well, slowed down and is getting lots of rest. I can hear lots of baby heartbeats but cannot determine how many because they are so close together. She has been so interested in Ruska’s puppies and a few days ago Ruska was finally willing to let her see them.
It is now time to prepare for her whelping. Ellie went to the groomers yesterday for a trim and tummy shave. The clean tummy makes it easier for the puppies when they nurse. We now have her whelping box set up so she can spend time getting comfortable in it, and everything else prepared waiting for the babies to arrive..
Even though this will be her first litter, I know she will be a great mama. She even has experience caring for puppies from Ruska’s last litter in a “nanny role”. Ellie is such a loving dog and always keeps me company. She always wants to be by my side.
Check back later for more of Ruska and her puppies
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ONE WEEK OLD
AUGUST 5TH, 2020 – DAY 7 – 1 WEEK OLD
Wow, 7 days have past so quickly and our babies are already one week old! For the first few weeks of life, a puppy cannot regulate their own body temperature. They need a warm space, their mother and littermates to help keep them warm. Puppies are born with their eyes and ears sealed shut; they cannot see or hear. They have to rely on “smell” and “touch” to find their mother.
Ruska is a great mom. For the first few days of the puppies lives she spent all her time in the whelping box with the them, keeping them warm, clean and making sure they nursed often. For the last few days she has been spending some time away from them but still runs upstairs regularly to check on them. The puppies have become experts at nursing; they can smell when Ruska returns to the whelping box. They wake and make a mad dash to find her and begin their next meal.
LOOKING AHEAD TO WEEK TWO
- Much the same as week one – Eat, Sleep, Repeat!
- Puppies will continue growing and should double their birth weight at around 10 days
- Puppies still crawl; hind legs will become stronger
- Eyes should begin to open towards the end the 2nd week – so exciting !!!
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Day 6
(Some content may be missing – to view full post go to the website)
During the first few days of the puppies lives, Ruska would only leave them for bathroom breaks. She would run the perimeter of our yard and then, right back to her puppies.. Ruska like most mothers is very protective of her babies. Our other dogs would wait outside our bedroom to see the puppies, Ruska would give them a quick peak and then made sure they knew who was in charge!
Over the last couple days we have fallen into a routine. The puppies are now getting the regular milk and are satisfied for a longer time in-between feedings. Ruska has an around the clock job feeding and cleaning. Newborn puppies spend the first two weeks of life eating, getting cleaned by their mama, and sleeping.
When it comes to matters of the potty, puppies need their mothers help at first. For the first few weeks newborn puppies do not instinctively know how to nor do they possess the ability to eliminate themselves without their mother cleaning them.
Watch closely and you can see the puppies “twitch”.
Twitching in puppies has a very important function and is a sign of healthy development. It is believed that twitching actually helps the puppy develop strong muscles.
Sleeping Puppies
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Day 4
We have been busy caring for both Ruska and her new puppies. Ruska is an amazing mama. She is loving and protective and constantly caring for her babies. Because she has 11 puppies, she can not feed everyone at the same time; they have to feed in shifts. We give extra attention making sure all the puppies get their share of milk. I continue to be pleased at our morning weigh in ………. everyone is gaining nicely!
It was an exciting day today. My daughter-in-law is an amazing photographer and came with her family today to do our singles. It was not an easy feat. Co-operation was not on the puppies agenda but, our photographer has an abundance of patience and she did an superb job! Thank you Eryn!
The Boys
The Girls
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Birth-day Pictures
Now that things have calmed down and we are in a routine, I wanted to share a few pictures from our July 29th Whelp. It was a long week trying to be patient waiting for our puppies to arrive. After a week of disrupted sleep, waking up each night and checking on Ruska, I was not well rested when the main event began. On the afternoon of the 28th, we were certain Ruska was finally in labor, She spent a restless evening between our sofa and floor. Ruska started to deliver puppies early morning just after 2 am and continued for 12 hours until 2 pm when she delivered her 11th puppy. My daughter was a great help to me durning the whelping process and my husband Tom kept the coffee coming and preparing food for us. Ruska, the star of the Whelp, did an amazing job! Each time I see a puppy born I’m reminded of creation, the miracle of birth and am again amazed at the natural instincts animals have been given!.
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Day 1
We have been busy with little sleep making sure our tiny new arrivals are getting their share of milk. Puppies can loose up to 10% of their birth weight the first day. I was pleased this morning at weigh in. Most of our puppies only lost 2-3% of their birth weight and we even had two puppies gain. Yeah, good job Ruska!
Puppies nursing; watch green boy crawl to his mama for breakfast
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The Puppies Have Arrived
L.A. Doodles is proud to announce the arrival of Tulo and Ruska’s litter of F2B Goldendoodles
Born July 29, 2020
They welcomed 11 puppies – 5 boys and 6 girls
We are all very tired after over 12 hours of whelping that started with the first puppy arriving at 2 am. It is going to be a full time job making sure everyone is being fed. Ruska did an amazing job!
Check back soon for more photos
