Category: Echo & Riggs Litter

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Four Weeks Has Passed So Quickly! 🐾

Four weeks has passed so quickly! It always amazes me how quickly the puppies go from the helpless newborns that crawl, can’t see or hear to the active four-week-old puppies they are today. Echo’s puppies have grown so much and are experiencing and learning each day. It has been another busy week for sure!

Potty Training Started

The puppies are now able to void without the help of their mother, so it is important to begin potty training. Because puppies have a natural instinct to move away from their sleeping area when they need to go, I want the puppies to begin learning “where to go” before they start on solids.

 It is important that puppies start learning that they cannot “go” just anywhere. So, we teach them “there is an acceptable place to go potty”. Teaching them this at a young age will prevent them from developing bad habits that later need to be broken. This effort on our part will benefit forever families by making housebreaking easier for them when they go to their forever homes.

New Whelping Box

Recently we purchased a New Whelping box from PetTech Solutions . This was another big investment but well worth the money. The Whelping box is made in Canada with extremely durable and safe HDPE 2 food-grade plastic. HDPE 2 is a durable, non-toxic material that is commonly used for food preparation items, such as cutting boards and food storage containers.

What I loved about this whelping box was the ability to enlarge it with an extension box.

On Thursday we set up the extension box. Then we added the potty boxes with pine pellets to the extension which now becomes the puppies potty training area.

Next it was time to remove the door that separates the two areas. Soon after, Echo’s puppies were curious and one by one checked things out.

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The puppies are doing well with their potty training. When they are kept in a small area (their whelping box) their success rate is higher because they don’t want to soil the area they play and sleep. This will be the same when they go to their forever homes. Too much room to roam equals more accidents.

Moving to the Main Floor

Saturday was a big day for our puppies because they left their warm quiet room where they have been since birth and moved to the main floor.

When we moved the puppies, we put the puppies into a Laundry Basket and made three trips to the main floor where their whelping box was set up waiting.

This move was a less stressful for Echo’s litter than my other litters. This is because the puppies had already been using the potty box extension for a few days. But unfortunately not for Echo as she was the one that was a little stressed. Soon Echo’s puppies settled into their new area and started experiencing living in a home with all the noises that go on in a busy household.

Puppies Start Solids

The puppies started solids on Monday. We usually start our litters on solids. when they are four weeks old but, with such a large litter it can take its toll on Echo. I gave her a hand by supplementing formula the last of couple days, Saturday and Sunday. The puppies did a great job and lapped it up eagerly.

On Monday I added ground kibble to their puppy formula. They ate it up but not before putting their paws in it. When they were done, we had very dirty puppies with full tummy’s.

Oops….not Willow

Oops, Credit goes to Echo, not Willow as I mistakenly said in the video. Sorry Echo, you have done an amazing job and deserve all the credit!!! I was tired and I had Willow on my mind after whelping her litter – 😂

Exploring Outside the Whelping Box

The puppies experience new things daily which helps build their confidence. I always find it interesting to watch how the puppies approach new things. When you observe you see some puppies are more outgoing and dive in while others stay back and need extra encouragement.

When it was time for the puppies to go to the play area I removed the door and let the puppies come out on their own. Notice in the video two of the puppies took longer to come out and explore. Without a doubt, Dark Blue Boy and Dark Green Boy were less adventurous. It took them awhile before they joined their littermates outside the whelping box.

The puppies had a great first adventure and Echo loved interacting with her babies! When play time was over, we had some tire puppies so, back to the whelping box for a nap.

Nothing puts a smile on your face easier than a lap full of puppies 😃
Puppies first adventure outside the whelping box.

Puppy Monitor

Now that the puppies have left the upstairs where we have cameras on the Whelping Box, we have a monitor set up to keep an eye on the puppies when we go outside.

We enjoy our morning coffee on the front porch with our puppy monitor

Looking Ahead to Week Five

  • Puppies will continue learning to use potty area
  • Awake time will increase
  • The puppies will continue to socialize with each other through play 
  • Toys will be added to our whelping box for puppies to explore
  • Enlarging the puppy area, giving puppies room to play and explore
  • Mama will now add the invaluable teaching phase to her caring & protecting responsibilities over the next weeks.
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Look How Much Our One Week Old Puppies Have Grown

One week old already….It is hard to believe the seven days have passed since Echo’s babies arrived. We have had a busy week because raising newborn puppies is a 24/7 job. As you can see from the comparison pic below, our one week old puppies have grown so much!

See how we have grown
Picture on the left – Friday – Day 2
Picture of the right – Wednesday – Day 7

Caring for Echo

As with her last litter, Echo suffered loose stools for a couple of days. Although this is a common occurrence after whelping, we need to treat her symptoms before it affects the puppies. So, we gave Echo a diet of boiled chicken, rice, pumpkin, and added a probiotic supplement. By doing so, she recovered quickly and is now doing well on her regular diet.

Vitamins

Looking after the mama both prenatal and postnatal is an important part of producing healthy puppies. During labor we give our mamas Oral Cal Plus which is a Calcium Supplement between each puppy’s birth. This supplement helps support productive labor with 3 calcium sources.

We also give our Postnatal mamas a daily vitamin Oxy Momma to support lactation and recovery.

Mother’s Pudding

Another thing we give our mama’s to help them recover is Mother’s Pudding. The recipe comes from the Puppy Culture program. We follow many Puppy Culture protocols while raising our puppies.

Mother’s pudding helps Echo produce lots of milk because t is high in calcium and calories. It is also something every mama loves to eat!

Ingredients: goats milk, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla pudding.

Neonatal Period

ENS

The puppies are in the Neonatal Period. This period is from day 0 to approximately day 14. During this period, the puppies spend their time eating and sleeping. On Saturday, day 3, we began ENS (Early Neurological Stimulation). These exercises will be continued daily until day 16.

The ENS exercise causes tiny struggles and stresses in small doses which are a benefit to the puppies. For example some of the benefits include greater tolerance to stress, greater resistance to disease, faster adrenal system, stronger heart rate and stronger heartbeats. This is a gift that a breeder can only give their puppies during the 3 to 16-day window.

After we finished our ENS, Echo was happy to have all her babies safely back in the whelping box with her.

Feeding

Before puppies are born, they receive immunity and everything they need to grow from the placenta. But, after birth, newborn puppies do not possess immunity.

A mother’s first milk called colostrum. This first milk contains a nutritious protein-rich, balanced protective food. Colostrum provides passive immunity. This immunity can last several weeks and protect the puppies from various infections and diseases. For this reason it is vital for the puppies to nurse soon after birth and over the next twelve hours. This will help the puppies build up their passive immunity. 

Passive immunity is the short-term immunity which results from the introduction of antibodies from the puppy’s mother. Active immunity on the other hand is an immunity built by producing antibodies from the immune system that responses to the presence of an antigen.

For the first two weeks of their life newborn puppies spend their time eating and sleeping. Did you know, newborn puppies sleep for 90% of their day/night?

Puppies are born with their eyes and ears sealed shut so, they cannot see or hear. Therefore they have to rely on “smell” and “touch” to find their mother. Puppies are born with a natural instinct to nurse but as the days pass, they have become more proficient at it.

Echo is an amazing, attentive mama. She has a large litter of ten and spends most of the day and night in the whelping box feeding, cleaning and caring for her babies.

With a large litter, we have to keep a close eye on the puppies making sure everyone gets their fair share of milk. So, to keep tract of each puppy’s progress, we weigh our puppies daily and keep a record. This charting showed that most of Echo’s puppies are gaining weight as expected.

Unfortunately though, it was apparent that Red collar girl has been slow at gaining weight. Lagging behind the normal progress is cause for concern.

So on Monday I had to intervene. I spent the day making sure when she was nursing, she wasn’t being pushed off by the larger puppies.

The Waiting Basket

Echo can only feed eight puppies at once so, during feeding, I now put two of the larger puppies in a basket to wait their turn. The basked is placed just outside the whelping box where Echo can keep watch.

Supplementing With Puppy Formula

On Monday, Red Girl was weighed throughout the day with encouraging results. They showed that she was making some progress. But, it was short lived because when I weighed her when we woke Tuesday morning she had lost weight overnight. Because of this set back, I decided I needed to intervene again.

The next step would be supplementing her with puppy formula in addition to her nursing from Echo.

The two puppies in this picture shows Green boy who is our largest puppy compared to Red girl who is our smallest puppy.

With the supplementing it has helped her gain weight. But, we still need to continue monitoring her closely, weighing her throughout the day, and supplement her nursing with formula.

Hopefully she will continue to gain weight and soon catch up to where she should be.

Puppy Pics

Now that is one relaxed puppy! Watch Black collar girl sleeping – her head is rested on Echo and she’s sleeping on her back, (a favourite doodle sleep position) 😂

LOOKING AHEAD TO WEEK TWO

  • Much the same as week one – Eat, Sleep, Repeat!
  • Puppies will continue growing rapidly 
  • Puppies still crawl; hind legs will become stronger
  • Contunie ENS
  • Eyes should begin to open towards the end of the week – so exciting !!!
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Happy Saturday

Today Echo’s puppies are 12 days old and growing quickly. Echo continues to be an amazing mama and loves to care for her babies.

L.A. Doodles goal is To Raise Healthy, Calm, Confident, Well-Adjusted Puppies. One thing we do to work towards achieving this goal is ENS (Early Neurological Stimulation)

ENS Demonstration

This past week we have continued our daily ENS exercises. ENS (Early Neurological Stimulation) begins on day 3 and continues daily through day 16. Research shows that tiny struggles and stresses in small doses are good for puppies and will help them grow into strong, healthy, well-adjusted adults. Benefits include greater tolerance to stress, greater resistance to disease, faster adrenal system, stronger heart rate and stronger heartbeats. This is a gift that a breeder can only give their puppies during the 3 – 16 day window.

In this video I demonstrate the ENS exercises we do daily with each puppy.