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Ellie’s Precious Puppies are One Week Old Today

LOOKING BACK 

Ellie’s precious puppies are one week old today. When raising puppies, our days are always busy, and each week has its own challenges. Whelping week (the first week) we care for our mama and her babies, keeping an eye to make sure all are doing well.

Puppy Care – It is also important to watch each puppy’s development and compare to littermates to confirm that the puppies are developing normally and meeting milestones. Some of our daily chores include:

  • Cleaning – Whelping box is regularly cleaned and disinfected.
  • Vet bedding is replaced with clean one.
  • Each puppy is weighed daily ,and a record is kept tracking their progress.
  • Puppy are handled and cuddled often throughout the day.
  • ENS is started on Day 3.
  • Always lots of laundry to be done

Mama Care – It is important our mama receives exceptional care both physically and emotionally Pre-Whelp as well as Post Whelp.

  • We feed our mama’s get high quality food, plenty of fresh water and, Special Postnatal Vitamins all of which help them recover quickly from the whelp.
  • To give Ellie the emotional support she needs, I spend most of my time keeping Ellie company in her whelping room. When she nurses, I often join her in her whelping box giving her pats and massages.
  • At night I sleep in the whelping room so that I can check on things during the night. 
  • Puppies just like human babies can sense their mothers’ emotions which will affect the newborns. A healthy, calm, lovingly well-cared-for mama in turn gets passed on to her puppies. This helps us obtain our goal – To Raise Healthy, Calm, Confident, Well-Adjusted Puppies!

❤️

Wonderful Mama

Ellie is truly a wonderful mama. She is devoted to her babies. Newborn puppies cannot regulate their own body temperature. They need a warm space, their mother, and littermates to help keep them warm. The first few days of the puppies’ lives, Ellie spent all her time in the whelping box with her babies, keeping them warm, clean, and making sure they nursed often.

The past few days Ellie has been spending more time away from her puppies in the yard for a little exercise and playing her favourite game fetch. This break from her puppies only lasts a short time. After a little exercise and playtime, Ellie wanted right back into the house, running upstairs to check on her babies. As the days pass, time away from her puppies will gradually increase.

Just outside the whelping box we place an elevated bed for Ellie to rest on. This allows Ellie her own space away from their puppies, but she can still keep a watchful eye on her babies.

Puppy Development

Puppies are born with their eyes and ears sealed shut; they cannot see or hear. They must rely on “smell” and “touch” to find their mother. Newborn puppies are not able to void without help from their mother. For the first two weeks of life, puppies are stimulated by their mother licking them which stimulates urination and defecation. This “cleaning” by the mother not only helps the puppies void, but it is also beneficial to the puppy in other ways such as promotes bonding, grooming and accelerates the development of the nervous system. 


 Ellie “cleans” her puppies before they nurse.
Puppies are born with an instinct to nurse but as the days pass, they have become more proficient at it. The puppies are now experts at nursing. They can smell when Ellie returns to the whelping box, wake, and crawl to find her and begin their next meal.
Listen to those cute puppy whines of contentment as Ellie’s babies feed!

Compare the difference one week makes!

With only six puppies in the litter Ellie’s puppies have lots of milk available from their mama. So, it is no surprise that they are all doing well at our daily weigh in. They will soon reach the milestone of doubling their birthweight.

Above Pic – compare newborn puppies pic to one week later. Those cute little pink noes are turning colour as pigment develops, fur is growing, and of course as you can see comparing to the space difference in pig rail above, the puppies have grown!

 Neonatal Period 

The puppies are in the Neonatal Period which is from day 0 to day 14. During this period, puppies spend their time eating and sleeping. On Friday, day 3, we began ENS exercises (Early Neurological Stimulation) which will continue through until day 16. We preform ENS daily during our weigh-in time. Research shows these tiny struggles and stresses in small doses are good for puppies. Research shows that benefits from ENS include greater tolerance to stress, greater resistance to disease, faster adrenal system, stronger heart rate and stronger heartbeat. This is a gift that a breeder can only give their puppies during the 3 to 16-day window.

Puppies continue to receive lots of handling to become accustomed to the human touch. Part of the “Puppy Culture Protocols” that we follow when raising our puppies is socialization. I am blessed with a large family that love to hold our puppies. My grandson was excited to see our newest litter.

Many Sleep Positions

Whether the puppies sleep cuddled with their mama, littermates or sleep on their own, they have many adorable sleep positions. See our adorable sleeping puppies in the pics below!

LOOKING AHEAD TO WEEK TWO

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