Ellie’s Puppies
March 23, 2021 – DAY 7 – 1 WEEK OLD
LOOKING BACK
Wow, our precious puppies are one week old today. We have had a busy week! 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. We have been blessed with warm sunny days so it helps keep our bedroom where the whelping box full of puppies are, nice and warm.
Ellie is truly a wonderful mama. 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. She had a good appetite and drank plenty of water from the start which helps make lots of milk for her little ones. She has been spending some time away from her puppies in the yard for a little exercise but Ellie still likes to stay by my side. She soon wants back into the house, runs upstairs to check on her babies.
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. Puppies are born with a natural 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. They wake and make a mad dash to find her and begin their next meal. I sometimes have to remove three puppies and put them in the waiting box until it is their turn to nurse
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 !!!
Ruska’s Puppies
Ruska continues to teach her puppies to listen. This morning after I had cleaned the puppy area she wanted in. Ruska let the puppies start to nurse and with a quick bark, the puppies had to stop and listen. In this little video, look how well the puppies are behaving. Good puppies! (excuse the mess on the window sills. I hadn’t put the toys back on the floor lol)
Ruska’s puppies had a new addition to their puppy area. We introduced the crate. Our little black collar boy went right in and had a sleep. LOL We won’t close the door, I just want them to feel conformable going in and out, playing and sleeping – what ever they choose.
I like to introduce something new to the puppies every couple of days. Today it was a empty water bottle with a odd sock over it and tied at the end. They had a great time playing with it! Look at them playing with it in the video below (it’s a blue sock)
