Luna’s Adorable Puppies’ First Week

Luna’s precious puppies are one week old today. When caring for puppies, our days are always busy, and each week brings its own challenges. During the first week, we focus on looking after our mama and her babies, making sure everyone is doing well.

Whelping Day

When we woke on Thursday morning, it was clear Luna’s labour had begun. Sometimes labour takes a long time, but Luna progressed quickly. She delivered her first puppy at 3:10 in the afternoon, with the last puppy delivered at 7:00 pm I was thankful that our delivery was in the afternoon and not in the middle of the night like most whelps.

Luna and Brinkley had eight adorable puppies; seven girls and one boy.

Puppy Care

It is 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 cleaned and disinfected regularly.
Vet bedding is replaced with a clean one.
Each puppy is weighed daily, and a record is kept to track their progress.
Puppies are handled and cuddled often throughout the day.
ENS begins on Day 3.
Always plenty of laundry to do.

Mama Care

It is important that our mama receives exceptional care both physically and emotionally, before whelping as well as after whelping.

We feed our mama’s high-quality food, plenty of fresh water, and special postnatal vitamins, all of which help them recover quickly after the whelp.
Luna gets the emotional support she needs, and I spend most of my time keeping Luna 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 I can check on things during the night.
Puppies, like human babies, can sense their mothers’ emotions, which influences the newborns. A healthy, calm, and loving mother who is well cared for is in turn passed on to her puppies. This helps us achieve our goal – to raise healthy, calm, confident, and well-adjusted puppies!

Dedicated Mama

Luna is a dedicated mama who has been taking wonderful care of her puppies. Newborn puppies cannot regulate their own body temperature. They need a warm space, their mother, and littermates to help keep them warm. During the first few days of the puppies’ lives, Luna spent all her time in the whelping box with her babies, keeping them warm, clean, and ensuring they nursed often.

In the past few days, she has been spending more time away from her puppies in the yard to get some exercise. This break from her puppies is only short. After a bit of exercise, Luna wants to go back inside, running upstairs to check on her babies. As the days pass, her time away from her puppies will gradually increase.

Day 7 Piper now spends time resting outside the whelping box and checks in 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 encourages urination and defecation. This “cleaning” by the mother not only helps the puppies void but also benefits them in other ways, such as promoting bonding, grooming, and accelerating the development of the nervous system.

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.

ENS Exercises

On day 3, we began ENS (Early Neurological Stimulation) exercises, which will continue until day 16. Research indicates that these small doses of gentle stress and stimulation benefit puppies. The advantages of ENS include increased stress tolerance, better resistance to illness, faster adrenal response, and a stronger, healthier heartbeat. This is a unique opportunity that a breeder can only provide during the 3 to 16-day window. Puppies will also be handled regularly to help them get used to human touch.

One of the stresses the puppies are exposed to is lying for five seconds on a cold pack wrapped in a blanket.

Expert Nursers

The puppies have become expert nursers and are all gaining weight and growing quickly. Good job, Luna!

Sleep, Sleep, Seep

Newborn puppies spend about 90% of their time sleeping… eat, sleep, repeat. Whether they sleep cuddled with their mama, littermates, or alone, they enjoy many adorable sleeping positions.