Looking back at first week

Whelping Day

The excitement builds as Whelping Day approaches. Piper lives with her loving guardian family. She arrived at our home on Tuesday to settle in before her puppies arrived. Each day, her tummy grew larger. And then, right on schedule, she began to deliver her puppies.

Piper was very independent during whelping and didn’t want me to touch her puppies. She took care of cutting the cord and cleaning each pup. Normally, I handle the puppy after birth to dry it with a clean towel, weigh it, and check its gender. Not this time; every time I tried to handle the puppies, Piper was very agitated. I was curious to see the genders and took the opportunity throughout the whelp to peek. All I could tell from a quick glance was that they were girls, except for the sixth puppy – a boy.

When Piper was settled and taken out for a potty break, I did a final check. There was no mistake — Piper and Rocky’s litter of twelve had a gender split of eleven girls and only one boy!

I wondered how rare this is since it’s usually a 50/50 split, maybe with one or two more of either gender. This is what Google said:

That is an incredibly rare and surprising litter gender split! A typical canine litter usually has a nearly even distribution, so a ratio of eleven girls to one boy is quite an unusual occurrence in a litter of twelve.
_^GOOGLE

Whelping day

The Beautiful Girls

The One and Only BOY

Light Blue Boy

Taking care of Mama …so she can care for her babies

It is important to care for our mamas so they can care for their babies. Our mamas receive lots of TLC after their whelp. They are given daily vitamins. We make a special mother’s pudding, which is full of calcium and usually the first thing all our mamas eat. We also feed them boiled chicken breasts for the first few days.

Settling into a Routine

Neonatal Period

Newborn puppies are in the Neonatal Period. During this time, they spend their days eating and sleeping.

Newborn puppies are very vulnerable, so it is important to watch them very closely during the first week. I sleep in the whelping room and spend most of my time watching them, making sure everyone is eating well and sleeping. If a puppy is complaining, it is a cause for concern.

Puppies at this stage need to be kept warm as they cannot regulate their own body temperature. We maintain the room at 80 degrees with a space heater and have a heating pad under half of the whelping box, which the puppies can move to when Piper goes out for a potty break. Piper spends all her time with her puppies during the first few days of their lives, feeding and cuddling with them to keep them warm.

Piper feeds and cuddles with her babies keeping them warm

Daily Weigh-in

Weighing the puppies daily is important. If a puppy isn’t gaining weight, it indicates a problem. We weigh the puppies each day and keep a record. This helps us know if each puppy is doing well. During the first twenty-four hours, puppies will often lose weight. With a large litter, gaining weight can be a challenge. I was so excited with the weigh-in results on day one because every puppy gained from their birth weight. Piper has done a fantastic job feeding her babies and rotating them through, as she can only feed eight puppies at a time. Such a good mama!

ENS exercises

We start ENS (early neurological stimulation) exercises on day three and continue until day 16. Through ENS, we introduce little stresses to the puppies, which has been proven to produce calmer puppies. It also results in greater tolerance to stress, resistance to disease, a faster adrenal system, stronger heart rates and heartbeats.

1. Touch feet
2. Hold upright
3. Hold head down position
4. Lay on back in palm of hands
5. Place on cold gel pack wrapped in blanket
above excerise stresses for three to five seconds each

Socialization

Part of raising well-adjusted puppies is socialization. We handle our puppies from birth. This helps develop a well-adjusted puppy. In the upcoming weeks, the puppies will have lots of socializing with young and old alike.

A LOOK BACK AT WEEK ONE