Wonderful Mama Piper

AMAZING MAMA

Piper continues to be a wonderful, attentive mama. She now enjoys extended time away from her puppies to play outside with a couple of our dogs. Piper loves to come back in to cuddle with me on the sofa.

It is incredible how mama dogs gradually begin letting go of their puppies. When they are eight weeks old, she knows her puppies are ready for their lives and happily says goodbye. But for now, she has lots of caring and teaching ahead of her.

After an extended break, Piper returns to the whelping room to check on her puppies.

Daily Cleaning

As we stated before, newborn puppies are susceptible to disease. For this reason, we must keep their area clean. We put the puppies in the basket when we clean and disinfect their whelping box.

Vet Bedding

In addition to the daily cleaning, we will replace the Vet Bedding when needed, sometimes twice daily. As you can imagine, this makes for a lot of laundry.

What is Vet Bedding? At first glance, you may think it is sheepskin. It is a manmade version of a sheepskin. It’s made from artificial fibres and has two sections: first, an underlying mesh, similar to the “skin” part of a sheepskin, and second, the comfy, soft, springy artificial fleece part that is attached to the mesh.

Vet Bedding is a costly investment, but when we began our breeding program without reservation, we knew we needed to provide our puppies with the best. Undeniably, vet bedding provides excellent traction for our puppies and keeps them warm and dry. Proper traction while nursing, moving around the whelping box, and learning to walk is important, as this traction protects the puppies’ growing joints.

Notice the puppies’ feet while they nurse. The vet bedding provides traction. Without this traction, they would slip, which would cause undue stress on their developing joints.

Puppy Twitch

While watching the video below, notice the small movements made while the puppies sleep. _{^{(Note that the video plays at two times the speed)}} These movements are called “Puppy Twitches” and are signs of a healthy puppy.

Why do puppies twitch?

A quote from the Puppy Culture Program we follow while raising our puppies explains Puppy Twitches.

“This twitching actually has a functional purpose – “activated sleep” helps build muscle and form the connections that will allow the puppies to develop motor coordination. This is why twitching is a key indicator that the puppy is healthy and developing normally.”
Puppy Culture

Milestones

When raising puppies, we watch for Milestones to gauge their progress. This week, Piper’s puppies reached two milestones.

Weigh-In

The puppies’ first milestone this week was doubling their birth weight. We unquestionably pay close attention to this milestone because when a puppy isn’t gaining enough weight, it indicates a problem.

Grey Collar Boy was this litter’s first puppy to double his birth weight on Day 10. Over the next four days, the rest of the litter also doubled their birth weight. Good job, Piper.

Eyes Opened

Another milestone was reached later in the week—eye-opening. The puppies’ eyes opened between Day 10 and Day 14. Our Black Collar Boy was the first puppy to open his eyes on Day 10. Soon after, and day by day, the rest of the puppies’ eyes opened too! So exciting!

Notice the progression of Black Collar Boys’ eyes opening over a five-day period. The eyes start to unseal at the inner corner and continue over several days.

Socialization

In addition to handling the puppies on my part through daily cuddles and ESN exercises, our grandchildren also provide this interaction with the puppies. They love to hold and cuddle the puppies. At first, it was just the watching stage until we felt Piper was comfortable with everyone. Then, they got to hold the puppies.

Transitional Period

The first 12 weeks of a puppy’s life are incredibly important. This is an almost magical time when a breeder has the power to change the outcome of a puppy’s life by what we choose to teach them. By doing the right things at the right time, we can give your puppy the best start possible.

Piper’s puppies are now two weeks old and have entered the Transitional Period from day 14 – 21. Each litter is different and enters the next period, The Critical Socialization Period, when the puppies “first startle” at a sound.