Seven weeks old!

Welcome Home--We've Missed You!

    Gone for three hours and this is my welcome home--I feel so loved!

Six weeks old...another week has flown by!

A butterfly....or is it reverse spooning....

Whimsey and Rose

A comfy snuggle....

Dibs on the water dish....

You never know when you might wake up thirsty...yup, I'm thirsty.

See my genius at work...didn't even have to get up.
Yup, lean over, get a drink, back to sleep...hardly moved a muscle.

Five weeks old!

Oh my, what darling babies!

WOW!

Just WOW! Can't believe how much these babies have grown.

eat, sleep, play, potty, sleep some more

Say Cheese!

Four weeks old! This is the easiest litter to photograph--I rarely can take puppy pics by myself. I usually need an extra set of hands to position puppies and hold them still, but this group does exactly what I tell them to do--sit, wait, stay, look up....say cheese!

When did you get here?

The puppies have become very aware of us in the last few days--they want us to interact with them!

And--it's kind of funny, but I realized in every video I post, the washer and dryer are going in the background :) The puppies are in our kitchen next to the laundry area--just shows that puppies create constant laundry....

Grand children are great puppy socializers!

We had fun with our visitors here this weekend! The puppies got lots of great socializing and handling. The puppies are really starting to wake up now--they look at our faces, bark at us for attention, lick our faces when we lean down to them. They change so fast--it is truly amazing!

Litter Box Training!

We put the litter box in the puppy area two days ago--and I found Pink girl in the box this morning!! This is the stage when the puppies start to get messy--mama dogs begin to lose interest in cleaning up after the puppies at about this time, so it falls to us to take on that chore. We leave potty in the litter box so the puppies know by smell to potty there. We change the bedding multiple times a day to keep everywhere else smelling fresh. In a week or two, the puppies will be using the litter box 80-90% of the time--it never ceases to amaze me how much this process is driven by inborn instincts. The puppies just know to keep their sleep and play area clean. I know I say it all the time, but.....amazing!

Yet another puppy pile!

Three Weeks Old...and still growing!

Puppies are three weeks old. A couple of them have their first teeth popping through! Their coats are starting to thicken and wave--they will all have gorgeous soft wavy fleece. They are spending more time awake and playing with each, although the majority of their day is still spent sleeping. They have short bursts of playtime energy, and then they crash for a couple hours. By the end of next week we will introduce them to baby rice cereal and goat's milk--Mama Whimsey is not going to be able to keep up with their nutritional demands much longer--she's starting to look tired :)

Boring....

Purple girl couldn't wait for the photo session to end.

So sweet....

Pink girl and Blue boy snuggling for a nap.

Three weeks old and walking!

The pig rail came down today--the puppies were trying to climb on it! They are noticing each other and starting to play. They toddle around like this for five minutes or so and then fall back asleep in a puppy pile.

BUSTED!

Whimsey Caught with Her Paw in the Cookie Jar!

My daughter and grandchildren are here from Virginia visiting for a couple weeks. Last night we made butter rolls for dinner. We sat around visiting after dinner, and when I went back out to the kitchen for something, I noticed that the edges of the leftover rolls had been picked at. My daughter scolded her little children and told them not to touch the rolls. A while later I walked back into the kitchen to find the real culprit. Whimsey ran back to her puppies as if to say, "I have four hungry mouths to feed--can't you even spare a crust of bread?"

Plump pups....

I love the variety of colors in this litter--every puppy has its own unique shade of cream. Pups are all growing exponentially--they each gained 4 ounces yesterday! No wonder Whimsey is raiding the pantry for extra rations!

Two weeks old!

It's hard to believe the puppies are already two weeks old. Everyone's eyes are open--Pink girl's just opened today, Purple girl was first a couple days ago. The puppies are nearly two pounds now--up from 8.6 ounces in just two weeks!

Everyone was exhausted after the photo shoot--
it's hard work being so cute!

One of these things is not like the others.....

Can you tell which puppy was not enthused about having her
one week old picture taken?
Instead of joining the group in a little winter nap,
Purple girl insisted on exploring.

She finally found just the right spot and joined
her litter mates in dreamland.

What a difference a week can make!

 The puppies are growing like weeds! They have all nearly tripled their weight in a week. Their eyelids are starting to become defined--eyes should be open by the end of the week. Amazing!

One week old

Two hours old

Out like a light.

Sleeping is serious business.

 I often find Blue boy like this completely relaxed on his back--

no modesty whatsover!

 

It's a moving puppy pile--I never know what I'm going to find.

It's official--we have butterballs!

Puppies have doubled their weight in just 5 days! Even when she isn't feeding them, Whimsey keeps close watch over her babies.

A pig rail? I thought these were puppies!

In case you are wondering about the big pvc pipe around the perimeter of the whelping box--it's called a "pig rail" and is for the safety of the puppies. (These rails originated on farms to protect piglets, but I think it should be called a "puppy rail!")

As you can see in the photo below, puppies often gravitate to the outer edges of the box and wedge themselves down in a corner. For these first few weeks, mama dog rarely leaves the box--she eats and sleeps right there with her puppies. I even have to coax the mama outside long enough to go potty.  Since the mama is sleeping in the box with her babies all around her, she often leans back against the walls and falls deeply asleep as she recovers from her labor and delivery. The rail stops her from crushing or smothering a baby that has burrowed in along the edge. We'll remove the rails when the puppies are about three weeks old--they'll be strong enough by then to raise a ruckus if they get trapped.

By the way--can you see those round bellies on these babies? When I weighed them this morning, they have all gained FOUR OUNCES! since birth. It's typical for puppies to double their weight in the first week--if these babies keep up this trend, they'll exceed that! Whimsey is feeding them cream--and with only four puppies, there is lots to go around!

Who's Top Dog?

It's all about puppy piles! Puppies are in constant motion as they jockey for position in the pile--elapsed time for all the photos below was less than five minutes. Their favorite pile, though, is snuggled in with their mama. Everyone is doing great--they are gaining about an ounce a day!

Welcome to the world!

Whimsey had four beautiful puppies today. Purple and Pink girls tried to come at the same time, so mama had to have a c-section, but everyone is home now and doing fantastic. Whimsey got right to work cleaning and feeding her babies as soon as we gave them to her when we got home. The amazing thing is they all weighed exactly 8.6 ounces! I've never had that happen before.

Here's the line-up left to right: Purple girl, Green girl, Blue boy, Pink girl.

Chickens and Dogs Can Happily Co-exist!

It's time to clip flight feathers--two of the chickens keep flying over their fence into the yard! Rose and the chickens are very interested in each other, but they share a healthy respect.

Lady in Waiting

Whimsey has been spending a lot of time in the whelping box today. She is digging up the bedding in the corners and nesting. Tonight she laid on my lap dozing for over an hour while I felt her puppies bouncing around in her belly. Her temperature is down to 99--another good sign she is moving closer to delivering her puppies. I never tire of watching this process unfold--it is miraculous and amazing.

Drum roll for the puppy count......

We had Whimsey's puppy count xray done today--four puppies! Puppies are due by this weekend. The exact hour is up to Mother Nature--she usually picks the middle of the night :(

We're ready any time, though--belly is all shaved, whelping box is set up--we're on puppy watch!

All together now.

The puppies are spending their days together--playing inside and out. We separate them into smaller groups for meal time and to sleep at night. They've all figured out the doggy door--I'll take a video in the next few days of them all trying to go through the door at the same time....

Harry came for a visit--he was sooo popular!

 Harry was amazingly patient with the puppies climbing all over him. What a good boy!