The big news today is we have teeth! They didn't have teeth this morning but this afternoon, they do. Right now, they are just little points sticking through the gum on the bottom towards the back of their mouths. Most of them have one on each side, I suspect the others will have them in the morning. And then we'll get uppers and canines and incisors.
With the arrival of teeth, I'm preparing myself to start sharing the load of feeding them with Mila. She hasn't regurgitated for them yet and SDB is still in quarantine at Colleen's so she can't tell me either. I've never had to make this decision on my own, hopefully Mila will make it for me soon, too. I'll have to try to go back and read the old blog posts to see when it happened in the other litters.
I re-arranged the room and their area again last night (I can't remember if I talked about that or not). I needed to move the taller gate to a location accesible to Mila since they were figuring out the lower gate. So now we have two options for entry. I'm leaving the hight one open and I think Mila is enjoying jumping it. If the puppies are in the way, we can open the other one for her. And when they are sleeping, neither gate goes directly into the sleeping area so she has plenty of room (she has good proprioception - important in performance venues AND motherhood - but I like to make it as convenient as possible). I LOVE that we put casters on the furniture out here - it makes it so much easier to move around to accommodate the puppies.
We've started the potty training more in earnest tonight. Since I didn't have the mess of worming medicine tonight (preventative since pregnancy/whelping puts enough stress on the dam's system to let any parasites that her body managed to keep contained from developing before to perhaps make it past her defenses and therefore get passed on to puppies), I did the linen change and pen dividing before she went to bed tonight. Because she was here to keep the puppies from escaping while I worked on their area, we could do them singly and I could encourage them to use the potty spot before they went to sleep. All but one of them did but another one did a second pee out of the designated area. Not a bad start. Tomorrow, we'll have to wait until they've woken and pottied before we move the divider. We'll also need to move them into the smaller area when they are asleep so they can get to the potty spot easier when they wake up again. On top of that, we'll monitor them closely when they play to try to help them get to the right spot. We'll still have times they miss but they'll catch on. I'm back to spending a big chunk of my day cooing 'gooooood potteee' over and over again.
They enjoyed all of their toys but they are collpasing the box. We may have to sacrifice one of the side flaps at times so we can put it next to the pen for stability. I've been soaking the new items for the 'adventure box' in vinegar this evening since LeAnne brought them this afternoon. They are brand new but I don't trust anything (have you read the visitor protocol on the sidebar?) when it comes to puppies.
LeAnne and Cindi helped Great Aunt B have a little swim in the pond as PT, then they cleaned up (and I bathed B) and they visited puppies. Cindi and I did the 2 person version of nail trims. I've been doing them and Tamara has been doing them so we didn't get much off but it's more about the process. They were all awake but we didn't have any issues. We did only do their front paws - we are leaving the back a little longer so they can get better traction as they move around. We won't let them get long and when they are really steady on their feet, we'll keep them shorter again. I think we may also be ready for me to occasionally use the file. They aren't big enough to dremel but I'm starting to think we'll have to wet their feet to get the hair out of the way enough to get to the nails soon.
Hmm, what else happened today? Six puppies were absolutely as cute as they could be and then they managed to become even cuter. They were very sweet and a little bit rotten and they ate, and played (with each other, toys, us and their mama's ears and flag). They took several big naps and I snuck quite a few cuddles. I don't have to sneak puppy breath because they are quite cooperative with sharing it. They've also all grown. I think they gained a cumulative pound. I think this may be our last weight watchers meeting on the kitchen scale. They don't fit in a container that we can balance on it so I'll have to bring the bathroom scale down.
They are so very, very cute when they do their great big yawns. It reminds me of a lion roaring - they really open their mouths WIDE. It's just one more thing that makes me anxious to put them into little lion butts ;-)
I think that is all for now. Even if it is not, I have a load of laundry to move to the dryer in case I need it tomorrow, a mama dog (and Uncle Jack) to feed, and puppies to cuddle before I try to get a little sleep beside the puppy pen. They are quite addictive little monsters. I almost can't wait until they get those little needle teeth (but appreciate that they don't have them yet when they are chewing on my toes, fingers, face, etc.). Puppy breath to all! Nighty, Nighty, Nighty (and yes, I've started singing the 3 songs when I lie down beside them. It is never too early for puppy brainwashing!
No comments:
Post a Comment