The puppies can hear! Piper barked at something upstairs and Tally added a little bark while she was in the puppy room. All the puppies lifted up their heads and looked around! We have seen them respond to noises a few other times since. Now they will be able to hear us when we tell them to sit still while weighing them!
We tried taking portraits using only natural light. It didn't work very well, especially with the wriggly ones and the photos required a lot of adjustment in photoshop. I think we can go back to using the flash next week.
The pups are getting steadier on their feet and their walking skills are improving. They can also sit now. We are seeing quite a bit of interaction between the puppies, which is so much fun to watch.
First growls!! Andy watched the puppies playing with eachother this morning and they were making little play-growls while they did it.
They really seem to be getting the idea of peeing on the newspaper and not on the mats and towels. Sometimes they just make it so that only their front feet are on the newspaper, but their back legs are still on the towel and they end up peeing on the towel, but they still get high marks for effort!
Yesterday we added an ex-pen to their whelping box. The pen has a low wooden board in one place where Tally can get in and out, but the puppies can't (yet). The pups can easily get in and out of the whelping box and Tally can feed them on the floor in the pen area. She is much happier with this arrangement.
This morning she brought them a monkey toy and put it in the pen with the puppies. They thought this was pretty exciting and spent quite a while investigating it. The funny thing is that this is the oldest toy we own. For some reason it has survived in our household for over six years and all of our dogs! We have photos of this toy with Huxley when he was a puppy. None of our other soft toys have ever lived anyting like this long. So here is the monkey enjoying yet another generation of puppies! Will it survive a whole litter though?!
Not surprisingly Tally spends much of her time sleeping or tending to her puppies. She must be quite exhausted. She did manage a pretty decent walk yesterday, complete with a sneaky dip in the river when we weren't paying attention. Tally is now eating four times her normal food ration!
Today the puppies added sneezing and scratching to their repetoire! We saw a couple of puppies trying to scratch their bellies with their hind legs. We have also seen the occasional scratch reflex when petting the puppies. One puppy sneezed and looked very surprised afterwards!
The funniest development today is the sudden interest in eachothers' tails. They have discovered that waggy tails are great fun to play with and catch with their mouths! At one point there were four puppies nursing and the other puppies were chewing on the nursing puppies' tails. We also witnessed the first retrieve (of sorts). They have a santa toy with a white bobble on the end of his hat. One of the black puppies picked up the bobble in his mouth and tried to carry it away!
Their daily activities have now expanded from sleeping and eating to include playtime. They often play with eachother and us before and after feeding.
Tuesday May 11th
The newest development is howling! Several of the puppies howled today. The first time I heard it, both Tally and I rushed iinto the puppy room to see what was going on. There was a liver puppy sitting in the middle of the pen, head up in the air, having a good howl. He looked very pleased with himself afterwards. Later we got to see some of the other puppies doing it as well.
Weds May 12th
Andy took some more photos today. We are back to being able to use the flash - yay! We are not flashing them directly though, but bouncing the flash off the walls or ceiling.
Thursday May 13th
When we were weighing the puppies today, we noticed that some of them are starting to teeth. We can just see some of the lower canines starting to poke through. Tally probably won't appreciate this development very much!
The puppies are becoming much more aware of the environment around them. We have put several soft toys in their pen and they rush over to investigate the new ones, lick and suck on them and then fall asleep draped over them. Every now and again Tally brings them an old toy and steals the new ones out of the pen! Tally is spending less and less time with her litter, but they must be getting plenty of nourishment, as they all continue to gain weight quite rapidly. Now that they are stronger, they get more milk in a much shorter time.