There have been a few changes in the puppies in the last few days. They now respond quite enthusiastically when Tally steps into the whelping box. As soon as they smell her (they can't see or hear yet), they start making noises and become very active, moving around trying to find her. They are starting to sound like a rowdy group of chimpanzees.
Their ears have started to hang down more now, just like proper little flat-coat ears! We don't see the sticky-up-Vulcan-ears as much now. Today was the first day that we noticed that they seem to be licking. A few lick us when we pick them up and a few times they have licked eachother and Tally.
There was a momentous occasion when a puppy climbed up onto the rail inside the box for the first time. He did this by climbing on to Tally first. Of course he then promptly fell off. They really are not at all coordinated yet!
We had to cut nails again already today. All the food we are feeding Tally seems to be going directly into growing puppy toenails....
We tried taking photos of each puppy individually today. No, we couldn't get them to stand in nice show poses. Mostly they look like black and brown blobs, but here they are...
BIG achievement today. Number 7 puppy (the smallest puppy, a liver male), managed to get out of the whelping box! The door was open so that Tally could get in and out as she pleased and she was lying just outside the box. The puppies could smell that she was nearby and they were quite excited. #7 puppy was particularly enthusiastic and managed to climb up on to the railing and then slide down the open door. He quickly found Tally and started to nurse. Just goes to show what a good motivation hunger is! Actually, we have been making an effort to get the smaller puppies to nurse when Tally first comes into the whelping box. With 8 nipples and 10 puppies, there is lots of competition and we like to give the smaller puppies an advantage.
Like true flat-coats, the puppies are really getting into licking. They lick us, Tally and eachother. The other difference we noticed today is that they have all started to yawn! We saw a few of them do it yesterday (such as #3 puppy in the photo above), but today they are all trying out this new skill!
Tally has been reluctant to nurse in the whelping box, we think because it is so warm in there. Today she lay down outside the box, with the door open and several puppies clambered out of the box to get to her and nurse. We have now turned off the heating pad, which is under the box, and subsequentlyTally has been spending more time in the box with her puppies again.
This evening when we weighed them, we noticed that #1 puppy (a liver male) is starting to open his eyes. How exciting! They are open just a tiny bit, at the inside corner.
Today they broke a weight gain record - a combined daily weight gain of 42 oz (2.6lbs). Wow.
The puppies have just started to show some response to us, as well as Tally. If we put our hands in the box, they often move towards it and snuggle up.
Most of the puppies have now partially opened their eyes. #1 puppy's eyes are almost completely open now. We are still waiting for #3 and #7 to open their eyes. It is pretty normal for different puppies to open their eyes at different times. It sure is funny to look at a puppy and see eyes now! Their eyes take several days to adjust after opening and they probably can't see very much right now other than shades of light and dark. We are being careful about using the camera flash around them for a few days, hence the drop-off in photos.
Tally continues to snub the whelping box from time to time and we have finally given in and let her feed her puppies on the floor just outside the box. On the floor Tally is very happy to spend several hours feeding and cleaning her brood.
The puppy noises are starting to more and more like little barks and less like chimpanzees and seagulls. Their eyes are continuing to open and they respond to us so much more. While sitting on the floor as Tally nursed the pups, one of the liver males crawled up to me, wagged his tail and then climbed up into my lap and went to sleep. I didn't expect them to be so interactive with us at this early age. As we were weighing them, several of them took the opportunity to nuzzle Andy's beard and suck on his ear. The black female peed all over him, tee hee.
A couple of the pups are making a concerted effort to walk. The smaller black male managed to lift his entire body off of the ground with all four legs and take a few wobbly steps. He's not so small anymore. Infact he nows weighs the same as his once-bigger brother.
All of the puppy's eyes are now open, but there's not a lot of evidence that they can see very much yet.
Thurs May 6th
It's Day 12 and the puppies are most definately walking! It's rather uncoordinated walking, but they are lifting their bodies off the ground with all four legs and moving forward. Today I noticed one heading off in a very determined manner, away from Tally. He headed right through the doorway and made it about a foot into the next room where he then peed all over the floor and then headed back to Tally. Subsequently I have seen several of the puppies wobble away from Tally in order to have a pee or poop. Up until now they only pee or poop when stimulated by Tally's licking and she did all the cleaning up. Apparently they no longer need that stimulation, so now the messy part begins! They certainly seem to have the instinct to move away from the "nest" to do their business and we will do what we can to encourage this and build the foundations for early housetraining. We will start to leave some newspapers exposed in the whelping box and encourage them to use those.
Friday May 7th
Not much new to report today. We took poop samples in to the vet to have them checked for worms. Nothing yet, but we will check them again in a week or so. Roundworms tend to be a fact of life for puppies, but we don't want do deworm them unless we know it's necessary. Staying with the poop theme.... three of the puppies are making very definate efforts to poop and pee on the newspapers. Numbers 1,2 & 5 all walk several feet away from the rest and use the newspapers. Wow, housetrained already!
NEWSFLASH!!! As I was typing this, I watched two of the liver puppies interacting with eachother. They were mouthing eachother's muzzles, in the same way our adult dogs do. Apart from using eachother as pillows and for warmth, this is the first time we've seen any social interactions between them. I also noticed one of them licking Tally's mouth today and chewing on her lips. They certainly seem to be becoming much more aware of what's around them.
