Day 25

The puppies have had a few visitors in the last few days, including a visit for most of the afternoon today with a friend of mine.  They were not feeling super active and spent most of the visit sleeping.  At least they had a nice warm lap to relax in.  In another few weeks they will be causing havoc during their puppy visits, but for now they are content to sleep and be petted.

Puppies have teeth now too!  Just in the last few days the teeth have pushed through and the puppies are busy chewing on everything.  The toys, the xpen, the baseboards in the pen.  It is all about exploring with their mouths right now.

They are also playing with their toys more.  The girl has a ball that she absolutely loves.  She is always picking it up and playing with it.  The boy loves the little Christmas tree.  It has lots of little fuzzy tufts that he can attach and wrestle with.  Both puppies have started to do zoomies too. If you have every owned a puppy you know exactly what a zoomy is!  The puppy out of no where takes off running around a room. Jumping on things, going under things, just random running for the joy of running.  The puppies will all of a sudden get up and start running around the pen. Of course they are not very coordinated so they run in to things, fall over, then back up again for another romp around the pen. I will have to watch and try and catch it on video.

Here are some pics and videos from today:

boy all curled up on the dog bed (one of my favourite pics of him so far)

girl asleep

puppies playing with their Christmas tree toy

wrestling puppies

girl and her favourite toy

boy getting sleepy

 

 

Day 23

Puppies moved to the kitchen yesterday.  Within an hour or so the puppies were running around exploring their new home. In and out of the little tunnel, over the balance disc, curling up on the dog bed.  They are also now getting a chance to experience house noises.  Doors opening and closing, the dishwasher running, dogs barking, the blender spinning and all the little daily noises that we no longer notice.  But for a 3 week old puppy it is all new and exciting. 
    Spryte has started to play with the puppies too. She does a little play bow and then nudges them with her nose.  The puppies roll on their back, pawing and biting at her.  They will then get up and try and jump on her head.  Spryte just stands there nudging them and wagging her tail.  It's so fun to watch, you can tell she really loves her babies.

Here are pictures from today:

sleeping in the tunnel

girl playing with the ball

 

puppies playing, boy left, girl right

more playing, boy left, girl right

boy

girl

 

girl left, boy playing with toy

 

girl sleeping

boy sleeping

 

 

 

Day 20

I will be teaching a nosework seminar in Lethbridge tomorrow (which I am very excited about!) so I won't be able to post pics or videos. So instead of skipping a post, I decided why not do another one today.  So here are a few pics and videos from today. The puppies are outside their box playing around, exploring the balance disc, climbing on dog beds, and the agility trial sounds CD is playing in the background.

The puppies are also starting to realize that people are great. When I come in the room they wake up and often come over to visit.  They climb on me, and chew on my fingers when out of their box.  They are also starting to have visitors now.  It's time for socialization with man kind :)

boy left, girl right

boy left, girl right

 

 

 

Day 19

The boy's eyes opened up yesterday!  Yahoo!

I have started to take the puppies out of the box for some exploration time of the puppy room.  I lay a bunch of blankets on the floor with toys and let them wander around.  They are very curious and cover every inch of the floor. They climb over the toys, sniff around new items, they even climb up on top of Spryte's big puffy dog bed.  They seem to really enjoy getting out and checking out new things.  They will continue to have time outside the box until Sunday.  Then on Sunday I will move the puppies to the kitchen so they can be exposed to our daily activities.  I will also continue to play the various sounds CD's for them everyday for many many weeks.

Here are some pics and video from today.

\

boy

boy chewing on toy

 

girl

girl

 

girl on top, boy on right

 

boy left, girl right

 

 

 

 

Day 17

The puppies are awake for longer periods of time now and are much more mobile.  They have started  to playfully bite at each other and are making playful growling noises as well.  I can't help but chuckle and smile watching the puppies experiment with play. They waddle over to each other then attempt to grab at the other puppy and nearly every time end up falling over onto their side, rolling around a bit before getting back up and trying again. They just don't have the coordination yet for long bouts of play. 
  I have started to add some toys to the whelping box too.  The puppies are starting to climb on the toys, bite at them and burrow under them.  As they get more coordinated I will begin to rotate toys to expose them to lots of different objects and play things. 

The boy does not have his eyes open yet, but it's amazing to see how well he navigates around the box without the use of sight.  I image his sense of smell is quite good and the puppies should be starting to gain some sense of hearing now too.  Starting tomorrow I will begin to play the puppies various sounds CD's to expose them to a wide variety of noises. We will start with classical music for a few days. The many highs and lows help to develop a wide range of hearing in the young puppies.  Then I will begin to play a sounds disc which includes noises from construction sites, children playing, fireworks, dogs barking, household noises etc. I also have an agility trial sounds discs, with all the noises you would find at any busy dog show. 
  Some pics and videos from today with the puppies learning to play.

 

playful puppy bite from sister to brother

 

boy

girl

 

 

 

Day 15

Not much new to report on the puppy front. Well other than they are the cutest puppies on the planet :) but that is not exactly ground breaking news to all you readers out there.

I do however have news regarding the sire of this litter.  Today Dylan earned his CARO Rally Novice and Rally Novice Team titles with very nice scores and 3 High in Class wins!  I think these are going to be very smart puppies ;)
Here are pics and a video from today:

girl

 

girl

 

boy yawning

 

boy

boy

 

momma Spryte, hanging out in the puppy room

 

Day 13

girl in back, boy in front

The little girl's eyes started to open up last night!  She won't have full vision for several weeks yet, but it's an exciting step. For me the puppies begin to look like actual puppies when the eyes open, they no longer resemble little guinea pigs.  The boy's eyes should open within the next few days too. The ear canals will also be opening soon.  It's an exciting time for the puppies, vision and hearing!  They are leaving the Neonatal period and entering the Transitional period of development.

The puppies also had their first nail trim today. It's surprising how fast nails grow on tiny puppies. The nails were beginning to catch in the bedding, so it was time for a trim.  Right now it's pretty easy to do.  We cut them while they are sleeping and they don't notice a thing.

Here are pictures and a video from today:

 boy

 boy

 

boy

 

girl

girl

boy in front, girl in back

 



Day 11

Puppies are 11 days old and growing like weeds :)  They both weigh over a pound now. It is no longer possible for me to get accurate weights with the scale I have.  It's a small digital kitchen scale, perfect for when the puppies are small. But now they roll around and hang off the edge of the scale.  The read out flashes non stop with different weights as they shift around.  So I think today will be the last day I weigh them.  They are growing and healthy and really don't require daily weight measurements anymore.

Here are some pictures from today.

boy in front, girl in back

 

girl on the move

boy sleeping

 

boy in front, girl in back

 

 

Day 9

boy in front, girl in back

Puppies are now 9 days old and getting more active.  Yesterday I started to notice the puppies taking their first steps towards walking.  They sort of pull themselves along with their front legs and every now and then manage to get a back leg or two underneath them.  Then they push off with their back legs. It only lasts a step or two and then they fall over.  It usually takes momma Spryte in the box to motivate the puppies to move around.  When she is in the box they blindly try and follow her around until she lies down and they can nestle in.  It's great practise for the puppies and their coordination is rapidly improving.  I even managed to get a short video of the boy yesterday and the girl today attempting a few steps.

And Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I am thankful today for my wonderful family, friends and canine children.  I hope everyone is fortunate enough to spend it with loved ones and feast on many Thanksgiving delicacies.

 girl

 

 girl

 

boy

boy