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Max x Lily
Born December 31st, 2011
The New Year litter
5 boys and 4 girls
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Newborns all |
Newborn boys |
Newborn girls |
Jan 8th, 2012: The New Year's puppies are growing, thriving and gaining weight rapidly. It's only been two years since my last litter, but I just don't recall that my puppies were "quite" so active at only a week of age...
I stopped by Linda and Mark's today on my way home from an agility trial and could hear the puppies all the way out in the living room. They weren't in any distress, just protesting that Lily had abandoned them to come say hello to me. They all seem to have good lungs :-)
Not only were they loud, they are also very active. No quiet huddles for this group. They were crawling all over the place and are already angling for a way out of the whelping box. I have a feeling that Linda and Mark are going to have their hands very, very full by the time this group hits 4 weeks of age.
Linda has been fortunate to have had this past week off from work. Tomorrow however, she returns to the work force and her neighbor Barb will take over puppy and Mom care during the day. What would we do without friends??
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Contented puppies 1 week old |
1 week: fat and sassy |
Mr. Purple: Jail break |
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The Girls: 1 week |
The Boys: 1 week |
New Puppy Video: 12 days old
Puppy Video: 17 days old
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Last weekend the puppies turned three weeks old, and Linda & Mark, along with Lily and Co. saw the first sets of puppy visitors. For the first time we moved the puppies out of the whelping box and into the living room where everyone had more room to move, stretch and make an impression... and make an impression they did!! I never tire of watching the puppies transition from these tiny neo-nates that are focused solely on Mom, eating and warmth, into real puppies that toddle, see, hear, bark and (try to) play. It happens right around week 3, and this litter is right on schedule. Each puppy is now starting to develop their own personality and they will change rapidly both physically and developmentally from here on out.
Once the puppies are a little more active, I'll start trying to get pictures of each individual so we can all watch how they grow and change over the next month. For the moment however they are still just "puppies" and I dont' know who is who. Unfortunately when the puppies outgrew the rick rak and we needed to put them in collars, there were not enough colors to go around. It seemed reasonable at the time to just double up on colors between the boys and the girls. We now have two purples, a couple of greens and a couple of blues and Mr. Orange is now Mr. Black. Linda of course knows exactly who is who.. but I"m confused.
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Not much room |
Puppy pile and oh so cute! |
Side by side by... |
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Ms Purple barking at me |
One of the blues and one of the greens. Don't ask me who |
Mr. Blue and his adorable head |
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Leslie: Puppy love in the making |
Mr. Black |
Mr. Blue and ?? It does not get any cuter |
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Things got hectic pretty fast these last few weeks. Lily has had mastitis and became very, very ill. In the beginning she looked OK, since Linda caught things quickly and had Lily to the Vet within hours of her initial symptoms. Lily seemed to get better rapidly once they had her on antibiotics and I was sure that things had been caught in time... not. Within a few days Lily's mammary gland had ruptured and was starting to look necrotic. When Lily began having uncontrollable nose bleeds Linda and Mark knew that it was time for the experts and drove her to MSU at top speed... Mark tells me their old Explorer can still do 100 mph.
Lily had surgery within 24 hours of arrival at MSU to debride the mammary gland and had/has a pretty extensive wound. It turns out that the intial antibiotics she was given were not effective against the bacteria she was infected with. We are fortunate that the infection never became systemic and once the cultures and sensitivities came back and the correct antibiotic was prescribed, Lily did well. She came home Saturday Feb 4th, and is now playing and interacting with the puppies as if she had never been gone. The puppies of course, still want to nurse but that is now off limits. However all puppies are eating well, and are fat and happy.
The puppies had their very first outing on Jan 31st. The day was warm, but overcast and with the wind seemed chillier than it really was. The puppies were a bit worried without Mom there to support them, so we did not stay out long.
We tried another outdoor expedition on Sunday, Feb 5th. Mom was now home and the day was sunny; so with Lily supervising and Jasper as the tag along, all the puppies went outside for a big adventure.
I think it was a great success!!
Updated pictures from 2/9/12 - nearly 6 weeks old. These guys are adorable. They go from warp speed to snuggle in a nano-second.
If you click on a picture, you will be taken to that puppy's individual picture page.
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Mr. Light Blue |
Mr. Green |
Ms. Purple |
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Ms.Green |
Mr. Black |
Mr. Purple |
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Ms Light Blue |
Mr. Dark Blue |
Ms. Rose Pink |
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