BirthdayWeekOne

                                                                      Week One
(Needs more work...I'll be back soon)

AllEating C EatingResting

Above, the pups are all enjoying their meal. Maggie is covered in blue, cool blankets (rubber chamois from Kragens!). We need to keep the room temp about 80 degrees for the pups, but momma stays cool under her blankets. The rest of us are sweltering in this sauna!! C
The pups nurse for a little while and then Mom and babies take a little snooze. After their nap, they belly right back up to the "food bar," which you can see is already full for another feeding.

MaggieCaringForPups C Maggie is such a good mom. She is so careful of her pups and sees that they are nice and clean after every feeding. She is producing plenty of milk and each pup is gaining at least 2 1/2 ounces per day and most of the pups, even more. The weight range is now, at one week old, 2#s 4oz - 2#s 15oz. I have heard that when you have fewer puppies in a litter, they each weigh more than if they were in a larger litter. This is my first "single-digit" (7 pups) litter. I have been comparing their weights to my last litters, especially my litter of 13. These pups are much heavier at such a young age.

I decided that since these little ones were so big, that they should be scheduled for more workout time at the gym!! So now, after every meal, while Mom has some "Maggie time" to herself, or with her other buddies around here, the pups are encouraged to "scoot" all around in the whelping box.   I really think they should burn as many calories as they can!!

At this stage they still resemble rodents. But rodents with re-e-e-ally good shoulder sets! I am really amazed at their strength at this early age. C Scooting

Pretty much, all they do at this age is eat, sleep, and poop! The proportions of eating, sleeping, and pooping will all change from week to week, with the final week that they are here with me, being mostly pooping!!
           AllEating2
These shots were taken at different angles so you could really see how they look from each angle.
                 AllEating3
                 AllEating4
                                       AllEating5
Below, Maggie plays with her turtle that Caroline gave her. She has actually found that her favorite thing to do with her turtle, is to use it as a pillow when she feeds her kids. She is considerably bigger than her mom, Hedy, and maybe a tad larger than her sister Chloe, so fitting into the whelping box is just a litter tighter squeeze than for those girls. We have found it best to try to have her lie on a diagonal.

MaggieTurtle TurtlePillow

AllEating EatingResting

MaggieCaringForPups

Scooting

AllEating2

AllEating3

AllEating4

AllEating5

Pretty much, all they do at this age is eat, sleep, and poop! The proportions of eating, sleeping, and pooping will all change from week to week, with the final week that they are here with me, being mostly pooping!!

These shots were taken at different angles so you could really see how they look from each angle.



Below, Maggie plays with her turtle that Caroline gave her. She has actually found that her favorite thing to do with her turtle, is to use it as a pillow when she feeds her kids. She is considerably bigger than her mom, Hedy, and maybe a tad larger than her sister Chloe, so fitting into the whelping box is just a litter tighter squeeze than for those girls. We have found it best to try to have her lie on a diagonal.

MaggieTurtle TurtlePillow

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	C
Above, the pups are all enjoying their meal. Maggie is covered in blue, cool blankets (rubber chamois from Kragens!). We need to keep the room temp about 80 degrees for the pups, but momma stays cool under her blankets. The rest of us are sweltering in this sauna!!	C	The pups nurse for a little while and then Mom and babies take a little snooze. After their nap, they belly right back up to the "food bar," which you can see is already full for another feeding.
	C	Maggie is such a good mom. She is so careful of her pups and sees that they are nice and clean after every feeding. She is producing plenty of milk and each pup is gaining at least 2 1/2 ounces per day and most of the pups, even more. The weight range is now, at one week old, 2#s 4oz - 2#s 15oz. I have heard that when you have fewer puppies in a litter, they each weigh more than if they were in a larger litter. This is my first "single-digit" (7 pups) litter. I have been comparing their weights to my last litters, especially my litter of 13. These pups are much heavier at such a young age.
I decided that since these little ones were so big, that they should be scheduled for more workout time at the gym!! So now, after every meal, while Mom has some "Maggie time" to herself, or with her other buddies around here, the pups are encouraged to "scoot" all around in the whelping box. I really think they should burn as many calories as they can!! At this stage they still resemble rodents. But rodents with re-e-e-ally good shoulder sets! I am really amazed at their strength at this early age.	C