The B litter now nearly 4 weeks old

The disappointing news from the web team is we are not able to set up a webcam for the B litter because of the poor signal where I live. Apparently this is the reason the signal kept going with the A litter and constantly crashing.

Meet the gang

The B litter of 5 dogs and 3 bitches is made up of 2 light sable dogs, 2 dark sable dogs, 1 black dog, 3 black bitches. All are thriving and I have just started the process of weaning them onto solid food as mother Molly starts to feed them less frequently. What amazes me is the speed at which the pups grow and the increasing demands on mum.

I have included 2 pictures to emphasize just how quickly they grow.

The litter the day after being born 1 day old.

The pups after 18 days.

We have had concerns about 1 of the pups a small black bitch who I have nick named BB. From the start she has spent long periods asleep under the heat lamp and was not feeding as vigorously as the rest with very little weight gain.  I have been getting Mollie to feed her individually and this seems to have done the trick.

She is pictured here feeding individually with mum in picture 4.

Mum is closely supervising BB being weighed and checking on her progress. 

BB on the sofa.
Interestingly because of all the extra handling BB is now the most forward in the group and has become very energetic. She is still smaller than the rest but is catching up fast.

This litter are much lighter in weight than the A litter were but this litter is much more advanced in terms of their eyes opening and their mobility. They climbed over the low board on day 15 whereas the A litter didn’t achieve that until day 22.

In fact several are trying to climb up the cage run which is 2 feet high. BB nearly came to grief yesterday as she climbed into the bucket of disinfectant as I was cleaning out the run and required emergency drying. Yes I can hear the groans of dissatisfaction at how careless to let that happen but I never thought any pup could climb up such a large bucket that quickly and needless to say it won’t happen again.

They have been so contented from the outset and Mum has been brilliant. It is important now that the socialisation starts with visitors, different noises, and a wide variation of different play articles to stimulate them.

Judging by the way they quickly found their way out of the run and began exploring the room at 3 and a half weeks (Photo 8) I think I am in for some interesting times ahead.

Birthdays

Friday the 13th December was an interesting day as it was my birthday and it was also Molly’s.  We had a double celebration and here we are posing with the excellent 60th birthday cake my wife’s friend Sam Cox made for me.

The cake represents me and my old dog Spud in the grounds of Killerton house where we go for our regular walks together.

Unfortunately soon after taking the photo I wasn’t paying attention and Molly ate Spud’s tiny ball on the cake.

Finally I will sign off with a picture of Molly and me with the pups relaxing in the whelping box and run.

See you soon with an update next week.
Paul