Sasha’s pups are now 2 weeks old and are developing nicely

As you can see from the above picture of Sasha and her 9 pups they are developing nicely and Sasha is the picture of health. They are 9 days old and I decided the time was right to put identification collars on them.

Without the collars it would be impossible to identify them. It is important that I can identify them to observe and assess their behaviour and also to keep a record of their weight gains. Here they all are the day before the collars went on.

Even before the collars went on I had identified that one puppy was significantly lighter than the rest and was not making the same weight gains as her siblings. I named her Dot.and I placed the pink and white collar on her. She is pictured here at the top of the group.

We had the same situation with the B litter with Bebe and we gave her individual sessions with her mother and she finished up the strongest in the litter. Dot is pictured here getting some special attention from Sasha.

I am happy to say that the sessions are paying off as she has put on 180 grams in the last 4 days.

She is pictured here on top of her litter mate looking much healthier.

She is always sleeping either on a litter mate or lying on her back with her legs in the air.
They are all pictured here in a group hug as this seems to be in vogue these days to demonstrate togetherness and bonding.

One thing that always amazes me is just how early the pups are already leaving their bed to toilet on the paper. One of the pups is pictured here doing just that at 11 days.

It is instinctive for a puppy not to mess in their living quarters.

Father of the pups Lenny was allowed in to see his sons and daughters at 12 days when Sasha was more relaxed but she only allowed him as far as you see in the picture before she gave him a low warning growl to tell him that was as far as he could go.

Like all sensible men he obligingly let Sasha have the last word and left her too it.

One of the most comical things I have ever seen was Sasha deciding to get into a cardboard box 12 inches by 12 inches which we keep the bin liners inside.

She has her whelping box, her vet bed and her sofa to overlook the pups so why she decided to curl up in there I don’t know.

I’m sure there will be an enlightened dog expert out there who has a theory. Suffice to say we enjoyed the moment and left it at that.

The pups have now opened their eyes and they are now registering sounds. Their eye sight is still not particularly good but they certainly recognise mum when she comes into the whelping box and make a much quicker dash towards her.

Sasha is still producing excellent milk and all the pups are contented and relaxed. The fact that they are always quiet is a sure sign that they are getting all the food that they need.

Sasha is on a new food that was recommended to me having used all the named brands in the past and she is looking really good on it..

She is on 3 huge bowls a day of soaked Simpson’s puppy Salmon and Potato. I put tinned tuna on top of her food to make it as appetising as possible. She loves a carrot and an apple.  She also loves her 3 weetabix and goats milk last thing at night.

She is still obsessed with going out to my van in the hope I will take her to work. Even though I take her out twice a day for exercise and a change of scenery she will often just sit by my van for ages just hoping for another adventure.

Today is only day 14 and yet the puppy with the pink and white dot collar somehow managed to climb out over the top of the whelping box. She is the youngest pup ever to do this. I was alerted to her crying and found her walking across the tiled floor.

I will be watching her very closely because I have a feeling she is going to be a bit of a handful in the weeks ahead.

I have included 2 short video’s for you to see. One is of all the pups relaxing which is what they do most of the time and watching blue collar fall of the mat is really amusing.



The other is of Sasha on her twice daily play with me in the Orchard at Killerton.



I intend to do a weekly blog update to let you know how they are all getting on.

Hope you find it of interest.

From Lenny, Sasha and me see you next week.