Big Changes

The whelping box has seen several big changes in the last few days. The most exciting is that the puppies can now see. Their eyes opened up on Friday.

The second big event is that they are starting to get up on their feet and move around. They still are pretty wobbly, but they are trying. Fortunately these two events coincided. Last year they started walking before they could see and it wasn't very pretty.

The third big change is that the puppies have some new friends. Miss Pig, Mr. Frog and The Duck are back and now residing in the whelping box. The puppies immediately started crawling all over them and cuddling up to them to fall asleep.

Here are a some pictures from the last few days.

PRS was the first to open her eyes and the first to stand. She was also the first born.

I tried to get some shots of the puppies on their feet. They aren't able to stand for very long so it is not an easy task.

This photo shows why they are just now standing up. Not much clearance between that belly and the ground. They need to grow some longer legs ASAP.

They are standing ...... and then they are falling.

The puppies enjoying their new friends.

Notice they even have "The Duck" sleeping on it's back.

Tori Has Left The Couch

Tori is no longer just supervising from the couch. She now spends her days trying to figure out what is squeaking under the whelping box. Poor thing is obsessed with this new job. What she doesn't know is that the noise is created when she walks on the linoleum next to the box. The movement causes the box to rub on the linoleum which causes the squeaky noise. Now Tori's days are consumed by watching the bottom of the box, waiting for whatever is under there to come out and show itself. It is definitely not easy to be Tori.

Amazing Growth

Check out the following two photos. The first one was taken the day the puppies were born, 4-4-08. The second photo was taken on 4-15-08. Look at how much they have grown and developed in just 11 days. They are almost as long as Tiga's legs now!

A Puppy's Eye View

The puppy photos are starting to get a little boring for me. All they do right now is lay around which doesn't make for very exciting pictures. So for something new and different I thought I would take some photos of the whelping box from a puppy's eye view. So here it is:



If they had their eyes open and could see it would look more like this:

Eat, Sleep, Eat Some More

There is not a lot going on in the whelping box. The puppies are eating and sleeping and that is about all. They are all getting enough to eat which is obvious when you take a look at their really plump little bellies. They are still quite content and make very little noise. Most of the time you would not even know there are puppies in the house.

Their eyes are still not open but the eye slit is definitely getting more defined so it won't be too much longer.



Charlie loves checking out these little furry things. The real fun will start when they start moving and biting on his legs and tail.

One Week Old

The puppies are now one week old. They all have doubled in size and weigh over 2 pounds. This is a very content litter. They eat, huddle, sleep, reposition the huddle, sleep, eat, huddle, sleep, etc. and they do all of this while making very little noise. Below are their one week photos. They didn't turn out very well but it is sometimes hard to take photos of squirming bobble-heads.

"The Boys"

BRH

BLH


"The Girls"

PRS

PLS

PT

Five vs. Eight

The first week has made me realize that there is a big difference between having only five puppies as opposed to eight. Here are a few of the benefits:

• When I do my continual counting of the puppies to make sure they are all there I can now do it using only one hand.
• There are only 80 toenails to clip as opposed to 128.
• There are more than enough nipples to go around and plenty of milk. I don't have to worry about making sure everyone gets enough.
• Tiga seems to be more aware of where they all are and isn't laying down on top of anyone.

I do miss seeing huge piles of puppies in the box but in a few weeks I am sure that I will not miss seeing the extra puppy piles.

All Is Well Again

All is well again. Tiga is allowing Tori and Charlie to hang out in the puppy room. Tori immediately took her position on the couch where she can comfortably oversee all of the activity. Charlie wanders in and out peeks into the box. Amazingly enough these photos are almost identical to the ones I took last year of Tori and Charlie whelping box watching. The only difference is that there are 3 less puppies for Tori and Charlie to watch this year.

The puppies are starting to look like puppies and Tiga still looks like the proud mom.

They Are Thriving

Just a quick recap of the last few days -

• Tiga is still being an excellent Mom. She is not as protective as she originally was. Tori is now allowed to get close and watch from the couch.
• The puppies had their first outing yesterday. They probably weren't to thrilled though since it was to the vet to have their dew claws removed. I'm sure they would have been MUCH happier just staying home.
• Weight gain is not a problem this year. They are plumping up nicely. In fact, they are a little over plumping, all of that milk for only 5 puppies.
• The puppies are very content and pretty quiet. This translates into a lot of sleep for me which makes us all very happy.
• PLS is the only puppy that still has pink pads and a pink face and hers is starting to darken up now too.

Here are a few photos taken over the last three days.

Three pink faces laying on mom. This photo was taken on 4-5. They have lost this pinkness over the last few days.

A pile of puppies. They almost always sleep touching at least one other puppy and usually in a pile of several. Taken 4-6.

A little alone time with mom. Taken 4-7.

Notice their tails. They tend to have them curved down and wagging when they nurse.
Taken 4-7.

A rare sight - they are all sleeping separately. In this photo you can see how plump their tummies are getting and the difference in their color. Tiga's past litters have all been pretty much the same color and very light. We are enjoying having a few darker pups this time around. Taken 4-8.

More quality alone time with mom. Taken 4-8.

PLS stills has some pink pads and some pinkness on her face but it is fading. She is also extremely plump - notice that belly!

The lightest one of the litter - PRS.