Oh Puppies!

Do they even need words? I don't think so, but here are some words anyway ;) The puppies are 10 days old and Piper is opening her eyes. This means soon she'll be able to hear (did you know they were deaf and blind when they are born? I didn't!) Each day they are introduced to a new smell--like lemon, potting soil, walnuts--to expand their horizons from the very start! They also do gentle discomfort training, so the puppies learn to deal with stress . . . they hold the puppies forward, backward, and like a baby for five seconds each, then put their paws on a cold cloth. They soon realize they are okay, and the stress is dealt with as things return to normal. One of the ladies charts all of this, along with the puppies' growth. And they are growing at lightning speed! In fact, I helped weight all dozen plus puppies, and our newbies are only two pounds behind some of the four-week-olds! Thus, our pups are on rations. Olive is only allowed to nurse them every three or four hours for 15 minutes. But if you had the volume up on the nursing video, you can hear Miss Piper glugging the milk when she gets the chance!

Here are the bigger pups! They are fun to watch because they are in the wrestling, nipping, exploring stage of puppyhood. Unlike our little roundies, these can actually stand up on their legs and walk (our puppies have noodles under their carpet to make them work their back legs; and to eat, they have to climb out of a human's lap sitting criss-cross-applesauce TWICE to reach their mama for the milk :) 

It is a puppy-palooza when I (or we) visit! I spent about four hours out there this week, plus the two hours of driving, it's a long day, but I could easily stay longer. Holding those little nuggets of fur and having them climb up under my chin is pretty sweet. Ahh, babies! I don't know if I'll be able to give them up (even if they aren't mine in the first place). It's a good thing Olive didn't have a dozen, ha!

Oh, and they do plan to let the big puppies play with the little puppies in a couple of weeks when they get closer to the same mobility status. The older puppies will "probably" be double the weight of our puppies, but there is just a short amount of time the big puppies will still be there when our puppies can play. The big puppies are already potty training and eating some mushy puppy chow to give their mama a break (11 is a lot to feed!). I took several dozen eggs with me last time to help with the process. I forgot to ask how they were received :) Clearly our puppies don't need any more calories!

I guess it's about time to start planning my next visit. You want more puppy pictures, right? ;)