Carolina and her puppies are playing outside!

Contributed by Carolina and her puppies' foster Mom Once Carolina was ready to wean her puppies, she's seen and heard them in the house, but she's not had any desire to be with them, I guess figuring she's done her job, now they're someone else's responsibility. She acts just like a big puppy herself. Here they are out in the yard romping together. They are all enjoying their new lives in freedom.

Video of Carolina's pups playing in the kitchen!

Contributed by Carolina and her puppies' foster Mom

 These kids have changed so much in the last week - they're looking more like little dogs than the babies they were just an instant ago This is a video of the crew playing in the kitchen.
 

Video of Salisbury's puppies at 5 weeks!

Contributed by Salisbury and her pups' foster Mom

Video of Carolina's pups at 5 weeks!

Contributed by Carolina and her pups' foster Mom

 

 Here they are playing today. They no longer want to walk, they scamper! LOL We're feeding them a gruel mix twice a day now, and they've all got fat little tummies, but Beaufort is still the "tugboat" of the group. Today's weights were - Hatteras 38.3oz, Beaufort 46.6, Bodie 45.1, Banks 42.7, Mayberry 43, and Appalachia 41.7.

Today they learned a new word. OOWWWW!  I had 3 of them attacking my bare ankles while I was in the pen changing out the pads on the floor, and they were trying to use me as a teething toy! We've moved them to the big side of the ex pen, and mom has the smaller area for a retreat. They are capable of getting over the 1x10" board we've got as a divider if they really want to - Mayberry was the first to scale the wall to be in with momma. Hatteras is our shy girl - she likes to retreat to the corner of the bed when things get too crazy. She's a corner type of girl - she also goes to a corner to poop :-) Banks is also a bed lover, except he likes to go chew on the blanket edges or play with a toy by himself, all stretched out like a little stud muffin. He also likes to give a little bark if he thinks he's missing out on something, and then he comes running to be a part of the action. Appalachia and Beaufort are middle of the road kids - they might be joining in the wrestling matches, or they may be trying to find a spot to nap. Mayberry and Bodie are the adventurers and the first to greet you and check things out. It's funny they've buddied up like this because if I had to pair them up on looks, this is how I'd pair them up on looking alike! 


 Momma continues to be a 5 year old puppy herself. We have toys we can only put in the pen when she's outside, or she gets too crazy with them and forgets about being in with her puppies, jumping in and out of her area right onto them and bowling them over. She's got a couple toys she tries shredding (pulling their parts off, really), and then there's the little plastic squeaky ones she carries around squeaking constantly, and the puppies actually run away as if they think there's something wrong and they're scared. We've got a little red rubber goldfish that the puppies love to chew on (they rarely make it squeak yet), but it's the one that causes the most problems - Carolina tosses it FEET up into the air and charges after it, knocking puppies over as she goes. We thought for a minute maybe she was just teaching her kids to play, but we couldn't stand the roughness so make sure it's out of the pen before she's back in again.


 Auntie Gayla made them camo fleece bone toys, and the puppies love them - they're light enough but big enough that they enjoy wrestling with them one-on-one :-) It's fun watching them try to shake the stuffing out of a toy at this age!  Oh, and Barney's really had a kick watching them pee - something someone is doing literally every five minutes when they're awake - because even at this age, they're developing the terrier scratch/kick instinct after pottying! 

Puppy Mouths, Ears, Eyes and Thermostat

Contributed by CP's founder Danielle Rackstraw

Hi everyone:

Lori and Kathy are doing an amazing job being foster Moms and the babies are simply precious. I'm passing on a little information here for some of the newer people who may not have been with us for other litters or may not know.

Puppies are born with their eyes sealed closed. They typically open on the cairn at about 10 days. Larger breeds obviously have everything happen much faster . . . so I'm speaking of the cairn here. The same with the ears and hearing . . . although we DO UNDERSTAND that the cairn can only hear when they want to and the words they want to hear. The pups are totally blind right now and their eyes will open in generally one day and they will have a blueish hue at first and then over a few days they change to a dark color.

With the hearing, you talk to pups now by putting them under your chin by your throat since they love the vibration and they can hear a tink. The ears open with full hearing at the same time the eyes open. Dogs are born with absolutely NO WAY to control their body heat which is with the shiver response. The shiver response which causes dogs to have the ability to regulate their body temperature again takes place about the time the eyes and the ears open. Larger breed dogs have all of the above happening very quickly but the foster Moms have to pay really close attention to the temperature of the room which is why is hang room thermometers in the baby room, have room heaters and heating pads and when the babies have to go to the vets like to be dew clawed they need to be put in what is called a READY BOX which is basically a box with little air holes, no drafts and hot water bottles. Right now, the babies being able to digest their food and stay alive is totally dependant on their Mommas body heat, our heating pads, room temperature and of course their general over all health. If they get chilled they quickly *shut down* which is the ability to digest food or have energy to suckle.

You can see why it's so important to keep the Moms hydrated and it's constantly trying to get them to eat and drink nutritious liquids and water and really healthy food . . . as much as they want and as many times a day as what they want . . . they have a lot of little mouths that eat constantly. When they start to gain regular weight they will typically gain between 1/2 and 1 ounce a day depending upon their size and weight.

The growth of the upper jaw and the lower jaw is totally separate and you will be a lot of mouth movement for the first months of life where they can really go from what would be a beautiful bite in appearance to being under shot or over shot in just days and it goes back and forth.