Fast Forward to Tuesday

I was working in London all day Monday and Jan was holding the fort so the only thing to report from Monday is that we need some new scales to carry on weighing them.  Little Morse is now 2135g, next up Monk at 2210g, then Murdoch at 2285g and Lottie recorded ERRR.  She is now too heavy for the scales!

Feeding continues to be a big event for the puppies, they are now quite happy eating the porridge.  Morse continues to be the most accomplished lapper and Murdoch the least.  More often than not he will take a step towards the dish, stumble and fall head first into it.  Not content with that, he manages to get a load on his chin and then smear it over everything in the box.  I had to wipe down the camera today and that wasn't even in the box at the time.  Alice isn't very good at cleaning her pups so after Murdoch has kindly shared his excess with all the others, they need a wipe down.

Tuesday we tried to take some pictures of them standing but that proved quite difficult.  Alice still isn't happy about them being outside the box so we'll save that for another day.

As an aside, Hudson managed to strategically place a long string of slobber over the entrance to a Croc shoe.  It was positioned perfectly so that when you slid your [bare] foot into the Croc, it would catch between your toes before settling between the bottom of your foot and the inside of the Croc.  Luvverly.

Today's picture is a headshot of Monk.

Weekend Catch Up

The days seem to merge into one and it's hard to remember what happened on which day so a weekend catch up is in order.  The puppies colour seems to get stronger almost as you look at them and all their legs are now becoming quite dark as the ratio of white is reduced.  Monk's legs are quite spotty, Morse and Murdoch more roaned.  They continue to gain weight and seem to like the extra food they are getting now.  Alice likes it too!

Still no sign of teeth on any of them but I guess it's still a bit early for that.  They are becoming more aware of their surroundings and seem to recognise voices.  Alice is leaving them for a bit longer but still spends quite a bit of time in the box with them.  On Saturday night/Sunday she was quite restless and couldn't decide where she wanted to be.  We have started to let her outside off the lead now, first stop the stream and second stop is the big hole under the pampas grass.  Why does she have to do it that way round,  for maximum mud I reckon.  It's a pain having to clean her down every time but she enjoys a bit of freedom in the garden and it gives us a chance to sort the box out.  She is still quite possessive and although happy for them to be handled if you are in the box, she doesn't like them being taken out of it yet.

This is my favourite picture from the weekend, all four puppies sleeping happily together.

TGI Friday

Another weekend approaches and the temperature has dropped somewhat.  So time to put the heating back on, great excuse when you have puppies to keep warm.  The morning porridge feed went very well, apart from having to keep Alice away, but she likes to clean up any leftovers from the bowl or on the puppies.  So far they have been quite good about lapping from the dish, Morse is streets ahead of the others in his technique and loves his extra rations.  The puppies tend to sleep for much longer after having a porridge feed which means Alice can get some rest too.

Today we gave them a second feed in the afternoon which didn't last long, then weighed them.  At day 23, Lottie has broken the 2kg mark at 2060 grams, Murdoch next at 1970g, Monk at 1915g and Morse is now 1735, still a little behind the others but a steady gain nevertheless.

Picture of the day features Murdoch [how handsome am I] wearing his cute, angelic face, with Lottie to his left, Monk to his right and Morse at the back on his favourite pair of teats.

Thursday

Pups are standing up and moving around more today. They are also playing more with eachother. Introduced the puppy starter meal porridge, mixed half and half with the goats milk. They loved it and tucked in. Alice likes the move into the lounge and now we have moved the whelping box in she can jump in and out as she pleases or just lie on the sofa and watch them from above. Murdoch likes to sit by the entrance of the box which only has two layers of panels at the moment and he can see over the top. Won't be long before he tries to get over the wall and escape! When we all settled down for bedtime he sat looking out and then started barking.............at Hudson who was asleep on the dog bed by the window. Guard duty done he then settled down with the others and handed over guard duty to Alice. She is being very good with Hudson and Bobby in the lounge with her and they know not to go too close to the whelping box.

Day 21

The puppies are just about 3 weeks old now and the time has flown by.  Tonight we moved their proper box into the lounge where they can start to get more used to the normal household goings on and integrate a little more with Hudson and Bobby.  H&B have been very good considering and although they are curious, have kept their distance, especially when Alice is around.  They sense she needs her space but Hudson will take a closer look when she is out in the garden.

They had another goats milk porridge meal this morning and this seems to settle them for sleeping more during the day.  Their features are becoming more spinone like now and they are looking more like small spins and less like large guinea pigs.  Lottie is the biggest and Morse the smallest but he seems to benefit most from the porridge meal and is certainly the most accomplished at lapping it up.  Monk tries to paddle it and it goes everywhere, Lottie is also quite good at lapping (being a girl I suppose) and Murdoch wasn't too interested but he was no doubt full up with mother's milk.

Today's picture then is of Morse, quietly sleeping.  He is the sweetest of the litter, not just because he is the smallest.

A Day of Rest

Yesterday I fed Morse some goats milk porridge as he seemed to be lagging behind a little in weight, the stronger pups being too greedy at the milk bar.  He loved it and once he got the hang of lapping managed to get a good meal.  This morning I made up some more, Nutrolac goats milk, teaspoon of yoghurt, teaspoon of glucose, and a little ground oats to thicken it a bit.  Morse had first go and seemed to enjoy it, then each of the others sampled a little.  Later on I weighed them and Morse had gained the most, an amazing 300 grams in 2 days.  Just the one extra meal today as we don't want to overdo it.

They have been very contented today, and spent most of today asleep.  Even Murdoch who we expected to be active after his escape yesterday settled down and snoozed all day.  Alice has been in and out a bit more today, when she is out they sleep, when she is in they feed.  Simple life really.

Because they were all asleep so much, we didn't get many interesting photo opportunities today, but I quite liked this one of a tail between two heads.

New Surroundings

Today we set up a second pen in the lounge so that Alice could feel a bit more part of the family again.  The puppies liked their new surroundings and after a good sniff around settled down to sleep in the little bit  of sunshine that we had today.  Alice was quite relaxed and spend more time away from the puppies as she could come and go a bit more easily in the larger room.

I made up some Nutrolac goats milk, with a little yoghurt and ground oats in it, Morse has been missing out a bit on the milk bar as the bigger dogs push him out and he finds it hard to get enough milk from Alice,  He soon got the hang of lapping it up and seemed to enjoy it.  Lottie and Murdoch soon joined in and it was soon gone.  Tomorrow we are going to try them on some puppy porridge.

Achievement of the day award has to go to Murdoch, who worked out how to escape from the puppy pen.  Found himself a little gap and pushed his way through.

The Bank Holiday Weekend is here

A long weekend to look forward to, with a weather forecast to match unfortunately.  The puppies are starting to become a little more active, well Murdoch is mostly.  Their eyes are staying open for longer and I think they are starting to see shapes as they seem to be looking at things rather than just gazing anywhere.  Other than the occasional tour around the box by Murdoch, tripping over anything in his way, its still very much a sleep eat sleep routine for them. Alice is still reluctant to spend any time away from them and today has been a bit fussy about eating.  The puppies are more aware of her food and you can tell they are able to smell it and show a bit of interest.

Today we tried to take some pictures of their faces - with varying degrees of success.  Monk was the best behaved so he is chosen for today's picture.