The Dawning of the Dogs

There comes a moment in the lifetime of every litter of puppies when everything changes. All at once, they go from being unfocused little balls of fur with bobbing heads and wobbly legs to actual tiny dogs. There is no mistaking "the moment." It's the first time you walk into their room and the entire litter is sitting up staring at you like they have just woken from a vegetative state and are wondering what's next. Their eyes are focused, their legs work and they have (in the blink of an eye)developed opinions. This is the day they begin to attack pajama legs and chew on toes, the day they cry to be picked up and start growling at the toys they have suddenly noticed are scattered about about their bed. It's all uphill from here!

Hope's babies had their "moment" this week. I was working on the computer when Pam called to me from their room (aka the master bathroom). She said simply "It's happened," and I knew what she meant. I jumped up to investigate and there they were, eleven pairs of eyes clearly focused and eleven little puppy brains visibly plotting the havoc they would wreak over the next few weeks. Stay tuned, it's going to be interesting.

Eyes Wide Open and Taking Baby Steps!

Like clockwork on day ten of their lives, little eyes started popping open. By the end of day eleven, the baby pool whelping box was a sea of unfocused little eyes. They are also up on unsteady legs and a few of the more adventurous are doing laps around the pool and peering over the edge.

Yesterday we had our first attempt at eating real food. I filled a baking pan with a mixture of water, canned puppy food and puppy formula and introduced the puppies one by one to the joys of eating. The first one peed in the pan. Several of the puppies, however, thought it was the greatest thing they had ever experienced and ate quite lot. We'll keep working on it. With so many puppies and such a little momma, we have to get them off of her and into a food dish as soon as possible.

Momma Hope is doing wonderfully. She zooms around the yard a bit in the mornings and plays with some of the other dogs, udders flaping in the breeze. She is eating well and continuing to take fabulous care of her little ones, protesting quite adamantly when I remove even one from her circle of care (aka plastic baby pool).

She doesn't like to leave the babies even to eat, so we have learned that the best way to keep her eating and drinking enough is to put her food and water bowls on an elevated stand next to the pool so she can just crane her neck over to eat without actually exiting the pool. She has us trained.