The Real Estate Agent”
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| Miss Holly |
A mother is many things to
her newborn pups. She provides them with the warmth necessary for their
survival as their body temperature is three degrees below normal at birth, climbing
a degree each week thereafter. She stimulates them to get them to breathe at
birth by licking and to encourage their bodily functions until they get the
hang of it themselves. She provides them with nourishment in her milk which
contains antibodies vital for the first several weeks of their lives. Bella
demonstrated another role earlier in the week during her bathroom breaks.
Despite the creature comforts we have provided her inside the house, she would
poke around at one of the two spots in the yard that she has chosen for her
puppies. She would then run back to the door to see if they were going to
follow her there, thus playing the part of a real estate agent.
This was a big week for the
puppies as their eyes began to open. Miss Snowflake was the first of the girls,
followed by Mr. Icicle for the boys. The puppies can initially only differentiate
between light and dark through a kind of haze, but this will clear up very
quickly over the next week or so as they experience normal sight.
The entire gang gained
weight quite nicely. Miss Holly more than tripled her weight and has almost caught
up to the others. This is in part, due to our monitored feedings that assure an
equal opportunity milk bar. It’s entertaining to watch them there as they prime
mom’s reservoirs by pumping them with their tiny fists, their little tails all
the while wagging back and forth like high speed metronomes.
It stands to reason that the
puppies’ other favourite pastime is sleeping and they surely get a lot of
practice. Despite having little apparent motility in their first couple of
weeks, the puppies’ development is accelerated by engaging in what’s referred
to as “activated sleep”. As they
lie there asleep, they are constantly twitching. These involuntary actions help
strengthen their leg muscles. The net result is that all are now able to walk
on all fours.
So it’s been a pretty
productive week for the puppies, but mostly they’ve excelled at doing what they
do best: eat, sleep, cuddle and look cute.
That’s it for now, but be sure to join us next week for another captivating
installment of “Puppy Tales”.
