Storm and Surrey Litter – Week Three

Just had a taste of momma's food. Yum yum!

“The Uninvited Dinner Guests”

For some of us, it’s all about food. And it was certainly no exception for Mr. Cardinal and Miss Blossom. While the rest of the pack has been content with the liquid diet provided by their mom, one day these two decided to distract Surrey long enough to dive into her dinner bowl to try to get their first taste of solid food. They were however caught in the act and will just have to wait their turn later in the week with the rest of the group for a meal that’s a bit better suited for young puppies.

While the little ones do spend a great deal of time eating and sleeping, they are also engaged in an intensive training programme. While they lay there asleep, the puppies are constantly twitching. These involuntary actions, referred to as “activated sleep”, help strengthen their leg muscles allowing them to stagger around on all fours like sailors on shore leave after last call. Since Surrey continually mounds the towels that line the floor of the whelping box, this forces the puppies to climb over these obstacles to reach their target (usually the milk bar or a sibling to sleep on) thereby building muscle mass.

Now that their vision is established beyond simply being able to detect light, dark and movement, the puppies are becoming increasingly curious about their surroundings and each other. As they are beginning to get acquainted with their littermates, they can often be seen standing in a group gently colliding or rubbing their noses and heads against one another whether awake or asleep. This is the beginning of a key period for the puppies as they are developing rudimentary social skills. They are testing each other’s limits and learning the difference between hard and soft biting and they also take turns sleeping at the top and bottom of the sibling pile. They are also curious about the humans around them and they aren’t particularly shy either. Pig-rails are rails around the inside of the whelping box that are there to help prevent mom from accidentally squishing one of her kids. When we were raising the rails up to accommodate the puppies’ growth, they wasted no time to wander over, gaze up into our eyes and to nibble on our hands while they were trying to figure out what we were up to. We’re sure it won’t be long before they have it all figured out!

That’s it for now, but be sure to join us next week for another nail-biting installment of “Puppy Tales”.