Skip to main content

Storm and Chanel Litter – Week Two


Our eyes are beginning to open!

“500 Miles Away from Home”


 The day began like any other. The morning dew burned off with the hot caress of the sun’s rays. It was very still, apart from the occasional fluttering of a mama robin’s wings as she hurried off in search of food for her young. Yet something felt out of place. A trip to the bedroom where the whelping box resides revealed the answer. There were only ten puppies on hand. A scan of the room revealed nothing. And then…..a tiny muffled voice; but from where? The search was escalated to the highest priority. Finally, Mr. Smoke, the little rascal was retrieved from way under our king-sized bed. The distance travelled was no small feat for such a little creature who hasn’t even learned to walk yet. We can only conjecture how he managed to escape over the barrier – either he crawled over the back of a sibling or he was still enjoying breakfast attached to his mom when she left the box to have a little break. What suction!

 It’s always exciting for us when the puppies’ eyes open at around the 10-day mark. Many of the puppies’ critical organs including their brain are not fully formed and they will spend several weeks developing rapidly. Since the gestation period in dogs is short (63 days), the tradeoff is that puppies are quite helpless at birth. Biologists refer to species that produce immature dependent offspring as altricial, which means “to nurse, to rear or to nourish”. It refers to the need for the young of these species to be fed and taken care of for a long period of time. Puppies are born with their eyelids tightly shut because the eye itself is still developing and is extremely fragile. The closed eyelids serve as a barrier to protect the eyes from potential damage. Now that their eyes are open, it will take a few weeks before their eyes mature and their eyesight begins to approach normal. The puppies are also born functionally deaf since their ear canals are closed. While their ear canals begin to open at around the same time, the ears are much more fully formed than the eyes and their hearing will be quite acute within a week or so.

 At first glance, it may appear that the puppies spend all of their time sleeping, but they spend a good deal of time exercising. As but as they lay there asleep, they are constantly twitching. These involuntary actions, referred to as “activated sleep”, help strengthens their leg muscles and begin to build muscle mass. This allows them to plod around on all fours when they’re in search of their mom for a snack. Of course, in the case of Mr. Smoke, it gave him the stamina to go on his long-range expedition across the bedroom floor.

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

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bronson and Tulip Litter – 7 weeks

We're 7 weeks old today! It has been an adventure-filled week! It was the puppies' first-time riding in a car! Introducing them to new experiences begins at this age. Rides in cars, sounds, meeting new people, etc. Our puppies are often taken to Home Depot, Winners, Homesense, Petsmart, and other pet-friendly stores after they receive their next set of vaccinations. While they still ride in the shopping cart, their horizons are broadening. We’ve expanded the puppies play area which is either in our kitchen, outside in the yard or on our porch depending on the weather. They enjoy playing together and are becoming more and more confident. Their play area includes toys an activity center, a crate, and tunnel.  Jolly Pets' Jolly Ball was a huge hit today. The puppies seemed to take turns carrying it! All of them weigh between 13 and 15 pounds. Their appetites are good, and momma Tulip occasionally stops by with a vanilla milkshake. Beef, turkey and chicken are among the protein...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ruly and Tulip Litter - Week 1

Ruly and Tulip Litter - 1 Week Old What a week it's been! The Tulip puppies continue to thrive, gaining weight steadily and remaining fairly quiet. Tulip dotes on her family, rarely straying far from the whelping box. As you can see on the 24/7 camera, she is starting to spend a bit more time outside the box, but she consistently checks on her babies. Tulip currently eats around 4 pounds of food per day, along with calcium and pre-probiotics supplements. As her pups grow, her daily food intake will be gradually increased, reaching 5 - 6 pounds per day by the time the pups are about 7 weeks old. This increased caloric intake is necessary to meet the energy demands of milk production and to maintain Tulip's own body condition. Tulip still believes an outdoor den would be best for her pups, so we are monitoring her closely when she ventures out. The whelping box is lined with padded bedding and clean, white bleached towels on the bottom. The white towels allow us to quickly spot a...
2 comments
Read more

Bronson & Tulip Litter– Week 6

A very happy 6 week birthday to this eye-catching litter! We are loving every minute we have with this litter and the weeks are flying by. The milk bar continues to be provided by Tulip who is an excellent mom. We had a wonderful time outside in between the rain showers this past week. The pups are confident and didn't seem nervous at all. Immediately they were at ease in their new surroundings, sniffing and exploring this new exciting adventure. Each time they go out, they explore further into the backyard but are always under the watchful eye of Tulip. This litter continues to be very quiet, which means they are very happy and content. They are all approaching 10 pounds in weight and it amazes me from one day to the next how quickly they grow up.  Mom begins weaning the pups and teaching them discipline. Through puppy play-biting, the pup learns bite inhibition and socialization with its siblings. Normal behaviour at this age. Six-week-old puppies still have a lot to learn from t...
Post a Comment
Read more