A Busy Day

The pups had several visitors today.  First was a family that will be buying one of the boy puppies and then their "other" grandma (Andy's owner).  They also took their first trip outside which got mixed reviews.  It was very, very hot and a bit windy.  Some seemed to like the outdoors and others were hot and wanted to get in the shade or snuggle with us out of the wind  A couple of them  made pees and poops while they were out...good puppies!  Marlene stayed close by the whole time.  Since there are a lot of hawks here we only took out one puppy for each person and kept them near by.  They're still so little we didn't want to chance anything.  Marlene was with us and very watchful of the whole situation.  One of the puppies wanted to nurse outside and he got a scolding (first time ever for that).  We figured that Marlene knew it could be a venerable place and not a good place to get comfy and nurse.  She is such a good mom, very wolf like in her behaviors.  At the end of the day I don't know who was more tired, the puppies or me!?!  I fell asleep for 2 hours on the couch!

"Mr. Fluffy Head"

They really interact a lot now, playing with toys and each other.  Marlene has started to play with them a bit too.  The puppies are loving their real food, but still nurse quite often.  Marlene is starting to look a bit worn out, her coat is getting sparse and we have to feed her tons to keep her weight up.  She is putting everything she has into feeding the puppies.

"Big Brown" or UPS as he was called today

"Mr. Fluffy Head" 

Notice the green dab of nail polish?  I needed a way to tell the black boys

apart when I saw them from a distance.  I don't like collars of any kind for 

constant wear on or around young dogs, we had a very scary incident with a collar once

...won't go into that here, but puppy families will hear about it!

"Spike"

"Tunnel Butt" (actually I think this was the black girl)

"Mini Me"

The "booby bar" is getting very crowded these days

"Tank"

"Bernadette"

 A big bitey face game

Marlene & Mini Me

a sleepy "Mini Me"

a verrrrryyyy sleepy "Spike"

named not for his personality, but his dab of nail polish often sticks up

like a spike on his back.

and last but not least, "Little Man," who is doing very well. 

He's getting fat and starting to

grow more each day.  He was among the ones who showed great interest in the duck wing 

his Grandma Liz brought for the puppies and he picked up the tiny puppy bumper

and carried it today.  After talking with other breeders, our hunch is that

he was perhaps conceived on a later date than the rest

of the puppies.  I'm not sure if that's possible, I'll have to 

research it, but that seems to make sense.  He is very vigorous and is

growing, but very slowly and he seems to be less mature than the

other puppies...but again, very healthy and strong. And oh so sweet!  

He will stay here a few extra weeks before deciding on a home for him.

I want to make sure he is doing well and gets a clean bill of

health from the vets before going to a family.

First Food!!!

The pupsters had their first experience with real food on Saturday evening.  Sometimes puppies new to real food aren't really sure what to do with it.  My last litter played with it a while before accidentally tasting some and realizing they could eat it....not this gang!!  They immediately came up and started chowing down like this was what they were born for!!  "Little Man" who has been having a hard time staying on a nipple, the big guns always push him out of the way, had a pretty clever technique with real food....he lays in the dish!! They did a pretty good job of cleaning the bowl, then started to clean each other up (what good brothers and sisters :)  then we let Mom in to finish the clean up job, which she was very happy to do.  Now they are up to three meals a day.  We are feeding them raw chicken blended with some pulverized veggies and goat's milk (from our goats).  A raw diet is what I think is best, but in honesty, I can't afford to keep all of my dogs on raw all of the time.  So when they are adults, I feed them the highest quality kibbles I can find mixed with fresh veggies and fruits, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc. and offer a raw meal about twice a week.  I have been feeding Marlene raw since she got pregnant and still now that she's still nursing, and I'll keep the babies on raw for a few weeks. I will gradually switch the ones going to "kibble homes" over shortly before they are ready to go home.  Any of the "raw homes" will stay on raw.

Little Man and Black Girl were the first to chow down.

The whole gang has joined in.

Little Man's technique was to lay across the food so no one could shove him out of the way.

Little Man again....he's just so cute and apparently a camera hog.

Closing in on each other as the portions ran low.

Cleaning each other up....how sweet and thoughtful.

They kept pulling the shredded newspaper in as they ate.  I learned to make sure the area

was clear of shreds before I put the food down from now on.

Pictures from May 21st

The pups were about 3 1/2 weeks when these were taken.  They were really starting to look like little dogs at this point, a bit less newborn puppyish.  Their personalites and TEETH were emerging. 

Snoozing...sorry can't tell who's who in this picture.

More snoozing.

This is the one we call "Big Brown."  He is an outgoing puppy and looks like he will turn out to be very handsome.

This guy is "Tank."  He was by far the largest for a long time, however a couple of his brothers are quickly 

catching up with him.  Tank has a white spot on his chest which may, or may not go away as he gets older.  It is not common in Flat Coats, but does happen once in a while.  Tank is extremely outgoing and very playful with the other puppies.

The whole gang snoozing.

You can see "Little Man" in the forefront of this one.  He eats like crazy, but is much smaller

than the rest of the pups.

A few more that wouldn't upload in the original post for some reason.

Starting to Play

These photos were taken on the 18th.  The puppies had just begun to start playing with each other.  We call the game "bitey-face."  They make little sounds like big dogs, paw at each other and jaw wrestle.  We also opened up the potty room side of the whelping box.  The theory is that they learn to go in there to pee & poop which makes house training easier as they get out of the box.  It seems that they are using it some, but I'm not sure if it's intentional yet.  I pick them up if I see them relieving themselves on the bedding side and place them into the newspaper side.  Regardless, I think having the separate room and different textures of flooring is good exposure for them.

Appologies

I'm sorry to have been M.I.A. this past week.  Saturday was my Mom's 90th birthday and I had a big party for her and 50 family members and friends.  Last week it became clear that I was not prepared and had to devote every free minute to getting ready for the party.  It was a huge success and Mom said it was the best birthday of her life....it made all the work more than worth it. 

And now, back to posting puppy pictues :)

More Info For The Meantime

I know I've been complaining about my website for months now, but it is still not up.  I have had several emails with their tech support, but it doesn't seem to be getting anywhere in the limited time I have to work on it.  I've updated my "Kippenhill" blog so those of you who don't know me all that well can learn about me and my dogs.  I'll be adding more info about all our dogs over the near future.  And I'll let everyone know when I get my website resolved.  We're having a big 90th birthday party for my mom next Saturday, so I doubt that I'll have much spare time through this week. Kippenhill Blog

A Lovely Saturday.

It is a gorgeous day here in Central Floirda.  I'll be out working in the gardens very soon.  Marlene will no doubt want to join me and get some fresh air and some "mom-time."   I posted these photos on Flickr, but some of you have trouble viewing photos there, so I'll repost them here.

Marlenie-Beanie loves being a mom.  She dotes after them, immediately cleans up after them  and feeds them several times a day.  Sometimes when they are sleeping she will lay with her chin resting on the opening to the whelping box and just look at them.  It reminds me of when my son was a baby and I loved to watch him sleep, feeling so proud and happy....I think that's how Marlene feels.

Both times when we took the puppy portraits Marlene was close by making sure everything went OK.  Sometimes she'd put her head over the edge of the chair.  I don't know if she was making sure the pup was OK or giving them pep talks to hold still for their photos.

Did you notice how all the black puppies and all the liver puppies are laying together?  This happens quite often, it even happened before their eyes opened.  I hear from other breeders that they noticed it in their litters too.  Maybe it's just a coincidence but who knows.

Pedigree for Puppies

Click on the pedigree to make it larger

 

Getting Bigger

The puppies look bigger every time I look at them.  Their eyes opened this week and they are walking up on all four legs.  Still a bit wobbly on their legs and fall down and roll over sometimes (very cute & funny).  They have started to wag their little tails when they eat...pure Flat Coats!  I also noticed the first attempts at play yesterday.  The little black girl and the big liver boy were playing bitey face.  They were very uncoordinated at it, but it was awfully cute. 

The 2 week portraits were much harder to get than last week's.  They move so quickly now and most of the pictures were blurry!  Need to get some photography advice from Liz at Blazingstar when she gets home

Black Girl

Big Brown

Tank (he was a sleepy head :)

the rest to follow soon...I've misplaced the memory card...gotta find it