Milestones :o)

Hey, it's us, the little squirts from Momma Elsie's litter. Look at how we're changing at just 9 days old!

Our pads are getting darker:


Our noses are starting to darken, too:


We're sleeping a whole lot better for longer periods of time:


Aside from eating, we like the puppy pile best:



When we get hungry we find our voices:




We're starting to find our sea legs, too, but Momma Elsie keeps knocking us over when she licks us to make us pee and poo:




Some of us are trying to stand up and poo on our own, but we're a little unsteady. And it doesn't help when our littermates plow into us while we're concentrating:





We're not all growing quite the same way, but we're all making headway. Here's our biggest guy (Mr. Blue, the Moose) and our littlest guy (Mr. Black, the runt) side-by-side (Blue, at a whopping 2 pounds 13.5 ounces, weighs 1 pound 4 ounces more than Black - Black weights 1 pound 9.5 ounces):


Mr. Black still worries Grandma Joan and Grandpa Don, but he's gaining length and weight everyday and is hitting appropriate milestones. He's still being tube-fed 4x daily, and sometimes nurses, but not very well or for very long. They let him nurse first and alone, but it doesn't seem to make much difference. At least with tube-feeding he's making progress (he puppy grunts now and pushes himself up on his front paws and he tries to "knead" -- all things he didn't do before). He's just a few days behind the rest of us in what he can do, and is closing the gap.

Grandma Joan and Great-Aunt Jeanie, and Grandpa Don, and Aunt Sarah, have all started Early Neurological Stimulation with all of us except Mr. Black. That means, for just a few seconds per day day (3-5 seconds), they ...

• tickle our toes with q-tips,
  
• they hold us perpendicular to the ground,
  
• they hold us with our heads pointing downward
• they put us on our backs in their palms
• and then they put us on a cool, damp towel.

We're not really sure we like it, but we can put up with just about anything for just a couple seconds. :o)

[Note from Grandma Joan: You can read more about this at Breeding Better Dogs dot com (www.breedingbetterdogs.com). The creator of this program, Dr. Carmen Battaglia, reported on research by the U.S. Military finding that this kind of early stimulation had lasting and beneficial effects on puppies: they had stronger heartbeats, greater resistence to disease, stronger adrenal glands, greater tolerance to stress, improved cardiovascular systems, and overall were calmer and more focused when working. We do this with all our litters, but have refrained this time with Mr. Black, waiting until he's a bit stronger.]

That's it from us for now! Grandma Joan will be back next time,

The Elsie/Ridge puppies: Pink, Blue, Green, Red, Yellow, Black, Sky, Lime, and White