One Week Old: A Puppy Report from the Whelping Box

It's us, the puppies: Misses Lime and Pink and Masters Blue, Green, Red, and Yellow.

From bottom left, clockwise: Pink, Green, Yellow, Red, Lime, Blue

Poor Momma Joan's head kept bobbing last night while she was watching us (she looked a lot like us when we look for Momma Elsie), and she kept blinking a lot (we don't do that yet), and one time she even put her head down on her arm and left a wet spot on her sleeve (do humans drool?). Anyway, we think that means she needs a nap (we're smart puppies) so we figured we'd help her out a bit and let you know how we're doing.

Here's our report from the Whelping Box:

We're all ONE WEEK OLD now. Remember, we were born over two days (March 30th and 31st). But today means even the youngest of us (Master Yellow) is a whole week old.

You might think we haven't been doing much for these first seven days of our lives, but we've been quite busy. Just look:

• We lost what was left of our umbilical cords (what a nuisance -- glad that's gone!)
• We've discovered that we have hind legs that work.
• We've all more than doubled our weight, just as we should. 
• We have round rumps now (unlike those bony bottoms we had when we popped out)
• We can squiggle like salamanders and we can push with our back legs, too (instead of just pulling ourselves with our front legs like we did before).
• We've learned how to find each other now (we sniff and feel our ways to each other).
• We can make a puppy pile!  (Oooooo...so roasty toasty warm!)
• We're experimenting with making noises. We grunt and sigh and sing and call out for Momma Elsie. We yelp when Momma Elsie steps on us, and we sometimes bark in our sleep (but we don't know what that is yet).
• We got our toenails clipped. Two times already! But just the front. Momma Joan says we need the back nails to help us grip and push with our back legs.
• Momma Joan keeps putting us on this cold hard surface she says is a scale (whatever that means), but she's only doing that once a day now, instead of twice a day like she used to. We don't like it very much, but she seems happy by what she sees.
• We had our first vet visit, and everybody ooooh'ed and ahhhhh'ed over us (but Momma Joan wouldn't let anybody touch us; they could only look). 
• When most of us were four days old we had our dew claws removed requiring one stitch in each foreleg. We discovered how to yelp really loudly, but then it was over and didn't hurt any more. It was quick, and we all healed quickly). All done.
• We've started ENS (Early Neurological Stimulation ). Momma Joan wrote about this a couple times before, (in a blog entry about Stages of Puppy Development for one of Momma Elsie's other litters)  but it's supposed to make us healthier and stronger when we grow up.  All we know is that, for about 3-5 seconds, just 1x per day, Momma Joan...
• tickles our toes with q-tips
• holds us on our back in her hands
• holds us head up, perpendicular to the ground
• holds us head down
• lays us on a cold surface (like the table top or a damp towel or that scale thing)
• We're all willing to be cuddled regularly, too, just a little. But we're squirmy still (it's a little scary). Momma Joan and Papa Don and Aunt Jeanie are the only humans who hold us much. But not too much yet: just enough to help us like humans as much as we like Momma Elsie. Humans are okay, but we love Momma Elsie.
• We all have new rickrack collars again. We're chubbing out so nicely that we've had to change our collars twice already!
• We sleep 90% of the time now, and we're mostly happy and content. Well, except when we're hungry or when we have to go potty. We don't like that. And we don't like Momma Elsie pestering us about it all the time.  Geesh... can't a pup just get some sleep?!

Speaking of sleep, that's enough for now.  *yawn*  We're tired, and we gotta get back to the hard work of growing. :)  We'll check in with you next week for another puppy report.

Nuzzles!

Miss Lime, Master Blue, Master Red, Master Green, Miss Pink, and Master Yellow