Four Days Old: Pictures from the Day

Everybody was tuckered out after the trip to the vet's!

Elsie was quite happy to have her litter home.

Snuggle time with Momma Elsie

Miss Pink loves her Momma Elsie

Master Blue doing his best imitation of a black bear cub.

Boys need snuggles, too.

Miss Lime and Master Red snuggling together.

Yoda ears!  :)

INFORMATIONAL POST: Post Dew-Claw Removal: All is Well

The sweet little squiggle squirts had a stressful day today, but all is well.

Leaving Momma Elsie behind (to spare her the stress of hearing her pups yip), I loaded the litter into the warming box and drove them over to the vet's office to have them examined (all look fabulous) and to have their dew claws removed.

Dew claws are the extra digits dogs have on the inner side of their front legs (some have them on the rear legs, too, though we've never had a pup born with rear dew claws). No, they are not thumbs (they are not opposable; they're more like a toe that never touches the ground high on the inside of the leg).

Not all breeds need to have them removed, and plenty of dogs do just fine keeping them. 

We choose to have the dew claws removed in our pups because Labs are an active breed often used in fields and brush and outdoor settings where dew claws can catch and tear, or even break at the joint (like a broken toe). When this happens in an older dog, treatment is significantly more involved and requires general anesthesia (always a risk).

The dew claws of a neonate, however, are attached to a joint that's only loosely held together (bones, joints, and connective tissue aren't nearly solidified yet). We usually have the procedure done when the pups are three days old, but we had to wait an extra day this time for the two who were born a day after the rest 

I won't mislead you. The procedure is painful for the pups, but it is not invasive nor is it risky. It's more like cutting a very thick toenail with surgical scissors than the surgical joint removal it becomes when the dogs are older and injure them.

We consider neonatal dew-claw removal a smaller, necessary, low-risk "ow-ee" that prevents a much bigger, more complicated "ow-ee" later on.

Just so you know, Ridge (who came to us as a three-year-old and is now nine years old) has his dew claws in tact, and they've been a challenge for him (and us) over the years. Though we haven't seen one break at the joint, we have seen bloody tears where the claw caught on brush or a branch or some such thing while he was running. And that has been far more uncomfortable for him than a two-minute procedure he could have had done as a neonate. We've elected not to have his removed as an adult because of the risk involved in general anesthesia (necessary for adult dew-claw removal).

Before you jump all over us for putting the pups through this, please know that we do this because we're convinced it's the best approach for active Labs (after much research) and to spare them issues and potential complications later on. In some ways we feel it would be irresponsible not to do this for a dog who's going to spend time running in the woods or fields or streams where it's likely dew claws can be torn.

So, they were traumatized this morning. But they were completely over it almost by the time we got home (maybe an hour after they were done). They each have one small stitch at each removal site which will dissolve on its own.

All of the pups are squiggling and doing their salamander crawls uninhibited, and they're nursing and sleeping as if nothing ever happened.

In the next post, I'll put up pics from today since their "surgery" this morning. And you'll see they're all doing fine. :)

And so it goes.

It's almost bedtime for me here; I sleep from 5:30 or 6:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. (about 5 hours) so I can do the 11:30 p.m. through the night, through the morning and afternoon, through to 5:30 p.m. shift of puppy-watch duty (about 19 hours).  DH puts in his full day at work, then comes home and does puppy duty while I sleep.  We'll do this until the pups are about 10 days old, just to make sure they don't get squished.

So I'm off to bed soon, but I wanted to let you know how things went. :) 

There you have it!  Please know that all is well.

Until next time,
Joan

Four Days Old (Before Our Trip to the Vet)

Well, it's the big day.  The little squirts get their dew claws removed this morning.

All are thriving; all have nearly doubled their birth weights (an ounce or two shy); and all needed new rickrack collars this morning (having outgrown the ones placed on them at birth).  They're growing and plumping and developing nicely.

The following are a few random shots from yesterday and early this morning.  Note that Miss Lime's pads are turning (they were pink at birth but are darkening as they should).

Enjoy! And we'll update you later today about how the vet appointment goes.

It's a double-cookied oreo!

Such a big boy!

Mr. Magoo

View from the whelping box floor.

Miss Limes pad's are darkening.

Miss Pink likes sleeping on her back.

Master Red is a snuggle bear.

Girls just have to stick together!

Buddies

Nom, nom, nom...

Master Green is happy on his back, too.

Happy Momma Elsie. :)

Puppies Nursing, Three Days Old

Look at how far the pups have come in just three short days!  Bigger, stronger, more coordinated. :) 

And you can tell when Elsie's milk "lets down" (notice when all the pups seem to quiet and stop wriggling so, and some start pointing their tails -- something they'll all do in the next day or two).

This clip is much shorter, but I just took this one. This is as close as you'll get to "live" for now! ;)

Puppy Video: 3 Days Old; Miss Pink Can't Find Breakfast

This is a bit longer a video than I usually post (almost 4 minutes long), but poor Miss Pink was having a dickens of a time finding Elsie's teats.

Everything in me wanted to swoop in and redirect her, but the struggle to find Elsie (and the movement it requires) is good for the pup; it strengthens her muscles and helps her grow in coordination.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, after this clip finished, Elsie plumped herself back down on the pile. So, yes, I ended up swooping in anyway. 

Oh my!

Momma Elsie

Elsie, aka Jugs, is a fabulously attentive mom. She nuzzles her pups and nurses them, potties and nurses them, grooms and nurses them, cleans their den and nurses them. Did I mention she nurses them, too?

Egad. I can't imagine.

But Elsie takes it all in stride. It's just part of being a mom. And she seems comfortable enough with it all (she often falls asleep nursing).

What amazes me is how many different positions she can find for nursing. So far, her favorite position in which to nurse the pups is sitting (this will  probably change to standing when the pups are bigger, or least that's what she's preferred in the past). But she nurses them all kinds of ways.

Take a look:

all that nursing must grow tiresome, but the Elsie girl seems to have the patience of a Saint. And, to boot, she can sleep anywhere in any position on any surface.

Boy, do I sometimes wish I was more like her!

Ah...then again, maybe not.  Egad.

'til next time.
Joan

Introducing the Puppy Gang!

Here they are, Elsie's six pups, pictured together in one collage.

The pups appear in order of birth, and their birth dates and current weights appear below the picture (you can click on the picture to see it in its own window).

Top row, left to right:

Miss Lime, born 3/30, current weight: 1 lb 5 oz (up 7.5 ounces since birth)
Master Blue, born 3/30, current weight: 1 lb 6.5 oz (up 7.5 ounces since birth)
Master Red,born 3/30, current weight: 1 lb 5.5 oz (up 6.5 ounces since birth)

Bottom row, left to right:

Master Green, born 3/30, current weight: 1 lb 6 oz (up 7 ounces since birth)
Miss Pink, born 3/31, current weight: 1 lb 3 oz (up 5.5 ounces since birth)
Master Yellow, born 3/31, current weight: 1 lb 3.5 oz (up 6 ounces since birth)

All are suckling well, gaining weight as they should, becoming increasingly mobile, vocalizing appropriately, and doing what they should be doing at two-to-three-days old. And though the last two were born nearly a day after the first, they're all well within healthy weight ranges of each other (meaning they're all getting enough milk, and no one is being deprived).

So far so good.  :)

Today's big excitement was getting their nails trimmed. Tomorrow will be a quiet day.  Then on Monday morning they'll have their dew claws removed.

So there you have it: the gang is here and thriving! :)

'til next time,
Joan

Puppy Movement at Two Days Old (short video)

Cuteness Alert: Puppies Day 2

Miss Lime's butt is about the size of Elsie's paw.

You can still see a little of the light-green meconium staining Miss Lime entered the world with, but it's already faded quite a bit.

We're starting to see the puppies piling on top of each other. We love puppy piles!

The pups will get their nails trimmed today when both DH and I will be here and awake at the same time. Those tiny nails can shred Elsie's belly, so they need to be kept trimmed, and it's a two-person job (well for us..lol...other people can do it single-handedly) :)

All is safe under Momma Elsie's arm (well, front leg). :)

Love that shine (a shiny coat is one indicator that all is well).

They're sleepy little bears, especially at this stage when 95% of their time is spent sleeping

Even at this age, the differences in proportion begin to show. Miss Pink (girl-top center) and Master Yellow (boy -left), both 13.5 ounces at birth, were the last two born, arriving only 20 minutes apart.  Yet look at the difference in the widths of their heads (Master Red was born the previous day, so he's not the most accurate comparison). We suspect Miss Pink will be more like her mom and that Master Yellow may have the blocker head of his dad (our Tuc).

Gotta love the Yoda ears. :)

The Need for Whelping Box Rails

Long time readers have seen me write on this before, but I thought I'd throw a brief explanation in for those more recent to following the adventures of our gang.

Because new-born puppies can't regulate their body temperatures (can't pant to cool off; can't shiver to warm up), they're instinctively drawn to their mother's body warmth. To supplement her warmth, we keep a heat lamp above the whelping box so the pups can stay warm wherever they roam in the box (near mom or not). The long-held-breeding addage "a cold puppy is a dead puppy" is unfortunately too true; puppies need to stay warm to stay alive.

In our case, remember: we have a 100-pound dam and 1-pound neonates -- smothering is very possible if the pups, in their search for warmth, get too close and Elsie rolls the wrong way. Yes, our 24/7 puppy watch helps ensure the pups won't be smothered under their mom, but the railings on the whelping box sides go a long way toward preventing smotherings, too. Especially when the pups snuggle in along Elsie's back and outer side.

Take a look:

Puppies wedged behind Elsie's back, but protected from being rolled back on by the pvc pipe rail above them.

One black pup behind Elsie's lower back, again, protected by the pvc pipe railing should she roll back to rest on her side.

Master Blue nuzzling from behind, but with room underneath the pipe to wiggle out safely if Elsie rolls fully onto her side.

Without the railings, the puppies could easily be trapped between the walls, floor, and Elsie's back without any room for escape.

The rails, though they don't prevent all smothering possibilities (for instance, if Elsie lies down on top of a pup in the center of the box), they do eliminate the risk of trappings that can occur along the whelping box walls.

In this case, I moved the pup. :)

Why PVC pipe?  The first whelping box DH designed used 2x4s bolted into the walls, like narrow shelves, for rails.  They worked wonderfully when the puppies were small.  But when the pups were able to get up on their feet, and then started teething, the 2x4s became teething rails.  Ack!  To boot, the wood was difficult to keep clean.

So, DH designed a new whelping box (used with Kenya's litter last year for the first time). He switched to PVC piping for rails: easy to wipe off; more comfortable for Elsie to rest her head on; more difficult for the pups to consider chewing (later on), lighter and easier to use during assembly, yet every bit as effective as a whelping box anti-smothering rail.

We're always thinking; always adapting; always learning, trying to do the best we can by these puppies and their moms. So we change things up as we learn better ways.

Our thinking is this: Though we can't give pups life, we can do our best to protect and  foster the health of the precious lives entrusted to us.

Call us crazy. But it's all we know to do. And we'll continue to it this way until we find one better. :) 

In any case, so far, so good. All is well.

'til next time,
Joan

Why We Puppy Watch

From when the pups are whelped until they reach 10-to-14 days old, we do what we call 24/7 puppy watch.

Not all breeders do this, of course, but after losing one pup from Elsie's litter in 2007 to accidental smothering (something I didn't even know about at the time), I can't rear puppies any other way.

You see, sometimes dams (especially new moms) aren't careful about where they sit or how they roll onto their sides.  Elsie, super mom that she is, in her desire to provide for and be close to her pups, will sometimes drop herself too close. Sometimes she even lies down on top of the them.

Here, see for yourselves:




This wouldn't matter if the pups could wiggle their ways out. But they don't develop that kind of strength and coordination until they approach being two weeks old.

Many good, responsible breeders (far more seasoned and experienced than we) chalk newborn smothering up to part of the loss involved in puppy raising, just as they would newborn loss to congenital defect or fatal deformity (also part of the reality and risks involved with breeding).  It's just the way of things.

But I can't do things that way.

I'm not saying that how we handle this risk is the only way to handle it, but it's the only way I can deal with it in good conscience. It's the only way I can live with myself.

So we puppy watch. :)  By "puppy watch" I mean that someone stays close to whelping box doing head checks every few minutes twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week, until we're confident the pups are big enough and strong enough to get out from underneath Elsie if she sets herself down on them. It means preemptively intervening when we think a pup could smother. It means paying close attention, especially when Elsie moves, to make sure all is well.

Since DH works a "real" job 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, I take the puppy watch for night shifts and day shifts while he sleeps and works, then he takes the evening shift (from when he gets home to 11:30 p.m.) during which I sleep. That way we both can get regular sleep and the pups can still be watched 24/7.

So here I sit at the kitchen table next to the whelping box keying away on my laptop glancing every few minutes at the sweet furry faces below me while listening to their contented songs. I find myself listening all the time, much as I did when my babies (my human kids) were newborns. I leave my place here at the table only long enough to warm my coffee or take a potty break, or grab something to eat, but I never stop listening.  If Elsie moves, I'm there in a second. And I'll be doing the same thing a week from now. DH does the same on his watch.

Yes, it's exhausting, and yes it means DH and I literally pass each other in the night, but it's only for a season. A very short season at that, and only once a year.

It's what we do. It's part of our puppy-rearing commitment and process.  And it's the only way we can do this and sleep well (when we sleep) for these first couple weeks.

Along the same vein, this potential for puppy smothering is also why we use rails in the whelping box. Long time readers already know about this, but we have newer readers now following this litter who may not know. We'll talk about that in the next post.

Until then,
Joan

Photo Summary: Pinot and Pups

Before updating again about the litter and Elsie (they're just fine, btw), I thought I'd put up a few pictures of Pinot's reaction to the pups.  Her fascination makes us giggle every time.

Pinot, long-time readers know, is the pup we kept from Elsie's first litter (you can check out the archives on the left from August 2007 to see that litter's whelping and development).  She's a sweetheart (loves her humans to pieces) with the strongest drive to retrieve we've ever seen. Athletic and focused, she isn't one we thought would've been "mothering" about or terribly interested in other pups.  We were wrong.

Here she is, our Pinot, checking out the litter she's be anxiously awaiting and looking for since we brought out the whelping box.

Maybe her antics will make you giggle, too.

She just can't get enough.

More to come!  :o)

Until then,
Joan