April 16, 2007.
Puppies have started to go to their new homes. Thank goodness :)

This final week with the litter, their mom, and the other older dogs was very important as they learned a lot about socialization. They also bit each others ears, attacked anything they could and pretty much acted like puppies ridgeback puppies.

We will miss them all as they leave, but we are very much looking foward to a nice rest.

April 9, 2007.
The puppies have had a busy week. They all passed their vet check and got their first shot. The vet weighed them all and the weights ranged from 12.5 to 14.5 pounds. They have gotten so big one crate in the puppy room was no longer big enough, so we added dog bed under the people bed. They were so pleased with their new bed, that they they all squashed in, leaving the crate empty till the novelty wore off.

The weather turned bad and dropped below freezing so we were not able to get the puppies outside for several days. To get them some excercise, we let them run around our kitchen. I left the dishwasher door open for just a second and they climbed on.

On Sunday the weather turned warmer and we got them back outside in the puppy pen. I was taking pictures through the fence and didn't notice one of them was trying to go under until I looked at the picture. Later, we let them out in the big yard with the big dogs and the chase was on. Finally tuckered out, we got them all back into the house, and crambed back into the new bed.

April 2, 2007.
Puppies will be 6 weeks old tomorrow. They are really getting big. All are over 10 pounds. We have them outside for as many hours as we can. At sundown we bring them in. Hpefully, we will continue to have nice weather because they really like the play pen outside. So much more room to run and play.

Today it was hot enough to dump the wood chips out of the pool and add the water instead. The puppies kept getting into the pool while we were trying to clean and fill it.

March 27, 2007.
5 weeks and the weather has gotten warm enough to get the puppies outside for meals. They are spending about 3 hours a day right now outside. If the weather holds, we will leave them out a little longer.

Mom is still nursing, but she only a couple times a day and she growls at them now after just a few minutes. Within a few days, she will stop nursing alltogether. Puppes are playing, biting, and growling. They are also eating dirt and dried leaves. Just like little kids, everything goes into the mouth.

March 20, 2007.
At 4 weeks, the puppies are now running around, playing, biting each other, and picking up toys.

We moved the puppies from the whelping box into the puppy room a few days early with this litter as they were already trying to get out of the box. The first day is always an adjust for mom and the pups. Alex even got into the crate to nurse them on day one, but they are all now nursing standing up. They are eating solids 3 times a day at this point, and nursing 4-5 times a day (whatever mom wants).

Alex has her own bed in the room so she can lay down and watch the puppies, but she is reqesting to be out of the room now for most of the day.

March 13, 2007.
At three weeks, the puppies really start to change. Their eyes are working, their ears are open, and they have sharp little teeth. At this point, they will start moving away from where they sleep to empty their bladders so we add paper at the end of the whelping box to start their training. They miss the paper alot :)

We have started feeding them water softened Canidae 3 times a day and they are just about big enough to stand up and nurse from Alex. As you can see from some of the pictures below, it's important they move to a sanding position to nurse, because there just is not enough room for the bigger puppies to lay down and nurse all at once.

March 6, 2007.
Puppies are almost 2 weeks old. They have just about doubled their size again this last week. Seven puppies is a small litter for Alex so she has plenty of milk and puppies are actually getting a little chubby. They will stay on mom's milk only for one more week.

Their eyes are now open and they are walking around on wobbly legs. It's actually natural for puppies even this young to move away from where they sleep to empty their bladders (unless mom empties it for them by licking). I managed to catch one of them moving away on shaky legs from the litter, then back. The puppies eyes are still not focused so the puppy screamed all the way back, while trying to find the litter. Very cute.

February 27, 2007.
Puppies will be one week old this evening. Eyes and ears are still closed but they are growing fast. They have all doubled in size going from just over 1 pound to over 2 pounds each. They have all struggling to get up on all 4 feet, not quite there, but they can scoot themselves across the whelping box very quickly.

I took the set of pictures this morning, while they were resting. In the first one, you can just see Alex warning me not to wake them up as she just got them back to sleep.

February 21, 2007.
Alex delivered 7 healthy puppies last evening. 4 Boys, 3 girls. Pups and mom are doing fine.

With a big thanks to all the folks at www.whelpwise.com for all their great help in making sure Alex and her puppies had a safe delivery. It was a very long night made much easier with your help!