Alice West

Posted on: June 23 2014

What to expect when you're expecting Puppies - Part 7 - Homing Your Brood

So you’ve made it through week one and the bags under your eyes are showing signs of reducing, but no sooner is one hurdle cleared than another one looms in the near-distance. And we’re not out of the woods yet either, so keep weighing those puppies and writing down all your observations in that notebook. Here’s what to get ready for over the next few weeks.

Kennel Club

If your litter is pedigree you’ll need to inform the KC of their births, though it’s worth waiting a couple of weeks to see how many make it – a morbid but realistic consideration. You can set up an online account with the Kennel Club, enter all...

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• Posted in: Puppy Talk >

Posted on: May 16 2014

Breeds will differ and these are by no means the hard and fast rules, but this is roughly how our litter developed week by week:

Day 10: Eyes open but the puppies are still blind. Eyes are blue and a little milky in colour.

2 Weeks: Ear canals open and puppies responding to noises and voices. Puppies can now see, and will move towards Maisie when she comes into the whelping box. Movements are still very small, and the pups will be squirming on their tummies and using their paws to propel themselves around the whelping box. Very cute, so make the most of it. Soon they'll be everywhere and interested in everything!

3 Weeks: First little teeth come through and puppies are starting to...

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• Posted in: Puppy Talk >

Posted on: May 02 2014

Boy oh boy, this was a tiring week - and an extremely emotional one as it turned out. My last blog post ended with a rosy image of the sun rising over our little house in Oxfordshire with six puppies snuggled up with their mummy in an upstairs bedroom, and the day that followed was pretty much spent watching the puppies, making sure they were all feeding, and making sure Maisie had access to her food and water. She did make her first loo dash a few hours after the last puppy's arrival, and it was no problem for her to be parted with them for a minute or two. Needless to say, she did her business out in the garden quickly and was back with her girls as soon as she could...

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• Posted in: Puppy Talk >

Posted on: April 25 2014

It was actually quite difficult to get into the corner of the box and see what was going on during Maisie's labour, as she was very determined and licked each puppy clean as soon as they were born. The following placentae must have been eaten up immediately too, as we found no evidence of it, apart from lots of staining on the newspaper; every colour from pink to brown to green. I know - lovely! Apparently it's great for the bitch to eat her placenta as it's full of nutrients, though eating it can make her stools rather tarry for some time after.

One, two, three, four...

The first four puppies were born at twenty minute intervals, and our only real involvement was soothing words of...

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• Posted in: Tips & Advice >

Posted on: April 07 2014

So you've made it to P-Day (puppy day) and your girl is around 63 days' pregnant. Exciting times! By this stage you should have the following in place:

Shopping list

• Tons and tons (and TONS and TONS) of newspaper stacked up near the whelping box. We found that removing all stapled sections and opening the papers flat made for swift paper changes when needed. Get organised and ask everyone you know to start saving theirs.
• A whelping box set up in a quiet place away from noise and windows. Your bitch should have been sleeping here for the past couple of weeks so she knows this is her safe place. You can buy these as cardboard flat pack jobs off eBay, or if you're handy with...

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• Posted in: Tips & Advice >