The puppies are getting bigger of course. Now that their eyes and ears are open, they are responding more to their environment, which includes their littermates. They are also climbing out of the wading pool from time to time. I enjoy that since it gives me an excuse to familiarize them with the cold hard floor and other convenient surfaces, as opposed to the puppy blankets they live on now. And it gives me an excuse to cuddle and enjoy them. :)
They are so cute, opening their mouths and sometimes just laying on their backs, or sitting up in a sit, til a wobbling puppy wanders close enough to be tasted. Their little teeth are also coming through and very pointy fangs are among them! Zor sometimes doesn't look very comfy when a puppy tugs especially hard! Ouch. She'll nudge them quickly. She'll teach them to be careful with those teeth. :)
Some puppies with their mouths open as they look at each other. 3 weeks old.
That's "Darth" mouthing the back of his littermate "Batman".
They mouth each others paws, ears, fur. They mouth Zor. They mouth people too. They can certainly give one the
weirdest sensation when they suck on ones earlobe or nosetip if held up in a cuddle/nuzzle! eeeeee!!! :p
Above: They aren't really playing dominance games yet, but I did find this picture in the mass of pics I've been taking lately.
That's the smallest female (of three) climbing on top of "Darth", the black headed male. In a few seconds, they just fell into a heap and went to sleep, so there wasn't the sort of hierachy going on as one sees in older dogs who are playing this way.
Their paws are enlarging now, to better support their roly polyness.
Above: Liver female, middle fawn female, and a brother (laying down).
Liver female seems to be a character. She's vocal, more active and the largest of her sisters at the moment.
Here's "Darth" kissing his mommy, Zor above.
Chocolate girl.
Did I say she is vocal? She seems to have an opinion if Zor doesn't step up with the refreshments quickly enough!
Livers and dilutes do not have eumelanin (true black pigment) in their eyes. That is, they don't have black pigment that can make the deeper brown colors in eyes. Eyes will be blueish for the earliest part of their first year. They will have a dirty tinge to it as it washes to greenish then amber. They are the ones that get the 'red eye' in flash. Eyes of dogs that have black pigment will glow a greenish color when light shines into their eyes.
And of course ... Here is Ruya with the babies.
You can see how roly poly the liver sister is next to one of the males in the litter.
Ruya is from Zor's first litter. She adores playing mommy with the puppies and is so sad, whimpering when she feels left out. :(
Ruya LOVES puppies! She wants to be with them all the time, but Zor's adamant that at least for now, to have the puppies all to herself although that is changing now with the emergence of teeth and the increasing independence of the babies. So I've not been giving Ruya regular access to the litter. Once a day at most. Puppies do try to nurse from her but no milk is forthcoming although I think if she had constant access to them, she'd be lactating. Nevertheless, the puppies sleep very soundly after their efforts with Ruya and she is reluctant to leave them. :)
So here I am trying to get cute pics of
puppy faces and end up with
shot after shot of all seven of them averting their heads from the camera.
They're ready to start on very soft solid food. I generally start with a messy but easy-to-digest goat milk and baby rice cereal goop with a little cottage cheese. They walk in it and get it everywhere but they get used to lapping that up, then I move them on to soaked/softened puppy chow with kefir added as a probiotic.
Naptime!
Edited Nov 13, 2006
- Nicknames of pups -
Making a small case 'j' starting with three pups making the 'dot' over the 'j' at the top:
Mr T - collar
Spot
J
Darth - black head
Neil
Coco - chocolate pup
Batman - the one with the head upside down on the left
Labels: 2006Litter
© 2006 
