Eyes are opening, they are begining to hear things, and they have become interested in what mom is eating. Some mom’s will not let them sample their food, so it’s up to us to get them eating well. Because there is another thing that has been happening since they were born. Something that generally leads to their eventual weaning.

Teeth! When they are three weeks old you can begin to feel their teeth just under the surface of the gum. Those very pointy, sharp things called “milk teeth” emerge quickly. Why they are called milk teeth and not weaning teeth is beyond me.

As they those sharp needles come out of the gums and the pups forget to not use them while nursing, puppies get less and less milk. Mom will just up and leave right in the middle of dinner. Often times she will sit or stand to feed them now rather than lay down. Mom will also lay outside of the whelping box to avoid ear pulling and fur bites. They have just begun to play, they mouth each other and climb around. Their mobility is still unsteady and they just topple over and do a roll or two before they get back up and go on their way. They don’t become steady for a while yet.

Earlier I mentioned that their ears have opened up. They can hear, and this is a great time to use there names or teach them other words for coming, like “puppy, puppy”. This helps in  identifing their name with themselves, or as a group with the puppy call. I do this when I bring them their food.

Eyes are open, although their vision is still very limited. They won’t get their adult eye color in until they get their adult coat. They have the dark “baby blue” eyes for quite some time. However if they are going to be permanent blue it will show sooner

Puppy coats are soft and fluffy but change both in texture and color as they age. For instance, tri colors are born black and white. By 2 weeks the tan has begun to show on their cheeks and above their eyes. They will continue to get more and more red on their faces, shoulder and hips. That is, if they are a red headed or a capped tri. Black headed tris only get a little tan on their cheeks, above eyes, and it is a solid color brake on their legs and bum. Capped tris colors blend where they meet, and generally the have more red or tan than a black headed tri. It’s difficult to say at this point if the puppies will be black headed tri. As far as genetics, have  70% chance of of black headed tris. 50%  chance of red headed tris. As they get older it will be easier to tell.

Everyone is growing like crazy! Tahzi is amazing. This is her first time raising puppies, but she acts as though she has done it many times. She is quiet and very gentle with them. She watches where she walked and is very careful to get all of them on one side. It’s great to watch her slowly slide them out of her way with her belly as she oozes down the side of the whelping box. What is really funny is that she needs them into groups sometimes.s Once we found the merle in one pile and the grid in a second pile. We were fostering 2 extra merles, so there was a total of four. Another time she had them segregated by sex.
The little ones are pretty much the same as at birth. They eat, they sleep, the poop, and pee. Dot is a little bit of a loner, he lays off by himself often. Baloo is a gluten, I always find him nursing. I really do mean always!

Later this coming week, probably Friday or Saturday, eyes will begin to open and the will begin to crawl around a tiny bit rather than scoot and paddle around on their bellies. Mom will continue to potty them. Well, she will continue that long past them needing her to. But they still need stimulation until they are anywhere from 2-4 weeks. They will begin to start sampling mom’s food as soon as their eyes are open, and will be able to start eating more solid foods in there third week. In their forth week they should be eating fairly well.

I have had Alaskan Husky and Siberian Huskies wean their pups at 4 weeks! I also had a Samoyed female that still allowed her pups to nurse at three months. We finally had to separate them, puppies out of seeing distance, for her to dry up!
Just know that there is a huge variance in when mom begins weaning. Till this point, they have been getting I munity to illnesses through mom’s milk. Once she begins to cut them off, they begin to lose that immunity. This is a really s dangerous time for them. Mainly because of PARVOVIRUSES. Parvo is a life threatening virus that is highly contagious. Any dog can carry it around on their feet or fur by stepping or rolling in grass that had at some point contained feces that was infected.

Here is a scenàrio that can happen. Your home is completely clean of parvo. UPS rolls up and delivers a package. Perhaps one of the tires on the UPS truck rolled through parvo infected feces. When they pull out, you walk into the driveway to get in your car, check the mail; whatever. You walk where the truck was and then you go back to your house, yard, garage. Now your home is no longer virus free. If your dog is not vaccinated for both strains of parvovirus, they could get it. Older dogs generally have a built up immunity, so they may show no sign of illness. But they are still shedding the virus through their poo. Now any canine that comes and sniffs that poo will be exposed to it. It is so incredibly easy to spread.

Some might think that breeders are paranoid when it comes to their puppies. But you cannot be too paranoid when it comes to protecting these precious lives.

When mom begins weaning, puppies have less and less immunity. Most vaccines are overridden by any remaining antibodies given by mom. So there is a seriously dangerous period between 4 – 12 weeks.

Really, they are in danger right till they are about 6 months, according to veterinarians. The hope is to catch the puppies going off mom’s immunity and bridge the gap fast with vaccines. Veterinarians recommend vaccinating at 8, 12, and 16 weeks. Then yearly boosters.

Personally I do not feel this is an adequate schedule to stave of the devastating effects of PARVO. I begin vaccinating at 4 weeks. Puppies have teeth now, and mom is less inclined to voluntarily get bitten. So they nurse less, getting fewer antibodies. I only vaccinate for Parvo at this time.

At 6 weeks I administer a 7 -way for Canine Distemper Virus, Canine Adenovirus Type 2, Canine Parainfluenza Virus, Canine Parvovirus (modified live viruses), Coronavirus (inactivated virus). I only use Nobivac vaccines, as they are the only ones that positively cover BOTH strains of the Parvovirus other than Neopar.

8 weeks I give another Parvo only shot. 10 weeks is another 7 way. 12 weeks Parvo

16 weeks (4 months) 9 way Canine Distemper Virus, Canine Adenovirus Type 2, Canine Parainfluenza Virus, Canine Parvovirus (modified live viruses), and Leptospira Canicola-Icterohaemorrhagiae (inactivated bacterin).

5 months another booster 9 way Canine Distemper Virus, Canine Adenovirus Type 2, Canine Parainfluenza Virus, Canine Parvovirus (modified live viruses), and Leptospira Canicola-Icterohaemorrhagiae (inactivated bacterin).  You should also vaccinate for rabies at this time.

Now I nwould feel that my puppy was totally protected. Follow up with a yearly booster with lepto and coronavirus protection. Coronavirus has been found to be very rare in some areas and your veterinarian may tell you that vaccinating for it is not necessary. However, if you live in the mountains where a lot of wild animals hang out, I disagree. Or if you hike/camp/recreate in the hills, again I recommended a Corona and Leptospirosis booster.

We generally like to get an x-ray one week before they are due. This way we can get a count, though sometimes it isn’t exact because someone can be hidden under something. Also we can be sure no one is too large to fit through the pelvis.

If someone is too big, that is the time to schedule a cesarian section. It is difficult to know the exact date of the females whelping, just like any mammal. You count days and try to figure it. But they still will surprise you. Tahzi was “due” the 26th of May. Instead she went two days after we x-rayed!

But everything went very smooth. She went into labor at 0200 on the 22 of May. She finished birthing 6 healthy puppies.

This is is, the week we hae been waiting for. Tahzi is nearly due to whelp. This being her very first litter, we are staying with her 24/7. Either I or Laura keeps her with us. That means going to town, getting water, or even chores are done according to her needs.

She is still going for walks, although they top off at about half a mile now at a slow, leisurely walk. A couple months ago she was sprinting everywhere and going out on 3 mile runs down to the mailbox and back.

Her companions are now Autumn and Samurai. They are often found in the yard laying in the shade of the rose bush together, napping the warm afternoon away.

Tahzi’s appetite has become very limited. Things that she normally loves to snack on are found to be disgusting. Ya, its pretty much meat now, or sometimes what I’m eating will at least get a sniff.

We have finally gotten into the new bedroom, and there is a nice private corner she sleeps in during the quiet of the day and the tail end of the night. Our new bed sits up 3 feet so there can be crates stowed underneath for kids that are in season or just feeling kinda cranky, or the ones that still wet the bed at night. But Tahzi still wants to sleep the first few hours up there. Good thing I have Laura to boost her up there! But then I don’t sleep because I am worried she is going to try and jump off the bed! Ahhh.

Tahzi and her pregnancy, last trimester. Well, she is definitely pregnant! We did do an ultrasound at 30 days, but all it did was tell us she was pregnant. Though she wasn’t showing yet, we already knew she was. Her personality has changed, starting in the first week. She became more clingy, and checked in with me more often. Our kids (the Corgis), generally have full run of the yard where they can go roll in gross things, eat even worse things, and their ability to go between Laura and I without limitations. She started sleeping with me again, which she doesn’t generally do because she runs hot most of the time.

Now that we are so close, she has taken to sleeping in a small hole on the wall side of the bed. It is private and easy to keep others out of. She has not yet begun nesting, but I hope I have the whelping box finished before she does. Yikes!

We had planned to do x-rays a week before delivery to try to get a count, and more importantly, make sure everyone is a good size to pass through the pelvis easily. I do not anticipate a problem here, but I like to be prepared if there is. But we ran into a snag.

Natahzi is pretty aloof with strangers at the best of times, and this is very much a stressful time. She will hide behind us, or plain disappear if someone comes over. She does not come for sniffs or pets to any stranger. It isn’t because she was abused or anything, its just her nature. So handing her off to a stranger vet tech to be drug off for x-rays was detrimental to our plan.

It used to be in the ‘good ole days’, that we could go back to the x-ray room and hold the dog ourselves. My kids are generally calm enough with me handling them to get an OFA x-ray without tranquilizing them. Laura and I used to know where everything was located in the clinic, from IVs to sutures, we were always helping with surgeries and standard care. I have attended MANY surgeries as a tech, and even Laura has helped with an emergency cesarian over one Thanksgiving Day.

I used to be a vet tech long ago. I know how to do what is needed as good or better than any “nurse” they have now. Can you guess this is a real sore spot for me? Yep, your right. But I will stop there.

The point is that we canceled our appointment we had made with our clinic that we have been going to since 1995 because of their “you can’t go in the back with your kid” attitude. Instead, we called someone else that will let us hold Tahzi’s paw while she gets x rayed. That appt is on the 20^th of May.