The I Litter
Born August 22, 2010
Click here for Puppy Pictures!
Click here for info on the Parents.
Holly surprised me by delivering about 3 days ahead of schedule. The first pup arrived at 11:55 AM on Sunday morning. The seventh pup arrived at 3:24 PM. Needless to say, things went fairly quickly once the pups started making their appearance.
Out of the seven pups, there are 5 males and 2 females. Three of the males are clear sable and white. One is a tri-color and one appears to be sable & white that should be colored like Holly, when all is said and done. There is one clear sable & white female, with the last pup being a tri-color girl.
I tried to keep with our theme of litter names based on places in NC beginning with the letter I, but was finding that hard to do. I looked at options like using "I" people names. Did you know there aren't that many? I looked at using names of all the places Holly & I traveled through to get to IL and back. Still wasn't happy with what I was coming up with in the way of names. My daughter suggested that "I" could stand for Islands. This works! So, we are taking a trip to the Islands of NC for our names this time around.
Week 1 - This first week has been fairly quiet, but I expect that to change as the pups open their eyes and start to get around next week.
Week 2 - What a difference just one or two days makes in the litter. On day 12, most of the pups eyes began to open. On day 14, we are still waiting for 2 of the pups' eyes to finish opening up, but I can see "slits" of color beginning to show. All pups are getting around fairly quickly, especially when Holly goes into the pen to feed. They have started sitting, trying to walk, licking the bars to the pen & even a little bit of playing among themselves. All pups are being handled on a daily basis which includes things like cutting toenails (at least once a week), holding & touching toes, reclining them on their backs in my arms, touching all parts of their faces and heads, etc. As they become more mobile this coming week & steadier on their feet, their world will expand as they learn how to escape the puppy pen!
Week 3 - All the pups are growing bigger, sometimes it seems as though they get larger from one minute to the next! Indy is still "smaller" than the rest of the crew, but is growing appropriately for his size. I still think that by the time they are 8 weeks old there will be very little difference in all of their sizes. All pups are walking well, playing with each other, have been introduced to some toys, are beginning to expand their world by being out of the pen. Right now all enjoy climbing up and over our legs & into our laps. The daily handling is paying off as they are more confident about being lifted high up off the floor as well as being on their backs in my arms. Several of the pups have almost scaled the low wall of the pen. At 15 days old, I stood at one side of the pen, and made a "kissing"/calling sound. All pups listened & looked for the sound origin. I had several who also associated my presence with attention & immediately came across the pen to me, all the while, looking up at me. Teeth have come in. Now the fun begins. 😉
Week 4 - (really 4 1/2 weeks) The pups continue to explore, not only inside the house, but outside this week. Holly is still their mainstay for food, but they have begun eating some "gruel" type of solid food this week. Teeth are being used to explore everything, including my fingers, shoes, clothing ... Most of the time a well placed growl at the pups will make them back off in that respect. Pups can scale the small side of the sleeping pen, along with making it up on the first step leading up to the porch. Going out into the grass, into the flowers, on the sidewalk did not seem to faze a one of them. It has been hot here again this week, so our time outside has been limited to early morning or late afternoon/early evening.
Week 5 - The rain finally moved in after about a month of no rain at all & some cooler temperatures as well! Pictures were slow in coming about since we had to work around the rain on Sunday & Monday. The good thing where the pups are concerned, is that they didn't mind going out in the rain. Pups are eating "real" kibble now, running wild and rampant, flying up and down the front steps onto the porch and starting to show more of their personalities as the days go by. They are following me in and out of the house through the front door without any problems. The pups entertained 3 sets of visitors over the past week & had a great time!
Weeks 6-8 - I got way behind in updating the site, but was busy taking pictures and videos of them. 😉 During week 6, we made two trips to Claire Apple's place for some duck herding and one trip to Autumn Winds Agility Center for some exposure to new things there. All the pups behaved pretty much like I expected them to. Some showed herding instinct the first trip, but not the second time. Some who didn't show herding instinct the first time, did the second trip out. It was bittersweet seeing the pups leave over the course of the 8th week, but knowing that they had good homes made it so much easier. I cried some & so did Holly after the last one left. Things are sort of back to normal at our house here, at least for the time being.
