3 weeks old

I have been told a few times in my time that the time at the waiting end of the deal drags on for a very long time.  I'm here to tell ya that the time at the puppy end zips by in no time at all.

Still with me?

Good.  Now, on to the 3-week portraits.  As always, the puppies at this age might be a little crusty around the edges thanks to their daily porridge experiences.

Tux

Serious puppy

Kukka

Ensi

Got any number of these - perfect poser

Liila

Hard work!

 Tan

And any number of these blurry ones of Tan...

Some more wiggling

nom nom

Puppy porridge day finally came.  This is the puppies' first taste of food other than what Tuuli produces for them.  Here is Ensi's first meal without mum.  Like a duck to water.



And then everyone else joins in the fun. Some are better at it than others, as usual. Oddly, Liila just wasn't interested - she only wanted to chew on her brother. Everyone else had a little lap - mainly from my fingers though. It's a challenge to get enough into them before the porridge goes cold. It can't be too hot to start with because you don't want to burn their mouths, obviously. But it cools very quickly. And tiny puppies are just not interested in cold food.

morning cardio

It's amazing how quickly the puppies develop, even when you get to watch them everyday.  A mere 2 days since the last video in which they were very clumsy, couldn't yet heave themselves to their feet, and 30 seconds of play wore them out so that they all flaked out asleep almost immediately. 

48 hours later and they are doing morning circuits, playing, and - get this! - going to the paper to pee.  I kid you not.  And I have evidence.



You can see a few thing from this video.  Not only walking & playing puppies but also bits of Tuuli's fur all over the place.  It's really starting to come out fast now and by the time the puppies are 11 weeks old, she will be looking like a Lappy refugee.  She will lose not only all her undercoat, but most of her topcoat as well.  Take it from me, Lappies with no fur are funny looking.  Don't ask me why it happens, but it always does. 

You can also see the removable door there on the right-hand side.  We have had to resort to putting the door in because the puppies are already showing rather a lot of interest in the outside world, as you can see.  But it's much easier to take photos & video with the door out of the way.

And you can see the puppies choosing to pee on the paper!  At first I thought it was my imagination, but it keeps on happening.  We are in shock here. 

Finally, the video ends abruptly when Liila approaches the puddle left by one of her siblings and starts to lap at it.  So of course I dropped the camera quick to get her out of harm's way.  That's one habit I don't want them to develop!   Sounds to me like these puppies are ready to start weaning. 

weights & other horror stories

Aw, just kiddin'.  Weights are not a horror story for these puppies - although I cannot deny they are very chubby.  In fact, I was concerned that they would be slow to get up on their feet for being too top-heavy.  But I need not have feared, they are indeed up now and walking around.  Well, kinda.

But it's true they are not a petite bunch, although the stats don't lie - they are no bigger than other litters at this age - and not even as heavy as their dad's litter.  Here's the comparison chart.  Click on the image for a bigger version. 

The horror of this story is the tale of puppy worming.  It's a job I don't look forward to and there are many versions of the story at various points in this blog - you can see them here and here, for example.  It's the first time that the puppies realise that something terrible can come from human hands, and it happens when they are only 2 weeks old.  It's a sad day.  It's a sad 3 days, actually, because you have to do it 3 days in a row.  Poor puppies.

First I cover myself carefully and well with a towel because I have learned from bitter experience just how far this stuff can travel when a puppy shakes his head to get the foul stuff OUT of his mouth and ON me.

Then I lull them into a false sense of security with yummy milk in a syringe.  Then without warning, in goes the wormer.

Tux: "Ok, this milk ain't so bad"

Kukka:  "Not sure about this..."

Kukka:  "Nooooo!  Make it stop!

WAH!

Ensi:  "What did you just do to me?!"

playing

Have you been wondering what it looks like when 2-week-old puppies start learning to play?  Well now you know.  You're welcome. 

2 weeks old

Two weeks gone already.  The puppies are big and strong, their eyes are open (mostly) and they are taking notice of their surroundings.  That means they are looking at their mum, looking at the big monsters who swoop down over their box and scoop them up for cuddles, and looking at each other.  Looking at each other means they are starting to play.

What's exceedingly cute is the fact that although they are trying to play, they cannot yet walk and they can't even quite stand up.  Just too, too cute!

Here's how they are looking.  As I was going through the photos, the thing that really struck me is is how very alike they all look - with the obvious exception of Liila who, apart from being, y'know, brown, also has rather distinct markings.

Tux

Kukka

Ensi

Liila

Tan

eyes

And the winner of the poll is.....

LIILA!

I know!  I'm as shocked as you are.  Frankly, she was the last one I would have expected to be the last one at anything.  She's so big and strong and advanced in other ways.  She reminds me very much of her granny Keksi when she was a tiny puppy and ruling the whelping box with an iron paw. 

But as of last night Liila has STILL not opened her eyes.  She's in no rush, obviously.  I guess, like her granny, she will be a chilled soul with her own laidback agenda.  For her future owners' sakes we can hope that is true. 

As proof, here are the photos taken a few days ago when the first wave started to see the world.

Kukka

Tan was one of the first to open his eyes

Liila

Tomorrow I hope to get the 2-week photos up.  Don't hold me to that, though...

sleepy

Puppies at this age are developing fast and getting stronger by the day.  They are exercising almost constantly, crawling around and suckling when they are awake and stretching and twitching when they're not.  There is an enormous amount of activity going on all the time - even when they are ostensibly asleep.  It's tiring business all this growing.

S-t-r-e-t-c-h

Tan yawning

Liila yawning

More yawning

More stretching

Wow - there's quite a difference now between the photos taken with my phone and those taken with the new lens on the camera.  But when the moment arrives, you have to work with whatever comes to hand quickly.  Most of the time, that's the phone.  Naturally. 

pretty cute

The puppies are looking huge now

For the first 4 weeks of their lives, the puppies live in the whelping box where they were born.  Each day when I clean the whelping box, I transfer the puppies into a smaller box out of the way.  It's the same box that holds the hot water bottle while the puppies are being born.  They go in there while Tuuli is busy producing each brother and sister.

By now, though, the box is too small to hold them all.  Even with only 4 in there, one is always trying to escape.

Peekaboo

You can see someone there has his eyes open.  And now that the eyes are opening, the puppies start to react to things around them.

Turn out the light!

Liila prefers a dark den but a shelf will do (while she still fits)

Kukka chewing on her own leg

Tux finds something funny

Doing the bottoms - some things never change

hungry

Two of the puppies have hit the 1-kilo mark today - that would be Ensi and Liila.  Yesterday they all started to open their eyes and today most of them are open.  In fact, all of them have opened their eyes today... except for one puppy.  And so to the next poll:

Which puppy has been a bit shy in opening his or her eyes?  You have a couple of days to vote - GO!

And for your enjoyment (but not Tuuli's), here are some very hungry puppies.

puppy bits

Puppy fan from the less-than-1-week-old collection

One blog post that is missing from this litter record is the dew claw day post that I usually do when the puppies are 3 or 4 days old.  The reason?  I am delighted to announce that none of these puppies have rear dew claws!  That's right - zero puppy toes being cut off this time.  What a relief! 

That's the first time I have had a litter of puppies with none at all.  The Riemu litter had one puppy with one rear dew claw, but all the rest of the litters had two or more with two or more.  No, that's not a typo.  One puppy in the Tuisku litter had double rear dew claws!

For a brief summary of the agonising I go through every time there are dew claws to deal with, check out dew claw day for Tuuli's last litter.  There are some pretty cute photos of puppy toes on that post too.

Other bits of Lappy puppies are also pretty cute.   Like bellies, for example.  Lappies love to sleep on their backs, and tiny Lappies are no exception.  Ensi was the first to do it but I expect to get many more shots of puppy bellies as time goes on. 

"Zzzzzz"

And check out how cute Kukka is sleeping with her chin on her paws.

Sleeping like a big dog

A collection of bottoms & tails

A sister provides a handy step up for reaching the upper level of the milk bar.







And on the subject of climbing, these puppies might not be able to see yet, but they are already trying to climb out of the holding box I use while I'm cleaning the main box.  Well, one of them is, anyway.  I wonder who will be the first to climb out of the whelping box?  I can feel another poll coming on...

Lemme out!

Today's happy mama & babies shot

1 week weights

And the winner of the weight poll is.....

ENSI

There was never any doubt, really, was there?  Although I admit that around about mid-week I thought Liila was going to catch him up.  Here are the stats.

And because I'm just nerdy like that, here is the average litter weight comparison chart.

And, finally, here are a few puppy photos.  The good news is that we have a brand new camera lens - big thanks to a generous friend for that!

Ensi snoozing

Tan snoozing

Liila snoozing

Puppy pile