Hope's Puppies 2010

At 3 weeks of age all of the puppies eyes are open. Their sense of smell is still the strongest for them and that is the way they identify each other, and us. Hope is a bit short on her milk supply, so we've started supplementing with a bottle. It is quite popular and they do a high-speed wobble to get over to me (you'll see in one of the pictures how eager they are). Next week they will start eating puppy mash (dog food that is soaked in water to soften with goat's milk added).

The puppies are growing! All of the puppies are well over a pound now, and some closer to 2 pounds. I'm seeing signs of their eyes starting to open, which should happen over the next week. Both eyes and ears open pretty close to the same time.

Here is the litter of puppies at 1 week of age. They're all filling out and gaining weight. It's fun to watch them grow and change!

I couldn't resist posting this 3 day picture. These puppies are "in the zone" doing what they like best at this age. They sure do grow fast.

Here's the litter - 9 total puppies with 5 males and 4 females.

My comment earlier about being done before midnight... well we didn't make it! Puppy number 9 arrived at 12:15 and weighed in at 7 1/4 - a female.

Puppy number 8 is a male, weighing in at 9 1/4 and born at 7:21 p.m.

Here's the litter so far - 7 total. We're all getting a little rest at the moment.

Here's number 7, a male, weighing in at 8 7/8 and born at 5:06. These puppies are keeping Gene and I hopping!

Here's number 6, a female weighing in at 7 1/2 oz, born at 5:00 p.m.

These two puppies came out within 5 minutes of each other! The green collar is a male - number 4 weighing, 7 1/4 oz and the pink collar is a female - number 5 weighing 7 1/2 oz.

The first 3 puppies nursing. This stimulates contractions and milk production.

The third puppy is a female, born at 3:58 - 8 1/8 oz - I'm barely keeping up with delivering and blogging! So far, so good :-) Maybe we will be done before midnight!

The second puppy is a male, born at 3:49, weighed 10 1/2 oz. Here are both boys:

Here we go with puppy number one, born at 3:04 p.m. - a male, 11 3/4 oz

Update 6/29/10: You know what they say about the "watched pot never boils". Well that's how we feel with Hope at the moment. She's showing signs of labor, but has not quite started delivering her puppies yet. All is well and they will come out when they're ready!

Hope is bathed, shaved and ready to have her puppies any day. I took her to the vet today for an x-ray and we counted 9 or 10 puppies!