Missed a Few Pix

Miss Aqua, Day 4

Mr. Lime, Day 4

Miss Pink, Day 5

Mr. Lime, Day 5

Mr. Brown, Day 5

Days 5 & 6

The puppies are all doing well and getting fat :)  Momma Hannah keeps a close eye on them but is starting to spend a little bit of time outside of the whelping box. Their eyes are still closed, but look like they might be opening soon.  We'll be visiting on Sunday, so excited!! So you'll see a ton more pictures.

Keeping watch on her babies

Mr. Brown, Day 5

Mr. Navy, Day 5

Mr. Yellow, Day 5

Mr. Lime & Mr. Navy, Day 6

Better shot of Mr. Lime's head

The girls snuggling, Day 6

Puppy Pile, Day 6

Day 2 & 3

Hannah and the pups are doing well.  Hannah never wants to leave them and has to be encouraged to go outside to potty.  Once finished she rushes back to her babies.

Cleaning up Mr. Brown on Day 2

Miss Aqua on Day 2

   Hannah and Mr. Navy on Day 3.  I just love this picture.  You really can
see how tiny the puppies are and Hannah looks like a typical mom
with newborns, totally exhausted!

Mr. Brown

Three sleeping boys

All of the boys

All of the girls

The Puppies Have Landed

The Breeder's initial guess of 4 boys and 3 girls was spot on :)

Here's her report:

"Hannah's temperature dropped early yesterday morning and she was very clingy until around noon when she settled herself into the whelping box. I thought she was going to go into labor then and there and make things real easy for me.  She came in and out of the box until about 11:00 pm.   She had a rough night, lots of panting. Finally at about 2:15am she finally started having contractions. Needless to say I'm a bit overtired! My plan for today is to take her and the puppies to the vet for a check up, and have some lunch with my dad. The rest of the day I'll be watching the babies, and probably take a nap!

 

Here's the "statistics" in case you are interested.

• Mr. Brown was born at 3:02 and weighed 1 lb

• Miss Pink was born at 3:10, 12 oz

• Mr. Lime was born at 3:30, 1 lb

• Miss Aqua was born at 4:15, 15 oz. She already reminds me of Christy. Full of herself.

• Miss Lilac was born 5:00, 15oz

• Mr. Yellow as born at 5:30. He came out without his sac, and looked like he was saying, "I'm here!" He was very wiggly when I weighed him, he's over a pound

• Mr. Navy arrived at 6:00, 12 oz"

Who has an early guess as to which boy will be ours?

EDD

Today is Hannah's estimated due date.  Everything is ready in the whelping/puppy room, except for Hannah.

Being pregnant in the summer is not easy.

Barefoot and Pregnant

Less than a week to go until Hannah's estimated due date of June 21st. The radiograph shows seven puppies with the breeder's guess being 4 boys and 3 girls.  Hannah was 57 pounds when bred and is now 72 pounds.

Hannah looking good a week before her due date

Is my house puppy ready yet?  No!!  I still have 9 weeks to prepare but it'll go by quickly. Most of all I need to clear out some freezer space so I can start the boy on raw asap. Better yet, I'll clear out a space in the garage for a bigger freezer.

Out of My Hands

All my fretting and back and forth about which breeder to go with has been pointless.  Breeder #2's dog is not pregnant so there's no decision to be made.  I was sad at first, but then realized I didn't feel that upset since I was still really excited about getting a puppy from Breeder #1.  The decision was such a tough one for me all along.  I instantly felt a connection with Breeder #1 and her dogs so I do not feel like I am settling for second best at all. She might not feed raw, but I will once the pup comes home.  She might not follow Dr. Jean Dodd's vaccination schedule, but I can once the pup comes home.  And, it turns out that several dogs in her line have also lived several years past the average.  It just never came up before! Actually, it's kind of nice to have the decision taken out of my hands. I know I will be very happy with one of her pups.

Now it's time to make a list of all the things I want to do to socialize the puppies while they are still with their litter mates.  It's going to be amazing to see the puppies right from the start.

Only two weeks to go then be prepared for photos galore!

Puppy Socialization

Early and positive experiences with novel sights, sounds, and smells is critical to the normal development of puppies. Puppies need to be exposed to a variety of things in the environment while they are forming what is normal and safe in their heads. Many experts say that the critical time for socialization is from 6-12 weeks of age (some extend this to 16 weeks). Depending on where you live and which expert you choose to believe, you might not feel comfortable taking your puppy out and about until his series of puppy shots are complete at 16 weeks.  This means your puppy's socialization could be severely lacking unless you take great efforts to avoid this.

The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior has written a position paper regarding puppy socialization.   

..., the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior believes that it should be the standard of care for puppies to receive such socialization before they are fully vaccinated.

In fact, behavioral problems are the number one cause of relinquishment to shelters. Behavioral issues, not infectious diseases, are the number one cause of death for dogs under three years of age.

The term socialization can mean different things to different people.  Some people feel their puppy is getting enough socialization by playing with the family's other dogs, maybe the few neighborhood dogs, and a small handful of children the family knows.  They don't consider other factors, such as men with hats and beards, people in crutches, dogs of a different breed or size, loud cars, wobbly surfaces, and on and on.  For some people, socialization is synonymous with exposure.  They feel any exposure is good exposure.  This means the puppy might be put in a "sink or swim" situation.  They bring the puppy to the kid's soccer game and smile as hoards of grabby children jockey to hold and hug the overwhelmed pup.

Socialization should be frequent and it's critical that the puppy has a positive experience with whatever you are exposing him to.  Don't leave it to chance.  Don't assume the puppy will enjoy what is going on.  Strong emotional experiences imprint themselves in our brains.  Instead of letting that scar your puppy for life, use it to your advantage.  When a motorcycle zooms by, don't just stand there, start popping something tasty in your pup's mouth. If you can make the connection that loud fast objects bring hot dogs, your puppy will not grow up to be fearful or reactive to motorcycles but instead will start drooling in happiness the second one speeds by.

To give you an idea of the scope of socialization I am talking about Dr. Ian Dunbar suggests that puppies meet 100 new people by the time they are 3 months old. The same few neighbors over and over again will not do the trick. Seek out people from a wide variety of groups. Don't let those 100 people be white females aged 30-40.

In addition to people, you will want your puppy exposed to a variety of dogs and other animals.  Get him used to walking on different surfaces, eating in different rooms and out of different containers.  Handle him gently all over his body and reward him heavily while doing so.  Thing of all the different things he might experience in his life and give him a positive association with it now.

When you bring a puppy home it can be very helpful to have a checklist of the things you want to socialize your puppy to and post it somewhere easily seen in the house.  This will serve as a daily reminder to not waste those precious weeks where your puppy's experiences can shape his adult behavior.

Here are two documents you can download which list a variety of things to exposure your puppy to:

• My own puppy socialization checklist. 

• The Puppy's Rules of Twelve