Day Three Hundred and Fifty Six - Two Weeks Old

Today the diamonds turned two weeks old, and they continue to go from strength to strength.  They are showing every indication that they will soon be up on their feet, and you can just start to see the little eye slits which tells me that we will have eyes open in a few days time.

They are strong, and .... well, frankly .... quite chubby!  Over the last five days all of them have passed the one kilo mark, with Cartier at one and a half kilos - making them by far the strongest growing litter on average that I have had.  Must be all that time at the milk bar!

Of course, it being a week birthday, that also meant it was time for their photo shoot this evening.  Here is our group, followed by their individual photos:

Cartier:

Tiffany:

Winston:

And because I have been a little slack posting over the last couple of days, two bonus photos:

Day Three Hundred and Fifty Three - The Heat

It has been a very hot weekend, and the puppies have happily given away their warm cuddly vet bed for a toweled surface, even kicking those aside to lie on the cool surface of the whelping box at times.  I am lucky that my house stays quite cool during hot weather, but even then it is uncomfortable for the pups.

On Saturday we needed to head to Monash for Emmi to have her stitches removed.  A three hour round trip, plus time spent there, and I certainly couldn't leave them home at this age for that long without her.  But I was quite concerned about travelling with them once I saw the weather forecast.  I packed a number of ice packs in a freezer bag to be on the safe side, and a good thing I did too, because half way there the air conditioner in my car stopped working!

Up until then they'd been sleeping soundly, but by the time we arrived, the pups were clearly very unhappy so we found a nice spot in the back of the clinic for them to have a feed and settle.  They quickly abandoned the soft cuddly vet bed for the cool surface of the clinic floor and settled in for another sleep.

Which allowed Emmi to have a thorough check up.  While she and the pups are doing really well, Friday night I had noticed she was looking a bit pink and a little weepy along the line of stitches.  And the vet confirmed what I thought, that although her wound itself has healed beautifully, she has developed a slight infection from the foreign body of the stitches.  They were removed, which should solve that issue, but she also needs to go on another course of antibiotics to be on the safe side.

The pups' crate was lined with ice-packs covered in towels for the long hot drive home.  That got them through most of the drive happily, but for the last 20 minutes, I could tell they were getting quite uncomfortable again.  I couldn't have been more pleased to get them home to our nice cool house.

Today they, and Emmi, have spent a nice quiet day, while Louis, who has been missing out on a fair bit of attention, got to drop in on the Finnish Lapphund Club of Victoria's picnic, to visit with some friends.

Here is our keeping cool method of sleeping!

Day Three Hundred and Fifty One - A Long Night

We had a bad night with Tiffany last night and lots of broken sleep as a result.  About 2.30am she started whinging.  She was very restless and unhappy, yet not remotely hungry, while her unsympathetic brothers lay sound asleep.  I've had a pup with a middle of the night tummy-ache before, so I was pretty sure what we were dealing with, and she had either over-indulged or managed to swallow an air bubble with her milk LOL.  Temperature in the room was right, and I checked her body temperature to be sure, and she was right as well.

There wasn't a lot I could do other than make sure Emmi had cleaned her thoroughly, and hold her upright for a little relief with tummy rubs.  She would occasionally drift off to sleep, but before too much longer she was restless and whining again.

About 4am she regurgitated a little bit of milk, Emmi cleaned her down and she fell fast asleep!  Phew.  Just in time to give me one hour of sleep before I needed to get up for work!  There are sometimes when the comparison with caring for a human baby is a bit too uncanny for words!

Here they all are, contented again with fat bellies!

We are heading into a couple of days of very hot weather now, and I can tell the pups aren't too happy about how warm it is.  While the last week or so has been spent making sure they are kept warm, I suspect the next few days will be spent doing the opposite.

Day Three Hundred and Fifty - First Nail Trim

Phew!  Well we survived our first nail trim tonight!  The pups get tiny trims on a weekly basis to keep their nails short and ensure mum's body isn't abused too much  LOL.  Of course, being held still to enable a precision trim without any accidents is not exactly something they take to happily.  Those nails are so tiny!  It is quite the art to get them done quickly and with as little drama as possible.  Lots of cuddles in between to steady the pups, and a quick reward at the milk bar is the order of the day!

Only having three to do is quite pleasant really!

Day Three Hundred and Forty Nine - Week 1 Photos

It was time for another photo shoot today to celebrate the diamond's first week birthday!

This is our beautiful group:

And this is what they think of photo shoots!!!

So for our Week 1 individual photos .....

Cartier:

Tiffany:

Winston:

Day Three Hundred and Forty Eight - Double the Birth Weight

It has been quiet the last couple of days as we adjust to a more normal routine, with me back at work, and grandparent visits during the day to check that all is well.  It is hard to be doing boring mundane things like earning a living, when it would be much more fun appreciating puppy sights every day :-).

We did hit a milestone this evening though, with all the pups now double their birth weight.  Given that they all lost a fair bit on day one, they have done amazingly well.

A couple of photos of the last couple of days ....

Day Three Hundred and Forty Six - Healthy and Strong

It is just amazing me how healthy and strong these babies are.  I've never had a litter which has grown so well.  Today's eating and sleeping photos should show just how much they are growing already!  There are some fat little tummies there!

Day Three Hundred and Forty Five - First Photo Shoot

Today was the day for our first photo shoot.  We will do this weekly as the puppies grow, to include as a record on the Armahani website (see the Current Treasure page). It is alway nice to have the first photos taken close to their birth, and once they have settled and are growing nicely.

Of course, no photo shoot is complete without a couple of candid shots at the milk bar and sleeping (the sleeping pair are Cartier and Tiffany):

And so now, we can introduce our diamonds individually!!

Cartier:

Tiffany:

Winston:

Day Three Hundred and Forty Four - Growing

If the pups keep up their weight gain of today, I think they'll be rolling out of here ... I'm not sure their little legs will carry them!  Clearly there was more of the eating happening today and less of the sleeping!

Here are some photos from today: