Day Sixteen 

A lot of changes are happening now. They are starting to interact with each other, and it is quite fun to watch. They try to mouth each other to see who has the biggest mouth. Then they knock each other over. I tried to get a video of it but by the time I thought to do that it was too late, and they tottered back to the bed. I am happy that every one of them leaves the nest to go potty already.

They had a visitor today which was a trial to see how Tiffin would react to someone holding her babies. She was ok but concerned at first. Then her tail started to wag, and she was fine. Maks on the other hand was a total lunatic. He didn't want a stranger to even go near the pups. I had to crate him. I have never seen him act this way before. 

Today I started something I call PSST conditioning. I am conditioning them to react to a quiet sound. Back before BAER testing people would do different things to see if the puppy had hearing or not. One method used and I'm sure still probably used today was making a loud noise like banging two pans together. Of course, hearing pups would react, but sometimes deaf ones would too because they could feel the vibration. Back then we assumed Dals were either hearing or deaf. We didn't really know about unilateral hearing.  

Back in 1981 at my first National I met a wonderful lady from New Mexico by the name of Cathy Nogar from Hopi Kachina Dalmatians.  Cathy taught me a lot about breeding and raising dogs but the one thing she taught me that I have used ever since was PSST. What I do is I make a very quiet sound like you would to get someone's attention.  Pssst  While I am making that sound, I pop a tiny piece of ground beef into their mouth. Once their ears are open and they hear that sound they know something good to eat is coming and they will jump up from a sound sleep. I will use the sound when Tiffin comes in to feed them and later on when I am feeding them.  I will watch each puppy a million times laying on the right side or laying on the left side and I will be relatively certain of the hearing status of each ear before the BAER testing is done. I did it once today and they were curious as to what that yummy thing I gave them was. I will do it twice tomorrow and every day. I haven't seen anything that tells me they are hearing yet but, in a few days, I think I will.

Here are some pictures from today. The yawning boy is Avalanche. He is getting cuter every day.

What's not to love about Tiffin and bunny. Bunny got thrown in the washer today because one of the puppies pooped on his nose. 

Merry Christmas and Season's greetings to all!

Day Fifteen 

The puppies are starting to leave the sleeping area to potty. I am enjoying watching them figure this all out now that they can see. I am waiting for them to start interacting with each other. 

 The first picture is Chill and bunny having a nap together. 

I was happy to see that they are making their way back to the bed after they eat.

Great great grandpa Maks loves to take a peek at the babies. He feels totally left out of this whole thing, but he is scoring extra treats when he gives that "woe is me" pathetic look.

I am so happy that Shiver is now 2 pounds. She is tiny but that doesn't stop her. Here is a video of my little overachiever finding her way to the milk bar.

As many of my friends know Dalmatians aren't my only critters. I also have 8 chickens. Since today was a nice day, I decided to let them out of their run to peck and scratch. They have a very big secure run, but they like to free range too. Here is the view from my kitchen window.

Playing with the puppies is fun but today I spend some time working on the puppy packets that will go home with each of them. 

 Week Two

The puppies are two weeks old today. Nothing much has changed other than the fact that their eyes are open. We took two-week face shots which turned out to be a 3-person job. It is amazing how well they are getting around. Still three steps forward, one step back and fall over but they can get to Tiffin very quickly when she gets in the box with them. I am glad that there are only 7 because they all can find a place at the milk bar without much of a struggle. Here they are in birth order as always.

Chill (male)

Tundra (male)

Blizzard (male)

Arctic (female)

Shiver (female)

Polar (female)

Avalanche (male)

Day Thirteen 

Today I rearranged the whelping box. I took out the pig rails because I wasn't worried about her laying on them. She is so cautious where she lays or steps to make sure she doesn't step or lay on a puppy. Plus, they were too low, and the puppies were getting stuck. They are adjustable but I wasn't strong enough to adjust them. I tried to make it so that part was sleeping area and part was potty area.

I am happy to say that at least a couple of them tottered over and used the potty area. I actually saw little Shiver go over and use it. I tried to get a video but by the time I was ready she was done but here are a couple seconds of it happening. She might be the smallest, but she is a heart stealer. 

Spots are showing a lot more now and eyes are about halfway open. Here is a picture showing spots and a video where you can see how spotted they are now.

 

 Day Twelve

Today was a very quiet day. Nothing new happened with the puppies. Eyes are opening little by little and they are all looking good. I checked navels and there are no umbilical hernias which happens occasionally. I have noticed that they wake up and travel a few steps away to go to the bathroom, so it is time to give them a place to sleep so they don't sleep in the place they potty. This will be an ongoing thing for a while, but they will eventually learn the difference between the two areas. This is the first step in getting them to use the potty patch. It is one tiny step at a time.

I posted the three unpatched boys a couple days ago but I have a request for the patched boy to get equal time. He is a cuddler and one of the largest right now. So here he is. His name is Chill

At one point I looked in on them and Arctic was sleeping half on the pig rail and half off. How can that be comfortable?

Poor Tiffin has lost her girlish figure and isn't shy about showing off what happened to her. I promised her she would be in shape to chase the plastic bunnies in the spring.

 Day Eleven

I tried to take a couple short videos, but I am a total amateur and I can't figure out how to make them load quickly. I put them on here but it may take a while for them to load.

Today was nail trim day. I don't enjoy this at all because I am always afraid I might snip to close and hurt them. They are very squirmy, and my eyesight isn't great, but I managed to get it done with no blood shed!

Everyone got weighed again and they are still growing. The largest one is still the largest and sweet little Shiver is still the smallest. Of course, she is the sweetest one and I am trying not show favoritism. I try to snuggle them all but she may get a few extras. Here she is sleeping like a little angel.

Tiffin and Bunny are spending quality time resting away from the puppies. She rests in her bed beside the puppy box but as soon as one of the pups so much as whimpers she is checking on them in a flash. 

I finally got a picture of all seven with mom.

Here are the two videos showing that they are on the move. They are only using their sense of smell to navigate at this point.

Day Ten 

Finally, after jumping through hoops the litter is registered! I believe I have everything I need at this point. I have the litter registration number, DNA swabs and microchips (thanks Chris). 

Today was the first day that Tiffin seemed really hungry. This made me very happy because she lost some weight, and her milk production will increase in the next week or so. 

I noticed a tiny slit in the corner of a couple eyes today. The eyes are starting to open. Now is when I will inspect each eye every day to make sure there is no discharge in any eye. If that should occur the eye will need to be washed with a cotton ball and warm water to make sure the eye doesn't get infected. I don't suspect this will happen but better safe than sorry so they will get inspected often.

Today they got to smell patchouli. Most of them gave no response but Tundra was interested in it.

I tried to take some pictures of the three boys Linda wanted to see but the spots are not very visible yet. You can see them better in the picture with mom.

Here are two pictures of each of the three. First is Tundra then Blizzard and last is Avalanche.