6/16
The kids are doing just great. They sleep in crates now because that helps them learn how to control their bladders. If they go to bed when I do, about 10:30, they sleep until 5 before they have to get up to go potty. Then they go back to sleep until breakfast time, which is about 6. They are doing very well on their house training. We just switched from ground kibble to whole kibble without incident. They figured out how to use the dog door all by themselves (smart little buggers). They can be whirling dervishes, but they are also very sweet and loving and just a joy to be around.

blue boy in the toy box

6/4
The Fab Four are doing just great. They are almost completely weaned (Elaine says 'whew'), and they are sleeping in crates at night.This helps them learn important lessons like how to hold it when they have to go and not just go anytime anywhere and how to sleep through the night. The first night in crates, they wanted to go out at 2:30 and then the second night, they wanted to go out at 3 am, so they are adding a few minutes to the time they wake up each night. During the day, we keep our front door open. Our yard is completely fenced, and we have no flying bugs, so we can do that. They are beginning to go outside to potty once in a while, so we are making progress on house training.

I will be out of town starting tomorrow until about June 14. I'm going to the Gordon Setter National with my good friend Linda Stebbins. I will be judging 59 puppies in sweepstakes at the GS National. Looking forward to it. However, it's a 27-hour drive, but we wanted to drive rather than fly since Linda is taking a dog. You can fly dogs, of course, but it's getting harder and harder to do that. Thank goodness the tornadoes in the middle of the country seem to be quieting down. I can get emails on my phone while I'm gone but am not good at typing with my thumbs so if I need to reply, the replies will be very brief.

Dave will be in charge of taking care of the puppies while I'm gone. Lord bless him, hope he survives.

We took some video of them today. Here it is.

Hasta La Vista. I

5/31
This is one of the best behaved and most affectionate litters we have ever had. We are enjoying them thoroughly.

5/27

The kids are now 5 weeks old.

Seems like IN-Tel somehow got into the hair gel and decided to style his hears.

IN-Tel and Blue Boy are practicing their big number for American Canine Idol, Soul Man by the Blues Brothers.

Green boy decided to ask the age-old question: How do you like my nostrils?

And Pinkie seems to have decided to pose for a Playboy Centerfold.
These kids are something else.

5/22

It's been a very cold spring here in Santa Fe with lows in the low 40s and highs in the 50s and 60s. I usually take puppies outside for the first time at 4 weeks of age. I took them out for the first time yesterday but had to wait until mid-day for it to be warm enough. They loved it! The sun was very bright and probably a little hard on their eyes, but they didn't seem to mind. They walked around and explored very happily. We have some photos of the field trip on our Photos of the Week page of our web page: http://www.setterenglish.com/index.asp?sPG=68

We had a visit from our friend Linda Stebbins yesterday. They loved her! Auntie Linda and Uncle Jack sent a huge pile of new toys, a new bed, a tug toy, and best of all, a baby tunnel! Pinkie immediately went into the tunnel, and she goes into it every chance she gets. A future agility star for sure.

Our adult dogs are very gentle with the puppies, especially their sweet Papa London. He just loves them. They have never had any reason to be afraid of a big dog so if they encounter big dogs in other contexts, we will have to keep them away until we find out if the big dog enjoys little munchkins or not.

They are now eating gruel consisting of ground-up puppy kibble, vanilla yogurt, Puppy Gold (a supplement), and whole milk three times a day. Their teeth have erupted, and though they are mouthing our hands, they haven't started biting hard yet, but we know that day is coming. We think they are a little rough on Elaine because she doesn't want to nurse them as much as she used to. I think in another week or two, she will be closing down the milk bar.

5/17

The London x Elaine kids are doing great. They are quite mobile. They scoot around for about 15 minutes and then totally crash and nap for a couple of hours to wake up for a new round of peeing, pooping, and playing. They had their first meal of gruel, consisting of ground-up puppy kibble, yogurt, and milk. They loved it! No finnicky eaters here!

5/13
Blogger has been down for the last day or so, so I apologize for not adding to this blog.
The kids had their toenails trimmed yesterday. They had the claws of grizzly bears, and Elaine was very happy that we did the trim. The kids are also eating some semi-solid food as of their three-week birthday -- Gerbers baby food (turkey, beef, and chicken) and Mountain High vanilla yogurt. Both are mild enough for puppies' first meals. I warm for a few seconds in the microwave (about 15 seconds) and administer to the puppies in a syringe. They say, "Mmmmm, tasty."

Pinkie and guest

Dave and blue boy

Jill and IN-Tel

Green boy

Daddy and daughter (London and Pinkie)

5/9

Just got home from being away for an agility week end, and boy, have the puppies changed! Their eyes are all open, they seem to have gained about a pound apiece and now all weigh at least three pounds, and they are getting spots and color. They can walk a little bit but still are sleeping most of the time. They have four basic sounds they make: 1. little grunts of contentment as they motor around their box, 2. chirps when they're nursing, 3. screams of frustration, which means someone should come to their aid IMMEDIATELY if not sooner, and 4. barking. The barking just happens once in a while, and the one who barks seems very surprised to hear that sound. They seem to love to lie on their backs, which, I hope, means they feel safe and secure in their environment.

blue boy

blue boy showing off his spots

blue boy, IN-Tel, Pinkie

green boy showing off his orange ear and face marking

IN-Tel

Pinkie, eyes wide open

Pinkie, Ah-ewwwww, Werewolves of London (I just love Warren Zevon)

5/5
This is a photo of green boy doing his imitation of a frog. The kids are two weeks old today. They had their first worming, which is just routine. Their eyes are open a tiny crack, and they are starting to try to walk a bit. They are still sleeping most of the time, and they are sleeping through the night (not that they know it's night).
We have published mug shots of all the puppies on our web site at
http://www.setterenglish.com/Index.asp?PG=85

blue boy exercising his tongue

Blue boy and Green boy

 5/3

IN-Tel: Sweet dreams

The children are 12 days old today and are thriving. Pink girl weighs 30 ounces, and all the boys are between 33 and 35 ounces (2+ pound whoppers). It's unusual to see two of the puppies sleeping together because the puppies in this litter often lie by themselves, not in a pile, as though they are very independent They love to be cuddled and snuggle right into your hand when you pick them up.

Pinkie: Ready, set, GO!

5/1

And then there were 4. Little Elaine passed away about 2 am early Saturday morning. We will always love her and think of her as part of this litter. She was fine in the morning, and by night, she had faded away. We were afraid the other puppies would do the same, but they are strong and vigorous. Knock wood.

They are starting to walk, or should I say lurch, a little. They are like turtles. If they accidentally roll over on their backs, they wave their arms and legs in the air but just can't seem to get turned back over. And then the frustrated vocalizing begins. You would almost think they were swearing. "I don't WANNA be on my back!! Somebody help me NOW!" Their eyelids are starting to separate just the tiniest bit, and looks like their eyes will be opening in the next few days.

4/29

Growing like weeds! Yellow boy, blue boy, and pink girl have more than doubled their birth weights, and little Elaine and green boy are very close to doubling their weights. Here is their weight chart for the first week.

wt at birth (oz) 23-Apr 24-Apr 25-Apr 26-Apr 27-Apr 28-Apr 29-Apr green boy 13 14 15.6 17.5 19.4 21 23 25.4 yellow boy 12 12 14.2 15.8 17.7 20.5 22.5 25.5 blue boy 12 12.5 15.4 17.2 19.9 22.2 23.4 25.5 Little Elaine 12 11.5 12.2 14.3 16.4 17.8 18.8 19.8 pink girl 9 10.5 11.7 13.2 15.2 17 19.4 20.8 No eyes open yet; that probably won't happen for at least another week, so we have another week of relative peace and quiet. They are all wagging their tails. Elaine is very relaxed about having the other dogs in the house near the puppies. The puppies are in our bedroom, and the first three nights, we kept the door closed to keep the other dogs out and to minimize drafts. When we opened the door to see what Elaine would do if the other dogs came into the room, she was fine with it, so now our other dogs can sleep on the bed where they normally sleep. They were quite unhappy being shut out. They just look into the whelping box from time to time but otherwise don't intrude on the little mother and her brood. Elaine enjoys hopping onto the bed with us to watch a bit of TV. We bring one puppy at a time up on the bed with her for a bit of private nursing time and some time to get used to being handled. They all seem to enjoy the human touch.

One week old today (4/28)

4/28
Pink girl revealed herself as an orange last night. Examination through a magnifying glass revealed a miniscule tan spot inside her ear. So the final count is two blue boys, one orange boy, one blue girl and one orange girl.

At one week of age today, all puppies are strong and healthy. We have posted mug shots of them on our web page at http://www.setterenglish.com/Index.asp?PG=82 or by going to www.setterenglish.com, then litters, then London x Elaine, then 1st week.

4/27
The big news today is that green boy has shown his true colors. The tip of his ear is tan, so he will be an orange belton. Pink girl is still all white and keeping us guessing as to her color.

We give the puppies 'pet' names, and we had been calling yellow boy 'RE-tard' because whatever the other puppies did, he did the opposite. Our good friend Jennifer, who is 12, was concerned that yellow boy would get a complex, and his name would become a self-fulfilling prophecy, so she proposed that we change his name to 'IN-tel," so IN-tel it is. We call the blue girl 'Little Elaine' because she looks just like her mother when her mother was the same age.
We are doing the puppy stimulation exercises (also known as Bio Sensor) that are supposed to provide early neurological stimulation. The exercises were developed by the US military for dogs in the canine corps and are as follows:

1. Tactile stimulation - holding the pup in one hand, the handler gently stimulates (tickles) the pup between the toes on any one foot using a Q-tip. It is not necessary to see that the pup is feeling the tickle. Time of stimulation 3 - 5 seconds.

2. Head held erect - using both hands, the pup is held perpendicular to the ground, (straight up), so that its head is directly above its tail. This is an upwards position. Time of stimulation 3 - 5 seconds

3. Head pointed down - holding the pup firmly with both hands the head is reversed and is pointed downward so that it is pointing towards the ground. Time of stimulation 3 - 5 seconds

4. Supine position - hold the pup so that its back is resting in the palm of both hands with its muzzle facing the ceiling. The pup while on its back is allowed to sleep struggle. Time of stimulation 3-5 seconds.

5. Thermal stimulation - use a damp towel that has been cooled in a refrigerator for at least five minutes. Place the pup on the towel, feet down. Do not restrain it from moving. Time of stimulation 3-5 seconds.

Five benefits have been observed in canines that were exposed to the Bio Sensor stimulation exercises:

1. Improved cardio vascular performance (heart rate)
2. Stronger heart beats,
3. Stronger adrenal glands,
4. More tolerance to stress
5. Greater resistance to disease

In tests of learning, stimulated pups were found to be more active and were more exploratory than their non- stimulated littermates over which they were dominant in competitive situations.

All puppies had excellent weight gains once again, and they all weigh at least 17 ounces now. The pink girl has almost doubled her weight since being born last Thursday evening.

4/26

Elaine has bounced back from her delivery. She went on our daily run today and ran like the athletic Elaine she was before she became the mommy-blimp Elaine. I have her on a supplement called Puppy Gold, which I will also give the puppies when they are weaning. We are getting phenomenal daily weight gains, partly because the litter is not overly large for mom's milk production to handle and maybe in part because of this supplement.

Here are the weight gains so far.

	wt at birth (oz)	wt at 5 days (oz)
green boy	13	19.4
yellow boy	12	17.7
blue boy	12	19.9
Little Elaine	11	16.4
pink girl	9	15.2

They are much quieter at night now, and they are getting so big that Elaine notices when she lies on one and gets off before doing any harm. Blue boy wagged his tail yesterday.

4/25

The children went to the vet today for dew claw removal. All went well. The vet gave them a check. All hearts and everything else are healthy. They are gaining weight nicely as Elaine’s milk is abundant. Elaine went for a mommy check and she is doing fine too. She got a little finicky with her eating toward the end of her pregnancy, but now she has a voracious appetite (she’s eating for 6, you know). She is starting to resume her normal activities, and I think tomorrow, she will be ready to go on our daily run with the other dogs. We keep the heat high (80 degrees) in our bedroom, where the puppies are living now, for the first three days after birth since they can’t regulate their own internal temperatures when they’re first born, but today, we turned the heat down. Whew. The puppies have all kinds of noises they make. The first night, they were agitated at being outside their mom for the first time and kept us up all night with their grunting and squealing. But each night has gotten a little better and last night was pretty good. Mom can roll over on a puppy and smother it, so we investigate all sounds to make sure everyone is all right.