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.