Irish/Ilo Puppies; 2 Weeks

Baby New Year - 2lbs 9oz

Tiny Tim (Navidad) 2lbs 5oz

Jingle - 3lbs 3oz

Dreidel - 3lbs 1oz

Solstice - 3lbs

Kwanzaa - 3lbs 5oz

Hanukkah - 3lbs 1oz

Festivus - 3lbs 11oz

The puppies are really getting mobile over the past few days. The first one attempted to escape the whelping box today at 2 weeks old just like her mother did at the same age. I caught Kwanzaa half way over and quickly retrieved her and put the removable door in place.

We've cut toenails now twice in the past two weeks and wormed them today. At least every hour, each puppy gets held and special attention is paid to playing with feet, ears and mouth to make it easier to work with them in these areas when they are adults.  Since our dogs don't wear collars while in their kennels, we may need to grab them by the scruff on occasion, so picking the puppies up gently by the scruff is also introduced at this age.

We've been doing our best to keep Irish stimulated and, at times, it's been a challenge. She decided that she no longer cared for being baby gated into the laundry room off and on throughout the day with her puppies so she learned to open the lower gate and escape. When the latch was turned out, she pulled the top baby gate so that it would release and then she jumped over the lower gate. When the door was then closed, she began ripping the trim off from around the door. After much discussion, we decided that, during the day, she would be free to roam the entire basement which has access to an outside window. She spends her little time away from the puppies on the window seat chewing a bone when she's not upstairs with us. At night, Neil sleeps on a cot outside the baby gated laundry room and grandma Tuloon sleeps on a dog bed just outside the gate. Irish needed the company and all appears to be well.

We've turned off the heat lamp that was keeping the whelping box at 80 degrees. Puppies can't regulate their own body temperature for their first several days so it's necessary to keep them as warm as possible. We'll slowly be acclimating them to lower temperatures because soon, they will be too big for the whelping box and will be relocated with mom to our indoor/outdoor puppy pen. The indoor portion has an insulated floor and walls with two heat lamps shining down inside a dog house with a metal grade between them and the heat lamps. This area can be as warm as 80 degrees when it's 20 degrees outside. This way, the puppies choose their temperature. If they're too warm, they go into the "breezeway" portion of the indoor area and then, if they choose, they can continue on through the door that takes them outside.

More next week!