The Great Escape 4-29

The great escape has begun! Edward was the first escapee, followed by Esme and Rosalee. My daughter went out to see them yesterday morning and just as she walked in the door she witnessed Edward rolling out of the box. Hailey will no longer have her "quiet time" as they get more and more cleaver. When I got home last night, both Edward and Rosalee were having a quiet feeding time with Hailey.

They love their milk mixture! Bella is the star when it comes to lapping it up, but they all have the hang of it now. This morning I put down a full pie plate and all 10of them licked it dry .... no leftovers for Hailey anymore! Tonight I will start mixing in a little Rice Baby cereal to hold them over through the night.

Let's go for it:
















Emmitt:
















Jasper tries to figure it out:
















Esme:
















Breakfast this morning:
































Emmitt wants out and thinks crying will do the trick. Yes, it did, I picked him up after the video:

The first drink ..... 4/26

This litter of puppies seems so smart to me! Well ..... I'm sure they are as they have very smart parents. Last night my daughter and I gave them their first dish of milk so they can learn how to lap it up. My wonderful vet gave me a recipe to make this mother's milk supplement and by feeding it to them a couple of times a day, it will help alleviate Hailey from all that suckling. They are all walking quite well and took to the milk easily. We divided them into 2 groups of 5.

Group 1 checks it out:

















Bella thinks it is quite tasty:


















Bella loves it and gets right into it .... literally:
















This is good stuff!!
















Group 2 - Edward took right to it:
















The post milk huddle after getting washed off:
















Group one video:



Group two video:

Friday - I'd rather be playing with puppies ....

Oh, it was absolutley ALL I could do to get myself to drive back to work after lunch today. Not only is it a beautiful day, but most of the puppies were awake and actually came to the opening of the box to see me. Well, maybe they were looking for Hailey ..... but that is my story and I'm stickin' to it.

I am now starting to think Esme might be the first escapee. She is walking pretty good and I've seen her sizing up the opening of the box.

Emmit checks out his options:
















Edward and Esme:
















Dottie getting in on the fun:
















I even heard some growling going on as they start to play with each other. I'll have to give them some toys to play with soon too. This video is very short. The pictures and videos just don't do them total justice - they are truly just so stinkin' cute!!

Thursday 4-23 Pics and Video

On a totally unrelated note, I brought B'Nellie to work with me yesterday afternoon to play with my co-workers' lab mix puppy. They had SO much fun together. I thought B'Nellie would be all worn out last night - but she still had enough energy to bug Huntley and Brinkley last night.

















Nothing new to report on the puppies, other than some more pictures to share. I'm trying to guess which one will be the first to escape the whelping box. Right now my money is on either Emmitt or Edward.

Carlisle, Bella and Jasper:
















Edward all streched out:
















Edward on top of Bella:

Sadie all stretched out:

Esme:

They could walk better if they weren't trying to climb all over each other:

Wednesday 4-22 Puppy Update!

All of the eyes are now open and they are hearing a little too. I usually run the shop vacuum a bit every day so they can get used to the loud noise .... and to clean up a little too. They are all trying to walk and some are doing a pretty good job at it! I'll try and get a little video of that within the next day or two. This weekend they will get their first experience of trying to drink out of a pie plate. That is always a messy - yet fun experience.

Carlisle:

Bella:

Rosalee is sleepy:

Enjoy and have a great day!!

Monday 4/20/09 Update!

The little rascals are getting more and more active! It is so funny to watch them try to walk and then fall over, get back up and try it again. They are also getting more voicetrous. As of this morning almost all of their eyes were open and they should be able to start hearing some too.

Emmitt was the first one to show his cute little eyes:
















The whole gang spread out and comfortably sleeping:
















Emmitt and friends:
















Bella sleeps:
















Last night during the "weigh in", 3 boys weighed in at 2 lbs. 14 ozs. and Edward weighed 2 lbs. 13 ozs - so they are all pretty much the same size.

The girls varied from 2 lbs 8 ozs. to 2 lbs. 10 ozs - with little Bella holding her own at 1 lb. 15 oz. She is gaining quickly - and she is a cuddler too. Here you can see how active they are becoming. As soon as mom comes into the whelping box they come right out of a dead sleep to feeding monsters. I hope you all enjoy!

TGIF 4-17 Update!

Good Morning!!

When I went out this morning to see everyone, Hailey was feeding them and I could not believe how big they've gotten in less than 2 weeks:
















After breakfast was over, I was able to get a shot of the whole group:
















Edward needed a new red ribbon this morning - so we cuddled for a little while:
















Look! Alice's eyes are starting to open!!
















As promised here are the two I forgot yesterday!

Hailey is checking on Carlisle as I hold him:
















Carlisle's spots:

















Sadie wouldn't sit still - but I got one good picture:
















Monday I should have some photo's with open eyes - I hope!! Have a great weekend!!

4-16-09 Puppy Update

Last night was the last time for the puppy stressing. It is amazing how quickly they adapt now and although there was still some whining and protesting - they settled down much quicker. After that, it was time to weigh each one again and change any ribbons that were getting tight. Some of the little rascals are 2 pounds or more already!!

Bella is still smaller than the others, but not by much anymore. She's up to 1.5 pounds already and she can really get herself around. Probably because she is lighter - some of them have pretty nice size bellies.

I expect that any day now their eyes will start opening and they should also be able to start hearing too. It'll be fun to watch them discover that they have voices.

Jasper (light blue ribbon) this morning:
















Edward (red ribbon) Look at that belly!
















Emmitt (dark green) & Alice (light green):
















Esme (Yellow ribbon) & Dottie (no ribbon):
















Rosalee (pink ribbon) and Bella (no ribbon):
















I thought I had pictures of ALL of them this morning, but I am missing Carlisle and Sadie. I'll make it up to ya'll tomorrow!!

Tuesday 4-14-09

My daughter Katie came over last night to help me with day 3 of stressing the puppies. The hardest part of this process is keeping Hailey busy and out of ear shot of the puppies, so last night we took a drive to McDonald's to get her some more cheeseburgers ..... yes ..... she is quite spoiled right now. As an added treat I even bought her a small vanilla ice cream cone that she would not even lick! Here I thought that I was a picky eater - she takes the cake!

So, here we have a basket full of puppies on to take into the house:
















The cool kitchen floor - listen to the noise they can make:




Then onto the warm towels and see how they settle down nice and quiet:



Little Bella made her way over to the carpet while Katie got the towels out of the dryer. For the smallest one, she sure can get around:





















Katie's favorite .... Bella of course:





















Alice has a full tummy and is resting comfortably:

















Dottie too:




















Enjoy and have a great day everyone!!

Monday 4-13-09

I hope everyone had a great Easter Holiday! Saturday afternoon we had a pleasant visit with a couple from Ohio that is buying one of females. We really enjoy meeting all the new families - in our book that is an added bonus to the whole process.

Saturday evening we started stressing the puppies. This is a process in which we bring all the puppies in the house and lay them on the kitchen floor separated from each other. They lay on the cool floor for 5 minutes while we have towels warming up in the dryer. After the 5 minutes they are then put onto the warm towels for another 5 minutes. Boy, do they make a LOT of racket!! The theory behind this process is to make them independent and not have an alpha puppy in the group. All equals.
















While our daughter was home from college this weekend, she named all the puppies - well, I got to name 2 of them. The girls are really into the movie/book series "Twilight" and took the character names from the movie for the puppies. We still needed two more girl names, of which I chose "Dottie" and "Sadie".

This is little "Bella" laying on her warm towel. She is the smallest of the pups.
















"Jasper" on his warm towel:
















This morning:































Emmit laying on his back with Sadie cuddle up to him:
















Saturday night I also trimmed all the little nails ..... 160 of them. Enjoy and have a great day!!