W-Litter
28.01.2012
Kukka was trying to make his birthing pen to shelf where our dog towels are. Luckily I got her to the old puppy box. In the evening 7.35 pm came the first male puppy weighing 318 grams and after that mainly boys followed. The fifth one was the smallest of the litter, a little girl weighing 303 grams.
In 4.5 hours Kukka birthed 7 male puppies and one female puppy. They were very bustling right from the start and went straight to drinking mother's milk. Because we got 7 brothers, we had to give them names from Seven Brothers by Aleksis Kivi, the national author of Finland. The only girl is named Neiti (Lady). Kukka cherishes her precious with devotion and the brothers and Neiti are just eating and sleeping like young dogs do.
03.02.2012
Tomorrow the puppies are 7 weeks old and they are getting rounder at a great pace and drink milk eagerly. At the moment they only eat and sleep. At the end of next week they might open their eyes and maybe start to hear something.
12.02.2012
The puppies turned two weeks yesterday. Their eyes are open and they are trying to get on their feet. The puppies are quite big already. Tuomas, Aapo ja Eero weigh over 1100 grams while Juhani and Simeoni are under one kilogram the others being somewhere in between. They look almost equally big, you can hardly see any difference.
Kukka seems to have good nutritious milk and the puppies are pleased and comfortable. The main activities in the puppy box still are eating and sleeping. Some stirring happens when Kukka goes to watch the puppies without going herself into the puppy box.
21.02.2012
The puppies turned 3 weeks on Saturday. They still have grown at a fast pace. The biggest still is Tuomas and the smallest Simeoni and everyone are growing around 300 grams in a week. The biggest eaters in this week have been Tuomas, Neiti and Lauri, who have grown the most. The puppies are pretty agile already and some small teeth have begun to appear.
On this morning the first puppy came over the wall of the puppy box, so it was about time I gave them bigger area while setting the puppy pen. It was exciting at first, but now they are going at full speed. And another new thing happened when they got to taste some minced meat this evening. Seemed tasty!
25.02.2012
The puppies turn 4 weeks today and it's unbelievable that already at three weeks old the first boys are moving to their new homes. The lady will be our joy for a little while more and some gentleman will come back to be taken care of while family is travelling. So these corners won't be free of the puppy smell yet :)
The puppies are still growing at great pace and weighing them on a kitchen scale is not so easy anymore. Simeoni, being the smallest, was still weighed today. The result was 1600 grams so the biggest boys are probably 2 kilograms. I think it is time to believe that they are indeed growing well so I shouldn't bother them anymore with the weightings. Minced meat disappears from the plate pretty fast when the flock of Welsh gets to it. Table manners could be improved. We are starting to taste dry food hoping that it will taste as well as minced meat. The second anthelmintic should be swallowed this week. The first batch of that tough paste wasn't a great success.
There are quite furious wrestling matches being held in the puppy pen. At the beginning of next week we have to expand the puppy pen so that the toddlers can really start to roam.
04.03.2012
The puppies turned five weeks and the speed is increasing in the puppy pen. The wrestling is not playing anymore and sometimes some poor puppy is crying for help.
Yesterday was a beautiful day so the litter got outdoors for the first time. A lot to wonder and to be scared of but so it begins. It must feel weird to have snow or ice under the paw. Luckily the mother was with them and food Kerttu was clearly very happy. We tried to take the first portraits of the puppies but they are quite a bad quality, because it was so dark, but you can see the results here.
06.03.2012
Sleepy after eating and sleeping
07.03.2012
Aunt Kerttu, could I please borrow your toy pheasant?
11.03.2012
Again a week has gone by playing and being outdoors. The puppies are brisk outdoors although snow hindrances the pace a little. They scurry the trails their tails upward. The branches of shrub roses have felt the small teeth of the puppies. Some brave ones have even gone under the sauna. They always find something interesting outdoors. And when back inside it is always a joy to pull about some sock or a bag.
Luckily they still get sleepy after being outdoors, rampaging and eating. In the mornings the puppies are singing with the force of seven men and one woman announcing that they need food. It is weird to think about that this time next week some puppies have already gone.
Tomorrow we will go to the vet to get the chips. We'll see how exciting that is. At least when I carried a travelling box for them they weren't interested at all. Eero sniffed it and went to sleep in it.
I'll give them anthelmintic in the evening and I should get the registration stuff done. Thanks for the sleepy puppies so now I can put their info to Kennel association. We should have a christening for their official names today. It's getting to the last minute but hopefully I manage to figure out some names.
13.03.2014
This time some news without photos, but I'll try to get some photos before the brave dogs will leave next weekend. We visited the vet yesterday. The puppies were in their small carrying boxes 2 in a box. They were very silent; the last noise was heard before the highway and the rest of the trip they were sleeping besides the inspection itself. They had been outside and playing inside so that explains it. Both grandmother dogs got to the car also, so they didn't need to stay home to watch corners empty of puppies.
The vet declared them healthy and even sixed. The bites were ok and most of the boys didn't yet have testicles but they'll drop soon enough. Everyone was very brisk and sleepy and the chip went in unnoticeably. I think they guy hanging on your ear is more painful than a small injection. The trip home was calm but in the evening they had energy to rampage again.
The puppies got their official names because I had to give them for the Kennel association. The dogs that are in the W-litter are called: Who Are You, Who Said Quack, Wyatt Earp, Welsh Surprise, Wild Guess, Welsh Dragon, Wise Seventh Brother & Wonderful Tonight.
16.03.2012
So it has come time for the first parting tomorrow. I feel wistful watching that wild pack. Luckily they won't all be gone at the same time and two of the boys don't have home yet although there have been inquiries. But I don't mind if they will stay with us longer, the main thing is that they'll get good homes. Now that it is warmer they like to be outside more and more. The have expanded their territory and sometimes the whole pack is under the sauna. Luckily they all come running back inside when I call them. The like playing in a puddle too, of which I am not so happy about when there is eight small and two bigger wet dogs coming inside.
Two days ago we tried to get photos of them now that they are 6 weeks old. We didn't get stacking photos because they weren't interested but at least we got head portraits. You'll see them here. Thanks for help Suvi!
19.03.2012
On weekend it happened. The first boys left for their new homes. The first one was Juhani who left Saturday to L'yli'inen where his uncle Remu (D. Son Of Neptune) also is. On Sunday Aapo moved to Tampere and Tuomas to Hamina. Today Lauri left for J'rvenp''. I heard they have been brisk in their new homes and conquered the corners. Juhani, Aapo and Tuomas have gotten new names: Juhani is named Kaapo, Aapo is named Rauno and Tuomas is named Kassu.
The remaining dogs continue their fast pace inside and outdoors. A little less noise comes from 5 puppies than 8 so playtimes are not as noisy. Above are the last group shots from Friday. The vacuum cleaner scared the puppies until they realized that it is that same old noisy box so we can continue our sweet dreams.
Down below there is a photo taken on Sunday where Kukka gives first lesson in birdwatching to Simeoni and Timo.
24.03.2012
It is starting to be the last updates I make for this page. The puppy pen is getting quiet, only Simeoni and Wilda are present. They are not so happy now because they have been a lot of outdoors and inside while I've been on vacation and they can't anymore.
Eero moved to Helsinki yesterday and Timo moved to Espoo to fill the spot of Topi (D. Napoleon Solo), who was his great uncle. Now all the puppies have their own homes. Simeoni will move to Loviisa on Monday, while Wilda stays here for a while with Kukka and Kerttu until Lauri comes back for keeping. Maybe I'll get some photos, even the puppy cam is off for now. If the puppies are somewhere else, the camera records the empty pen.
26.03.2012
Now it has happened. Every one of the brothers of Jukola have moved to their own homes and only Wilda is here. Simeoni moved tonight and got a new name Simppa. Timo became Lenni and Eero kept his box name.
It feels very quiet in here, but maybe that will change when Wili comes for keeping. The puppy cam was on yesterday for the last time mainly recording the empty basket. The puppy pen was dismantled because they didn't like being there just the two of them. Here are the last photos from today and yesterday.
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