First Time Puppies: Week 1 Experience

Phew! Okay, we are only waking up every 2 hours now to check on dam and puppies, so we still are getting up during the night, but not nearly as much as the first two days. We have noticed that our dam pants all the time, but we checked into that and it is normal (FYI). Her milk has come in (about day 4), and it is obvious the puppies are getting more milk than the first couple days and getting better sleep periods between feedings. We are still supplementing two puppies as needed (once or twice a day), when they seem hungry after a feeding. They are keeping up nicely with the rest of the litter.

We still are helping our dam stimulate the puppies to pee and poo, though she is getting the hang of it. The puppies had their dew claws removed on day 5, and did well with it. They showed minor signs of pain (whining in their sleep and restless), but that was over by the next day.

We started ENS training on day 4, skipped day 5 because dew claw removal was enough stimulation, and resumed on day 6. We also did our first nail clipping this week.

We started inviting people to come see, pet, and hold the puppies (only mature teens/adults at this point for holding). We found this to be most helpful for our dam to begin to be comfortable that people would be near the puppies and not harm them. She definitely had some defensiveness for them (growling), but no aggression. This is an appropriate response for a new mom, and we simply worked with her to be comfortable.

Things are looking up! Puppies still don’t move much, but the stressful period seems to be getting less.