more puppy images at http://www.bsdmalinois.blogspot.com/
The puppies are 9 days old today as I write this and I can't believe where the time has gone. The pups are thriving on Daisy's milk and are growing into big strong healthy pups.
They were weighed the day they were born and each was, give or take an ounce, 1lb. We weighed them in a chinese take away plastic container, for reference they all just fitted in it for length. On Sunday, exactly 1 week later, I bought out the container and looked at the puppies to see how much they really had grown and there wasnt a hope of them fitting in it! So instead a larger plastic container was found.
They were all weighed again. 2 boys and 2 girls weighed exactly 2lb each. 1 girl weighed 2lb 2 ounces and 1 boy weighed 2lb 3 ounces and what a dog he is! Daisy is doing a fantastic job mothering the pups in this heatwave we are having, it can't be comfortable for her, but she just lies there grinning at me, with her beautiful pups all around her.
Until today all the pups have been getting around as only 1week old pups do. They all slide around the whelping box after feeding until they come into contact with one of their brothers or sisters, then they cuddle up together and fall asleep. One or two of them seem to enjoy a totally new dog sport called sliding down mums back leg then clambering back up again to try another angle. Its like watching the kids coming down the hill on a taboggan. But today I was really pleased to see the big boy was actually putting weight on all fours. Agreed he was a little wobbly but he was definately up! Give it a few more days and I hope to see all of them trying it.
Tonights job for me is to try to get photos of each puppy individually, to have a way of identifying the pups so that everyone on here can recognise the pups and then to upload the photos onto the site. Im hoping to do a page for each puppy. Wish me luck!
Well what a couple of days we've had! The pups are looking fantastic and seem to be growing as I watch them.
The heatwave finally broke last night and we had a massive thunder and lightening storm, plus a deluge. At the time I was training with a client in the local sea scouts hut. Luckily it has not got a tin roof as before so although we were stuck indoors it wasnt too noisy. I went home after and checked on mum and the pups to find them all curled up and fast asleep. Excellent!
Ive managed to get the puppy photo albums sorted. Each puppy has its own. Tomorrow im going to take some pictures of the pups and update each album so please do come back to the site regularly or register and I can contact you whenever I update it.
I had a lovely cuddle from the pups today. Its so sweet to hear their little snuffling noises as they sniff me to see who I am. I wonder what is going on in their minds at the moment!
Well one will definately be in shock today as both its eyes were open! Oh and how sweet they are. A beautiful shape too, I do hope they stay like that. As soon as they were open he seemed to take off around the whelping box, he lifted himself up onto his legs and away he went. He is the smallest boy although there really isnt much in it at the moment.
I havent managed to do the photos as I had hoped as no sooner had I started taking the pics, than the battery went on the camera, so it is charging away as I type this out. Ho hum better luck tomorrow.
Today was a glorious sunny day on the Island and the dogs all had a lovely time basking in the sunshine.
Mum helped me worm all the dogs including the puppies. The older dogs all ate the tablets as they taste yummy - apparently!
The pups all had their wormers through a syringe and most of them were quite happy taking it. They had their photos taken before they were weighed, then they had the wormer and back to Daisy. Im pleased to say that they have all gained at least 1lb this week taking them all to at least 3lb and one to 31/2lb. Funnily enough it was the smallest of the boys that has now overtaken the biggest boy.
Tomorrows job is to bath and clip Samantha's very hairy crossbreed. At least with a Malinois you just need to hoover them when they moult - yes I do hoover them. With a blaster the hair goes EVERYWHERE, with a hoover it goes straight into Henry. The only trouble with hoovering them though is that I have a line of dogs following me when I start hoovering the house!
The puppies have certainly grown up this week. They all opened their eyes one after the other which was so sweet to watch. At first they all looked a bit drunk as they tried to get used to the new sensation, they were even rocking backwards and forwards a bit. But now they are all looking around the whelping box at each other and their mum. Very quickly after the first one opened his eyes, he was up on his feet! I couldnt believe it, it was like eyes open Im off! Now they are all tottering around the playpen although some are more able than others of course as they progress at different rates. It wont be long now before they are all belting around the box but for the moment its so sweet to watch them bump into each other.
Yesterday morning was another break-through as they began to play with each other, well if you can call falling over your brother and then sitting on his head till he wakes up and chews your - sorry gums your - nose! Its been funny to watch as 2 or 3 of them want to play the others just want to eat and sleep. Again I think the playing will increase during the weekend.
The puppy run outside is being cleaned out this weekend and will be done again in about 3 weeks ready for the pups to go in for a play, as long as the weather is good.
I cant believe its been 5 days without updating this page! Well it wasnt all my fault although I have been a bit busy, the internet wasnt working to speed so I gave up until today when it seems to be back to normal. The puppies are going from strength to strength and all of them are strutting around the whelping box one minute then collapsing in a heap the next. It so sweet to see a pile of Malinois snoring and singing to each other in their sleep.
I put a couple of toys in their bed the other day as they seemed ready for a new experience, they are 2 dachshund looking stuffed toys. Well it took about 5 minutes for Daisy to adopt one as her long lost 7th puppy! She now carries it around with her wherever she goes. Everytime I try to pop it back into the whelping box for her kids to play with, she hops in, grabs it, then rushes off to her own comfy bed next to the whelping box! Still I did put 2 in and the pups are having fun wrestling the other.
Tomorrow Samy and I are going to have a dog bathing day with our other dogs as long as the sun shines, although at the moment I can hear the rain outside.
The pups are having a great time with each other now. Since the last time I wrote, they have found tails! Not their own but their brothers or sisters. They think its great fun to hold on to the tail nearest them and follow the puppy infront who sometimes has another puppies tail in its mouth, so you end up with a chain of puppies strutting around the whelping box. The toys are taking quite a pounding now with puppies pouncing on them from all directions. Joining the Daxies are a fish, a rubber ring which for some reason one of the boys thinks is great fun and is often found fast asleep with his head in the hole in the middle. I think he is making sure none of the other puppies can get it. They also have 2 puppy kongs, a big star shaped toy and a long toy with lots of different shapes on it, so the pups are getting some great stimulation.
The puppies are in our kitchen where we have 2 washing machines, one is for our clothes the other is for the dogs bedding. Our machine is fine and just makes a steady spinning noise, but the dog bedding machine is extremely noisy! Its so loud that you cant talk when the spin cycle is on, it sounds like an airplane taking off, so as far as noise sensitivity may be a concern, I cant see there is going to be any problems. The radio is on 24 hrs a day above the whelping box and I often change radio stations. The kitchen is hoovered daily and of course we are in and out of the room throughout the day too. A few days ago we were playing with some balloons in the kitchen with the pups mum, Daisy. She was heading the balloon around and we were batting it back to her, but as soon as the balloons fell to the ground she lept on them and burst them with her teeth. As they popped I checked the pups and they stayed asleep without stirring.
All the puppies have been exploring outside the whelping box and I have carried each one out to the front of the house to hear the traffic and feel what grass is like on their pads. They took it all in their stride.
The pups have been wormed again too and had their nails trimmed. They all weigh around 3kg, which is a fantastic weight at just 4 weeks.
It is much easier to identify the puppies now as the colours are beginning to change and their characters are beginning to show through too.
We had a visit from a lovely puppy owner at the weekend and her daughter. They had a great time cuddling the puppies. We are due more visitors over the next week.
I didnt get to see much of the pups today as my novice handlers team for Heelwork to music and freestyle, had their first display today, here on the Island. It went very well and the dogs were great.
The weather has been amazing and it was the same today, glorious sunshine!
This has meant that mum and I have had the pups out of the kitchen and onto the grass at the front of the house. They have had to walk along a concrete path past the lovely smelling Lavender bushes to get there and what fun they have had. But there is no way they can get onto the road as we have gates and a low wall, so for the moment its safe. The puppies are totally oblivious to the traffic noise and didnt even flinch when a really noisy motorbike roared past.
This evening we had some friends over to see the puppies. Sam has bred both GSD litters and Border Terrier litters and was amazed at how well grown and active the puppies were. She brought her husband and son along too which was great for the pups, as both of them were happy to let the pups crawl over them, especially the son, Jack who sat on the floor to play with them all. Even when the puppies fell asleep Jack was still stroking them and fiddling with their ears and feet. He seemed totally fascinated with the fact that some of the ears were up and some were down. I was just pleased as it gets the puppies used to younger children.
Later today - its now 1am - I have a puppy owner coming over from the mainland. She and her friend are coming as foot passengers via Portsmouth, to save bringing the car across and I will meet them off the ferry. Im really looking forward to this as Im hoping she will be able to choose the dog puppy she would like to train for obedience. That should mean I can then pick the dog puppy who is off to live in Ibiza - so long as we can organise the flight out there.
Im still looking for a couple of puppy homes due to cancellations and me turning people down for reasons such as work committments and health issues. But these must be permanent homes. If holidays have been booked the puppy can come back here.
Wow what a week it has been! The puppies have come on so well I cant believe the change in them.
Just reading the entry above this one and they had only just gone outside then shows such a difference. The weather has been amazing so they were going out the front about twice to three times a day for short periods, but it was obvious by Thursday that they had outgrown and needed more space to play, so the puppy run in the rear garden got scrubbed through and made ready.
The pups first went out on Friday. I was expecting them to stay in the puppy run for a few hours at most but with the weather being so nice and me and mum having time on our hands to watch them, they actually stayed out all day and what fun they had.
The toys were chased all around the run as were the cardboard cereal boxes I had saved up.
This was repeated on Saturday. On Sunday (today) I put in a Royal Canin cardboard box, which the pups absolutely loved. If they werent in it they were playing 'Im the king of the castle' on top of it. Especially Dollar! Who decided it was all his to play with and tried to chase all the girls off it, but as soon as one was off the box another had climbed back on. By the end of it they were all happy playing lets tumble down the now bent side, this was especially funny if their litter mate was inside the box and came out at the same time.
All I can say is Thankyou to Royal Canin for the freebee toy!
The pups have been wormed regularly and had their toe nails clipped at least 3 times now. I have to admit to being very squeamish about clipping nails but after doing so many now its becoming alot easier, mind you I do wait until the pups are fast asleep after a good play session to do them. But its amazing how quickly they grow again!
The puppy run was built about 3 years ago but has only now been used for puppies, but Im really pleased how it has helped. The floor base is rubber stable matting and is easy to scrub clean everyday after the pups have been in it. Theres a small kennel in there too so they can go in for shelter if they want to, but as the run is underneath the spread of our next door neighbours tree, they only really go into the kennel for a play. When the pups curl up to go to sleep they all settle near the gate in a huge Mali heap!
On Friday it was obvious that the run was ok but they needed to spread themselves a bit further and to have a good run around, so mum and I - thanks mum - moved them one at a time upto the top of the garden which is fenced off from the rest of the garden, by builders tape. The pups had a great time belting around playing chase and hide and seek amongst the bushes. It was lovely to see as they were not intimidated at all by anything up there, not even the strange rock that seemed to move around the garden! Thatl be the tortoise, who has put up with many dogs in her time.
The pups also had an added bonus of being introduced up close and personal to the rest of my dogs. Uncle Daz was first in and bless him I think he is still in shock! As a Vallhund he isnt much taller than the Malinois puppy aged nearly 7 weeks. But on top of that they were all really curious to see who this dog was, so he ended up running around the garden with the 6 pups trying to keep up. But it didnt take long for them to be crawling over him or chasing him as he chased a ball.
Next in was Auntie Vienna who at the moment is in full season so I wasnt at all sure what she would do. But she was brilliant. After alot of play bowing and leaping as only Vienna can, she did a great job of telling the pups off if they over did it, but in such a gentle but firm way. Vienna, is the only one of my dogs that clears the plastic chairs which are infront of the builders tape, just to get into the top part of the garden to go to the loo, as she would rather not do it on the paving slabs! But her jump is like Pepe la Pew - i think thats how you spell it - If anyone can remember him. She jumps straight up in the air on all fours, with out any sign of forward motion and yet she clears whatever she is trying to get over! Agility for me and her I think!
So then it was Auntie Chrestas turn (Vallhund). Again she didnt take anything from the pups and was soon chasing a ball which she was determined no puppy was going to get. But they all chased her around the garden and bushes looking for the ball. But when she stopped to have a drink so did they.
Ringo had a great time in with the puppies. As he is just over a year I knew he would be fine. But it wasnt long before Uncle Ringos fluffy white and black tail became a focal point! But Ringo didnt mind and even when one puppy ran underneath his belly he just looked across at me as if to say, 'will they get any bigger?'
Uncle Ziggy and Auntie Hunny have seen them too as they have been moved around from the run to the garden and Im hoping to get them into the puppy area this week.
The pups now have two play areas to keep them amused but we - thatl be me and mum again - still take them out to the front of the house to meet people walking past and to hear the traffic too.
On Tuesday, I decided it was time to take down, scrub clean and store the whelping box, 3 hours later it was done, but what a job! The lovely man who made it for me did such a fantastic job of putting it together that half way through, I didnt think I would be able to take it down on my own.
Anyway once it was down and stored I then disinfected 3 crates to put the puppies into. I wasnt really sure how they would be as they have been travelling as a unit since birth and to separate them now could be .......noisy! I didnt bring them into the house until about 10pm hoping that they would be tired, which they were. So I split them into 3 made sure they were comfortable and with the 3 crates lined up next to each other, I left them for the night. After just 5 minutes they had all settled down and started falling asleep. Tonight was the 2nd night and so far all is quiet. So Im hoping this will help the 2 puppy owners, who are coming at the weekend to collect their puppies, to settle them into a routine.
Tomorrows job is to put the new collars on the puppies and to give them a little groom too. On Friday its vet check day.
On the 27th June the pups had a trip out in the van to the Vets for a health check. On the way down they had a great time singing a few of their favourite songs - How much is that doggy in the window? - maybe? But once at the Vets they were so well behaved! Each puppy was examined & weighed and then given the all clear. The Vet said that it had made her day seeing such a lovely strong and healthy set of puppies. The 2 puppies who are staying here and the puppy who is off to Ibiza all had their first injection without a murmur. By the time we had finished and were ready to go home the puppies had settled in their crates and fallen asleep for the journey home. The pups now weigh between 5.7kg and 7.7kg.
2 days later it was time for 2 of the pups to go to their new homes. Dollar, now lives in Kent with a lovely lady called Margaret, who already has a male Malinois called Teak. She is going to train him for obedience, but Dollar will have to start in Novice as Teak is working B at the moment. (Teaks mum is Gabby, who is Sabrefield Raring to Go at Daelois. I have recently found out that her owners had to let her go, so rest a while Gabby and you will be joined by thoughs who loved you. But look around you for your sister Cache)
Ivy, is now living near Coventry with a lovely American family. Mary is going to train Ivy for obedience and agility. They have another dog called Toby for Ivy to play with.
So now the house seems very empty with just the 4 pups - and the other 7 dogs, a hamster that Sami has brought back from college, for the summer hols, the tortoise and 3 goldfish!
Monty will be jetting off to the sunnier climate of Ibiza at the end of August to live with a couple who retired there from Lancashire.
I have at the moment decided to keep 2 puppies from the litter unless someone comes forward who would like to show a puppy. I have 1 puppy bitch - named Aria at the moment - and 1 puppy dog called Timba.
And that leaves 1 bitch puppy, called Amythyst in the pictures, who is looking for a home. She could also be shown or be trained for agility, obedience etc.
All the puppies have outstanding temperaments and their tails never stop wagging, thanks to Daisy and Cesar.
Since the whelping box was dismantled, they have been sleeping in crates in the kitchen without a fuss. During the day they have been outside in the sunshine.
I have a clear weekend now, so I have decided to start puppy training them. They already know sit, so I will train the down and also see how they get on with the collar and a trailing lead.