Happy Father's Day to all the great dad's out there! It felt strange this morning not taking my dad to breakfast but I told him when this is all done and over with I will take him out to his favorite restaurant for breakfast. My dad has been so instrumental in helping me with getting ready for the puppies. He made the whelping box and is finishing up the final touches on the outdoor puppy pen off of my deck. If the weather around here ever changes then it will be nice on nice days to take them outside and they will be safe and secure to explore the great outdoors.
Yesterday I made quite a few phone calls to various breeders to see if I was being overly paranoid or if there was something wrong with Ivie and why she wasn't paying that much attention to her pups. Well it turns out I was paranoid! Yep, I said it! I have been babying her and helping her so much the last 10 days that I really think she thought I would just take over and be mom to her babies. So yesterday it practically killed me to ignore them when they cried and walk the other direction, forcing her to tend to them. It didn't take very many times of that happening and she is back to being a great mom! I know better than to mess with things but I think because this is my first litter and there are so many of them, that it is easy to be overprotective of them, best to let mother nature do her thing.
Part of that process has been not to supplement them as much either. I decided three times a day is plenty, they are all gaining weight and doing well and this is forcing Ivie to also spend more time letting them nurse. This is helping her as well as the puppies. I have also not divided them up the last three feedings and just let it be a free for all or total mayhem would be a better description. After about an hour or two, I would go in and some would still be nursing but most would be sleeping and Ivie would get up and go lay down in the side room for a rest and then I would supplement them. Don't get me wrong, I am still the Milk Lady and they are still crazy about me when I pick them up but I think they are getting more from their mom. Our schedule is totally screwed up and I have no idea when I will be awake or asleep but so far this weekend I think this is working out much better.
This morning as I did the weigh in Both Pink girl and Blue boy had their eyes open and I think that there are a couple more that will open up tonight. It is pretty exciting, although I think the whole dynamic is going to change. For one thing they will see Ivie coming and really be swarming around her feet:)
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