They Have Found Their Voices!

The transition from week one to two is fun as they start to morph from hamsters to little puppies. Eyes open and they pull themselves around with gusto!

Their eyes are just starting to peek open and their noses are no longer pink.

Tess finally lets me get a picture with her in it.

This is the time when puppies are just starting to get their legs under them, though they spend more time weeble wobbling. Tess makes them start to work for their food, sitting while they nurse.

The majority of the time is spent in a hard core snooze fest.

Their ears have opened as week 3 draws to a close. It's pretty hard to sneak up on them or do anything in the puppy room with stealth. They have found their voices, barking and growling at each other. In the second half of the video, they are working harder to nurse, since Tess is making them stand to nurse.

Now that their eyes are open and they can weeble around, they begin to explore their world, including chewing on each other. This is also known as Puppy Sushi.

Nanny time continues as they make great playgrounds, as well as calling in for "Cleanup on aisle 6"!

JJ gets more nanny time each morning when the puppy maid cleans the box. Then it's back to a time of peace and quiet....for a brief while. Puppy agility is just around the corner now.

Goldens In The House

Our long awaited Trek x Tess puppies have arrived! Tess had an easy time of it and whelping went off without a hitch, though we pulled an all-nighter, as usual!

They are active and gaining weight quickly. Tess can be a bit picky when it comes to eating, so she's living life like a queen, getting breakfast, lunch and dinner made with chicken and homemade broth to entice her appetite. When you are feeding nine, this is not the time to diet!

Here is an example of the noises we hear all night long (thank goodness for the existence of white noise!). Pardon the video quality, our camera has finally given up on us. Time for a Costco run!

The nannies can't wait to have some puppy time...

Success!!! They love when it's time to clean the whelping box or do hands on care. It means mom is in her crate and they can have some time with the little squeakers.

The end of the week and pink noses are transitioning to black. In another week, eyes will open. We always like when week one draws to a close, especially in larger litters. It means we get to sleep through the night and only rotate them for nursing during the daytime. I'm pretty sure by this time, we look like they do in the picture above.....crashed and sleeping hard!

Life In The Big House

Koda's puppies are getting big and are now seven weeks old. Very soon, it will be time for them to go to their new homes. In the meantime, playtime continues at the "Big House" where they have a lot more room to get into trouble!

Puppy agility continues, and they have gotten used to the idea that life is more fun outside of the confines of a simple kennel! Not only do they make quick work of re-arranging everything they can find, they start arguing over the littlest things these days. They do seem to enjoy working on their big dog voices...oh, joy!

The ever-tolerant nannies continue to do their part, though for the life of me, I don't see how they put up with those sharp teeth!

Here, they help up with the cleaning (not so much). I missed getting video of some of them getting ahold of a bag of shavings and spreading them to Kingdom Come! This gives you a pretty good idea of their decorating prowess, though.

Bold, active trouble makers adjust well to new surroundings. Not a shy one in the group!

Now The Fun Begins!

The puppies have just turned 4 weeks. They continue to thrive and are super active. This is the time when we need to tiptoe through the house, as their hearing has become very acute and they'll make their very noisy demands to be let out to play. They don't seem impressed with their pedicures at this age and they are getting more difficult to wrangle as they get stronger.

It is still hard to get pictures with Koda in the scenes, as she really would prefer to sit in my lap given the opportunity. So, the nannies continue to be in many of the pictures.

Green Boy

Puppy agility has started and they are getting comfortable with crawling all over different surfaces, including the ever so tolerant nannies!

We are fortunate to have some great helpers who absolutely love any puppies they come across. They teach them to play, make sure they are clean and are very attentive, keeping them busy while their box is being cleaned. They also could care less about me when there is puppy play to be had, so it gives me time for photo ops. We just have to watch out for puppy toy thievery!

They have been started on Puppy Smoothies to supplement mom's milk. These are some big puppies and they are draining her dry! They pile out of the whelping box at the first sound of the rustling newspaper.

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A tired puppy is a well behaved puppy!!!

Week 2 Is Behind Us

They are starting to morph into fun little creatures. Eyes and ears are now open and so now we need to tiptoe around the house. These puppies are healthy and Koda is taking great care of them.

We have had unseasonably warm temperatures for the Northwest, so they have been avoiding the heated nest during the day.

Most of the time is spent sleeping hard!

Two of the girls.

When it's time to clean the whelping box each day, the nannies like to spend time with the puppies. They pitch in on a daily basis and are extremely tolerant. They will continue to help socialize the puppies as they grow and explore.

The Labs Have Arrived!

It's been a little while since we've had little squeakers in the house. Koda's puppies where born 4/27 and she was nice enough to do this during the daytime, such a treat! She's a first time mom and is very gentle with the puppies. We are whelping these puppies for someone else, so it's a relief to have things go well.

This is probably one of the only pictures we have of her that isn't a blur.....she doesn't like sitting still for photos, especially when the Puppy Wrangler is around! (She thinks I rock!)

As is often the case, sometimes Nanny Duty is needed. No worries to the lab people, the golden factor doesn't wear off on the puppies, but we do have a great set of extra mommies who are very attentive.

 

 All are thriving and becoming little butterballs. We had been rotating them every few hours at night to make sure they all get a fair shot at the good stations of the milk wagon! Now that they are a week old, we can catch up on our sleep.

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