Dachshund diaries day 8

Day 8 dawns but I have to tell you they have not yet opened their eyes, we kept looking but it hasn't happened yet and it's really late now: 10 pm.
Mum has started to feel more relaxed and often turns on her back to get a rest and remove her teats from reach....

The pups are also quite happy to either cuddle up or have quiet space all to themselves. All are growing and gaining weight and very noisy when hungry.

Alas the video clips we have been recording were not possible to put onto a website as they were not identified as separate 5 minute clips and thus were too much to copy and paste onto Youtube or Flickr but we will try again by recording one clip at a time and transferring each one in turn. Later in the week or next weekend maybe.

Lucy and Jack have started to open their mouths for reasons other than suckling and will lick a finger to explore. They also bark little high pitched barks in their sleep, not just the squaks of before.

Mum is eating twice to three times her usual meals but has decided she only likes to drink milk now, that is Whelpi a kind of puppy substitute milk no mere H2O for madam and no cow's milk either as dogs do not tolerate cow's milk very well.....

It means we are constantly making up milk as she isn't drinking enough.

Can you see little Tom? He's a bit dissappointed that mum rolled over so he can't reach a teat, but he is becoming a very good climber!

On a parting note all this puppy watching has had me sewing and finishing the backpack I started in June 2008... It has been in a W.I.P. ( work in progress) bag for many months and it was a New Year's resolution to get it finished and here it is: TA DAH!!!

The pattern is my own and is free on my crochet blog: www.merrysusan.blogspot.com

I used leftovers but I guess you'd need about 12 balls of DK cotton.( of 50 g balls with 80-120 m per ball)

See you again tomorrow? I hope at least one of them will have opened their eyes!

Dachshund Diaries day 6 and 7

Aren't they lovely? I had yesterday off and found them in Cuttlebrook our local nature reserve area. I'm sorry I did not write or blog yesterday: guess what I was doing? I had the day off and I made a great long list of ''things to do'' and then........I fell asleep!!! I slept soundly for just over 4 hours, in the daytime lying in the lovely sunshine on our sofa.....Well I HAD just completed my seventh night of not sleeping more than a few ( 2 at most) hours at a time....and less than 5 per night.

I woke up just in time to pick my daughter up from school and we took these pictures, the horse is her pencilcase which just HAD to be IN the picture.

WELL? Did you guess ? It was Lucy as you could see some of her nipples. And here she is again on day 7 as above. ALL of them have now more than doubled their weight since birth and are also considerably larger. My book tells me they'll open thier eyes any time after day 7 but not be able to see until after day 10.....

The next 2 little shots are for you to judge how big they have become as it's relative to the red mats and did you see??? We now have 2 of these mats: one for mum and one for the puppies.

This one above is Tom and below are Jack ( on the mat) and Lucy lying beside the mat. Lucy is now longer than 21 cm in fact almost 26cm long.

And we'll say goodbye for now with Lucy in the finale: she's started licking her lips and leaving her tongue out as she sleeps. She's also almost ''standing'' on her hind legs if that's what's needed to drink.( if mum sits or stands up while feeding)

And here's Tom cuddled right up to mum in his favourite place: right in the fur around her neck .

You can almost not see him there!

Dachshund Diaries day 5

Day 5 dawns and even less sleep than ever was had last night!

At least my carrot tops are starting to grow: WOW ! Such a great colour and lovely GREEN shoots- all feathery and soft and so hopeful!

Did you used to grow these as a kid? I did and it takes me back I can tell you. Luckily my own kids adore this sort of thing it's just so rewarding to watch them grow so fast!

Talking of fast growth: the pups were at it a lot last night: squeaking away every hour or so and poor mum got quite FED UP with the whole business of just lying there and being tugged at by lusty youngsters...

Here she is when she walked out of the whelping box for some rest : she got into her old basket and looked dolefully at me: Can I have a break now?

I'm ready for some : ''ME'' time!!! Besides this basket is soooo much more comfortable than those newspapers in that wooden box... GIVE ME SOME PEACE.


D
Don't you agree ? That sulky look says it all doesn't it. And who can blame her? She had a carefree existence of playtimes, sleep and eating with a few walks and some cuddles thrown in .And WHAM here she is confined to a box with demanding sucky babes, all that responsibility!

The bottom washing, the lying on one's side for hours on end, the lack of outdoor walks, huh no fun.

This is what 80 % of the time is devoted to: acting like a milk machine....might as well be a cow? MOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Mind you have you seen how big they are getting? And how they line up side by side? So cute!!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Every day I weigh them and here is A holding Lucy who is a bit more relaxed and laid back today and not nearly as wriggly.

Let's have some statistics after all : after the first 5 days ; at 4.30 pm today they had gained weight as follows:

Lucy : gained 330g equivalent to 81% gain from her birth weight.

Jack jnr : gained 232g or 79%

Tom: gained 200g or 73% but don't worry I'm quite sure he'll catch up when the weaning process starts 10 or more days from now.

Here they are asleep after a feed: the red mat is a heat pad and measures: 33cm by 44 cm so you get some idea of scale.

ooooooooh I forgot to TELL YOU!!! ALL of these pictures are CLICKABLE : which means if you click on them they appear very much bigger on your screen and you an enlarge even more or look at specific area in more detail. GOOD EH? Boy I DO love technology!



Just before we say goodbye for now to the puppies: here is GUESS WHO?- much more relaxed and even more confident- if that's possible- now lying quite voluntarily on it's back.

HA , I didn't say he or she did I? Did you guess? Try clicking it and searching for clues....

Let's leave today on the cheerful note that the birdfeeders- wonderfully colourful and eco - sound as they ARE recycled materials- will very soon no longer be needed unlike this morning when we had another sharp FROST. Yes my daughters made this one, at Brownies I believe.

And as a celebratory note : some balloons for a party we will have for some birthdays in March.

Bye for now and hope to catch up with you again , I'll let you know WHO in the photo above too so please DO come back to see us all again soon?

And feel free to leave a comment, just click on the word comment at the end of the post and you can say what you think!

Dachshund Diaries day 4

Good evening all: day 4 draws into night and all is well in the dachshund world in my home at least. Above is Lucy practicing her best ''swimming'' action to get back onto a teat for her next meal. She's put on an extra 21% of yesterday's body weight and has clearly been sleeping and feeding all day long.

If you look very closely you can see the markings of a ruler I borrowed from my kids so you can see how big she is now- well over 18 cm.


This is Lucy also -but being so large, quite strong and extremely wriggly I was not quite able to get a good shot of her with camera in one hand and this mass of silky slippery writhing wriggling puppy in my left hand.....

''No , NO!Not yet and definately NOT from THAT angle, it's not my best side you see, away with AWAY I say''- paws akimbo she waves her front paws frantically.....

Such vanity at such a tender young age.

The boys on the other hand: MUCH more laid back about the whole thing and by now I had also roped in the aid of my youngest - while Pippa was doing her essentials in the back garden we snook in and took these 2 photos:

Here's tiny TOM in the tender hands of my daughter , I'm behind the camera.

And here's Jack junior cradled in my hands , protesting mildly while A takes the photo.

If you look carefully you can see he has a white line on his chest. Can you see it? Would you believe my ''beloved'' told me off for putting tippex on him so I could tell the boys apart!!!!

AS IF I WOULD! ''NO it wasn't me ''I cried defiantly and yet he carried on about the toxic qualities of tippex and the possible harm done to the puppies and what could I be thinking of and so on - I'll not bore you with his rantings....

He'd ''found'' a stripe on Jack and a dot or spot under Tom's chin :purest white it is and of course it was all my fault and the white stuff used to cover up one's little mistakes.

Hours later he gave in that maybe just maybe I HAD NOT actually done anything and these were natural markings which we had not noticed on day 1 due to the stresses of the day and the exhaustion prevailing.

This evolved into a yummy bag of Doritos and a bottle of champers to celebrate the puppies birth, toast to their health and happiness and also celebrate my eldest getting a place in her chosen - all time favourite- grammar school!!!! HIP HIP HOORAY!!!!

ps I did get my apology as well but best to ensure the treats were for those reasons above than to dent that fragile male pride?

ROLL ON DAY 5!!! See you tomorrow ? I'm off to bed as it's JJ 's turn to mind the pups tonight- I've done 4 nights in a row.

( one night with half hourly observations, 2 nights with hourly checks and last night it started at 2 hourly and lengthened to 2.5 hourly- ie 3 checks when one should have been sleeping on)

Dachshund Diaries day 3

Hello again : here they are at the end of day 3. They have had a day full of feeding and sleeping and are very clearly thriving on all of the lovely milk they are getting!


Just to help picture them better: JJ at the bottom of the photo above now measures about 18 cm from head to the beginning of his tail and this morning at 8 am he weighed: 396 grammes.

Little lady Lucy has gained a whopping 154 grammes from being born at 406 grammes she weighed in at 560 g's this morning!

Tom boy was 274 g's and this morning he'd gone to 376 g's , but this is getting too mathmatical?!!
They squeak and grunt and Tom especially has a knack of sounding like ''rubber bubbles being blown'' whilst feeding! It's really quite an orchestra when they are all at it : a puppy symphonie..

We have plans to link this blog to a video of them on YOUTUBE but bear with me as I'm not all that geeky-technical and Big JJ ( not puppy) may well need to help out a bit.
I've filmed some lovely bits yesterday but how to upload and then link them- ooops I'm just a wee bit too tires to figure that out just now.

We've been to the vet for check-ups and all is well , sound hearts and lungs, strong legs, no cleft palates, all that sort of thing - of course Tom sang loudly while being held and especially when there was a tiny stethoscope on his chest!!! Mum joined in with very loud whining and whistling as she was most concerned as to what was happening to her brood.

Mum too was examined and is just about 89% back to normal- apart from her enormous dangly teats of course...Can anyone tell me if they'll dissappear afterwards?

I have been at work for most of the day and missed them terribly at first then just got on with the nitty gritty, back at home I've been crocheting and finishing my backpack- TA DAHHH!!!

SEE BELOW, FRONT AND BACK VIEWS, the back has the straps. The front a flap which is very hard to distinguish from the rest until you ''spot'' the large ball for fastening it? Can you see it now? Can you? Keep looking!


I'll post the pattern onto here or Ravelry with a link , sometime in April probably.







More puppy development and stitchery later in the week, I can't promise tomorrow as I have a sleep deficit: still only getting 3 hours max per night....


OOOH just to let you know as I finish there's loud smacking, ''wet'' sounds behind me , where the pups are , Lucy has woken up and is feeding again,
yummy mummy; squelch squelch, smack, smack- lip smacking good....

See you soon I hope? Do please leave a comment, is there anyone out there??????!

Puppy LOVE or DACHSHUND DIARIES-1

What a FABULOUS day : I still can't believe how serene, content and utterly happy and joyful it has been.

I had been up hourly all night from 2 am checking on the dog with her puppies because just after dinner she'd sat on a puppy and ignored the ensuing squeals. This was a tad worrying to say the least so I decided to keep watch- with ears all night- and with eyes once an hour between 2 am and 6 am.

And yet . And yet : I awoke to THIS WONDERFUL MORNING!

Bright blue skies make my heart sing, it's just so cheerful! I could have danced in the garden at 6 am in PJ'S and a wintercoat and crocs when supervising the dog on her first trip out since the op.

Blue skies, buddding branches and crocuses too! Not a cloud in the sky and all day at home to potter and watch the puppies, do some crochet, some sewing and lavish lots of TLC on the dog and her pups.

As my eldest was off at 7 am on an outward bound week with school our little family was down to 3 people and 4 dogs but where I expected I might be sad or worried I was not. I was glad and hopeful that she was going to have an amazing time. Big hugs in the kitchen, a lovely breakfast together and then a quick tear or to as off she went for the first ever time away without parents.

Then after the school run with number two it was just me and the dogs: I have never seen such young puppies before so to have 3 all to myself to watch over all day was amazzzzzzing!!!

They have 7 teats to choose from but they fight over the same one. They squeak a lot but they can't hear it; it's purely for mum's benefit....After feeding little Tom always climbs up mum's neck and hides his head under the flap of her ear: soooo sweet!

When mum want relief from swollen engorged teats she licks their bottoms vigorously until they sqeal and ''swim'' across to her- they can't walk or crawl properly yet so it's a paddling motion mostly with the 2 front paws: cute is not the word for it LOL!

Tom also likes it UNDER mum's front paw.

It's day 2 and they are starting to wag their tiny tails whilst asleep and on waking they ssssssstttrrrretch out the front and back paws so far: you'd think they were made of elastic! This is accompanied by a grrrrruuuunt which is not dissimilar to that which eminates from my beloved most mornings.....AAAAAAAaaahhhhhhh

When feeding they ''paddle'' their paws along mum's skin to milk the teat: tiny paws and even tinier claws constantly raking up and down.

Below is Jack junior having a bit of shut-eye while keeping a paw to be sure of big-sister's whereabouts. These two are seen feeding side by side above.

And finally here's Tiny Tom getting to grips with the serious business of learning to suckle, in this case he had a helping hand from me - those breastfeeding lessons of 11 years ago very useful again sooner than expected!-the teat was engorged so I milked it a bit until he could ''get a grip'' and helped him latch on. Surpisingly it's the same method as for human babies and nipples....


Aren't his ears cute? I trust- and hope!- they'll grow and drop to hang down eventually.

Stay close and I'll be sharing the development of these little treasures with any who visit here.

The cast are Tiny Tom, Jack junior ( dad was also a Jack) and Lucy- Loubi-loo or even Lulu and their mum of whom I am soooo proud I just can't find the words.

We've survived the first 36 hours and now let's hope it goes well onwards from here.

For me it's been one of those magical mystery days, discovering and learning by watching their behaviours whilst also tending to mum's needs and relaxing with some crochet and sewing- more of that later I promise.

It's back to work tomorrow after watching over them again all night but I'll try to come home as soon as possible to watch and report. It's JJ 's turn to watch over them 9am-3pm tomorrow- that's hubbie NOT the puppy.

Here we are blissfully happy with our Pippa and her puppies back home!

It was quite an ordeal of many many hours in the night and ended in a Caesarian , but all is now peaceful ans as you can see they suckle well.

It's 2 lads and a little lady except the lady is not so little being 30% bigger than both lads.

I'll leave you with this happy mothering scene as there's work to do supervising and lots of sleep to be caught up on eventually....

It's the way they squeak and look is sooo adorable and how they find a teat when they cannot yet see or hear is truly miraculous!

I'm a bit besotted it must be admitted.....And they don't even look like dogs yet- little chocolate hamsters more like- yippeeee!!! YES that's it : adorable soft warm silky chocolate treats to mother, love and adore.

The sleep of the innocent and very content. What a blessing .