Lela's puppies

Saturday 8th May.

I am very aware I have not mentioned Lela's puppies in recent days and I guess It is because they are just quietly getting on with growing and giving me no reason to be concerned about them. They have reached a milestone today in that they are 2 weeks old. They are big puppies, not far behind in weight with Motsi's but I expect that to be the case in these early days as there are less of them and they can capitolise on Lela's abundant milk supply.. This afternoon I have wormed both pups and Lela and they have had their nails trimmed again. They really do just eat and sleep which is why It is so difficult to capture interesting photo's of them.

I will try and get more photo's when they are awake and a little more active.

Motsi's puppies.

Friday 7th may.

Mots's puppies are totally scrumptious and a joy to be with. They are very responsive with us now and last night Olivia and I spent all evening in the box playing with them. I am very pleased that they are all very similar in type. Yes Lincoln and Porsche are lighter but they all have beautiful strong heads and I love this.

I introduced them to milk this morning and as expected It was a very messy affair but they did attempt to lap and that was all I expected of them. Motsi was the main beneficiary of the milk but It wont be long before they go crazy for It.

Sadly the weather has turned cooler and Sunday is expected to be quite cold so I have delayed moving the pups out to the mud room. Our living room is quite pongy in the morning, but who cares, we certainly don't.

Motsi's puppies.

Wednesday 5th May.

Motsi's puppies are enjoying their introduction to solid food. I always start the pups on raw beef as It easy for them to eat, is relatively mess free and I feel It gives their gut a good intro to solid food and they love It. I always love that first moment when they are offered that first little bit of meat. At first they spit It out as they don't quite know what to with It but then, when they get the taste and smell of It, they go crazy and It is amazing just how much they can consume. This is the start of less demand for Motsi and boy does she know this. Ruby, her grandma was always the best of mothers but she was always happy to relinquish the responsibility of feeding to me. I suspect Motsi is going to be the same.

My only concern and It is a very small one, is Bently. He is a little smaller than the rest of the puppies so I am very mindful of his progress. I actually put him in Lela's box on Monday night for a while and even though she was very good and let him feed from her, she would not clean up after him. The fact he had just been wormed and started on meat I am sure, had something to do with It but I did not leave him with Lela for long. This morning he was reluctant to eat meat even though I kept putting It into his mouth. He reminds me of a Kasidi/Raiza puppy from a few years back. His name was Kodak and he really fell behind his littermates and for a while I was supplementing his intake. He continued to be small up until 8 weeks or so. He went to live in Canada with a lovely family and only last week I received amazing photo's of him in the mountains, in deep snow, while his family were skiing. He has matured into a really beautiful dark red very big boy. A lesson to us all that genetics determines the final outcome of how the dog develops, providing of course he is well fed.

Lela's puppies

Wednesday 5th May.

I am a creature of habit and I love my routines, this passes on to the dogs and every morning from, anytime after 08.30 they are agitating for their walk. Since the puppies I have had to adjust my routine to accommodate Lela and Motsi as they are ready for a big breakfast in the morning and they cannot go for a long walk on a full stomach. Our new walk time is around 10ish and the other dogs are not too happy with this new arrangement.

I still cannot believe Lela's puppies are not yet 2 weeks old, they remain very quiet, feed well and are gaining weight nicely. My daughter cut their nails yesterday and made new identity collars for them. There really is nothing else to say about them and I am looking forward to when they are up on their feet more. There eyes are opened which always changes their appearance and makes them look more dog like.

Lela's puppies

Sunday 2nd May.

Lela is much more comfortable about leaving her puppies now and looks forward to the walk in the morning. She disgraced herself today by rolling in something truly disgusting and was quite puzzled when I wouldn't let her into her lovely clean box with fresh smelling sheepskin. She was promptly hosed down. I love my dogs to bits but their fascination for all things putrid, whether they ingest It or roll in It is sometimes hard to tolerate.

I clean the boxes twice daily and wash the sheepskins so I am quite grateful the weather is much warmer as they can be put on the line to dry.

Lela's puppies are easy peasy, the smaller litter size makes a huge difference to both me and Lela. I never have to worry about there being few teats for the pups and the load is easier on Lela too.

There nails have grown incredibly in just one week so they will be cut this afternoon.

The picture today is of Elijah, a lovely boy who I think is going to be very similar to the 2 boys from Lela's litter last year, Murray and Cadbury.

Motsi's puppies.

Sunday 2nd may.

The last few days have been very busy, Mark back from Europe, my son back from Uni, acres of grass screaming to be cut etc etc, 8 dogs to look after and of course the pups.

Motsi's puppies have taken a huge leap in terms of their development, they can stand, their eyes are fully opened, they are making funny little growling sounds and they are beginning to hear. We put them outside with their mum for a short while yesterday, something which I will do increasingly now the warmer weather is here.

Today they will be wormed and tomorrow I will start introducing them to raw ground beef. Motsi is not a big bitch and although I am feeding her copious amounts of food the demands of feeding 10 puppies is now taking Its toll on her. This is the peak of milk output for Motsi. I am pleased to say she is happy to leave the box for longer periods of time now and the puppies can go a good few hours between feeds.

I am very happy that Motsi and Lela have continued their good relationship while they both have puppies. They are very laid back with each other and they share a natural curiosity for each others babies.

We have 2 puppies in Motsi's litter that are almost identical twins. They are Porsche and Lincoln and they are the 2 lighter wheaten pups . What is interesting is, they tend to hang out with each other too.I know we all have our preferences but I am drawn to these two puppies. Of course It is silly to start looking seriously at the pups at this stage but they are very eye catching.

They still spend much of their time sleeping and eating with small periods of wakefulness in between.

My copy of the Ridgeback Register arrived on Friday and I would recommend this quarterly magazine to everyone. In this spring edition there was a very interesting article on dewclaws and whether they should be removed. Back home we have never, as a rule removed them, infact this issue had never been brought to my attention until we moved here to the US. The conclusion was that the US is the only country in the world that routinely removes them but some big kennels are now leaving well alone. To quote Dennis Boyd from Ireland,'If over the millennia nature saw fit to retain dewclaws on canines," he muses" then is not arrogant of humans to think they know better"?

People who know me will know I am against any part of a dog being removed, be It tail docking, clipping of ears or removal of dewclaws. Using my own dogs as an example and my dogs run for miles everyday through sometimes rough terrain, I have never had an injury to their tail or dewclaw and I am in my 25th year of keeping Ridgebacks. The only recurring injury in my pack is torn toe nails.

Lela's puppies

Wednesday 28th April.

I can't believe Lela's puppies are only 5 days old. They remain very quiet, are gaining weight nicely and giving no cause for concern. I have removed Adam and Eves collars as they are easily identifiable by their white feet.

I plonked adam on the scales this morning and he is already over 2 pounds in weight. I also had to renew the collars of the other pups as they had outgrown them.

Motsi is very interested in Lela's puppies and frequently goes over to her box for a sniff. Lela, although a little guarded tolerates It and gets more tolerant with each passing day.

Buttons and Noah are very interested in the puppies, It is always the case with the younger dogs and I like to encourage this. They won't know whats hit them in a months time when they are being terrorised by 16 mobile sets of teeth.

Lela's discharge is much less today and this is a huge relief as I was becoming a quite worried and would have taken her to the vets today had I not seen progress.