Little Brownies Kennel
Millie's
2010 litter
This litter arrived on Wednesday, July 21, 2010.
Three boys and two girls were born to
Little
Brownies Millie Mae and
Little Brownies Ceske Pivo
July 24 | July 30 | August 6 | August 16 | August 24 | September 6
Keep a watch on this page for weekly and sometimes daily updates on the litter. Click here to see a pedigree for this litter.
Saturday,
July 24: Millie had five pups, two girls and three boys, born in the
middle of Wednesday afternoon. At three days of age, all the pups are strong and doing
quite well. In the picture to the left you can see the pups as they rest inside
their incubator. On the right, the pups are sleeping in the whelping box. At
this age the pups do little more than eat sleep and poop, so there is little to
show other than their size right now.
As
for size, at birth, the pups weighed between 315 and 355 grams or about 11
- 12.5 ounces. They have gained approximately 20 grams a day since birth. Like
children their growth will be steady but also come in a series of short spurts.
July 30: The pups are now one week old. There is not too much to report other than that they have now had dew claws removed and doubled in weight. The upcoming week will likely be
full of milestones as eyes and ears should open soon. Up until that
time the pups' senses are only clued into scent and touch. It is by
scent that the pups find Mom's milk supply and can search for her in the
whelping box. 
You may notice, in the picture on the left, that a pup is
feeding while on his back with all four feet in the air, this is not uncommon
and some pups seem to actually prefer such a position. On the right a pup has
gotten dislodged from his food supply and is searching out another source by
walking on top of his littermates... they don't seem to mind much.
August 6:
Now two weeks old, the pups are really growing. We have tagged each one so
that we can more easily tell who is who. The girls are White (a.k.a. Bertha) and
Pink. The boys are Green, Yellow (a.k.a. Yeller) and Blue. Their eyes began to
open last Saturday and all of them had their eyes fully open by Tuesday. The
ears have opened too and they now hear us when we enter the whelping room or
talk to Millie. We are starting to pick out some individual traits too, for instance, Green seems to
like sleeping on his back.
It is not unusual to see a pup or two sitting up in the box and looking around as though trying to get
its bearings. All of them are beginning to get the hang of walking too although they still tumble over
from time to time.
Looking forward to another week of change.
August 16: The pups are now approaching
four weeks of age and really starting to show some personality. They play a lot
and try to run around the whelping box. Of course they don't quite have full
control of their legs yet so a quick run will still cause them to take a little
tumble sometimes. They are now playing with their stuffed toys, grabbing each
others' tails and having little mock fights, all a part of the process of
growing up. Their teeth have begun to come in and we will soon be introducing
them to puppy food. A couple have begun to try standing up at the side of the
whelping box. Once that happens they will begin to peer over the edge and, soon
after that, attempt to escape.
When we enter the room or simply pass by and talk
to them they jump up and run around looking for attention. Obviously we can't
ignore them then so we always make a point of picking each one up and giving it
a little extra attention. We now get puppy kisses and nibbles as we hold and
play with them. Mom is doing well and beginning to lose her coat which is a
natural process brought on by hormonal changes. Poor mom will soon be almost
bald but will regain her coat before winter sets in. Something we are sure she
will appreciate. Oh yes, as you can see from the picture to the right, Mom has
decided that it is easy to give the pups a quick drink simply by standing up
rather than laying down in the box.
Sisters at play learning how to spar with one another.
Yeller likes to use the stuffed toy as a pillow.
August
24: To borrow a line from Garrison Keillor, it's been a big week in
Howell. Over the past week we have had our first escapee from the whelping box.
Green decided that it was time to see the rest of the world, climbed over the
side of the box and went exploring. Like so many children who decide to leave
the nest early, Green got out in the big world only to discover that Mom was in
the box feeding the other pups! Some mournful howls at three o'clock in the
morning brought Lynn to his rescue and he was returned to the box and the
comfort of Mom's breast. A few days later, Lynn was working in the kitchen and
caught something out of the corner of her eye. It was Green walking out of the
whelping room and heading for the breezeway. He was promptly returned to his
box... again.
The
pups began eating puppy food this past week. They now get fed a serving of well
moistened food three times a day and are further supplemented with Mom's milk. Mom has begun the
process of weaning the pups entirely but still likes to be with them whenever
she can. She'll stop feeding them within another week or so. Unfortunately this
also means that it is time for Mom to lose her coat. As the hormones change,
Mom's hair will begin to drop and she will appear almost bald right around the
time that the pups head off to their new homes. She'll recover her coat just in
time for winter to set in. Lucky dog!
We worm our pups at the ages of two, three, four and six weeks. Before we can
administer the worming medicine we need to weigh each pup to determine the
proper dose. Well, this past week was the pup's third worming treatment so I
began to weigh and worm each pup. As it turned out, Yeller was taking a nap and
thought he could sleep right through the process. As you can see in this picture
on the left, he did not even wakeup for his weigh-in although he did decide to
wakeup once he tasted the medicine. Sleeping is often a theme for early
puppyhood and in the picture on the right you can see that sharing a pillow is
not a bad thing to do.
Yesterday
we decided that it was time to move the pups to their large indoor (see picture
on left) and outdoor pens. They can now spend a lot of time outside and get to
visit with the adults more often. One of our resident deer decided to pay us a visit and brought along her "litter" of
fawns to show off. Perhaps she felt as though she and Millie have something to share. The
deer are standing just 30
feet from our bedroom window and about that same distance from the puppies' outdoor pen.
September
6: We have been busy on the farm and unable to find the time to
update this page. With the holiday upon us it seems as though now is the time.
The pups have been doing very well and now spend a lot of time in their outside
pen. They get to roam around the yard, supervised of course, and to interact
with many of the adult dogs. The younger adults like to play with the pups and
often jump in the pen for a quick visit or even to roll around playing with each
of the puppies.
The puppies are regularly visiting the gardens, climbing the hill, or running out to the far ends of the yard to romp around the trees. Of course every little object is something new to discover and play with. Leaves are especially inviting and often cause a mighty chase to commence as one puppy's leaf is usually better than all the rest. Their walks are getting longer and longer and soon will encompass our normal walking paths.
On their six week birthday the pups were treated to baths and a visit to the
veterinarian for their first set of vaccines.
The pups were given a clean bill of health and took their shots in stride.
We have begun taking the pups down to the pond so that they can be introduced to
water. So far their entries have been cautious but determined. Treats are used
as a means of coaxing them out into the water. Occasionally they will push each
other into the water as they romp along the pond's shore. As they become more
used to the water and confident in themselves they will venture further out and
go for a little swim but they are not quite there yet. Hopefully they will get
there before they leave us but it is best to let them decide when they are ready
for their first swim.