4 weeks Today
Life has become quite busy, the puppies now spend lots of time awake they are interact with each other .... they start to learn the first social boundaries over the next week. Which means next week will be scrag and tag week as they get a little rough working it all out. We'll be setting up our outside spot for the puppies today, with plenty of shade options on these hot days. I'll get some pictures when they have their first outside experience later today.
The babies are on solids and gosh they get messy. They get 4 meals each day consisting of Puppy Mash, Milk Powder, and Royal Canin puppy kibble ... and they love it. I'll be adding a special formulae puppy meat I the next few days.
Another milestone achieved - usually any congenital issues have shown up by the 4th week, and these wee guys seem to be doing just fine. The full vet check is done at approx 6weeks (before the balance of payment is due) And a copy of the vet full check for the whole litter will be added so you can make an informed decision. Due to Golds incident with Hawk, I'll get a check up done this week as well, everything seems fine, but I want to make sure.
Ruby was away showing yesterday in Auckland with Quin, Trader & River... Raewyn & Bridie and Zoe with Diego, and its lovely to report that our dogs won all their classes, best of breeds and groups.. they did really really well. Although the shows run all weekend, Ruby & Phil just went up & back for the day, normally we don't go at all when we have babies, but Zoe had come up from Christchurch for a family catch up.
Videos - are very slow to load, sorry
During and after mealtime.... some puppies eat more than others and we start to see some size (for lack a better word) deference's.
Just like with humans, each puppy has its own individual genetics or physical makeup that pre-determines this. We also see more obvious differences where some puppies have "thrown back" to one breed line or another. We are ultimately looking for the best blend of both mum and dad for ourselves, but this makes no difference for family dogs. Interestingly by the time they are adults it's all mostly evened out, and litter mates will generally be of similar size.