look at us now

late for dinner

The pups are getting very big now. This week they started getting some solid food in addition to suckling. There is no stopping these guys now.

Here is a video of Purple ribbon, who slept through the dinner bell and was a late arrival at the milk bar.

Of course, I've only got eight teats and with nine pups, someone is going to get pushed out when big Purple arrives!

playtime

The puppies are starting to play now. Instead of going straight to sleep after a meal, they stagger about and interact with each other now.

The first game is the all time favourite, bitey face.

And look at this - shiny new eyes! Very cute now.

Here is little blue plaid puppy getting his daily weigh-in. He is the smallest, but he is gaining weight every day. I don't think he will catch up anytime soon with purple ribbon puppy though - she is huge and has a big head start.

Not only are their eyes open now, but those Airedale noses are in top working order - here is a slow-motion mobbing of Marieke to get to the bottle.

puppy duties

There is a lot of laundry in our daily routine these days - lots and lots of towels to wash and hang out. Lucky for me, dogs don't have to do this chore.

I also don't have to worry with trying to clip 180 toenails each week - but I'm sure glad that Kay does it. Saves on painful scratches. It has to be done when they are sound asleep, otherwise it's impossible to hold them still!

And then there are the daily cuddles - we have called in help for this task too - here is Megan sharing puppy cuddling duty.

The pups are still getting a bottle as a top-up a couple of times per day. They think it's great.

Here is Marieke helping out with the feeds.

They are growing up fast. They can all get up on their legs and stagger about the box now. Next big event will be opening their eyes, that should be soon!

call for back-up

These pups have just about sucked me dry! Nine hungry mouths is a lot to feed.

I had to order some supplementary back-up. And gosh, did the little guys love it. They took to a bottle with no hesitations.

They started sucking on everything...

And then they get their tummies rubbed...

And then... out like a light.

Sweet dreams puppy girl!

puppy pics

Here are some of the puppies and their first photos.



And this is Pink ribbon, not so impressed with having her toes tickled as part of the bio-sensor conditioning.

feeding the pups

Life revolves around feeding the pups nowadays. They are always hungry! I barely finish one feeding session, get a quick bite to eat and it's time to start all over again.

Had to get ribbons on them quick smart so we could tell who was who. All are gaining weight and seem strong and healthy.

puppies!

The puppies have arrived! All through the night it went and when we were finished there were nine of the little darlings.

They are just gorgeous and all strong and healthy. There are five girls and four boys. Perfect little Airedales.

Kay and Neil were especially impressed because I licked them all and did a proper job of caring for them. Something I evidently failed to do last time. How was I to know?? - I had never seen a puppy before, back then.
But this time around, I think they are rather cute and I like them a lot. They have to suckle in shifts because there are so many of them.

Stay tuned for more puppy photos over the next few months!