May 31 - A Video to End the Month

As we wind down the month, here is a video that we shot this early AM. Believe me, on a Saturday morning, we weren't planning on shooting the video in the early AM.  The puppies sort of forced our hand.  Oh by the way, they sound like screeching crows.  The effect is magnified when the entire pack joins in. 

May 30 - Back with Assorted Pictures

It's been several days since we posted as we were a bit busy. The good news is that the first return post will show that the puppies have changed. What you may notice is that their hair is coming out and produces a fuzzy effect. Also, their ears are cutely folded. As always they are very playful.

May 26 (2) - Not Polar Bears or Bats but Screeching Birds?!

Back when they were four days old or so, we observed their characteristics polar bears or bats and thought they looked like polar bears because they were so white. Perhaps they looked like bats because their ears were pointy. Now here we are into a month of existence, there are some new traits. Audio rather than visual that cannot be ignored. We gave you a flavor earlier but now there is a cacophony of sounds in the morning that prevents restful sleep within the household. As the puppies find their voice, some have a high pitches and some have a knack of stringing their cries to sound like a screeching bird. We now share this "joy."

May 26 (1) - Wresting and Playing - A Video

Here is a video of the newfound playfulness. To set this video up, these pups have just eaten (through mom Ming) and they've stopped their yelping and protesting.

May 25 (2) - Awww - That's So Cute!

Sprite is sleeping and oblivious of the activity around her.  As she sleeps nearly vertically against the play hippo, her siblings are getting ready to wrestle each other.

May 25 (1) - Introducing Yellow - A Female

Let's see, we've already feature 5 of the 9 pups.  Today, it's the sixth!  We have up Yellow, a female. 

May 24 (3) - Expanding the Real Estate

We saw the puppies move up to a new abode - from a cardboard box to a nice puppy pen back a few weeks ago.   Now the pen works for a while but looking ahead, the pen may be a wee small as these pups grow and grow.  Therefore, new real estate is needed.  A matched puppy pen was ordered and received!  To maximize space, we put the two pens side-by-side.  Of course it helps that the pens have a door opening. 

Our thought is that one side is a sleep area and the other is an "outside" locale.  As you can see, a tunnel of sorts bridges the pens. What has developed is that the puppies favor the tunnel.  Whether it's dark and inviting or they just like what seems a new fresh space remains to be seen. 

May 24 (2) - What's That Racket?

Having 9 puppies is certainly a challenge.  From feeding, cleaning up to ensuring that every puppy gets their share of food is a bit of work.  It's been fun for sure but as these little one grow, they are undergoing change.  They're hungry all the time, they're bored(?) and when they are at their tipping point, they yelp and cry out loud.  Of course it doesn't happen at convenient hours but clearly inconvenient times - early in the AM to be exact (e.g., 3 to 5 AM).  Even when they've been fed they are still boisterous.  So what is it?  Well, we believe that their teeth are coming in. 

To share what we are experiencing in the sounds, we bring you this video.

May 24 (1)- Back At You

OK - here are assorted pictures of the puppies on their backs, sleeping, packing and playing.

Look at the rare capture of one of the puppies sleeping with the tongue out!

  

May 23 (2) - Assorted Puppy Pictures

We have multiple cameras in the house with different operators. Each of us have different times in which we capture interesting moments as you have seen in previous posts.  So there is no theme to this post.  It's the weekend and we are just being lazy clearing out the cameras. Hope you like them.

It's Christmas! An "anonymous" benefactor (we know who you are and thank you) sent a giant box of toys.  We were told that as they get older, the need for additional distractions increases. They love chewing on the toys, especially the ones on the hanging hippo which make a crunching sound.
  

May 23 (1) - Eating in Symmetry

Maybe we planned it, maybe not but there is a certain orderliness to these pictures.  Don't you think?

You may be wondering what is going on here. In order to maximize Ming's nursing, we put her on her back so that the puppies can get at the milk without clawing and fighting among each other.  They look very civil in this shot don't they?

So we've seen the puppies' acceptance of gruel (bad sounding I know). We have experimented with small plates separating the puppies into groups.  At times, a few from one group are disinterested in eating and may go to another group's plate.  Many times, they walk all over the plates.  It appears a bigger plate works.

May 22 (2) - Random Playfulness

Now as the puppies progress, their personalities are coming out and some are very playful.  Honestly, it's hard to keep track of who is who when they're sleeping on their backs or in the corner.  It is a great thing for paint marking!  Anyway, the puppies have room to spread out as you can see. This video is longer than previous but you can see that some are more playful these days. 

May 22 (1) - Back to Prison

The crate has been a great holding pen for the puppies as we clean up the bigger puppy pen but as you can see, they're getting very big and the crate will not be sufficient to hold them all comfortably in the next week or so.  They are only in there for about 4 minutes but some seem to object.  

As always here is a corresponding video.  You may hear us scrubbing the pen in the background.

May 21 (2) - Featuring Black - A Female

Here we are with our fifth introduction of the nine puppies. We've started off with Green - Yellow (Female) followed by Green Black (Male - Pictures & Video), Pink Black (Female) and then recently with Yellow Black (Male).  Today we have Black, a female that is quite playful with her siblings.  As with all the feature posts, we include pictures and a video.  Of note, we are starting to take these pictures in the morning so the puppies may be groggy.  As you can see we captured a yawn.

 

Come back tomorrow. We'll cook something up for the next post.

May 21 (1) - Eating From a Plate - Quite Messy

As we saw in an earlier post a couple of days ago (Click Here), we saw the first signs of eating that didn't involve Ming.  Well, the puppies are understanding that they can eat from another source.  It's a very cute scene. What you do see is the food on their noses, whiskers, fur, leg, etc.  What you didn't see (or we didn't capture) was the walking over their plate.  Needless to say, clean up was a necessity.

 

May 20 (1) - Sleeping on Your Back

Ming sometimes sleeps on her back (as many Westies do I am sure). But within her litter, we found several consistently love to sleep on their backs as well.  Here are some old shots back in January 2008 (before she was pregnant).

Perhaps it's a genetic trait as Ming has been know to do this as well.  These are precious close up shots that we got.  It seems all the good shots are when they're asleep.