Pupdate: Puppy Development and Crazy Aunt Luna

Red ALWAYS sleeps with his tongue out. 

The puppies are 17 days old today and doing fantastic! They are gaining weight like crazy having more than doubled their birth weight and they are all tipping the scale just shy of the 3 pound mark. The puppies coats have darkened considerably giving us little glimpses of what they will eventually look like and we've had to clip their sharp little nails to keep them from tearing up Cleo's poor belly. In the past week they have ceased crawling and have now progressed to an amusing drunken stumble. Each day their walking improves and you can see them getting stronger and more steady on their feet. But the big gem in the last couple of days is that their eyes and ears have begun to open!

Well hello there beautiful. (Purple is a liver and roan female) 

It takes a couple of days for the pups eyes to fully open and then it takes a few additional days for them to be capable of focusing. You can see in the photo above that their eyes are a beautiful bluish-grey. Not long after the puppies make the journey to their furever homes their eyes will permanently change to a deep golden brown. Although their sight is limited you can see an immediate change in their behavior. Some of the pups will sit down and look from side to side as they are finally becoming aware of whats around them.

Blue Male already plotting his whelping box escape

Orange is a sweet faced liver and roan female

Red male looking regal. Has anyone else noticed that purple is
photobombing every pic?

The other major development we have had is with their Aunt Luna...AKA Aunt Hell Puppy. A lot of people have inquired about how she has been handling the arrival of the puppies. Somehow Luna managed to get off to an awkward start with them. In all seriousness it took ELEVEN DAYS for Luna to stop being absolutely terrified of them. "If"...thats a keyword people...IF we were able to coax her into the whelping room and then held out a puppy she would refuse to look at it and would run in terror to the living room and hide in her dog cave. We were flabbergasted by her bizarre behavior. It's almost like she had a crystal ball and could see into the future and the certain torment they will be bringing her by week 6. But regardless she not only wanted nothing to do with them she was completely freaked out by them. 

 Breakthrough compliments of Thelma....the Hell Puppy whisperer.

Flash forward to a visit from my buddy Jackie Secan (Jackie is the Thelma to my Louise). We decided to hold off on visitors for awhile as to not stress Cleo out. I think it was a good decision on our part. But when we felt like we were ready to test the waters my buddy Jackie seemed like the perfect person. Cleo and Luna adore her (and her GSP Gunny) and they spend quite a bit of time with her so it seemed like it could be a winning combination. Cleo and Luna were estatic to see her and thankfully Cleo was completely comfortable with Jackie holding and snuggling her pups. Initially Luna took up her stronghold in the belly of her dog cave but the pull and desire to be with Jackie was entirely too much for her. Jack's presence was enough to make her finally face her fear of the minion puppies. Before we knew it she was camped out on the outskirts of the whelping room and eventually moving forward began cautiously sniffing them. 

I am the Gate Keeper....Are you the Key Master?

By the time Jackie left she had successfully created a monster. Luna is now insanely obsessed with the puppies. If you let her she would spend every waking moment in the whelping room. We regulate her time with the puppies (mainly for our sanity) but as soon as Cleo starts to feed them she's in the box cleaning their butts with the tenacity of a pressure washer. If Cleo takes a nap after feeding time Luna will position herself outside the box and intensely watch all puppy activity waiting for the second she might need to jump in, regulate and lick some butts. She takes her sister wife duties ultra serious and I even caught her trying to nurse them the other night!! I'm pretty sure she thinks they might be hers but to be quite honest I think Cleo is thankful for the respite. 

Cleo feeds and Luna cleans #Teamwork

Cleo is holding up well. She has been spending more and more time out of the box and we got her out last weekend for her first run since having the puppies. She loved it and it did her little doggy spirit good. She was surprisingly careful not to over do it but you can tell that her being in such good shape before getting pregnant has made all the difference. We made sure she wore a fleece vest on the run to protect her chest. 

At this point the puppies are changing daily and about a week from now they will have their first taste of food outside the milk bar! Be sure to check back and follow us on facebook at: Adventures of a German Shorthaired Pointer.