17 Days Old...

Sorry I slacked off on posting every day. I had to catch up on some work and administrative stuff and although I handled pups and took care of them, I did not take the time for photos, videos and cute stories. I will try to keep it up better.

This is such a fun time! They are coming alive and starting the first puppy play motions, biting mom's ears, mouthing everything, barking and yes even howling. And they are walking and the two liver boys have already gotten out of the whelping box a couple of times! They crawled up on top of Figgy and went right on over the side. They wake up and come to my voice. Dubby loves to be held, cuddled and falls asleep cradled on my chest. If I were to believe in reincarnation, I would say he is an old soul... he has done this before. The instinct of a puppy is to NOT want to be held at first. It is for survival. If they are held down, laid upon etc... they are too fragile to survive the first couple of weeks. They struggle and fight for a teat when nursing with their litter mates. They  push and bulldoze the other pups out of the way. So for one to LOVE to be held and cuddled at a very young age is a bit unusual. He was liking it even before his ears or eyes were open, that is usually when they recognizing touch and love as a good thing.

Puppies eyes are open. Brutus (Black Patch) eyes have been all the way open for a few days. The Liver boys are almost all the way open. They all remain hearing, and that is a good thing. In my experience sometimes the pup will hear early and then go deaf as the cochlea die off in the ear canal. That is what makes a Dalmatian puppy deaf. If there is lack of pigment inside the ear canal they will go deaf. It is hard to believe that such a cosmetic thing such as the spotting on the outside of the dog, also plays an important role inside the ears. Puppies are officially hearing tested after 5 weeks of age.

The three brother sleeping...

Brutus sleeping

Dubby walking towards me

Dubby standing

A sleepy Just Tom