Jolly's 2018 Puppies - 2 Weeks Old

The puppies have more than doubled their size since birth!  They are doing fabulous.  (Remember to click on their photos above to see more individual pictures.)  Some are trying out their shaky legs and walking around their cozy whelping box.  Most have discovered how to climb out of the box to find Mama.  

As you can see above, there is one escapee who decided he couldn't wait for a meal.  We arrange the whelping area in this way with a bed for Jolly because she does leave them for short periods of time at this stage.  She still spends nearly every moment with them, but she will slowly decrease her time with them over the next weeks.  Jolly is eating well to feed all her babies.  She is the sole source of their nutrition right now, which means we need to make she has all the nourishment she needs.  We do so by feeding Life's Abundance All Stage food to her free choice, along with occasional raw eggs and goat milk fresh from our homestead.  (Note: We only feed our dogs free choice in the end of pregnancy and during lactation.)

One obvious development is their open eyes!  This brings lots of excitement around Russell Homestead because the children know that now AT LAST they can hold them.  Below is JJ holding Miracle.  We keep the holding sessions short at this age.  They aren't ready to play yet, but they love a good warm place to snuggle down and sleep.

They are all growing at a nice, steady pace.  Boaz continues to lead the pack at 1lb, 9oz, and Ryder is the smallest at 1lb.  The rest fall nicely in between.  And, since they do sleep their days away right now, I'll close with what we like to see when we look into their box - everyone snuggled into a big pile.  Thanks for stopping by!