Tachi's 2020 Puppies ~ 2 Weeks Old

​Hello, world; you are beginning to come into focus!  Here are the puppies at 2 weeks old.  (Remember to click on their pictures for more pictures.)

As you can see from the pictures, some of the puppies have their eyes open.  Some do not, and some do, but fell asleep during the photo shoot!  Week #2 for the puppies is spent pretty much in a sleepy dreamland with lots of food and growing involved.  The puppies are in a main area of our house with lots of activity and noise.  Yet, during the second week of their life they remained somewhat clueless to the outside world.  A door slam, a radio playing, children being children – they slept through them all!  However, as soon as I touched them to change their bedding, they came to life searching for food.  In the coming week, they will gradually become more aware of their surroundings.
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The puppies are growing beautifully.  Everyone, including Theodore, doubled their birthweights by 10 days old – a sign they are healthy and growing well.  Their weights are: Gordon 1lb, 10oz; James 1lb, 8oz; Eddie & Peace - 1lb, 7oz; Benny - 1lb, 5oz; Mercy & Grace - 1lb, 4oz; and Theodore - 14oz.
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Tachi is once again making mothering a litter look easy!  We continue to monitor her, making sure she gets time outside playing in the sunshine, being certain she eats plenty of nutritious food, and making sure she always has fresh, clean water.  She’s a real supermom – caring for of all their needs from eating to staying clean.

Another aspect of our care for the puppies continues to be keeping their whelping area clean.  We change their bedding several times a day and clean the whelping area with Life's Abundance Biodeodorizer, a safe, deep-cleaning spray that helps keep odors away. 

In the next week, we will be rearranging the puppies' whelping area as they become mobile.  Some of them are taking tottering steps, but their little bellies barely get off the ground at this age.  That changes quickly, though, and we want to take every opportunity as they grow to begin laying the groundwork of house training.  In an effort to do so (and as we follow the Misty Method), we will add a potty box to their whelping area as they become mobile.  They learn quickly to keep their bedding area clean (because we've kept it clean all along).  We've found the Misty Method to provide great results when our puppies go home in preparing them for crate training.

Benny (B&S) and Gordon (S&P) show you the difference between the two schnauzer color schemes.

I want to shed some light on a common question we receive, "What's the difference between a black & silver (B&S) puppy and a salt & pepper (S&P) puppy?"  Before answering, I want to point out that schnauzer genetics vary widely; I'm going to answer based on the genetics we've seen here at Russell Homestead with Cooper (B&S), Sheerah (B&S), and Tachi (S&P).  Both B&S and S&P have silver highlights on their faces (eyebrows & beards), paws, and (for lack of better way to say it) behinds under their tails.  The S&P have speckled hairs in their silver highlights, while the B&S have no speckling.  When newborn, you can tell the difference by looking at the ears.  S&Ps have brown speckled hair on/behind their ears, while the B&S have all black ears.  The S&Ps also have speckling down their sides as puppies.  For our puppies, as they grow, the brown/silver on the ears and sides becomes less noticeable (in general).  Tachi is a somewhat dark S&P because her speckling is contained to her silver highlights.  From a distance, she looks very similar to Sheerah, our B&S girl.  In general, with our genetics, our S&Ps don’t necessarily look that much different than our B&Ss, except for the speckled hair in the highlights.  To see what I mean, look at our puppy update photo page and look for the heading “Special Features” and find Tachi & Cooper’s first litter at one year old.  Ada & Henry are S&P; the rest are B&Ss.

I'll close this week with a few snapshots of the children holding the puppies for the first time.  Early, gentle socialization is best!  Notice how the puppies like to snuggle in the crooks of arms.  Puppies at this age naturally look for a warm place to burrow into, which is why they sleep in a pile.  We keep the holding sessions very short, usually only a few minutes, because the puppies really only want food and sleep at this age.  And, don't miss the last photo - it was very cute watching how still Tachi was being in order not to disturb her little one.

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed week!