Tue 3 Sep – Mon 9 Sep

Week 8

• Dam begins to spend a lot more time grooming herself.
• Her breasts become swollen as her milk forms.
• Nesting begins as she looks for a place to have her puppies… Make sure you have her box or spot ready..
• The dam may not have as big of an appetite during this period. Her abdomen can be crowded with puppies.
• You can feel the puppies move now.
• See if you can get her used to her whelping box

Things are progressing nicely as the girls enter their 8 week of pregnancy. I can normally feel movement towards the end of this (the 8th) week. I love laying next to them and feeling babies kick. I will for sure get video as soon as the movement is visible. D

My husband and I brainstormed and ordered enrichment equipment and toys. My husband is good at reining me in and questioning me about why we need it and the purpose it will serve. If not I will go overboard and end up with an obnoxious amount of stuff with no real reason other than I think it is cute. haha So we got our order in and I am very happy with it. Toys and equipment will be rotated between the litters. Today we sanded and painted our teeter boards and wobble boards. The same ones we used with the previous litters. They needed to be freshened up a bit. We are also working on creating a small designated outdoor puppy play area. 😀 I wanted to remind you that while enrichment equipment is super important I feel the most important part of our puppy raising is the Puppy Culture protocols. The Communication Trinity, Crate Conditioning, Shaping Emotional Response, Introducing Recall, Etc. I started out as a critic of this program and now I am believer. Our previous litters were my first Puppy Culture litters and I was a bit unsure of myself….. I am hoping that this time around we can take it even further. We recommend ALL new puppy buyers purchase their own copy of the Original Puppy Culture Film. If the cost is a factor for you, consider asking your library to order a copy for you to borrow.

A LOOK INSIDE PUPPY CULTURE from Jane Killion on Vimeo.

Tue 20 Aug – Mon 26 Aug

Week 6

• During the last several weeks, your dog’s nutritional needs nearly double. Feed small meals several times a day.
• Increase water.
• Enlargement of mammary glands as nipples darken and enlarge.
• Your girl could start to be less comfortable, and could vomit on occasion.
• There may be some clear fluid discharge from the vulva. This is normal.
• Pigment develops as the pups keep growing.
• Eyes and lids have formed and remain closed till 2 weeks after birth.

Our girls are entering their 6th week of pregnancy. Amara is defiantly feeling it. She vomited a bit this morning and wants nothing to do with Muffin or the rest of the pack wanting to play. She wants a lot of cuddles and is doing a lot of resting. Reign is staying close to me a bit more than usual and Winter is her normal sweet self, but doing more resting. 😀 Once we start seeing discharge we will be more confident that they are in fact pregnant. But I really don’t have any doubts.

Tue 13 Aug – Mon 19 Aug

Week 5

• The doctor may be able to detect pregnancy (85% accuracy) by feeling the abdomen.
• Development of toes, whisker buds, and claws.
• The sex organs begin to develop.
• The puppies are now considered fully developed miniature dogs.
• Your girls belly can look more swollen.
• Serve smaller meals more often rather than big meals.

So the girls are entering their 5th week. Things move fast from here. Amara could not finish her dinner last night so we will be doing smaller meals throughout the day. I will be starting to clean, disinfect and set up puppy rooms. I will have to move all the crates out of the downstairs dog room and that will be Amara’s room. Winter will have the upstairs office room and Reign will be set up in my bedroom also upstairs.

I have finished rewatching Puppy Culture and I am excited to see if we can do more protocols and training this time around. Three litters is gonna be tough, but I will be taking the 8 weeks off work to be able to work with them all. 😀

Wed 31 Jul – Tue 6 Aug

• Embryos implants along uterus wall.
• During the next two weeks the important organs will develop.
• Her nipples begin to turn pink and enlarge.
• May loose appetite during this week.
• Morning sickness may occur
• Feeding small amounts of high protein supplements, such as eggs, lean muscle meats (not pork) or liver is a good practice.
• Your girl may begin to display breast development and mood swings.

We are approaching the third week of pregnancy for the girls. Since they are due within a week of each other we will just be doing one update for all three girls. They are doing well. Eating fine and no noticeable change in mood. They are taking prenatal vitamins and we are continuing to add fresh foods to their daily meals.

Please note: due dates are based on the first tie (breeding). The girls had 2-3 ties during their cycle and due dates can change depending on exactly when in their cycle they ovulated.