Bunny’s Pups at One Month
We took some head shots of the pups outside today, since the sun was actually out for once. Here are Bun’s pups, one day shy of one month old.
A Guide to Grading Your Dog Food
This has been circulating for a while, but I find the results to be fairly accurate, so it’s worth re posting.
It’s a formula designed to help you to ‘grade’ your dog food. Fairly straight forward, and results for most common brands are listed below.
By the way, my raw dog food mix would receive a score of 123!! I’m going to guess that’s an A++ grade.
Frenchie Puppies’ First Meal – Video Version
Such cuties at this age…
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the pups are eating Pets 4 Life Lamb raw dog food. It’s mixed with warm goat milk into the consistency of oatmeal, and then put down for the pups to lap up.
Weaning puppies onto raw is actually quite easy, although I do still feed them one meal per day of kibble. I do this so that they’ll be accustomed to eating it, in case any of their new families prefer not to feed raw. I might change that in the future, however.
Video below the cut.
First Time Puppy Feeding
Introducing puppies to solid food is possibly one of the most hilarious, messy and frustrating aspects of dog breeding.
Some of them, like PB, take one look at the food dish and say “Oh boy, this is the life for me“, and dive in face first.
Other puppies, like Hugo, are curious about the concept, but unsure of the exact method involved.
Princess Vela took one look at the food dish, decided that eating out of it involved the potential for dirty paws, and insisted on being hand fed. We, being her lowly minions, of course complied.
In the midst of all the madness, Po, like his brother PB, calmly got down to the business of eating as much as possible. He was very methodical about it.
The only one unimpressed was Jacques, who reasonably decided that he had a perfectly good buffet on tap in the form of his mother, and that more of his siblings eating solid food equaled more milk time for him. He sniffed the food, but decided it wasn’t up to par. We’ll try again tonight.
More puppy feeding photos here, on Flickr.
ps: what do you think of the site re do? Too busy? Just busy enough? meh, who cares? Lemme know…
Photo Update Overload
Boy, have I ever got a LOT of new photos to share.
It’s fun spending time with them now – they’re starting to get personalities, as opposed to just being cute little Hamsters. They respond to us when they see us, they solicit attention, and they sometimes bark when they don’t get it!
Right now, Jacques and DP are the most reticent of the pups – a little bit shy, but very sweet. Po and Vela are bold and brave, attacking every new experience with enthusiasm. Hugo is mellllow – and boy, does that boy love to nap.
This afternoon, I’ll be moving them to the playpen in the family room, where they’ll start spending part of every day. This will expose them to new sights, sounds and experiences.
They’re still at the fat little chunky muffin phase, although the dark brindle girl has apparently inherited her grandmother’s reluctance to be awoken from naps. Like Sailor, the dark brindle girl wakes up frantic and more than a little bit pissed off – “How dare you wake me when I’m sleeping??”. I guess I know who inherited the princess gene.
Her silvery colored sister informed me yesterday when I picked her up that her name is Pickle. It’s funny how that works – one minute, they’re ‘anonymous puppy girl’, then the next you find yourself saying “Well, good morning, Pickle”, and wondering where the hell did that come from? Every so often, puppies just pick their own names. It happens.
This litter, by the way, is my Punk themed litter – how could the kids of Delilah and Dexter not be punks, I ask you? The little boy is veering between Johnny Thunders, Johnny Rotten (more for PiL, actually), Joe Strummer and Joey Ramone. No idea on the girls, other than one will be KatieJane (of Daisy Chainsaw fame).
Right now, I’m watching them fill out – they were a good size when they were born, but they felt a little ribby. Already, at three days old, that feeling is gone, and they feel packed and solid, with some weight to them. Their only goals at the moment are eat/sleep/eliminate/repeat, and not necessarily in that order. We hardly even see the puppies – Tula keeps them tucked underneath her flank, hidden away. I have to put her water and food into the whelping box for her, as she can barely stand to leave them. I love the little girl’s head already, but I try not to get my hopes up this early.
Easier said than done, of course.
As for theme names, I’m still thinking this over. I contemplated tea – Darjeeling and Earl Grey? Chamomile and Red Zinger? No, maybe not. Then I contemplated movie titles. Movie stars?
I just don’t know. Any suggestions for a pair of little cream cuties?