the pups are 2 weeks old and opening their eyes now.

See the size difference between these to brothers. The puppy on the left is not doing nearly as well as the rest of the puppies this week. He has not gained any weight and is not sucking hard enough to get enough milk.  He is now being supplemented with bottle feeding in addition to nursing from mom.  All of the other pups have opened their eyes now and are over the 1 pound mark.  The pups are now able to scoot around in their crate in search of mom and each other. Mom has a harder time getting a break now since they are becoming more mobile.  Next week I look forward to seeing them start to stand up and take a few steps.  Fun times are coming to be able to watch the puppies tumble around their bed as they learn how to manuver. 

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Aren't they adorable. they are really looking like little puppies now.  These three are really doing great.

day 7......Look at the posted pictures. the puppies are growing and are now starting to resemble puppies instead of little piglets. They are eating great with no problems. sometimes puppies will have problems learning how to suck and if they do not catch on fast enough they don't make it. These puppies however are growing fat! Next week they will look like fat little bodies with legs poking out to the sides. You can also see that their embilical cords have now dried up and fallen off leaving a small dimple we would call a belly button. At this age there still is not a lot of activity. Their main concern is finding mom and eating. They don't get upset if mom leaves for a few minutes now, since they have learned how to keep their bellies full and can find each other for warmth. Dew claws to be removed today. They wont be happy but it only hurts for a minute and will save them from potential injury latter in life.

They're here

finally early this moring Violet had her puppies. Stayed up all night checking and rechecking to see if there was anything going on.  The first puppy arrived at about 03:30 and by 05:30 all four of the puppies were here. Two boys and two girls.
I am fortunate that Violet has always been a great mom. She has no problems delivering and knows exactly what to do as the puppies arrive. I have the opposite experience with other moms before.  Lucy for example had every single puppy breach and would not push them out far enough to deliver them. If some one was not there to pull the pup out at the right moment, the pup would die. 

I have also had moms that did great with the delivery but then refused to care for the pups and they died.  Or the moms that take such good care of them that they smother them or lick their umbilical cords until they bleed to death. All very sad and heart breaking to deal with. 
If you look at the photo above you can see the drying ambilical cord that will fall off at about day 3. Much faster than a human baby and you don't have to do anything to it.  Mom will take care of every thing. 
And so begins nine weeks of learning how to be a dog........

After nine weeks of waiting today may be the day. Violet is starting to nest in her crate this morning. Violet is a Toy Beagle who is expecting a new litter of puppies. I have decided that since I have the time right now that I will try to follow this litter from day one of life and attempt to show what it takes to successfully raise a litter of puppies. I have been a dog breeder for many years and have people asking me questions all the time about how to raise puppies. Mind you this blog is not for the purpose of incouraging people to become breeders but mearly an informational blog about the work, joys and hardships that will be incountered in the puppy experience. I will try to include as much information as possible as well as pictures. I have to warn you that the pictures may not always be something you want to see, so if you are at all squimish be carefull about what you look at on this site. Click on the tabs above to see the progress of this litter.