The Declaration Nine – The First Ten Days

Hello, friends!

Apologies for taking so long to check-in. Everybody’s good. Really, really good. Here’s a quick recap of the first ten days:

April 15, 2014 – Delivery Day:

Friday started going into pre-labor at midnight. At 4:00 AM I texted my girlfriend, Anne, to let her know it was time to come over and help. At 6:30 AM, she arrived with a couple of lattes and pastries from the local Peet’s. SCORE! We sat around much of the morning kept Friday company while she panted and panted and panted…

Sometime after 11:00 AM, the first puppy arrived. And about 13 hours later, we were done. Thankfully, labor was very uneventful; Friday was a champ. Here are some pictures (a few more than a hundred, sorry!) of the day:

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April 17, 2014 – Two Days Old:

Everyone’s getting weighed everyday, and so far, everyone’s gaining weight. That’s good!

Feeding time.

Puppies with the full tails.

Umbilical cords have mostly fallen off… mostly. Mimosa still has hers.

Absinthe, getting her dinner on.

Also just wanted to share this photo of Friday in her box with the babies, and her daughter from her first litter, Lola, sitting on the other side of the divider, just to be close and keep her company.

At some point, Lola (left) decided she wanted to sleep in our old cat bed. We save it for the puppies for when they’re a bit older. Once Lola was done with it, Miss Britta decided to have a try (center and right). Love these silly goobers.

April 18, 2014 – Weimarization Day:

En route to getting Weimarized.

The procedure. Very quick, only a few seconds per puppy. They do yelp and cry, but within 60 seconds of it being over, they’re already back asleep in their basket.

The drive home. Everyone’s asleep.

The puppies also had a few visitors:

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April 21, 2014 – Day Seven:

Mardi Gras, fast asleep. Also, noses, lips, and paws are starting to show pigment (darker brown color). (Puppies are born without pigment.)

April 25, 2014 – Day Ten:

Just a few photos of the puppies on day ten:

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And some group shots…

Notes from the first ten days:

• April 17th – Our first social visit. Puppies slept their way through it, but their visitors enjoyed them!
• April 18th – We started bio-sensing the puppies, and we’ll continue to do this daily until they’re about 16 days old.
• April 24th – We had our first nail trimming. 16 toes x 9 puppies… 144 clips! That took awhile…
• April 25th – I finally decided on a litter theme. Since everyone arrived on April 15th, Tax Day, we’re officially going with a Tax Theme! So, “The Declaration Nine,” it is. More details later about what this means.

Until next week,

Cheers!