i'm back with ???

[koolbreeze]

i lost my camera so i can't post any updated pictures... but i am looking for it. so i hope to find it soon. i'm back!!! i think i took Angel's death a lot harder than i expected and kind of didn't want to bond with the puppies anymore. but who can resist their sweet faces! and they are very playful right now so it is hard to not get attached. couple of questions...
1. i want to wean them and i read a couple of methods... which is the best way to go about this.
2. x-pen with a DOOR is coming today so i will be moving them from the play pen into the kitchen... its still kind of cold should i continue to use a heating pad?
3. i would really like to have them go potty outside... is it to soon to start that... (it will be in the seventies mid week.)
4. is it ok to have dad around them yet. hes seen them a couple of times but for the most part i've kept him away from them. since they will be in the kitchen with him is this ok?

ok thats it for now. hope to find my camera real soon... one of my crumb snatchers got a hold of it! THANKS!!!

[koolbreeze]

also... i'm confused about registering the puppies. when i got Troy and Walker i just got the paper to register them. thats what i want. so o the new owners can do if they choose. how do i do this just get the form for the new owner to fill out. is that what the Puppy Pack is from AKC???

[peanut]

Originally Posted by koolbreeze

also... i'm confused about registering the puppies. when i got Troy and Walker i just got the paper to register them. thats what i want. so o the new owners can do if they choose. how do i do this just get the form for the new owner to fill out. is that what the Puppy Pack is from AKC???

Glad your back, go to akc and register your litter on line and they will send you the paper work.
I started feeding mine wet kibble around 4 or 5 weeks, but they still nursed some.
Can't wait to see the pics of them.

[Sugar's Mom]

Originally Posted by koolbreeze

i lost my camera so i can't post any updated pictures... but i am looking for it. so i hope to find it soon. i'm back!!! i think i took Angel's death a lot harder than i expected and kind of didn't want to bond with the puppies anymore. but who can resist their sweet faces! and they are very playful right now so it is hard to not get attached. couple of questions...
1. i want to wean them and i read a couple of methods... which is the best way to go about this.
2. x-pen with a DOOR is coming today so i will be moving them from the play pen into the kitchen... its still kind of cold should i continue to use a heating pad?
3. i would really like to have them go potty outside... is it to soon to start that... (it will be in the seventies mid week.)
4. is it ok to have dad around them yet. hes seen them a couple of times but for the most part i've kept him away from them. since they will be in the kitchen with him is this ok?

ok thats it for now. hope to find my camera real soon... one of my crumb snatchers got a hold of it! THANKS!!!

If I remember, they are a week older or about the same age as mine. They do not need to be around other dogs besides their mommy just yet. i have just now started taking my mama away for a couple of hours at a time and feeding my four and a half week olds mush. depending on how they do on this, they will stay on that three or four days and when they start finishing their small meal that I will give them about three times a day to start with, we will graduate to wet puppy food with a little puppy supplement in it or wet dry kibble smooshed up with a little puppy supplement in it. At this point their mouths are so small they might get choked trying to eat the dry all by itself. I had this happen and I like to have never got the peice of kibble out. oh and BTW, that is my signal to start trying to feed them. When they toddle over and try to eat mama's dry food. They are still in the x-pen in my bedroom and will not have access to the "Big Dog" room until 8-10 weeks and only a few minutes of supervised time to start with stretching it each visit. I have not used a heating pad since mine were two days old. I used a heat lamp for two days, then turned the thermostat up to 72 in that room. Now it is 70. Also, do not let them go outside for any reason until they have had all their shots.

[koolbreeze]

Originally Posted by Sugar's Mom

If I remember, they are a week older or about the same age as mine. They do not need to be around other dogs besides their mommy just yet. i have just now started taking my mama away for a couple of hours at a time and feeding my four and a half week olds mush. depending on how they do on this, they will stay on that three or four days and when they start finishing their small meal that I will give them about three times a day to start with, we will graduate to wet puppy food with a little puppy supplement in it or wet dry kibble smooshed up with a little puppy supplement in it. At this point their mouths are so small they might get choked trying to eat the dry all by itself. I had this happen and I like to have never got the peice of kibble out. oh and BTW, that is my signal to start trying to feed them. When they toddle over and try to eat mama's dry food. They are still in the x-pen in my bedroom and will not have access to the "Big Dog" room until 8-10 weeks and only a few minutes of supervised time to start with stretching it each visit. I have not used a heating pad since mine were two days old. I used a heat lamp for two days, then turned the thermostat up to 72 in that room. Now it is 70. Also, do not let them go outside for any reason until they have had all their shots.

ok got it. thanks for the info!! any recommendations on a good puppy food. i've been using Royal Canine for mom (thats the only thing she will eat. tried to give her the good stuff Candid and she refused it) so is that ok?

[Sugar's Mom]

Originally Posted by koolbreeze

ok got it. thanks for the info!! any recommendations on a good puppy food. i've been using Royal Canine for mom (thats the only thing she will eat. tried to give her the good stuff Candid and she refused it) so is that ok?

i think the food is whatever they will eat. JMO. I use Eukanuba because all my adults are on it and they all eat the smalle breed puppy but a lot of people don't like it. For the wet, I use ceser'spuppy there again, a lot of people don't like it so i say whatever works for you. it will be easier on you to start the puppies on whatever mama is eating provided she is eating puppy food.

[jrsygal37]

I'm sorry about your girl. I didn't follow anything so I'm not sure what happened but I'm sorry. I'm not savvy with breeding etc. but just a question or a thought. I've seen on occassion kittens that have lost their mom, hell even piglets and they've used a surogate mother dog to nurse them. Can that be done with your crew? Do you know someone who has a mom that may have had pups that could nurse your babies with hers? Maybe some of the experienced breeders could say whether this can be done or not and whether it would be a good idea? Just a thought.

Elaine

[koolbreeze]

Originally Posted by Sugar's Mom

i think the food is whatever they will eat. JMO. I use Eukanuba because all my adults are on it and they all eat the smalle breed puppy but a lot of people don't like it. For the wet, I use ceser'spuppy there again, a lot of people don't like it so i say whatever works for you. it will be easier on you to start the puppies on whatever mama is eating provided she is eating puppy food.

ok. she is on Baby Dog Royal Canine. thanks

[koolbreeze]

Originally Posted by jrsygal37

I'm sorry about your girl. I didn't follow anything so I'm not sure what happened but I'm sorry. I'm not savvy with breeding etc. but just a question or a thought. I've seen on occassion kittens that have lost their mom, hell even piglets and they've used a surogate mother dog to nurse them. Can that be done with your crew? Do you know someone who has a mom that may have had pups that could nurse your babies with hers? Maybe some of the experienced breeders could say whether this can be done or not and whether it would be a good idea? Just a thought.

Elaine

thanks. Angel was a puppy that died at 13 days old. i had a lot issues with bringing him into this world and it just really upset me that he died anyway. thanks for the suggestion, but mom (Troy) is fine.

[NanaDtreasures]

It was sad about the puppy

I just wanted to say I'm happy your back!

[TeddyandTiffy]

How Old Are They?

1. i want to wean them and i read a couple of methods... which is the best way to go about this.

I know other breeders has other ways but this is what we do.

I start weaning mine at 6 weeks old & they are still nursing on mommy too. I started mine out at 1 time a day for a few days, then 2 times a day for a few days then 3 times a day.

I start mine out on Gerber Baby Rice Cereal (Powdered) 1st for about a week to get them use to the thickness of food, I mixed it with Esbilac Powder I got it from our Vet, (I warmed the Esbilac formula that I already had made up in the fridge before adding anything to it) I had to help hand feed our last litter.

I made it thin for about 3 days (So they can learn to lap it up) I made it a little thicker on day 4, making it a little thicker every day but still kinda soupy till day 7, on day 7, I mixed canned puppy food with the baby rice cereal (Mix u're rice cereal with U're Esbilac 1st then add U're canned puppy food) for about 4 to 5 days, & make it thin to start with, then I add some dry puppy food moistened down with warm water and add that to U're baby rice cereal mixed with the Esbilac then after 4 to 5 days I put in little dry puppy food here & there and then they are on the full dry puppy food. It does take me longer to wean but I haven't had any touble doing it this way. No puppies of ours got the runs, pukes, or upset belly. They all thrived on it & loved it. All our Yorkies was on Science Diet then, now they are all on Nutro and I will do Sages' litter next Spring the same way except use the Nutro. I hope this helps U

2. x-pen with a DOOR is coming today so i will be moving them from the play pen into the kitchen... its still kind of cold should i continue to use a heating pad?

How cold is it in U're kitchen?

3. i would really like to have them go potty outside... is it to soon to start that... (it will be in the seventies mid week.)

How many puppies do U have? I puppy pad train 1st then just take ours out to play and of course they potty then. I took ours outside when they was about 7 weeks old and they was born June 21, 07

4. is it ok to have dad around them yet. hes seen them a couple of times but for the most part i've kept him away from them. since they will be in the kitchen with him is this ok?

At 6 weeks of age we let ours be around dad too, as we put our puppies in new litter boxes with their food bowls (Each had their own bowls) in them to eat (2 Puppie per litter box so we had 3 litter boxes total in the living room all lined up lol) (We had 6 puppies in this litter so I had to think of something lol) on our living room floor. I really love the large litter boxes to start feeding them in, they keep U're floor clean and U just have to catch them if U can to wipe paws and faces off with washcloths before they climb out. After they got done eating they would go play around in the living room and daddy was in there too, he was scared of his own babies lol. But he got to where he loved to play with them.

I hope this will all help U. I love raising babies, really miss having them, loved getting up every 2 hours to feed and making 6 bowls of food. I got tired but I wouldn't trade a minute of it. I hope U're babies do good!

[bjh]

I start weaning my puppies at around 4 to 4 1/2 weeks. I take a good quality dry puppy food and grind it in a blender until it is very fine like corn meal. I just put this ground up dry food in both sides of a small two sided bowl (they sell at Wal-mart) in the x-pen along with a small bowl of water. The puppies will soon go over and start licking the dry food. Puppies love it and you don't have to worry about making mushy food that gets the puppies all icky and sticky. Of course they are still nursing mom too but they gradually start eating more of the dry food as they get older. By the time they are 6 or 7 weeks old you don't have to grind the food as much. I have had other breeders try this method and they all told me it worked great for them too. Good luck with your babies.