| "I think we ate too much turkey.." |
|
|
| "But it was sooo good..." |
| At five weeks the puppies are growing rapidly |
|
|
| Picture by Catherane Skillen, who can't wait to take her's home! |
| Little puppies often fall asleep while sitting up! |
|
|
| Another Skillen masterpiece |
| Finally they collapse |
|
|
| By C. Skillen |
| You can see the diffference one week makes. |
|
|
| Of cause the shampoo and clip worked wonders |
At five weeks the puppies are completely weaned and Shadow is beginning to get
her figure back. In a few weeks she will look as if she never had any puppies. Weaning the puppies now also helps with the
shots, given at six weeks, Mother's milk contains anti-bodies that will attack the introduction of the shots. Even after
a week away from Mother's milk, the shot can be compromised so it is important for the babies to receive a second shot. at
eight weeks, before they leave home. The riskiest time in a puppies life is between weaning and their first
effective shots.
At five weeeks the puppies are drinking unlimited quantities
of milk to ensure they always have healthy teeth and bones. (Merlin has never needed any dental work) The puppies have
unlimited food, at this time a mixture of Eukanuba, small bite puppy food and a lamb and rice canned food, to make it moist.
Water is always available, but they still drink very little of it. They have tiny, very sharp teeth and they love
to hang onto shoe laces, socks and the bottom of slacks. They love to play with empty gallon milk bottle because they can
climb on them and push them around with their noses. We give our puppies soft and hard toys. The soft toys encourages
them to mouth but not bite and tear things. Our adult dogs still like teddybears to carry around or to go to sleep with.
The puppies sleep most of the time. Sometimes they fall asleep while still sitting up, while they have
their heads in the food bowl or in their milk. The milk usually wakes them up quickly! At this point we change from round
food bowls to long troughs, to discourage them from actually sleeping stretched out in the food bowl. Immediately after I
bathed the puppies, one ran the full length of the milk trough, which was filled with a gallon of milk, he got a second
bath!
