4. Puppies eyes & ears open

As Christmas approached, I started to relax as the puppies were all eating well and putting on weight. Poor Phoebe was getting treatment for her ear infection but was being a fantastic and attentive mum. 

The Transitional Period, which lasts from day 13 to 21, is the quickest of the developmental stages where a lot of important changes happen. Puppies are born in a very early stage of development which is called "altricial".  During the Transitional Period the puppies catch up with those animals that are born in a much more developed state, such as foals, which are examples of "precocial" animals. The puppies have undergone a rapid transition from the neonatal state and by the end of this Transitional Period will have gained control over their thermoregulation and are able to toilet unaided. This is when the puppies moved from being little black fur balls who are deaf and blind to a puppy that can see and hear, toddle and play.

I was expecting their eyes to start opening around day 14. The day before this I was sitting cuddling them in the pen and picked up Mr Orange only to see him blink and open his eyes to look at me. Little did I know then that he would be the puppy I chose to keep. Over the next 24 hours all their eyes opened, and the next exciting phase started.

On Christmas Eve a couple of close friends popped over to drop off gifts and I made sure Phoebe was left in peace. But when her beloved dog sitter Anne-Marie arrived, she jumped out of the whelping box and came over for a big cuddle. I made sure everyone who came left their shoes by the door and washed their hands, and anyone who had dogs, changed their clothes before they come over to reduce any infection risk. Our Christmas Day was very quiet but magical…the puppies were the best Christmas present I could ever have asked for. Plus on this day all the puppies reached the 1 kg milestone and I had a little G&T to celebrate! I would often put the seven puppies in the ‘chunky gang’ in the travel crate for a sleep so that the three smaller puppies got an extra feed. I spent the day cuddling them, trimming their nails whilst they slept with a pair of nail clippers which was nerve racking; and even managed to take Lucy for a walk. That evening after Christmas dinner decided to come into the main lounge for little break, whilst her puppies slept listening to Christmas carols.

By Boxing Day I had finally decided I could fold up the camp bed for the last time and slept in a real bed for the first time in 3 weeks - bliss! I did some housework and hoovered whilst they were asleep and none of them stirred. This was also the last day of doing the ENS which would give me more time to play with them. As their ears were going to start opening this week.  This meant they would have an increased awareness and interest in their surroundings, and their ears would be fully open by week 4. That means I could start habituating the dogs to sounds they are likely to hear as well as less common sounds or sounds that could become problematic for some dogs in later life, such as thunder or fireworks. So I would start to play these sounds quietly as they were feeding or sleeping.

My friend and her son came over and it was wonderful to see how enthralled he was cradling the puppies and to watch him gently talking to them. His calm aura was very soothing for the puppies & Phoebe.

The puppies were becoming more mobile as their motor skills developed and were able to toilet in the litter area I'd made away from their sleeping area. They also got noisier and some started play fighting with litter mates.  There was  more vocalisation when taken away from the whelping pen as I cleaned it. I used a big soft bed inside of the my travel crate and some would fall asleep, whilst others loved to find   an exit route! They had their first worming liquid, and a few swallowed it, but many spat it out and I ended up with pink liquid all over my top! I started to add a new novel object each day into the pen for the puppies to interact with, along with a colourful toy mobile.

At the end of the Transitional Period I extended the whelping pen adding a small play area. I also realised that my kitchen scales were getting too small to weigh the puppies - they were getting to chunky to fit in them. And on the last day of this period, I gave the puppies their first warmed goats milk and they loved it!