Business as usual for the pups the last few days.
The OSL's continue to grow and are loving their raw food...they've now had chicken and turkey, and later today they'll get a taste of beef w/ tripe - so stinky, but really good natural probiotics, and all dogs seem to just love green tripe!
We rotate out several different proteins, so they are exposed to a variety (this allows them to be more flexible later in life with different proteins). Additionally, different proteins supply different nutrition and levels of amino acids, etc., so they'll be exposed to chicken, turkey, beef, and duck while they're here.
For those looking to stay with the raw diet (again - highly recommended!), we'll be compiling some different premade raw options soon and posting, so stay tuned!
The OSL pups are just at the beginning stages of beginning to be awake more and more...they'll increase awake time Vs. asleep time exponentially over the next few weeks, and that's when things will get really busy for us.
The OSL2's are also gaining ground. They are still getting a couple of bottles a day in addition to nursing pretty much non-stop. Today they started really trying to walk around their small pool quite a bit...they're of course still unsteady and doing the 'zombie' stagger, but they are determined! They'll be ready for litter boxes and the big pool pretty soon. Where does the time go?!
We anticipate that as soon as they begin to eat solid food (in about 4 or 5 more days), they'll really start to take off with weight gains.
One thing you'll notice in all of the pics is that these pups, like our last litter, all have kept their dewclaws. Due to some research Jen has done on the usefulness of these 'thumbs' - we no longer see them as unnecessary or non-functional, and have started leaving them on our pups.
Studies have indicated that removing the dewclaws may actually lead to earlier arthritis in the wrist joints, and other issues in active dogs. Our breed standard allows for them to be on or off (they're usually removed on about day 2 or 3, and our previous litters did have them off), but we don't see a reason to remove them for only aesthetics! Here's more info. on that: https://www.avidogzink.com/do-the-dewclaws/
And of course - on to some new pics:
"Stand up nursing" - the pups are big enough to reach Theo now while she's standing, and they enthusiastically drain her milk supply and then go looking for their solid food.
Just a few shots of the OSL2's today, as they're mostly just sleeping!
Cute bunch! Thanks for the info on few claws, looking forward to reading. With the exception of our German Shorthair Pointer, all of our dogs, including our current yearling, have had front dew claws intact. We keep them trimmed so they don’t curve and snag in our loop rugs or talk grass and have had no problems. I appreciate you pointing out these details!
ReplyDeleteIs Trinity's litter descended from Bella?
ReplyDeleteLink looks more brindle every post and I can't help but think of Blue Velvet ÷]
And I answered my own question with a little Horsetooth website review, haha!
Delete:) yep, Steph! Bella Blue is actual granny to both litters - on Theo's side in first litter, and on Alfredo's side in Trin's litter.
DeleteAnd you're also right - Link is proving to be brindle like his daddy Alfredo!
DeleteHuh I honestly didn’t know removing dewclaws was a thing(outside of getting them ripped off by accident). Miss Tuna gets hers taken care of every month or so.
ReplyDeleteWe typically use dremel instead of clippers
It's interesting - a lot of folks don't even notice them; others like them off for the smooth look of the leg in the showring...but again, for us, taking them off for purely aesthetic reasons doesn't ring true anymore. They are a bit of a pain to trim, compared to the other nails...but I actually use a glass file on mine and it works well - though not as quick as a dremel. The rest of mine all get clipped w/ clippers, as I don't have time to dremel everyone. :)
DeleteSuch a pleasure to wake up to puppy pics! Trinity's pups are looking good and Theo's pups have the best facial markings. You can see their little personalities are developing. So much lovely color! Love them all. 💜 Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteThey DO have great face markings, don't they? I can't believe how symmetrical most of them are...usually you get way more variation! And yes - Starting to show the glimmers of some personalities. :)
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