Birth | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8
Week 1 - 2nd November 2011
As these were Poppy's first litter of puppies we wanted to make the most of the whole experience and record it the best we could for ourselves and others. If other people find our accounts interesting or even helpful, it can only be good for the Bichon breed.
Once the excitement and apprehension over the birth of Poppy's five wonderful little pups had faded we had chance to reflect a little on the whole experience, and begin to enjoy the first few days of life with the puppies. Although we are only in to the first week we are already dreading the eighth, not because of the hard work to come, but because this is when they will all move on and go to live with their new owners.
It has been a real pleasure to watch how instinctively our bitch has taken to the role of being a mother, the way she is looking after the puppies is amazing to see, how she protected them from us, her loving owners, on the first day and would growl each time we approached her.
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Once she had learnt we were only there as observers mostly, she started to feel much less protective and allowed us to interact a little with each puppy. They were all so dependant on their mother in these early days we did not try to pick them up, even when we had the chance as they were far happier snuggling up to one another, and woe betide us if she caught us!
Oh how fragile they look, tiny little heads and such small little paws. You could sit for hours watching them sleeping, kicking, crawling over and under one another. and suckling. So cute but also very scary to watch these little legs and tails being stood on walked across and rolled on. I don't think our camera has ever seen so much use, each time you see them you feel an uncontrollable urge to reach for the camera. You also find yourself counting them each time to make sure they are all there!
Poppy is keeping the bed very clean and seems to sense whenever one of the puppies is about to go to the toilet and is straight on them licking and cleaning. The mother cleans everything up herself for the first few weeks and as they are only drinking milk at the moment, that is not quite as disgusting as it may sound.
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We are on day five now and it has been much of the same over the past few days although there has been one big difference, which is that Poppy feels safe enough to leave the puppies alone for a while after they have had a feed and she has a little break and comes and sit with us, has a sniff around the house and a quick look out of her favourite window, but she's never too far away, never away for long, and always has one eye and both ears on the door where they puppies are sleeping. If anyone moves in their direction she is up like a shot and scampers through, slipping on the kitchen floor, cartoon like, as she runs, to rejoin her little family. So wonderful to see her so dedicated to their safety.
Our own little girls, four and six, are still being warned away from Poppy and the slightest glance from them towards the puppies receives a subtle warning growl. Even though our youngest daughter had the strongest bond with Poppy before the pups came along, some how she seems to sense they are too young and may harm the fragile puppies if they were to get too close. They are being very good through and have refrained from going near her when we are not around. In a couple of weeks they will have five new puppies to play with which will more than make up for them feeling a little left out at the moment.
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Although the puppies are healthy and all growing well we still wake up in the night and go and check on them. We have discovered a couple of times, when Poppy rearranges her bed and blanket that they sometimes find themselves on the underside or have been wrapped up unintentionally in a corner. After all Poppy is a first ttime mum and although the wonders of inherited motherhood are a joy to watch there is always the worry that an accident or a mis judgement on her part could injure one of her litter.
We'll also have to remember not to get the ham out of the fridge when she is watching, twice now we have heard the thud and squeals of suckling puppies clattering to the bottom of the basket as Poppy leaps up, in the hope of a stray bit of food hitting the floor, a definite sign that she is getting back to her old self.
To hold a tiny little puppy in the palms of your hands and feel the warmth of it's tiny body as it snuggles in tightly is such a wonderful thing. There can be little more poignant moments in life than the special bond you immediately feel when holding something so tiny and vulnerable.
We feel very lucky to have experienced these first few days and can only imagine how much better it is going to be in the coming weeks, we only hope that these pass by really, really slowly. Precious days!.
Now on to thoughts of Pedigree names >>> week 2