One Week Old Today

Cisco's Kids are doing great! And Mama Maggie is turning out to be quite the wise dog. She is already feeding and cleaning babies, then stepping out of the nest to nap in front of it where she can protect her youngsters AND still be a part of family activities. They are in Penny's kitchen which is the warmest room in the house with the wood burning stove going most of the time.

A couple people have asked how I am going to get the pups here. Penny lives about 3 hours away and will drive them down once they are well weaned. With 10 pups, I expect Mag is going to wean them fairly early and I'll probably get them around 6 weeks of age. I have several adult females who love pups but are no longer having their own and I plan to let at least one of them become Second Mom.

It will be a rude awakening for the puppies... moving from a house with constant activity on many levels and a boatload of people in and out all the time, to the quiet seclusion here. Going to be interesting to see how quickly they adjust to the changes. The fact that the entire litter is still together will be reassuring for them and it is good preparation for the next change when they all move to separate homes.

Most likely, the first thing I do will be to microchip. Since they don't have any distinguishing markings... at least not yet... it will be difficult to tell one from another. I'm used to keeping the chip scanner in my back pocket, so no big deal! As usual, they'll get their first shot... a "5 way" parvo/distemper combo... at 8 weeks. The second, a "7 way" which is the same shot but with lepto vaccine (don't ask ME why that is SEVEN and not SIX,) will be given at 12 weeks. Depending on the weather, they may or may not be allowed outside. Cold is one thing, wet is another!

At least the holidays will be almost over by the time I get them, so tv shows will be back to regular programming and I'll be spending a lot of time in the pups' room which is where both the tv AND the computer are.