Week One
Day 1
I weigh every puppy when they’re born on an infant scale and mark each with a colored rick rack ribbon. The ribbon serves as identification so I can track the weight of each puppy to make sure everyone is gaining weight as expected. I write the daily weights on record keeping charts so it’s easy to track how each puppy is growing. Our mini and medium puppies typically weigh 6-14 oz at birth, with most being around 8-11 oz. I expect puppies to gain 0.5-1 oz each day, and I weigh them daily the first two weeks just to make sure the growing is going well. If someone doesn’t quite gain as much as I expect at the morning weight check, I will weigh that particular puppy 12 hours later. During weighing sessions, I make an effort to breathe in each puppy’s face so they all inhale a big whiff of human scent.
Puppy growth & weights
At 1 day old, puppies may be 0.5oz below their birth weight to 1oz above. By 2 days, puppies should be back to birth weight and most will have gained 0.5-1oz since birth. If someone has gained more than an ounce, that’s okay! Puppies will continue gaining 0.5-1oz per day. Occasionally a pudgy piggy may gain 1.5oz in a day.
Living Quarters
Since our mamas and puppies are small, we use a kiddie pool as our whelping box with a pool noodle pig rail zip tied around it. Many breeders use Dura Whelp boxes or Jonart Whelping Boxes and rave about them. Still others purchase 4×4 raised garden boxes which they use as whelping boxes.
We’ve found that washable incontinence pads work well for the bottom of the whelping box. These provide good traction, allowing the puppies can move around. Their joints are developing so traction is important. The incontinence pads are also washable, which makes it easy to clean the whelping box regularly without needing chemical cleaners. Other breeders rave about using EZ Whelp Pads with a piece of green backed Vetfleece covering part of the whelping box floor.
Initially, we keep our puppies in a walk in closet where we can easily maintain a warmer air temperature. We’ve used heat lamps in the past, but found that the mamas didn’t appreciate them. One mama even wanted to move her litter because the warmth from the heat lamp made her too uncomfortable. With a warm air air temperature and cool tile floor available for the mama to lay within view of the whelping box, everyone is happy.
Newborn Puppy Pictures
We photograph puppies on the day of their birth after everyone has dried off and everything is cleaned up. Get everything set up for the photo area and then put mama outside to potty while you snap a quick picture of the newborns. This first photo session should last less than five minutes. Make sure everyone has recently eaten so they’re most likely to cooperate. It’s also nice to have a helper, so one of you can arrange the puppies while the other snaps the pictures. Remember, puppies need to stay warm! You’ll need:
- DSLR camera
- Soft white blanket or fabric
- Studio lights
- Helper
Handling & Enrichment
We handle the puppies minimally the first three days as they adjust to life outside the womb. On day three we start doing early neurological stimulation once a day with each puppy. This takes about 30 seconds of puppy. We also let each puppy sniff a new non-meat scent each day (I.e. cat fur, pine needle, chicken feather). At that 3-day mark, I also start allowing my kids hold the puppies on their laps as long as the mom is comfortable with it (which ours always have been). I make an effort to breathe on each puppy’s face each day so they are well acquainted with human scent during this stage when scent is their primary sense since eyes and ears are still closed.
Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS)
Also known as bio sensor and the super dog program, early neurological stimulation is a widespread exercise done with neonatal puppies. The goal of ENS is to slightly stress neonatal puppies in a controlled manner, thereby improving the pups’ ability to handle stress throughout their lives. ENS should only be done on days when the litter has not undergone any other stresses. The exercises are quick and simple. All you need is a chilled rag, a q-tip, and about one minute of time set aside for each per puppy. This clip from Puppy Culture explains ENS and why it is important. Note: ENS is an excellent exercise, but it does NOT replace enrichment during the transitional and socialization periods.
Early Scent Introduction (ESI)
Early scent introduction is a program developed by Gayle of Avidog and Gaylan Golden Retrievers. This simple exercise involves holding a new scent item about 1/2″ away from each puppy’s nose once daily. Find a new item to introduce each day from days 3-16. It’s not difficult to collect 14 different scent items. Check your fridge for fruits and veggies and collect bits of nature like pine cones, leaves, and dirt from your backyard. Avidog has a one page ESI explanation and even a free ESI record sheet in case you want to record each pup’s reaction to different scents.
Since our puppies will not grow up to be hunting dogs or scent trackers, ESI is less important than ENS, so choose ENS if you can’t manage to do both. It’s also okay to introduce scents intermittently over days 3-16 rather than stressing about trying to do it daily.
Week Two
Health Care
Worming
Even though mama dogs are on regular parasite prevention, intestinal parasites can still be an issue. Essentially, parasites can lie dormant in her body and raise their ugly hears when mama’s immune system is down from being pregnant, which allows them to pass from mama onto her puppies. You may choose to take puppy stool samples to the vet to check for worms and treat if needed. Alternatively, you may choose to treat everyone going on the assumption that it’s likely that someone has worms.
Talk to your veterinarian about worm prevalence in your area of the country. It’s possible that you may need to use two different dewormers with the same litter or alternate dewormers with each litter. Worms are more likely in warmer, wetter areas of the country whereas deworming may seldom be necessary in dryer areas. Both roundworms and hookworms can infect humans.
We typically worm our puppies with Nemex 2 wormer (Pyrantel Pamoate) to treat intestinal parasites that puppies are born with. Nemex recommends treating puppies at 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 weeks of age. Puppies love dewormer and swallow it willingly. Whenever puppies receive dewormer, I simultaneously worm mom. Initially I worm her with Nemex, but at the 6 week worming, I give her the normal heart worm preventative in lieu of Nemex.
Some breeders use a stronger version of Pyrental. Others worm with Safe-Guard (Fenbendazole), which is a goat wormer. Revival Animal Health offers several types of puppy dewormers.
Grooming
Trim the puppies’ nails using a pair of human baby nail clippers. Short nail help keep puppies from scratching mama when they’re nursing. Plus nail trimming is going to be a regular activity throughout their lives, so we want to introduce them to it at an early age. It’s helpful to have one person who can hold puppies while a second person trims. It’s also helpful to wait until puppies have just eaten and are sleepy.
While puppies hair isn’t yet long enough to need brushing, it’s good to introduce them to the idea of being brushed. We use a soft human baby brush to brush pups.
Puppies start being big enough for breakaway collars between 2-3 weeks. I prefer breakaway collars over ribbons because they’ll break apart should a puppy’s collar become entangled with something, helping to prevent accidental strangling.
Living Quarters
Puppies remain in the whelping box until they start climbing out of it. We continue using washable incontinence pads to line the bottom of the whelping box and add in a small bed with a bumper.
Puppy Families
I post 2 week pictures on the blog as well as a description of where the puppies are now and what they’re doing (eating, sleeping, growing, and twitching!). I also share a puppy tip each week. Bombarding families with an overwhelming amount of instructions on gotchya day guarantees that they’re going to miss most of what you’re trying to communicate. I find that it’s much easier for families to absorb information slowly over the 8 week puppy anticipation period. Make a list of information you’d like to pass on to new families and divide it up so you can share some of it each week. You can scroll through a blog post of one of our litters for some ideas.
I also share pictures occasionally on Instagram and short video clips of puppy twitches in my Instagram story. I repeatedly have families tell me how much they enjoy the Instagram videos. Since Instagram story videos are only viewable for 24 hours, it takes the pressure off needing to capture a high quality video clip.
Handling & Enrichment
Continue with ENS and ESI during the second week. Continue breathing on their little faces and brush them with a soft brush. We also handle the puppies regularly. Lots of petting, lots of kisses, and lots of snuggling (assuming mama is okay with it).
Once those eyes start opening, we put one object in the pen each day. You don’t want to clutter the whelping box, so remove the previous object when you add a new one. Remember, puppies can’t hear yet so toys don’t need to make noise. Eyes open slowly over a few days and are sensitive to light initially, so avoid bright lights.
Disclaimer: this information is not intended as veterinarian advice. Please consult a licensed practicing veterinarian experienced in reproduction.