Tux x Ellie Puppies - Week Four

This has been a fun week for the puppies.  They made the big move from the guest bedroom down to the main floor of the house.  Now they are exposed to the sights, sounds and smells of family life.  They still have their whelping box but their space has been enlarged to include a play and potty space.  They can see through this pen and have more toys to interact with and different footing. 

Ellie and her puppies at the beginning of the week before the big move.

The puppy pen

The puppies are developing by leaps and bounds.  They are much more coordinated and are developing quite an array of vocalizations.  

We have also introduced potty boxes to the puppies as we begin establishing good housebreaking habits.  It's amazing how quickly the puppies take to using the boxes. 

Frequent updates and photos are posted on our Northrock Barbets Facebook Page if you would like to follow the litter's progress.

Tux x Ellie Puppies - Week Three

This week the puppies' hearing has come on-line.  They are starting to react to sounds and their vision is also improving.  We've hung some dangling toys in the whelping box as added enrichment.  They are moving about the box and interacting more and more with one another and with the soft toys.   They made the big move from the guest bedroom down to the main floor of the house.  Now they are exposed to the sights and sounds and smells of family life.  They still have their whelping box but their space has been enlarged to include a play and potty space.  They can see through this pen and have more toys to interact with and different footing.  

                                              Sometimes Ellie chooses to nurse while sitting up.  This simple action creates an added challenge for the puppies.  It encourages them to reach and use different muscles to balance when nursing from the upper nipples.  She is attentive and keeps the whelping box spotless.  The pups are growing well and by the end of the week they were already four times their birth weight.

Different footing lets the puppies experience something new in addition to the toys in and above their box.  Adding novel stimuli to the their environment is something that we will focus on daily in the weeks to come.

Frequent updates and photos are posted on our Northrock Barbets Facebook Page if you would like to follow the litter's progress.

Tux and Ellie Puppies - Week Two

Here we are at the end of the puppies second week.  Ellie continues to give such good care to her little ones and they are thriving.  The pups all weigh over two pounds now and they are getting up on their legs and moving, albeit unsteadily, around the whelping box. 

Rolled towels and various toys offer new challenges for the puppies

Throughout the week we have continued to add different toys and even different footing in the box for the puppies to explore.

Jasper getting a bath from Ellie.  She is very attentive
and keeps an immaculate whelping box.

During this week the puppies eyes have opened and we've continued with the Early Neurological Stimulation and the Early Scent Introduction exercises.  We continued to weigh the puppies twice a day and trim toenails every three days.  And in between they were snuggled and cuddled and Ellie was brushed and petted and told repeatedly what a wonderful mother she is to her puppies.  It's a beautiful, quiet and awe inspiring time and it goes by so quickly.

Flint and Garnet cuddling

Onyx - fast asleep

Jade snuggled up with Ellie

As we head into the third week of the puppies lives they leave the Neonatal Period behind and move into the Transformational Period so please return to the blog for another update next week.

Frequent updates and photos are posted on our Northrock Barbets Facebook Page if you would like to follow the litter's progress.

Tux x Ellie Puppies - Week One

We've been having a wonderful week with the puppies.  Ellie is once again proving to be a superb dam.  She is attentive, gentle, nurturing and has a very relaxed approach to motherhood.  She has been eating well and as a result has lots of milk and her puppies are gaining nicely.

It's a quiet and intimate time as Ellie's bond with her puppies strengthens.  We are for the most part, privileged observers to the natural rhythm of caring for new life.   Here is a video of the four day old puppies nursing.

I support Ellie by fixing her meals, offering her lots of cool fresh water to drink, making sure she gets out to potty, monitoring her temperature and breasts and telling her what a good girl she is.  The whelping box is kept clean and the puppies moved to a basket lined with a nice soft blanket.  Ellie is always close by to make sure that her puppies are safe.  



On day three we began performing Early Neurological Stimulation (also called Bio-Sensor) exercises with the puppies.  Although the puppies are handled for weighing twice a day, cuddled lots and nails trimmed every three days - the exercises done with the puppies offer some gentle stress and all told take less than a minute in total to perform on each puppy.  We will continue with them until the puppies are sixteen days old.

During days three to sixteen we also introduce the puppies to novel scents.  Early Scent Introduction.  Neonate puppies are pretty vulnerable and are born with their eyes and ears closed and it's several days before they open.  However, they do have the ability to smell and it's interesting watching their reactions to the different fragrances, some of which are quite pungent such as cloves, leather and cedar. 

Towards the end of the week we began adding some small challenges to the whelping box for the puppies to climb over and around.  The puppies at this point are up on their feet and these added soft toys and little hills offer added enrichment for their growing brains and bodies. 

The litter theme has been decided on for these puppies.  The "Gemstone Litter" now have their litter names for the duration of the time they will be with us until they leave for their new homes. 

The males are:                          The females are:

   Flint (blue collar)                      Jade (purple collar)

Garnet (red collar)                    Ruby (pink collar)

                      Onyx (green collar)

                      Jasper (yellow collar)

Frequent updates and photos are posted on our Northrock Barbets Facebook Page if you would like to follow the litter's progress.

Northrock's "I" Litter: Welcoming the Tux and Ellie Puppies

We are pleased to welcome six beautiful puppies born at Northrock Barbets on August 2, 2018. Ellie and her pups are doing very well.  This special litter is out of URO1 CH Northrock's Eau de Joy CGN by Dutch Champion Nuphar's In Full Swing. Much gratitutde to Ellie's co-owner, my good friend Lise Pomeroy as well as Tux's owner Marian Vos and breeder Anne Plomp without whom this litter would not have been possible.

We haven't yet decided on a theme for this litter but in the meantime I would like to present in birth order:

Blue collar - male - black with white markings

Red collar - male - brown with white markings

Green collar - male - black with small white marking on chest

Purple collar - female - brown with white markings

Yellow collar - male - brown with white markings

Pink collar - female - black with white markings

Ellie is doing a wonderful job caring for her puppies and everyone is gaining nicely.  We are very much looking forward to watching these little ones grow and develop in the weeks ahead.

Please visit our Facebook Page Northrock Barbets for frequent video and photo updates.  We will also be providing updates via the blog, just not as often.