Today was a comparatively normal day except that for the first time since the pups were born I slept in till 6am! The day starts with a play with the puppies for 20 minutes or so until Shadow is ready for the onslaught of the first feed of the day (see video below). She is very good as it can't really be nice at all when you look at it, but she seems quite happy to continue to feed the brood. Watch for the puppies licking their lips before Shadow gets to them and listen to the water bowl going over in their frantic rush. Next there is more play time until they are tired out - about 7am. Then it is sleep time. By 8.30 or 9am they are awake and racing again at which time they are given breakfast and then more play. If the weather is ok then this is the time that they are all taken into the garden where they play like silly things until they are worn out again, which might be around 10am. They head to the shed for a sleep. Shadow sometimes comes in to feed them again before they go to sleep. She did today and it was the first time she regurgitated her breakfast for the puppies - luckily she managed to eat it all again before they had finished drinking milk from her so she didn't miss out. (You didn't really want to know that did you?) In the wild, that would have been the first meal the puppies would have had other than milk. The dams regurgitate their food as a start of to weaning the puppies. You are lucky that there are no photos/videos of this event otherwise I might have put them up just for a laugh! The puppies then sleep/play/sleep/play etc for the rest of the day. They have lunch around 1pm, tea around 5.30 - 6pm and then supper at 9pm. Shadow feeds them probably another 3 or 4 times in the day. Their play times are getting quite long - at least an hour - although they do tend to get a bit shorter and a bit less frantic as the day wears on. They do bite quite hard now and I have a sore head, hands, nose and ears due to their attentions. Silly me for getting that close to them but I just can't resist. (click to enlarge photos)     Meantime, the "Tunnelling Committee" had a meltdown today because Flotsam got bossy and upset everyone and they gave up! (See video below.) We'll have to get them back into it tomorrow. Click on News for more puppy stories. |
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