Puppy Cuddles

I visited Tuuli and her puppies at the weekend, just as the pups turned one week, and Angela and I managed to get a quick individual photo of each puppy – it isn’t easy to capture wriggling pups. We also had the fun of “christening” the boys and as they are all black & tan and not easy to tell apart at a glance – we applied coded spots of different colour nail varnish to the boys so they could be identified from above, you can see I’m old school and not a big fan of the coloured velcro puppy collars! It was also time for their first nail cutting session – it is amazing how quick their nails grow in a week, and they were very sharp, so for Tuuli’s sake they each had a trim.

So funny how when you hold up a puppy – they often put their front paws up as if in some reflex, similar to the position they adopt when suckling – if you watch them feed the front paws knead the bitch on either side of the teat as they are suckling. There are two thoughts for this kneading action – it may help to push the bitch’s mammary area away from the nose to facilitate breathing or the massaging may help stimulate the milk flow. Certainly the kneading is more apparent in younger pups than say after three weeks.

Tuuli is a very attentive mum, and hates to leave her puppies, so trips to the garden for a comfort break often require a lead and bribes to get her out of the whelping box and to stop her racing back before she has done what needs to be done!

In birth order, meet the new pups (to view a bigger photo – simply click on the thumbnail shot of each puppy):

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