+ Eyes should open around days 8-10
+ Ears should open around days 13-17
+ Temperatures should be around 97-99F

Neonatal Period Birth to 2 weeks
Puppies are born with eyes and ears closed, Their experiences are thru touch and smell. They are able to sense heat, cold, and texture. They are totally dependent upon their mother for everything, even the stimulation of bowl and bladder function.

Transitional 14 to 21 days
The puppy’s nervous system undergoes rapid development. The eyes and ears open, and baby teeth appear. He begins to stand up and by three weeks will try to explore his environment. He begins to interact with littermates and learns play behavior. By 21 days the puppies are able to lap food from a bowl, though they continue to nurse.

12/18/2002 8am pictures:

Yawn!

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3:00 Pm pictures

Ripple still licks the pups to stimulate them. They are at the point now that just crawling around will stimulate them to go to the bathroom.

The pups get up on wobbly legs and are making the first efforts to walk instead of crawl. They are so fat, they usually just roll off balance. Still unable to hear or see, they have no problem finding mom when she is with them. When she is out of the box, they all sleep in an ever moving pile. Some like to be on the top of the pile, some burrow under their siblings to be in the warmer areas on the bottom of the heap.

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The UPS guy comes and delivers a package of dog toys I had ordered for the puppies. Ripple is there when I unpack them, and she takes each one and stashes it somewhere in the puppy room. A few she takes into the whelping box with her. In the last litter, Seger had a blue elephant that she would keep with the pups. Betty used to like a big fleece ball. Ripple just wants to take them all!

Some of the pups see if the toys are anything they can nurse from

Then they just snuggle up and fall asleep ont top of the toys.

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12/19/2002 Day 9

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