Week Four
Week Four (Days 22-28)
+ Begin to eat food
+ Begin to bark, wag tails, bite, paw, bare teeth, growl and chase
+ Use legs well
+ Tire easily
+ Depth perception starts
Bright pink collar liver girl is the first one to make it out of the Whelping box. I heard loud puppy yelping this morning, and she was not only out of the box, but had followed Seger half way across the room.
The pups get some visitors
The pups have to get used to all sorts of people. Young and old.
This period has the greatest effect on the puppy's reactions to humans. THIS IS A CRITICAL PERIOD. THIS PERIOD CAN AFFECT A PUPPY FOR ITS ENTIRE LIFE. The time for each puppy may differ. But between these weeks a mold can be made for life. They learn things from their mother and from humans, and these interactions are very important to how they handle situations in later life. This is a time when a litter of puppies can be heard chasing, chewing and yes, fighting with their littermates. Now, don't be alarmed, this is good for their future social behavior. They are learning motor skills, social behavior and how to handle situations that will come up later in life. You ask, "how?" Well, the biting results in being told off, and this teaches the puppies to handle other animals in later life by not doing the same. Likewise with the chasing. They are also learning how to live together in harmony and this helps in a multiple animal home. Otherwise, these puppies in later life respond aggressively to other animals.
The relationship with humans also enables the puppy not to fear humans and what is going to happen to them. The quality of time is the most important during this period. Not the amount of time. Puppies should be held, cuddled and their bodies stroked and they should be made to roll over and have their tummies stroked. If a puppy at this age will not allow you to handle it in this manner, patiently work with it, as this can be critical to adult behavior. Nobody wants to live with an aggressive or overly fearful animal. If you have a cat or two at this time, the puppy will interact with the cat and this will help as an adult dog too. If you have a handicapped person in your family, this is the time for interaction. These lessons are time well spent in the long life of this puppy. Puppies, like children, have to be taught fear and this is the stage where everything is critical. Puppies that are not exposed to humans before 12 weeks of age may always be fearful of human interaction.
9:00 pm: Dark Pink collar liver girl escapes from the box tonight! Boy, those liver girls want OUT!
We clipped nails again today, and wormed the pups for the second time.
Day Twenty Four 8/26/2003
The pups are getting ground up puppy food in with the puppy mush now. They are bottomless pits! They get 4 meals a day like that, and as much as Seger will let them nurse. She still is with them all the time, but she has the option of going in and out of the puppy room. Once the pups are all out of the box, I'll have to rig up a low barrier she can still get out of, but holds the pups back. I do have some higher whelping box walls that I put up just at night. Dark pink collar liver girl did get over even these, and I found her sleeping with Seger outside the box this morning! Boy, was she full!
Sometimes Seger comes in and stands part way in the box so the pups can grab a quick snack on the run. Those sharp teeth and nails hurt!
Seger goes into the whelping box to help clean up the mess (and finish off the food)
Having Seger eat along with the pups teaches them not to overstep their boundaries. At this age, she allows them to eat from the same dish, and nurse from her at the same time. Later, as they get older, she will set some rules.
Those Coats of Curl!
The Curly-Coated Retriever's coat is an important attribute of the breed. Curlies may have many different types of coats in either black or liver. Some have loose
curls, others have tight curls; some have little curls, some have big curls; some have open curls that are not close together, and some have coats that are more wavy
than curly; some have harsh, brittle coats, and some have coats that are very soft. To add to this, the coat often changes as the dog matures. The coat of a
10-month old may change quite a bit as the months go by. I have seen them all.
Which is correct? Our standard states that the coat "is a distinguishing characteristic of the breed. It is a thick mass of small, tight, crisp curls."
Some judges really check coats while others do not, but the breed's name alone emphasizes the importance of the curls. Recently, at a Curly-Coated Retriever
breed seminar, a breeder-judge assembled a group of Curlies and had the participating judges feel the dog's coats while she commented on the quality of the coats,
from the very best to those that were not as good. All the judges felt that this was a very good opportunity to understand just what a Curly's coat should be like.
Since the Curly-Coated Retriever does not have an undercoat, when they "drop coat" they may not look very presentable. Some Curlies lose more coat than
others. Owners of the breed have different methods of dealing with the coat at this time. Some use a rake-type comb that removes the dead hair, others scissor the
coat down to avoid the uneven look, while others may use an electric clipping tool to even off and neaten the coat. Some owners simply leave the coat alone and
wait for it to come back without any help at all.
Owners must have patience with the Curly's coat. The majority of Curlies have their adult coat by 2 years of age, with some in full coat even earlier. It depends on
the individual dog. I know one curly bitch who started acquiring curls at about 3, and she improved every year there-after. I last saw this bitch when she was about
11 and at that time she had a lovely black coat full f curls.
So if your Curly is young and seems to not yet have his curls, just wait a while and the situation will probably improve. Curlies are a slow-maturing breed, and this
seems to also pertain to the coat.
Here are a few examples of curly coats (And not so curly coats!)
An open coat, without much curl
Liver coat
Curls extending down the rear leg and thigh
more open coat without curls on the leg and thigh
The curls on the ears and back of neck
The curls stop at the face. The hair on the face is short and smooth.
More of week 4 (days 26, 27, 28)
For information email me at:
Click on book above, or mail a check to:
Pictures of the family
$19.95 ($5.50 Shipping and Handling)
Cathy Lewandowski
8282 Soft Maple Road
Croghan NY 13327
Follow a litter of puppies from birthday until they go to their new homes. The diary contains lots of pictures, tips on puppy rearing, some breed specific information,
and lots of information on the care of any breed of dog.
I started doing an on-line puppy diary since many of the people that would be getting one of my pups would not be able to travel here to see the pups. I did not
want
to put a bunch of cute puppy pictures online, and encourage anyone to have a litter just because they wanted to see cute puppies! Breeding dogs, if done the right
way, is a lot of work. Lost sleep and sometimes heartache. It takes a lot of time, effort and money to raise a litter of puppies. Once I started doing The Puppy
Diary, I realized I had a captive audience. These people logged on every day to see the pictures, and read what was happening. I used this opportunity to cram as
much education into each day as I could. Health, Coat issues, grooming, feeding, socializing, vet care, puppy evaluations, shipping puppies.... you name it! I tried
to
put it in The Diary. It was suggested that I make it into a book. Well here it is! There are 560 pictures and over 300 pages of living with and watching one litter
grow up. I am sure may conscientious, caring breeders raise litters similar to the way I do. Its is a good look into the time, money, commitment it takes to
bring
up a litter of pups. Some of the things that go on behind the scenes, that the eventual puppies owners (family), never realize go into the litter.
Enjoy my litter as I see them. Day to day
Contents
Chapter One (Week One) ... Page 1
Seger comes into season
Happy Birthday!
Removing the Dewclaws
Start of the Bio Sensor program
Chapter Two (Week Two) ... Page 48
Coat issues.
Tail Gland Hyperplasia
Do Curlies Shed?
Chapter Three (Week Three) ... Page 94
End of Bio Sensor Exercises
Worming The puppies
Eyes are open
First pup escapes from the box
Chapter Four (Week Four) ... Page 130
Weaning. The great food fight!
Introduction to the puppy play room
Shark Cage
Chapter Five (Week Five) ... Page 156
Field dog? Show Dog? CPE?
Happy Mothers Day!
First Stacked pictures
Chapter Six (Week Six) ... Page 195
Toys! Toys! Toys!
What’s In A Name?
Kids and Dogs
Introduction to Wings
Chapter Seven (Week Seven) ... Page 236
About Puppies and Retrieving
Socialize your puppy
First Shots & Vet Visit
Splish Splash, first bath!
Chapter Eight (Week Eight) ... Page 286
Shape up or ship out!
Requirements to ship puppies
See all the pups!