Day 24 A.M. & P.M.

Mary-Ann Sontag June 19, 2020

All is well!

Daisy seems fully recovered and all of the Wildflowers are doing just fine. They still spend the majority of their time sleeping, as is appropriate for fast growing babies.

But their periods of play are extending — also appropriate.

This is Lupine — the flowers stay in the Nursing Alcove and so they get played with when the puppies spend time in there.

I like having different places for them, with different experiences in each place.

This is Buttercup.

I also need them to have a place to be when I clean and change out Puppy Central, which I do at least twice a day; the Nursing Alcove works great.

This is Paintbrush.

This is Mallow — he is now close to 3.5 pounds.

The Heavyweight Champion of Puppy Central is Clarkia, who is now over four pounds.

The platform stays in today and I added a small crate. Learning to be relaxed in a crate is an important skill — the presence of a crate with no door is the first step in that process.

This is a look at Puppy Central this morning.

I will be doing some revisions to their potty zone in the next day or two — they will soon be ready for something a bit more targeted, so to speak.

I do not put puppies in or on the new things — their job is to be curious, explore, and master the new things on their own. This is Clover.

I have noticed the puppies’ tails are all up as they are moving more and faster, as if the tail provides some kind of balance.

If we try to force puppies into new experiences, we risk associating new experiences with fear and anxiety — that is the opposite of what we want.

If we create opportunities for appropriate experiences — and let the puppy be the expert of their own comfort level — we support both competence and confidence.

Every day I think they could not be more amazing - and the next day they are! This is Mariposa.

Enjoy your day!

Video: Click HERE.

EVENING: PHOTOS FROM THE DAY

Another successful day comes to a close.

The crate got investigated.

The platform remains a big hit.

The puppies are still a little confused about the purpose of the piddle pads.

Daisy is doing great.

Puppies are growing!

It was Sparkle’s turn for a long walk.

And I got my wonderful new totem set up — a gift from an extra special friend. I love the hearts!

We have some fun in store for the Wildflowers tomorrow! For now — Good Night, Friends.

Day 23 A.M. & P.M.

Mary-Ann Sontag June 18, 2020

I am happy to report that Daisy seems almost back to normal — whew. Very little swelling and no fever, and Daisy seems to feel fine.

I mentioned last night that the Wildflowers’ teeth are erupting and yes, they are sharp! However, they do not yet have jaw strength to bite down too hard and so their mouthing doesn’t yet hurt — but it will soon. When that happens, toys and Puppy Palace items will have to change a bit and/or be closely watched because the puppies will be chewing on everything in sight.

These block toys, for example, are great now but may be too soft for stronger puppy teeth. Sage figured out how to crawl through the little tunnel — he is an Adventurer Puppy.

I try to get photos of new skills — like this puppy picking up one of the flower toys that Marti sent (they are SO cute — thank you, Marti).

Clover dishing out some sass.

Soon the puppy teeth will be capable of hurting each other and Daisy (and humans). People imagine mother dogs put miscreant puppies in their place — nothing could be farther from the truth. When a puppy gets too rough or annoying, the mother simply leaves. She has nothing to prove to a puppy, after all.

As I am writing this, it occurred to me that we absolutely do not want mother dogs modeling aggression or dominance to puppies. Rather, we want and need puppies to learn that when annoyed, they should walk away — not lash out.

Future puppy homes take note. Walk away from a biting, over-excited puppy and especially from anyone who tells you to show dominance to said puppy.

That whole show-them-who-is-boss is NOT a thing. People who need to prove something to a puppy need a therapist — not a dog.

I have strong feelings about this topic — can you tell?

Good leaders do not need force or fear to create a team.

Teeth do not impact nursing because it is impossible to bite and suck at the same time — try it! If a puppy bites, the mother will leave and so babies of all species quickly learn their good nursing manners.

We have some familiar toys this morning and new things.

One of the new things is this great platform because puppies like to climb. Sage is demonstrating what puppies do when they encounter something new — they chew/bite. Normal behavior for a puppy. We all need to remember this when they are chewing on us!

Clover is also an Adventurer Puppy and so she went over to check things out.

Karma decided the puppies needed some help figuring out the purpose of the platform.

The puppies are rarely all awake at once — only when they are collectively telling us they are on the verge of imminent starvation and need to nurse this minute or they will perish (because they have not eaten in 33 minutes!).

Some are usually playing and some are sleeping.

Daisy is free to come and go from Puppy Central but we do not want puppies wandering. The gate can close and lock them all in but Daisy needs to be able to get a drink or a break as needed and so I added this fancy puppy barrier.

Daisy can easily get over it but the puppies cannot. They will, however, soon be able to chew it and it is one of the things that will need to change when jaw strength increases.

Daisy is running off with that Mother of the Year award. Maternal care and attention is critical to building well-adjusted puppies — she apparently read all those research articles and is determined to do her part in raising Rock Stars.

Even when everyone is done and sleeping, Daisy likes to hang with her sweet babies.

#winner

EVENING: Photos from the Day

Daisy continues to be just fine — thank goodness.

The other thing I wanted to share is that all nine puppies had their nails done today with the Dremel.

I use a regular Dremel — not a pet one — because more power means it is faster. Mine is electric and has variable speeds — very important. I set it on the lowest speed and waited until the puppies were sleepy — and then I did about 150 little tiny nails.

I have previously used toenail clippers and so they are used to having their nails done — the Dremel was just a step up and no puppy had an issue with it.

I will continue to dremel nails 2 - 3 times a week — it is my preferred way of doing dog nails for sure.

The platform was a hit!

At first they simply walked off the edge and tumbled (hence the soft towels under the platform) but by the end of the day they were controlling themselves as they walked off — very cool to see.

There are no toys or other things in Puppy Central at night — both for safety reasons and also to help them understand about day and night. We play and have fun during the day — we sleep at night (in theory).

I had a great conversation with Dr. Laurie Lawson from the University of Wisconsin’s Companion Animal Vaccine and Immuno Diagnostic Service Laboratory earlier today — the topic was vaccinations, of course. I am a Big Fan of Laurie and her work — more on all this soon.

I also did yet another Zoom webinar today — when your specialty is Loss and Grief, a pandemic makes you especially relevant. I can no longer do Zoom sessions in the same room as the puppies — they tend to wake up and start choir practice at inopportune times.

The other dogs are not forgotten! Once Dear Husband was up to be with the Wildflowers, it was Claire’s turn for a long walk.

But mostly I spend my days watching the magic that is the Wildflowers — I know how very lucky I am to be able to do this. Thanks for joining us on their journey.

Good night, Friends.

Day 22 A.M. & P.M.

Mary-Ann Sontag June 17, 2020

This is from last night after the puppies were getting ready to call it a day…

I got up this morning and thought Daisy looked a bit subdued. Dear Husband puts her with the Wildflowers when he goes to bed at about 2 — I was up before 5:30.

When Daisy turned down breakfast, I knew something was wrong and immediately checked her breasts — we have a mastitis going on in one breast.

UGH!

I put warm compresses on it, did massage, and expressed some milk. Then I brought in the troops to help…

The biggest puppies started things off — that breast needs to be drained. I then put a fresh and hungry puppy on that nipple every 15 or so minutes. Once everyone was full, I added a warm pack…

Daisy had a temp of 104.4 — yikes.

Luckily Daisy has a veterinarian in her family who is in a different time zone and so was awake. We had one dose of a safe antibiotic in our dog medicine chest and so Daisy has had that. The various interventions seem to be helping — she is already brighter…

She feels well enough to eat and drink now — whew.

The breast is 90% better than it was but I will be managing this closely and constantly, and calling her regular veterinarian later this morning. Mastitis is not uncommon — but it can go south in a big hurry and it flipping hurts.

The Wildflowers are perfectly fine.

I am managing this Lactation Speed Bump in the nursing alcove, which is next to my desk. I created a barrier to try and keep them contained — of course it was Clarkia who tested it.

Back to the secure jail for her!

And of course I am doing a Zoom webinar in 45 minutes — as in, I am the presenter! —because that is just how things go, right?!

It is all fine — this is just a speed bump — and yet another reminder why breeding dogs well is really not as easy as it might seem.

A Wee Bit Later

Daisy’s temp is down to 103.2 and she just ate her favorite meal of the day: Three eggs fried in olive oil with two pieces of soaked (in goat’s milk/water) whole grain toast — with FortiFlora added.

That was actually her third meal since I got up and so she is definitely doing better.

I spoke with her veterinarian and we have a plan. Of course, the plan does NOT include interrupting nursing — in fact, that impacted breast needs extra nursing.

Daisy will get an easy-on-the-puppies antibiotic and the puppies will get a dose of Bene-Bac, which I have on hand just in case of a need such as this. A bit of exercise for Daisy, boiled cabbage leave compresses, and continued targeted nursing round out the plan.

I did a short video this morning — you can watch it HERE.

EVENING: Photos from the Day

Daisy’s regular veterinarian suggested a bit of exercise as something that can help with mastitis — and so off we went on a short walk.

The puppies have been happy to help keep the milk moving and that one breast is markedly better — not 100% yet but clearly better and Daisy is so much happier.

The big accomplishment today is that the Wildflowers are erupting teeth!!

Today’s new thing was a few hours with these cool new blocks to climb on.

They are soft and the covering is easy to clean — and they are in cheerful colors. I think the Wildflowers will enjoy these more in a week or so but they did some interacting and it introduced that all-important element of “novel.”