Down
South Westies Monthly Newsletter
What's
New This March!
March
1, 2004
- If you haven't checked out our
- website lately, we have new
- pictures of our dogs as well
- as info about Westie books
- for you and the kids!
Featuring
Abby’s Pups!
- Pups will go to their new homes
- the
week of March 15.
Black
Baby
White
Baby..."Murdoch"
Blue
Baby..."Boomer"
Yellow
Baby..."MacKenzie"
In This Issue:
- 1. Abby’s Pups!
- 2.
Weaning Puppies!
- 3.
Westie Books On Website!
1.
Abby’s Pups
Abby’s
pups will leave for their new homes the middle of March.
This litter has once again been a great experience.
Abby is such a sweet, loving mom.
She has certainly attended the pups, but has begun spending less
time in the whelping box nursing the pups.
Because of that, we have moved them to larger quarters so they can
romp and play in the Doggie House. We
allow Abby to go into their quarters only at intervals because we have
begun the weaning process. We
have lowered the temperature in their quarters.
At birth, we keep the temp on 83 degrees, but now we keep the temp
around 75 degrees. The Doggie
House is thermostatically controlled both winter and summer.
Red
Baby goes to MS, White Baby goes to LA, Black Baby goes to FL, Blue Baby
goes to FL, and Yellow Baby goes to MD.
We stay in close contact with expectant families keeping them
informed as well as providing updated photos.
It is definitely a full time job.
Linda spends hours taking care of the dogs as well as the pups.
It is such a rewarding experience to communicate with families for
months, and then see some of them as they come pick up their pup.
Others, we never meet personally, but we feel we know them after
months of communication. Check
out www.downsouthwesties.com/abby’s_pups.htm
to see photos of Abby and her pups.
2.
Weaning Puppies!
I
thought you might be interested in how we wean our pups!
Weaning is an important part of puppy care.
The method and timing can have life-long effects on the babies.
We strive to be sure our pups develop properly, emotionally and
socially. Timing is very
important.
At
about three weeks, we begin to give the pups a mixture of milk and baby
cereal. We mix a can of
Carnation Milk, a can of filtered water, and an egg yoke.
To this milk formula, we add some baby cereal, increasing the
cereal each day as the pups adjust and learn how to lap the milk.
We begin to notice about this time that mom always begins to spend
less time nursing the pups because mother nature is leading her to begin
the weaning process. They are
now interested in more than just nursing, they are busy exploring their
environment. Their eyes usually open at two weeks and their hearing a
little later. We gently
handle them to enhance their social development while they learn to be
more accepting of people. After
a few days, we begin to offer them puppy food, soaked in water along with
some canned puppy food. This
sometimes gets messy, but we carefully clean their faces after every meal. During this time, mom usually spends even less time with
the pups.
We
take the process of weaning slowly so mom’s mammary glands do not get
inflamed nor the pups experience anxiety as a result of weaning.
As the puppy ages, more time is spent away from mom, and soon, they
are on their own! By six
weeks, we let the pups spend time with mom, but see that they do not
nurse. Sometimes, we have to
pull a pup or two off mom. She
will allow them to start nursing, then immediately move away from them.
Soon, pups know if they are to be near mom, no nursing allowed!
By
this time the pups are 8 weeks old and ready for their new homes.
3.
Westie Books On Website!
Be
sure to check out our new “Westie Books” page.
You will find good reading about your Westie as well as some books
for the kids from Amazon.com.
Enjoy!
Some
Favorite Links:
Just For Kids!