3 Weeks and Counting

Yesterday the puppies were three weeks old.  They are starting to see much better.  When Hazel walks up to the box they can see (and smell) her near and let her know exactly what they want.  Food!  They are also starting to wrestle and play with each other which is SO much fun to watch.  It has been cold and SO rainy here for the last three days, so only inside pictures again.

We had to change the carpet out, so this was our solution for containing all 9 puppies for the 10 minutes that it takes! 

Will

First day outside

Well, it is still up for debate weather the puppies enjoyed their first day outdoors.  Most of them slept, a couple cried/whined, and a couple did seem to love the sunshine and warmth.  As of yesterday all 9 puppies have their eyes open.  They are also getting up on all fours much better, and are really starting to walk around.  They still like the safety of their whelping box.  We should enjoy that for now, because in no time they are going to realize being on the other side is much more fun!  Here are a few pictures from their afternoon outdoors.

It is hard to see their collars becuase of the little folds in their neck.  

Scarlet, Lady, Will

 Charlie and Stella

 Charlie

 There is a better picture of them all lined up on Instagram

 Lady

 Scarlet and Stella

 Will

 Aubie

 Herkey

 Aubie and Goldy

 Charlie

 Goldy

Day 12

 While we cleaning the whelping box and changing out the carpet this afternoon, our girls decided to take some pictures of the puppies to send their friends.  I had Miah send me some of the pictures they took.  Here are a couple of my favorites.  I am thinking that we will be seeing some eyes soon.  A couple of the yellow puppies have corners almost opening.

10 Days

It was an absolutely perfect day here in NW Iowa, which is pretty hard to come by in the spring.  Sunny, 75 degrees, and NO wind!    We thought it would be a good day to open up the shed door so we could get some extra lighting for pictures.  All the pictures are pretty bright, so the true color of the yellow puppies isn't very accurate.  Goldy is the darkest of the yellow's and then probably Aubie.  I feel like I can literally see these puppies grow overnight.  When I went out this morning several of them were getting up on all 4's and scooting around their box.  

Truman:  He almost always sleeps with his mouth wide open!  SO cute! 

Charlie: the smallest so far of the yellows

 Goldy:  You can kind of see in this picture that she is slightly darker than Charlie.  It is more noticeable in person.   

Will and Lady:  You almost never see Will alone.  Many times the puppies will be spread about the whelping box, but Will is always laying on or under another puppy.  He's a snuggler!  

Scarlett:  We are not sure yet, but we have a feeling she is going to be a laid back puppy.  Cade (our 16 year old son) says that she is "chill".

Aubie:  She was carted around in a basket most of the afternoon.  

 Herky:  He also seems very laid back and sleeps a lot!  

Stella:  You can't see her collar, but I thought this was a cute picture of her, because you can see how her muzzle is turning from that light pink color, to the dark brown.  I love it when that happens.  They start to look more like a puppy, than a rat:) 

One Week

It was a week ago today that Hazel was pacing around the yard, looking for a comfortable place to have her puppies.  It is amazing how much the puppies grow and develop in just one week!  They are starting to move around the whelping box very easily on their bellies.  As soon as Hazel jumps in, they move very quickly to the source of food!  A couple of our kids commented today on how soft and fuzzy they are getting.  They all have beautiful short coats, just like their mommy.  We have put colored whelping collars on all of the puppies so that you can see better which puppy might be yours, but this will also help us keep a better eye on the puppies and keep track of their individual personalities and tendencies.  We have also given each of the puppies names.  It is always fun for us to hear their forever names, but in the meantime, the kids love to give each of the puppies a name.  Like I mentioned in one previous blog post, they have all been named after a mascot.  We had to look pretty hard for that many female mascots...and who knew so many colleges do have mascots with female names!  With a family of 4 girls and 1 boy, we thought that was pretty sweet!  We tried really hard to represent all the Power 5 Conferences, but just couldn't find that ACC name!  We did feel it was only right that include a name from South Dakota since Hazel roots are there, thus "Charlie" the USD Coyote.  I hope you have as much fun reading them as we did finding them! I snapped a few picture of the puppies with their collars on when I got home from work.  When the kids get home and I have a couple sets of hands we will see if we can get individual pictures of each puppy.

Yellow Female (pink) AUBIE {Auburn SEC}

Yellow Female (purple) GOLDY {Minnesota Big 10}

Yellow Female (green) STELLA {Temple University Big East}

Yellow Female (blue) CHARLIE (USD Missouri Valley Conference}

Yellow Male (black) TRUMAN {Missouri SEC}

Black Female (red) SCARLET {Rutgers Big East}

Black Female (orange) LADY {Baylor Big 12}

Black Male (yellow) HERKY {Iowa Big 10}

Black Male (white) WILL {Villanova Big East}