Feeding Time at the Zoo

The puppies are beginning to get the hang of eating out of a dish although it remains a messy affair.

Daisy is still providing most of their food though, however she is looking slightly less happy about it as the puppies teeth have also been coming through these last few days. Ouch !!!

3 Weeks Old Today

It's been a day of exciting new things for the puppies today.
The puppy box was extended to give them some more space now that they are a bit more mobile. The box now has 3 sections - a sleeping space, a play space and a poop space covered in newspapers, and amazingly the puppies are already gravitating towards the poop space when they need to.

With the extra space I have also given them a few toys, which have created a bit of interest as you'll see from the photo to the right where blue boy number 4 (Max or Jasper?) decided he had a new pal. Photo to the left is orange girl number 8 (Coda).

And to top it all off, the puppies got their first taste of solid food today. Just a little puppy milk and rusk, but the idea is to get them used to lapping out of a bowl. Needless to say it was a messy affair.

Posing for Photos at 2 and a half weeks old

You would not believe how difficult it is to get puppies to stay still for a photo. Here are some of the best. I'll try to get the photos of the other two puppies tomorrow. They were just too wriggley!!

They are, in order :

1. Blue Girl no. 2
2. Orange Boy no. 1
3. Blue Boy no. 5
4. Orange Boy no. 3
5. Orange Girl no. 8
6. Blue Boy no. 4
7. Orange Girl no. 8 (again)

Coda and Jasper Playing

More Videos

Just a couple more clips from this morning.

2 Weeks Old

What a big change in the puppies since the last post.

Three of the girls have opened their eyes and the rest of the puppies look on the verge of doing so. And all of the puppies are trying to get to their feet now, albeit rather shakily.

The boys in particular are just starting to interact a little. I thought this was best shown in some video clips, so I've posted a few clips today. They also thought they would re-enact the Great Escape today - just as I was entering the room the whole pile of them were trying to scramble over the entry to the box!

Well all 8 puppies continue to thrive. I'm not sure how easy it is to tell from the photos but the puppies are piling on the weight. Each of them is gaining almost 2 oz per day.

Today's photos are, in order

1. Orange girl 8, Blue boy 4, Blue girl 2
2. Blue boy 5, Orange girl 6, Orange boy 1, Blue girl 7
3. Orange girl 6
4. Blue boy 4
5. Orange boy 1
6. The whole gang

Eyes are still closed but I am expecting to see 8 sets of little eyes at any point now.

Puppies' nails were turning into little needles so each puppy had their front nails trimmed back a little bit last night to make Daisy a bit more comfortable when feeding them

One Week Old

The Two Blue Boys and the Two Orange Girls

The two blue boys

The two orange girls

4 Days Old

The puppies are continuing to put on weight. One of the little girls has now topped 1lb.

The puppies faces are also beginning to look a little more like small dogs and their paws have gotten a bit bigger.

Video Clip : Feeding Time

3 days old

Daisy is being a very attentive mum.

When she is not feeding the puppies (which is most of the time) she is staring at them lovingly.

All puppies are feeding well and are putting on weight - some more than others! One puppy in particular has already put on 3.5 oz - that's more than a third of his birth weight.

Meet the Puppies

Puppy 1 : Orange roan boy

Puppy 2 : Blue roan girl

Puppy 3 : Orange roan boy

Puppy 4 : Blue roan boy

Puppy 5 : Blue roan boy

Puppy 6 : Orange roan girl

Puppy 7 : Blue roan girl

Puppy 8 : Orange roan girl

Annickford Cocker Spaniel Puppies May 2010

Introducing the Parents

Mistesso Jo's Little Angel (Daisy) was mated with Lynwater Sea Haze

The Final Hours of Daisy's Pregnancy

On Friday 8th May 2010, it was clear that Daisy was very close to whelping. She refused all food, vomitted a few times and didn't want to leave the comfort of the sofa.

At 2.30am on Saturday 9th May, I checked on Daisy who remained uncomfortable but otherwise unchanged. 30 minutes later she scratched at the door to get my attention. I decided at this stage that I would sleep the rest of the night on the sofa but it wasn't to be - within 15 minutes Daisy had gone into labour.

The Puppies are Born

The first puppy, an orange roan boy, was born at 3.45am on Saturday 8th May. Daisy was taken a bit by surprise and let off a few yelps, but then her natural instinct kicked in and amazingly she knew what to do and needed only a little help from me.

The following 3 puppies were born at regular intervals, every half an hour. Daisy then took a short rest, and went into the garden for a pee before resuming with the whelping.

Two more puppies followed in quick pursuit. Then a 7th arrived a short time later. Puppy number 8 was more reluctant to leave the comfort of mum's tummy. But at just after 8am the final puppy made an appearance and Daisy sighed a big doggy sigh of relief! She then settled down to giving all 8 puppies a good feed.

The Puppy Facts

Daisy's litter is straight out of the genetics textbook in terms of the gender and colour mix.

• 2 blue roan boys
• 2 blue roan girls
• 2 orange roan boys
• 2 orange roan girls

All of the puppies were a good weight at birth. 2 weighed in at 9oz, 4 at 10oz and 2 at 11oz.