The Age of the (Drunken) Dinosuars

They are off – and falling. Puppies are now standing and Dawson has even been seen to take a step before tipping over. They truly look like little drunken dinosaurs. They have big heads and mouths, and just sort of sway back and forth as they attempt to steady themselves. Their early play efforts are to open their mouths and touch something with their head – it is quite uncoordinated at this time and adds to the picture of the drunken dinosaur ☺

It is astonishing how they grow more and more interactive. I was holding Darby this morning and she carefully sniffed at my hair, nibbled and licked my face, sniffed more and so on. It is deliberate in an uncoordinated way, and very endearing.

So, developmentally it seems like they are standing, moving more, using their mouths to explore and make early play efforts, and they are very adept at locating Halo when she is in the box. They still sleep most of the time but are much more efficient eaters so they spend less time nursing.

Speaking of nursing, I want to try and describe what happens when they eat. Four or five latch on and nurse, kneading with their little paws. After a minute or two – sometimes more – the milk lets down. It is easy to tell when this has happened because it is like a little puppy choir – all of them start making noises that sound like, “mmm mmm mmm” and they are swallowing as fast as they can. Their tails go up and sometimes wag, and they get still as they try to swallow what seems to be gushing milk. It doesn’t take long for them to fill up, and they drop off like fat little ticks, bellies full and content.

Sula continues to be in the lead in weight – she weighed in at 46.3 this morning. Madison is close behind and Rosebud is dropping off a bit – “only” 44.15. All of the puppies – except Lolo – weigh at least 40 ounces now. Lolo continues to gain and close the gap. At birth she was about 50% (in terms of weight) of the rest and now she is over 60% of their weight.

Terri asked a great question about Lolo, and that is whether she is developmentally in line with the other puppies. I watched Lolo this morning and interacted with her and Dawson, who is one of the more advanced puppies. Their behaviors were very similar – both mouthed me and try to stand up. All along we have thought Lolo was behaving like the others, and I still think that. She was clearly “Small for Gestational Age” (a real condition in humans) but her continued growth and development suggest an environmental issue during the pregnancy. We will continue to watch her carefully but so far we feel hopeful about her.

And now the information you have been waiting for – the results from the first episode of “Name That Puppy”! You were all so close and fooled by the “twins” (no – not Molly and Megan!). The puppies are Lolo, Sula, Madison and ROSEBUD! Ledger was a good guess because he and Rosebud look a lot alike, but Rosebud was indeed the last puppy.

Stay tuned for today’s pictures. Thanks for reading and have a super wonderful weekend!