All twelve at the food dish.  Biff caught this photo this morning.

Here are a few shots from this evening.  (The lighting is so poor downstairs that I turned a couple of the pictures into black and white.)

Biff added pine shavings to the “rumpus room” today and the puppies seem to stay cleaner with the somewhat absorbent wood shavings on the floor.  We’ve found that they pee frequently and faster than even the two of us can keep up with and their use of the pee pad is inconsistent.  They are, however, using the pee pads pretty consistently for their poops and that’s a good thing.

Note:  I discovered last week that the best way to trim nails is to do it when they’re snoozing.  So tonight I went from sleeping pup to sleeping pup and nipped away.  It’s a terrific way to get this job done.

Riggins, aka “Five”, met her family this afternoon.  Peter Douglas and Katie Gallagher spent some time getting acquainted with their puppy-to-be.

Riggins and her siblings will be 5 weeks old tomorrow evening.

The photo looks a little sepia toned, perhaps because of the poor lighting downstairs.  But don’t they look grown-up?!

The puppies are all eating and drinking water out of dog dishes now.  Finley’s nursing only occasionally.  We’re beginning to pull back on her food as the puppies’ need for her milk declines.

Biff’s been on “tootsie roll” patrol throughout the day.  The puppies are pooping and peeing closer to the area we’ve targeted for them, but the level of human support to get this going in the right direction is huge.  Their sleeping place (the original whelping bed) is nice and clean.  And they’re enjoying all the toys we’ve bought for them.

Thankfully they still sleep for long stretches through the day and night.  Those times are our salvation.  They will be five weeks old on Thursday/Friday.  Although the time with them has been intense, it does seem to be going by quickly.  There’s nothing lovelier than having puppies pile onto you when you’re seated on the floor with them – adoring faces looking into your eyes, licks and “kisses”, pawing to get closer and snuggle in.  And that skunky puppy breath smell!

The puppies began eating mushy dog food out of a puppy dish and drinking water out of a dish this afternoon.  We did good prep work with them last week and they approached the dog dish easily today and ate very well once they saw what was there for them.

Words cannot describe how messy the last 36 hours have been and Biff has been working the frontline through most of it.

That said, they’re making great progress, it’s just a “poopload” of work (please excuse the expression but it is SO accurate).  Let’s just say that our washing machine and dryer have been going non-stop through the past few weeks – whelping pen liners, towels, doggy bedding, our clothes, etc..  Keeping up after a large litter is no picnic, but we love these puppies through it all!

Here are the photos not included in this post: Huge and numerous trash bags of paper towels full of pee and poop, the cleaning bucket and mop purchased just for keeping the new puppy area clean, the sleep-deprived faces of Biff (and Patti), the refrigerator and cupboard space taken over with foods for Finley and the puppies (meats, dairy, unsalted chicken broth, goats’ milk, etc.) and the baby monitor installed in the downstairs space to wake Biff through the night as needed to care for the puppies.  Above is one of the peeing “pads” in use.

We were busy every minute yesterday – moving the puppies from the their cozy “nest” upstairs to the much larger area prepared for them downstairs.  It’s a place for them to move and play, although peeing was our focus most of the time.  They are happy and growing but MESSY!

The puppies welcomed more visitors yesterday and got hours of terrific human attention.  Thanks to Joanie, Rabi, Naima, Marie and Dion for making the trek out to handle puppies and let them climb all over and chew on you!

The downstairs puppy space has a doggy door for Finley to get in and out.

Biff bought two puppy toys last week – a rabbit and a giraffe – and the puppies have begun to play with them. That’s the stuffed rabbit that the two puppies are mouthing (not one of their siblings) in the photo below .

Their teeth seem to be just a few days from emerging and, as you may know, puppy teeth are razor sharp.  That’s only a slight exaggeration.  Chances are that the little rabbit and giraffe will not last long once their teeth arrive.  We’ll be moving to Kong toys, the most durable (and safest) dog toys we’ve found.

A family that will be getting one of the pups in this litter visited this afternoon.  We were delighted to see them engaging with the puppies.

They brought pheasant feathers to “test” the puppies on their birdiness, but quickly focused on the pups themselves.  We forgot to ask them what they’re thinking of naming their boy.  Thanks for coming!

The puppies are now big enough for visitors.  Let us know if you want to come out to see and handle them.  It’s good for the puppies’ socialization and we enjoy the visits, too.  Almost any weekend day between 1 and 5 PM works for us.  Just give us a call.  612 382-3060.  Weekdays can also work.  Biff will work those times out with you when you call.

Just one photo for tonight.  We were busy with nail clipping, some bottle feeding and changing the whelping box an extra time after someone pooped.  Life with 12 puppies is not glamorous.

I asked Biff the other night if he’d read these blog entries.  I loved his response.  “Read the blog?!  I’m living the blog!”

The temperatures are well below zero outside but it’s toasty warm inside.  The puppies continue to pile on each other when they’re sleeping.  Number Two (below) was awake when I got home and I sat with him in my lap for quite a while, as I worked on my computer.  Puppy snuggling is a positive life force and we’re drinking it in while the pups are with us.  (They turn four weeks old tomorrow afternoon and we have only four more weeks with them.)