Oct 17

Always amusing when we define time by how old the puppies are.  Tuesday seems like a long time in the past.  Puppies and Gloria are doing very well.  Puppies are gaining weight steadily.

weights:  Females:.416 kgs; .498; .444; .492;  Males: .560; .468; .570; .526; .540

The weights are on the light side - especially when I compare them to Dinnye's May litter of 4 pups.  I know they will all make up for it by feeding regularly from Gloria - she's eating a lot of food these days to keep up with their demands.  She's always feeding a group of puppies when I look in on her - never all at once - always 4 or 5 at a time - she has a system and it's working!

All the puppies have a solidness to them when I handle them - will continue to weigh them every few days to make sure they all stay on track.  Noses and pads of feet are turning from bright pink to a dark shade of grey - will be black in the next few days.  Puppies will be seeing and hearing by the end of next week.  Already, some are travelling fairly well around the whelping box.  At this point, they simply pull themselves around.  Gloria is very attentive to all their needs - a bit disturbing that she is still searching for her 10th puppy.  Everytime she goes outside, she searches in the same two spots - digging and expecting to turn it up.  She whimpers when she sniffs her live pups - hoping that eventually she will forget - if anything it has intensified.  I hid a small stuffed animal in the bushes where she digs - she looked quite pleased when she found it - still no replacement for the "missing puppy".