The pups were pretty active this morning. Everyone was alert and moving around the box checking out their surroundings. Red was in a playful mood, and tried to pick a fight with a stuffed toy. That not working, he went after brother Charlie instead. At this age, “fighting” is limited to a little mouthing and lasts for less than a minute before they wear out, but it was very cute.

Mom and pups all seem to like the new flooring in the box. I bought one of those egg crate foam cushions, lined the bottom with it, and put the pads the pups sleep on back on top of it. It didn’t quite fit so I had to cut in in pieces and sat the extra piece on top to form a little hill. Momma Zeppe likes the extra cushion and the traction created by the egg crate shape is excellent to help build those little leg and foot muscles. It has paid off already, Miss Green who hadn’t quite been able to get her rear under her yet was taking her first wobbly steps today.

The antibiotics have been helping their little feet, and everyone looks better now. Red and Charlie still have some swelling each on one foot, but both have gone down quite a bit since Christmas Day.

Pictures from the pup’s second week are available in the Gallery.

Yesterday was the A Litter’s first Christmas! All four have their eyes open now. The ears are beginning to open as well and the pups will respond to sudden loud sounds. Miss Orange is the curious one right now. Her eyes are the most developed and she is starting to explore her surroundings. The pups all recognize me, and they will often wiggle over to cuddle or lick me when I get down into the box with them. Usually they get disinterested once they realize I have no milk for them, but Miss Orange seems to just like the company.

I am afraid I have some not so good news from over the holiday. The pup’s feet have become inflamed where the dew claws were removed. All of the pups have developed abscesses on at least one foot. Some are better than others, but poor Red’s left foot swelled to 1 1/2 times its normal size. I spent several hours on Christmas day packing the sites with a warm compress to help relieve the inflammation. The first thing this morning I was at the vet’s office to pick up some antibiotics for them. Thankfully, so far the infection seems to be localized and not spread. Hopefully the antibiotics will kick in soon, and I am continuing with the compress treatment.

Red’s eyes are opening today. He is also the pup that gets around the whelping box the best. He shakily gets up on all four legs to walk around while the others still do more crawling along with their front ends and haven’t quite mastered the 4 legged coordination they need yet.

Charlie likes to sleep on his back, Toller-style. He is probably the 2nd best at getting around the box on all fours.

Miss Orange likes to come over, lay her head on my arm and fall asleep that way.

Miss Green’s white blaze on her face looks a lot like her momma Zep’s did at her age.

I was weighing the pups tonight and I noticed that Miss Orange’s eyes have just started to open. They were not that way earlier this evening. She is the first, and so far only one, to show any signs of eyes opening. The rest will be opening over the next couple of days. That means no flash photography for a while until those new eyes get adjusted.

BTW, the pups are all at good weights. The smallest, Red, has caught up with his siblings and all four weigh right around 2 lbs now.

The rest of the Week One pictures are up for Marcello & Zeppe’s litter.

So far everyone is doing great. The pups have doubled their birth weights in the last week. Momma Zeppe caught on around day 4 that she doesn’t need to sit in the box 24/7 and nurse the pups. She still spends most of her time there, but doesn’t need coaxing to go on a potty break anymore. She still won’t leave the pups to eat, and I have to feed her in the whelping box.

The first pictures of the babies are online now. There are pictures of the whelping and the pup’s first day. I still have a few more from this week to upload, mostly individual shots of each puppy.

I created this blog intending to use it to chronicle my first litter, and I am so excited that time has come! Zeppe is settling in nicely as a new mom, and I am learning how little sleep I can function on.

Mom & pups had a big event today. Everyone was rounded up and we went to the vet to remove dew claws. The big girls went first and they squirmed a little but both were very good. The boys were next and made a bit more fuss. Everyone seemed to forget about the whole ordeal by the time they were put back in the warming box they traveled in. Mom was quite anxious to have her pups back. She treated anyone within ear shot to the full Toller scream the entire time her puppies were in the vet’s office. But, once they were returned she settled right in and was very happy to let them nurse.

I am pleased to announce the birth of 4 new Tollers into this world today. The proud parents are Marcello (Can Ch Jagador’s Rainkist Coastal Livin’) & Zeppe (Ch Onepenny Zeppelin over Caliber RN). Marcello is owned by Patrick and Sara Skillings & bred by Krista Wendland. Zeppe is owned by myself & bred by Mairon Bennett.

There is a nice 50-50 split of 2 girls and 2 boys. The first pup was born shortly before 8 am. About an hour later pups 2 & 3 were born within 10 minutes of each other. Zeppe & I got a nice break before the last pup was born a little less than an hour and a half later. Pups weigh between 11.2 oz and 13.1 oz. All have full white markings, and one of the boys got a generous extra helping. Both mom and pups are doing great.

Zeppe went in for an x-ray this evening. The x-ray clearly shows 4 pups. I kept searching for a 5th one, but if it is there it is hidden well, and the official consensus is four. Zeppe is doing great. She has gained 7 pounds since being bred but she still waddles around with out any trouble. The vet said she is in great shape and has plenty of milk. She is just so huge that I am thinking those 4 pups must be monsters! I wish I could have gotten a picture of the x-ray, as it was really neat to see the little skeletons all lined up in her belly. She is due Tues/Wed of next week.