Created 18-Jul-11
Modified 18-Jul-11
Our Heaven Scent Litter of Belgian Tervuren. UKC Champion Matti Deabei ''Matti'' x Basquelaine Winning Colors ''Mimi'' aka ''Marie''
Hard to believe our Heaven Scent babies are now 2 weeks old. Time just flies by. Pups are a little more exciting now than they were in the first week but of course the best is yet to come. Eyes opened on days 12-14. They have rudimentary vision now that will continue to develop over the next few weeks. Right now I'd say they can see a few inches in front of them on the same plane. As their vision continues to develop they'll see for further distance with more acuity then notice things above and below them later on. Ears are starting to open now and as with vision hearing will continue to develop and become more acute over next weeks. Scent continues to be their most developed sense as their survival instinctively continues to be finding mother and the milk bar via olfactory sense. This week will introduce scent tubes with various pleasant and aversive scents including HRD in about 5 scent tubes to begin imprinting scent for the SAR and tracking prospects.
Have made a point to put pups on a variety of surfaces so they get used to different feels and textures under their feet including different textured bedding from smooth to fuzzy to flat to cushy to stitched quilting. Outside they've been no grass and concrete as well as dirt and gravel. They've taken all of this in stride. The only thing they complain about for a short bit then settle is the floor of the whelping box with no bedding as it's slippery so harder for them to grab footing tho they get it with perseverance and with the help of their stuffed toys - pretty smart for them to figure out that strategy.
In the short time their eyes have been open am already seeing them interact more with each other and with their toys and with us and mother engaging in play behavior such as mouthing and throwing their heads back in play. Have also seen some pawing in play. These play behavior sequences adding vocals such as growling will develop rapidly with the addition of hearing and sight. They are also more purposefully playing with their toys - some enjoying pushing the little tennis balls with their noses. They continue to love to cuddle with their stuffed animals but now they're also playing with them.
Motor skills have developed dramatically in the last weeks. Pups are up on all four legs and walking from point A to point B sometimes losing their balance and toppling over then getting right back up again. Considering they're still head heavy right now that's to be expected. Just caught yellow boy putting his front legs up on the pig rail looking outside the box contemplating his escape lol. Am starting to see what might be differences in energy levels and demeanor but could just be some of the pups are on a bit faster developmental schedule than others. Though all still sleep the vast majority of the day seems red girl and yellow boy and blue boy and aqua boy have longer waking periods than the others right now. Size-wise aqua is slightly bigger with blue yellow green purple and red closing in. Pink is my little pipsqueak in typical pink girl fashion. She's also the most agile and wiggly right now. None of the pups care for being held on their backs and will struggle mightily and same for trimming nails. They'll get better about this as they become more human social and get more used to being handled in submissive positions while we trim nails and change ribbons.
The dark pups are still quite dark red - blue. Green - blue - yellow - aqua are definitely red/fawn in color. Purple is almost certainly some shade of gray - probably pink too and possibly red as well. As mentioned last week colors will change over the next few weeks and it will be more obvious what they might be as adults. The very dark pups may not be that dark as adults so at this age it's not predictive.
We all continue to handle pups daily and do neurosensory exercises. Pups even had a couple of new visitors this week my grown son Cooper and his friend under the watchful eye of Marie who has lightened up some on being protective of them. So far all seem to have nice structure but it's very early. I like how they hold their rears while nursing and how all the fronts look right now coming towards me.
We've done a couple more short field trips outside under a shade tree and pups didn't whine about it at all even though it's been hot as Hades here. In the whelping room they're in air conditioning and they like that just fine as well. No vocalizing of complaints with either extreme in temperature.
Weights and gain after one week from prior week
Aqua male- 30 oz +10 oz
Yellow male - 28 oz +11 oz
Blue male - 28 oz +8 oz
Pink female - 20 oz +8 oz
Red female - 26 oz +8 oz
Purple female - 28 oz +9 oz
Green male - 27 oz +7 oz
I have 2-3 Marie pups still unspoken for. Also don't forget we have 4 week old Matti x Savannah babies in Montana with a couple of active pet/beg-intermediate performance prospects still available and a couple of promising working/advanced performance prospects still available.
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