Our first pound puppy

The fab five continue to grow and change. Zen amazes me with her maternal instinct. My crazy girl is just the best mother.

At the tender age of 12 days, little "Dot" has reached the weight of one pound! We don't like to give her a complex, but she is the biggest one of the litter so far. Puppy weight doesn't always correlate with full grown size and I cannot start to even predict size until about 6 weeks. Even then, shelties don't always read the books and it can be a nightmare to determine their final mature size.

Today a few of the pups have started to open their eyes. This is an exciting time, as soon they all will have their eyes and ears open and start to move around more. Puppies usually start to open their eyes around 10-15 days. The ears open a few days later. Once the pups start to hear, the socialization really starts. It is at this time that we put a cassette/dvd player near the puppy pen and play music and sound effects tapes.

Many people don't realize that pups are born with their eyes and ears sealed. The pups rely on their sense of smell and sense of touch to find their mom and nurse. It is amazing to see these little blind and deaf pups march across the box to find their mom. Well.... march might be a bit to strong, they really just inch along on their bellies!

The pups have all received their puppy names. These are not the names they will keep, but just names for us to identify them with. They are:

Dot - has a spot of white on the back of her neck and also named after one of my favorite Border collies!
Black Leg - well, she has a black front leg!
Pickle- half-white collar boy.
Tony - full white collar boy
Carmella - full white collar girl (little Zen look-alike)

Tony and Carmella are named after the lead characters from the American TV show called "The Sopranos". It is a great show about the Italian Mafia in New York and New Jersey. They were born on a Thursday, the night we always watch "The Sopranos"!