Only hours old. These three had already nursed, but Mama Dog Taylor had to have an emergency C-Section to deliver 4 more puppies, three of which survived. We had to feed these three every few hours for a couple of days while Taylor recovered - and thank goodness she did! The 'Baby Daddy' did NOT show up to help!
Just a few days old, reunited with Mama Dog Taylor and the rest of the gang. Eyes still closed. Six survivors from a litter of eight, which is normal.
A few weeks in. They are fed, 'communally' so you can see if anyone is going to be aggressive about food. So far, so good!
Big excitement! Their first opportunity to dig into the Chewy pet food delivery. My Fed Ex Man thinks I'm nuts, but he's used to us and LOVES dogs. He's a Labrador Fan - and I've had three through the years.
We have four females and two males. Beau wants to keep the males. This is the larger of the two - 'Code Name' for now is 'Jigsaw.' We name them so we can identify them and keep tabs on who is smart about what, but don't necessarily train them to that name until later, as we don't know who we will be keeping. The smaller male WILL be keeping his 'Fur-ever' name, and that is 'Omaha.' Beau names his hunting dogs after American Indian Tribes.
The puppies weaned themselves amazingly fast - like at FOUR weeks. Taylor spent time away from them so we could dry her up as she has Black Bear hunting to do this Fall. ;) The puppies would pester her to some extent but she found a way around that. Good Girl, Taylor!
Temporary puppy names: Jigsaw, Male. Ohama, Male. Blaxter, Female. Spot, Female. Zee-Zee, Female. and Joker, Female. They're all named for identifying patterns in their fur. Zee-Zee has the same 'Zoro Stripe' on her rump as did her Uncle Yakama, Taylor's brother. They were both from a litter of seven I raised in 2017.
This is my life, now. They're VERY helpful in the garden. NOT!