Sunny's Puppies Have ARRIVED!

Sunny is currently staying with us here at Hummingbird Hill Farm. She is our close friends dog and we have been taking care of her off and on this year. She is a very nice docile female. She has long fur, with mixed colors. In the summer she sheds and sheds and sheds! She is a ball lovin' fool just like our other dogs, so she fits in very well with our pack. Our Huckleberry Finn and herself mated around November. Her due date for whelping was on January 9th, 2010. Sunny's actual date of delivery was on Thursday January 7th, 2010. Her whelping started around noon and ended approximately three and a half hours later. She delivered 10 puppies, 7 males and three females.

The first day -
On the first day Sunny stayed right by the puppies side. She was EXHAUSTED! We set up a whelping box a week prior to her due date. The whelping box consisted of a kiddy pool and two dog blankets. We placed her in our quite guest bedroom, which provided Sunny with privacy away from our other dogs. This room is also the most easily heated room in our house. Sunny was very hungry after her labor. She readily drank one entire bowl of water and ate three cans of dog food! All the puppies did during this first day was eat and sleep. They make all sorts of noises.

Day 2 - Sunny still stay's right by the puppies side. She has not yet gone outside to use the bathroom! I swear the puppies have grown one inch longer over night! Sunny will allow myself and Kurt to enter the room but not any of the other dogs. She is very protective of her puppies and will only allow Kurt and I to hold them for a short while before she gives us a very concerned look. She is eating very well today. She ate 6 cans of dog food over the entire day and drank two bowls of water. The puppies continue to eat and sleep their day away.
Day 3 - Sunny went outside for the first time today. This is the first time she has left her puppies since they were born. She had to use the bathroom badly! We were able to coax her outside two more times this day. The third time she went outside she was even interested in playing ball for about 5 minutes. I think it was really good for her to stretch her legs and get the blood flowing in her body. We have taken notice to the runt of our litter today. She is a really small, dark brown girl. She did not stand out as being small on day one or day two but is obviously smaller than the others today. Today I weighed her and she weighed 11. 35 oz. She seems to have a bit more trouble hooking up to nurse and struggles to stay on the teat while nursing. We will keep an eye on her, weigh her each day and place her on a teat every time we check on the pups to encourage her growth. Today Sunny ate 5 cans of dog food, rice/hamburger homemade dog food and some dry dog food. She drank two bowls of water.

Day 4 - Sunny readily asked to go outside a few times today. She still does not like to leave her puppies for any long periods of time (10-15 minutes max!). The runt is still struggling to nurse. We weighed her today and she is 11. 75 oz. So there has been growth, although minimal. Most of the other puppies weight 18.4 - 18.8 oz. Sunny continues to eat heartily. She ate 5 cans of dog food mixed with dry puppy kibble and drank 2 bowls of water. Today I noticed she has starting to have a dark brown discharge. I guess this is normal up to 3-4 weeks after the pups are born. The puppies have literally doubled in size since they were born. Most are starting to grown nails, have louder cries, some even growl, move in their sleep and have wrinkly skin.