Nala Litter-- the first 21 days. . .

Litter Delivered 30 April 2000

7 males                                 4 females

	Birth to 3 weeks The litter resides in a 4 foot by 6 foot closet.  The floor was covered with three inches of foam covered with packcloth.  This was all covered with a blanket which is attached but is changed twice a day.  There is a heat-lamp at one end and a thermometer below so we can monitor the temperature.  On day 2 they had their first Vet visit at the house and Pink Girl had her one rear dew-claw removed.  She cried for a second and then went on with life.  Everyone was in good health. On day 3 we started adding items under and on top of the blanket for them to maneuver over and around. This encouraged the development of their strength and coordination. Each day a new item is added. Right now they have several large towels taped in a roll, a box with holes cutout for them to go in and out, jute toys, large plastic spoon, large metal spoon, a large metal dog bowl, a small orange traffic cone, a metal can, large sheet of giant bubble wrap, and a roll of ring matting.

Every day the litter is bottle-fed in the morning and in the evening.  The rest of the day Nala feeds them. After the evening feeding one of us stays in the room and lies down with puppies. They wrestle for the spots nearest to us and settle down to sleep. This gives us a chance to pet each puppy while they rest.

On days 12 and 13, the puppies eyes began to open. By day 14, they were ready to explore the rest of the room.

The room is a 16 X16 extra  bedroom on the first floor. There is a large  area rug over the concrete floor. There is a small nightlight in one corner and the heat lamp is on in the closet for any chilly pups. There is an extra large fluffy dog bed in one corner that Nala likes, but  most of the puppies end up in it. One pup prefers the crate!  A tape player with sounds of nature, fireworks, children playing and of dog shows is playing for a few hours everyday.

We have added various surfaces for them to walk over throughout the room. There are places of smooth, shiny tile, linoleum, sheet metal, ring matting, plastic grating, a small A-frame with various materials. The pups don't even notice the differences as they run around the room. On May 21(day 21) we built a little agility crossover with four planks leading up to a center platform.  Each of the planks is covered with different materials-- carpet, metal, linoleum, marble, netting, wood, mirror, etc.  We also hung a mobile which has all sorts of strange things hanging and clanking.  We put a small piece of wood that wobbles like a teeter totter and a lazy-susan that spins when you try to walk on it!  We also built a little tunnel maze out of 10" heating ducting that they can crawl through.

They get their nails clipped once a week and get weighed and a new collar at the same time. 

On May 20 we let them meet Saga for a few minutes.  We made Saga lie down and hold very still while the puppies explored him.  It was all Saga could stand.  The puppies mostly just looked for milk.