I got up early this morning to get in a little training before the day warmed up and it was raining. Not a hard rain but enough to make everything wet. I decided to tell you about raising this litter of puppies. Sally, the mother of this litter is a granddaughter of Shadow Oak Bo on the top and a granddaughter to Tekoa Mountain Outrage on the bottom. I bred her to Bruce Sooter’s male that is a son of Tekoa Mountain Sunrise on the top and Tekoa Mountain Outrage on the bottom. Sally may be the best bird dog I’ve ever owned. These puppies should be bird dogs.
Sally shortly after giving birth.
Sally and her puppies.
Sally and her puppies.
The first 3 weeks of the puppies life Sally did everything. I gave her a good whelping box in the shed with an air conditioner. The whelping box had a heat pad that the puppies used a lot the first few days. The puppies had been used to Sally being 101 degrees so the heat pad was needed. For several days puppies can not regulate their own temperature. A lot of times, when it was in the mid seventies in the shed, the puppies would be on the heat pad.
I had an indoor outdoor carpet on the floor of the whelping box. The carpet gave the puppies traction to move around from the time they were born. When I checked on the puppies sometimes they would be nursing but a lot of times they would be on the heat pad. And they were able to move from her to the pad within minutes of being born. The puppies can’t see or hear but they can smell. I understand how they smell their mother and go to her but how do they know to get on the heat pad?
The shed was set up with a dog door leading out into a large pen that is attached to the kennels. Sally could get out of the shed whenever she wanted. I fed her a lot more than she was used to getting and she still looked good even while nursing the puppies. The puppies were 8 weeks old yesterday and she is still letting them nurse occasionally. I put her in with them each morning and she stands for them to suck for a few minutes.
At 3 weeks of age I start feeding the puppies. I mix a can of evaporated milk with a can of warm water. To this add a tablespoon of plain yogurt, a tablespoon of honey or Karo syrup and an egg yolk. The egg white isn’t supposed to be good for dogs. After they start eating this pretty well I start soaking some dry dog food in it for a little while before feeding them. Once they start eating the softened dog food I stop the milk and feed them puppy chow soaked in water.
Mann pointing a pigeon.
One of the best things, in my opinion, that I do with all of my puppies is everyone that stops by my house must pet puppies. I even invite people to bring their kids and grandkids over to play with the puppies. Until last Sunday, the most people I had in a day was nine. Last Sunday, at one time I had thirteen people playing with the puppies. These puppies are well socialized.
Some of the people that come over have too much decorum to get on the ground with the puppies but the kids don’t. The kids lie on the ground and let the puppies climb all over them. The puppies can investigate every part of the human and they lose all fear of them. Kids are great for puppies.
Also, at 3 weeks of age, when I start feeding the puppies the milk I start playing a CD from Masters Voice that has gunshots interspersed with music. Master’s Voice makes CD’s for breaking gun shy dogs and just getting dogs used to gunshots. I play the tape each time I feed them and now that they are older I play it morning and evening when I clean kennels.
Another thing I do is put little collars on the puppies with a short string tied to it. For the rest of their life, probably, the pups will be wearing a collar and the little rope will teach them to give to the lead. They pull each other around when they notice the string moving across the ground.
Babe next to the whoa barrel.
The opening in the whelping box that Sally goes in and out through is about 10 inches off the floor. When the puppies get big enough to get out of the whelping box I move them to the kennels. It seems like this litter was younger when they started getting out. I should write down the ages and keep track but I don’t.
Whenever anyone comes over to play with the puppies I usually turn some pigeons loose for the puppies. I started by locking the wings on a pigeon but the puppies got too aggressive, quickly. I started holding the pigeon in my hand until the puppies got close then letting it fly away. Now, at 8 weeks old, I leave a wing loose, to flap, to attract the puppies, then let the bird fly away. They chase for a little way, usually.
A lot of what I do is, nothing. I turn the puppies loose and they run all over and play but they also learn a lot of things. My yard, especially close to the kennels is for bird dogs. Near the kennels is the pigeon coops and a small thicket. The puppies play around the pigeon coop and inside the thicket. Across the yard is a fence row with a barb wire fence that they learn to cross.
My pigeons don’t all go back into their house, immediately. Some sit on their house or drop to the ground to pick waste food. The puppies sometimes flash point, chase these birds or just watch them as they sit on their house. Sometimes it’s a surprise to the puppies when a bird flies. This is easy dog training, I’m just sitting in my chair watching.
Babe with the pigeon asleep on the barrel.
It’s been raining a lot and the pigeon poop that falls to the ground near the pigeon coop smells really good to the puppies. They want to eat it. That can’t be good for them. I started putting the ones that were eating the poop back in their kennel. That didn’t work.
It kept raining enough to keep the poop smelling good to the puppies. I started taking my ball cap off and smacking them on the butt with it. The first day I had to smack every one of them. The second day only a couple. Now, occasionally they slow down close to it but when the puppy sees me coming they run off. It’s raining this morning I’ll see if the hat continues to keep them away from the poop.
To me, this is a special litter so I’m going to keep two females and a male until at least September and work with them. At that time I may turn loose of one or more of them but the longer I have them the more I want to keep them.
White and orange male.
Female.
This female will be going to Oklahoma.