The Pups are growing and learning more with each week-----------read on------
Week 4 was a big week for KB's 8 new puppies. They received their first vaccination shot, got their first worming, and were moved from the whelping box in our mixing room to a stall that leads outside to a short run.
At the beginning of the week we gave each puppy it's first vaccination shot consisting of measles and distemper. This was their first introduction to human inflected pain. Most did good, they only flinched a little. Two or three puppies jerked a little but no squalling. Husband and wife work together. Husband holds puppy on his chest facing to husband's right. Husband rubs puppy's ear or head and trys to sooth it. This allows right handed wife to pull up the skin on puppy's neck and give the shot under the skin. With 8 solid black puppies, we couldn't easily keep track of which ones had been shot. So we placed the ones that had been shot on a rug outside the whelping box. Oh boy, did they have a time. They explored all around the mixing room. Of course most did their business off the rug. It's fun to watch a male puppy when he starts urinating. He spreads his rear feet real wide apart. His tail points straight up in the air and he gets real still. His head is pointed straight ahead and there is a look of intense concentration. It takes several seconds for him to relax and release. One wants to freeze and keep quiet until he gets started.
We also wormed each puppy with 1cc of Strongid-T. They seemed to like the taste of the bannana flavored wormer. We put each puppy on our lap, raised its head, and squirted the wormer into its mouth. With its head raised, we rubbed the pup's neck until it swallowed. We always wait until the puppies are sleeping before worming or giving vaccination shots. They squirm less when first awakened.
Later in the week we moved the puppies to an inside stall that leads outside to a shortrun. The inside stall is 8'x8'. It has a whelping box similar to the one in the mixing room. Leading up into the 12" high sideboards are a small set of puppy steps. This whelping box has a two sided wooden enclosure over it (in the winter we put on the other two sides) with an overhead light. Everything went pretty good. It will be a week before the puppies adventure to the outside.
The puppies are up and walking around. Some are real big puppies for their
