Busy Week

Well, the babies have had a productive week so far, as Daddy Brighton looks on. OK, it was really the bunny that ran by at the most opportune moment when we took him outside to take his picture. But really he has been very interested in his kids.

Wednesday the babies had their dewclaws removed. And for those of you cringing thinking we whacked off their thumbs - not so. The dewclaw is a vestigal digit that serves absolutely no purpose other than running the risk of getting caught on something like a fence and tearing. And if that happens, then you have problems. When puppies are just a couple of days old the bone in that toe hasn't ossified so removing it is very similar to merely clipping a fingernail. They do squeak but almost immediately fall asleep again, no worse for the wear.

We also started their Super Puppy exercises. For those of you unfamiliar with the program, no they won't be leaping tall baby gates in a single bound or gait faster than a speeding bullet in the show ring. Developed by the US military for their dogs, it, in essence, is a series of 5 exercises performed daily from Days 3 - 16, that take less than a minute to do for each puppy. The theory is that this exposes them to neurological stimulation to which they would not normally be exposed. This "unnatural" stimulation seems to jump start their metabolic systems and has shown benefits that may include improved cardio-vascular performance, stronger heart beats, stronger adrenal glands, more tolerance to stress and greater resistance to disease. You know, I'm handling everyone every day so I figure it doesn't take but a minute to do and it may be of some benefit. And it sure won't hurt them.

With the help of our lovely assistant, Aaron, we will go through the exercises for you. Alan very kindly took photos of the process.

The first exercise is a tactile stimulation exercise performed by tickling the puppy between the toes for between 3 - 5 seconds. The next three exercises are a series of positions the puppy is held in, again for no longer than 3 - 5 seconds. They are held head up, supine (on their backs) and then head down. Something they would definitely not experience naturally. The final exercise is to place them on a damp cloth that has been chilled for 5 minutes in the refrigerator. They're permitted to crawl off. Although puppies cannot maintain their internal body temperatures until they're about 2 weeks of age and it's very important to keep them warm, this very brief exposure does no harm (and supposedly a lot of good) at all and they're back in the puppy pile warming before they even know what "hit them."

If you'd like to read more about the Bio Sensor or Super Puppy method and the theory behind it, you can check out this link: http://www.taylordcanines.com/biosensor.html

They're still pretty uneventful - just eating, sleeping and growing. Everyone has put on weight and seems to be thriving. The other dogs are enthralled with the squeaky noises they're hearing. English Setter baby, Kyndle, is quite intrigued by them. I can only imagine what she'll think when they turn into "real" puppies and start to play.