Stonefly (Covarney Anais Anais) is now the very proud mum of ten Irish Setter puppies, five girls and five boys, making Covarney Flapjack, a proud dad for the third time.
Stonefly has been a bit of a beached whale for the last week and it was a relief all round when yesterday morning she totally refused her breakfast, was slightly sick and then spent the next few hours not quite sure whether to lay down or not, and if so, where… all classic signs of an imminent birth.

Mind you, she then kept us waiting till the evening when after a lot of panting and attempting to crawl entirely into Jack's lap (a desire no doubt to 'escape' the pain), her waters burst and not long afterwards (and with a loud cry – poor thing), out popped puppy number one, a boy! There followed a few seconds of bewilderment (possibly due to the overwhelming relief that the intense pain has massively dulled), before she 'came to' and began the process of ripping open the bag, chewing at the umbilical cord and licking the pup awake!! Within ten minutes he was latched on and drinking!! Oh my, our first Irish Setter pup – we were so proud!!
An hour came and went as pup home-alone, explored yet more teats and Stonefly showed no signs of wanting to pop out may more.
And so we waited, for half an hour, another half hour… another five minutes and then, in a slight panic, rang the vets for advice. We were clear that Stonefly was showing no signs of pushing, having contractions etc but they felt she perhaps ought to be checked out. The prospect of bundling her and her 2 –hour old pup in the back of the car and driving 40 minutes to Barnstaple was hideous. We rang off from the vets, looked at each other and wondered what on earth to do.

Thankfully Stonefly decided for us as just before midnight she gave us not one, but two more boys, this time with a huge yelp of pain and a frantic tugging as she turned to help pull the first out. Our sense of relief was huge and then some. It had only been a gap of two hours, twenty minutes!!!!! The rest of the night saw another seven births, all with far more sensible gaps in between, anything from five minutes to an hour and a half. Stonefly was attentive throughout although was rather obsessive about pulling out the placentas each time and consuming them, 'before' attending to the pups. (Maybe our obsessive clean and tidy natures have rubbed off on her??) By just gone five o clock, we had five boys and four girls, all suckling, all healthy weights and with a mum who was tired but relaxed and by now, hardly panting at all.

Around six-thirty, we felt it might be okay to catch some shut-eye (mainly because keeping them open was proving just a teeny bit impossible). David had retired to bed, I (Jack) lay down on a dog bed just outside the whelping box. An hour later, we were both awake again, unlike nine pups and a mum, all sleeping soundly. Is there a sight more comforting??
Tea was made; we started to clear away our makeshift beds, cups and plates from our midnight feasts; loo breaks were taken, the other dogs all greeted and let out!!

At quarter to nine, we went back to check the sleeping beauties and as we peered in to the box, we noticed a wet 'slither' appear at Stonefly's back end. Oh my word. It was another puppy!! This time THREE and a half hours after the last!!! How amazing and how sadly satisfying that Stonefly had now matched Roxy's litter of ten last year with five of each sex (yes, we are obsessive about numbers too).
Phew!!! What an end to the night!

The rest of the day was spent encouraging Stonefly to eat and drink - both of which she did with wonderful enthusiasm: scrambled egg, cooked turkey and tinned dog meat are a perfect combination it seems – and generally cooing over our perfect first Irish Setter litter.
We are indebted to our puppy mentors – Kate and Gerald – for all their support, guidance and practical help and once again, excited about meeting all those new puppy owners who, in just a couple of months, will hopefully be welcoming these new additions to their families!!!
In the meantime we are so looking forward to getting to know our chocolate box of goodies 'and' choosing which of the girls may well end up staying with us!!

Stonefly looked a lot brighter and less tired this morning - hopefully, in keeping with us, she was able to get a bit more sleep last night. The pups all looked great too - a relief really, it was a worry leaving them all on their own last night for the first time.
Today has been characterised by a lot of suckling and sleeping and with ten teats able to feed ten pups, the lack of competition makes all this very easy! Stonefly has been outside a couple of times and is eating and drinking with huge enthusiasm, albeit tempered with a fairly urgent desire to get back to her pups asap.

Roxy, our four year old Gordon, who was a first time mum herself 18 months ago, is both missing Stonefly and not altogether coping with the sounds and smells of the pups in the evenings. We have the whelping box secure behind mesh panels in our front room and during the day, the door is shut. After supper though, we allow the other dogs in - this is normal and part of our winter routine (the room has an open fire!) and shutting them out would be both unfair and counter-intuitive. Roxy knows she mustn't go over the panels and Stonefly would be very unhappy if she did, but it doesn't stop her form wanting to know what is going on and wanting a look. We expect that we may well get to a time when Stonefly is happy for Roxy, or indeed any of the other dogs, to 'mind the kids' for a while - but we are definitely not at that stage yet!!

Already the pups seem bigger: their birth weights were all fairly uniform in size, ranging from 350g to 450g - their combined total was just under 4kg - that was a lot of extra grammes for Stonefly to carry, a additional sixth of her normal weight in fact!

Some of the pups have lovely white flashes - one of the boys is shaped a bit like a heart!! Otherwise, it is very hard to tell them apart. There is a slight variation in the shade of their colouring, but this will probably change as they get older.

All in all, a fabulous first full day.

When pups are first born, their body temperatures are quite low compared to an adult dog and so in order to keep warm, they need to snuggle up to mum or be latched on to a teat. Yesterday, the pups were always touching mum in some way. Today though, we have started to see some of them lying a little distance away, bellies full and temperatures obviously okay. It is remarkable how they are developing so quickly already but then as they are born so 'under'-developed, they do need to get a move on and stop being quite so vulnerable.
It is advised to not let the whelping area go below 21 degrees C. The combined effects of a radiator next to the box and a lit wood burner in the evenings, have ensured this doesn't happen. At one point, the maximum recorded was 27 degrees, a little too warm perhaps?

All the pups seem to be drinking equally and starting to look as though they may be able to fill out all that skin!! The smallest boy is perhaps the skinniest, he has three sisters of a similar weight who look fine - we will keep a bit of an extra eye on him. At the end of the week we will weigh them all - in theory they should all have doubled in weight, or thereabouts!!

Stonefly is packing her food away and going outside for wees and poos. She seems to have just the right balance between being a good mum, but not too neurotic!! We rather hope this bodes well for their temperaments!!!

Today has been a day of bed re-arranging (Stonefly) and lots of stretching in their own spaces (the puppies). It is extra-ordinary how much the pups' behavour is already changing. They are still incredibly vulnerable but they are far more mobile (shuffling round on their bellies quicker), far better able to keep themselves warm, and they are not spending as much time suckling - although they do spend most of their time at a teat!
And of course they are growing..... and getting noisier.... and obviously cuter.
Similarly Stonefly spends longer on her poo and wee breaks, although is still very keen to get back to her babies and not at all keen to really socialise with the other dogs - much to poor Sparrow's chagrin!!
And talking of distress, we discovered that our small boy's back end was somewhat glued up with poo this morning. We 'un-glued' it and out popped a dollop of soft poo - bit of a relief for him no doubt! After that we made sure he had access to one of Stonefly's back teats (the most milky) and by the end of the day he looked a whole heap better with a lovely rotund belly! We are keeping an eye to make sure he doesn't get bunged up again but feel confident it was a minor hiccup for him!!
We are spending time handling the pups as much as we can - they have had their first visitor too and we hope to have a lot more (covid permitting..).

Tummies get every more rotund as competition for the best teats gets more intense. Having said that, there have been more times today when a few of the pups have slept as their siblings drink. Puppies are 80% water when they are born, adult dogs are more like 60% to 70%. As they get bigger, the fluid ratio is altered by their muscle, bone, organ growth. And all that twitching they do when asleep (called activated sleep) is essential exercise to help those muscles and nerves develop.This is why a still puppy is not a good sign.

Stonefly has been up and about a lot more today, spending longer in the garden on her 'loo' breaks and she even elected to go on the afternoon walk round our fields. She was, we might add, VERY happy to get back to the house though and then slept quite soundly till supper.

And today we had another visitor who Stonefly was both pleased and relaxed to see. The puppies are getting a lot of handling - we think this is really important for their stress levels later on.

We have spent a lot of time today really watching the puppies move and are really starting to see those muscles in action. They are still dragging themselves around on their bellies and will continue to do so for quite a while yet (a good couple of weeks), but we are already seeing the back legs helping to power through those belly shuffles and when we pick them up, we can feel the growing strength as their legs push against our hands too. It's all very exciting to think how much charging around they will be doing by the end of the month.

We have also seen a few flickering eyes underneath all that skin and in some of the pups, eyes are now looking more 'closed' as opposed to 'sealed shut'!. They are due to start opening in the next few days and by the start of next week, the pups will actually be able to see for the first time! How fabulous that will be for them. And for us!!!

Stonefly has been out and about a lot more today - once again she came on our afternoon walk round the fields (only half an hour or so) but she has also had more time wandering round the garden and at one point, just chilling outside the whelping box. Sparrow still cannot understand why she won't play though and Roxy just wants to be a second mum to the pups!! (not yet Roxy...).

Oh, and our slightly smaller boy is definitely no longer slightly smaller - he is doing really well!!!

Today has been a day of piles, puppies piled on top of puppies, puppies piled on top of mum and at one stage, mum piled on top of puppies.
Stonefly has been quite tired today, no afternoon walk and more time sleeping. The pups have had two modes: frantic drinking and then very deep sleeping. They are getting huge and we are very excited about weighing them tomorrow to see how much they have grown.

Stonefly is getting less anxious about the other dogs being near the whelping area and we are slowly allowing them to peer into the box if she permits it. It is mainly Roxy - she is far more interested than the other dogs, which we put down to the fact she has been a mum herself. It will be fascinating to see how she reacts to them as they get older and Stonefly less protective!!

We are willing eyes to start opening! We are getting there, as the photos show, with very definite slits that show just a slither of a dark line. Once those slits get larger, it takes a while for them to actually be able to see, and even then, it isn't till they are four weeks old that their sight is actually as good as an adult dog.
Stonefly is taking longer breaks from the pups now. As I type this, she is lying outside the whelping box whilst the pups sleep. She has also had more time in the garden today, although due to the dire weather we have not let her into the fields to get covered in mud - not sure the pups would appreciate this!

And today of course was the week-one weigh in. Pups can double their weight in the first week. This lot have managed between 1.4 and 1.6 times their birth weight. We are okay with this - all look in great condition, the weight gains are very uniform across them all, and between the boys and the girls. It also seems they were above the average birth weight which according to one source is around 8oz (ours were between 12 and 16)!!

Some of the leg muscles in these pups are getting so strong. When we pick them up, we can feel their legs really pushing against our hands. Watching them in the whelping box, we are seeing more and more bodies being raised off the ground as legs heave those bellies towards mum and her teats. It is extraordinary to think that a mere weak ago, everything about these pups was floppy, just skin around a skeleton.

Stonefly came on the longer walk today and then in keeping with her pups slept a long and deep sleep in the afternoon. The positions of the pups as they sleep get ever cuter and more hilarious as the photos show.

No eyes are yet open, the slits are getting ever more obvious though.

Finally, Stonefly is becoming more accepting of the other dogs's interest in her pups - we are now at the stage where Roxy is putting her head into the box and having a good look! Funnily enough, we have very similar photos from when Roxy's pups were eight days old and Stonefly stuck her head inside!!

We are soo close to eyes opening, there has been a lot of flickering underneath those lids and even the odd glimpse of something more than just a slit, but we are not quite there yet... it is going to be so sweet when we see those blue eyes for the first time.

Well, eyes may not be quite open, but every day, the pups get speedier. A combination of leg muscles and better coordination mean that when they want to move, either to find mum's teats or to snuggle up to their siblings, they really are quite fast now. It makes for huge fun and games when we go in to straighten the beds or do a clean. As fast as we move one pup, another moves into its place. And this state of affairs is only going to get worse of course - ha ha!!

The last photo is interesting - with full permission, Roxy actually got into the whelping box this evening, lay down and began to nuzzle the puppies. Stonefly was totally unconcerned about this which was great, but we actually got Roxy to move, as at this stage it not a good idea for the pups to get confused by having a 'second mum'. We have no doubt that they would try to suckle and that Roxy would almost definitely produce milk - she had a phantom pregnancy after her last season - and whilst this would be useful if Stonefly didn't have enough milk and was losing interest, neither of those are occurring. As I type this, Stonefly is outside the box with a chew, whilst Roxy sits and watches the pups at the entrance!! Very very sweet!!

We caught the odd glimpse of black today as those eye lids began to 'unstick'.... sooo sooo close.

Stonefly was tired this morning and at the end of the day, obviously a little sore at her back end too, we think we will pop her to the vets for a quick check tomorrow. She is still feeding the pups well and eating over twice her usual rations topped up with such delights as raw tripe, cooked turkey (our own) and scrambled egg - a definite favourite!!

The pups continue to get ever stronger on those legs and are now very nippy round the box and when climbing over each other - the 'bum' fights for those teats get ever more unruly and hilarious!!! And then they just fall asleep in situ as 'heart-shaped' boy here (see his flash) is demonstrating so beautifully!

And at last.... we have our first glimpse of opening eyes and the blue of those pupils: check out the first photo!!! We were so excited when we saw this.
Today also saw our first new puppy owner visit where the first born boy was chosen and named! This lucky fella is going to live in South Devon with a very experienced setter-owning family. We couldn't be more delighted!!!

Stonefly passed her vet check with flying colours. The vet declared her to be in tip top condition, with everything looking normal and as to be expected. She needed a bit of an anal gland squeeze which will hopefully make her more comfortable now and with any luck, the next vet trip will be in less than six weeks when we take the pups for their health check and micro-chipping!!!

And it seems that heart-shaped boy has already decided his most comfortable position is on his back with his legs in the air - today's photos seem very similar to yesterday's (LOL) - but my word, he looks cute!!

We do love how Stonefly lies with her nose/ head on the pups (see the last photo) - such a wonderful bond and such trust on both sides...

Taking photos has been hard today - these pups are just getting way too fast!!! They also seem to be growing at a huge pace, we cannot wait to see how weights are doing in a couple of days when they have their two-week weigh-in.

Eyes are getting more and more open although we must admit, they don't looking their cutest with them half open like this, more a tad drunk, bless them. But we are loving the glimpses of blue coming through and also starting to see that they are now responding to light - such as the camera flash (which we are aware we need to be quite careful about..)

Muscle strength gets even greater, a lot of the pups are now really pushing down on their legs and raising themselves up. They don't officially starting walking for another week or so, but we think some will get there a bit quicker the way they are going.

We have more new owner visits at the weekend - very exciting!!!

As eyes open more and more and the pups start seeing for the first time, we are starting to witness little exploratory wanders round the whelping box. With surprisingly strong bouts of walking, where bellies are actually raised off the ground, we are seeing pups head towards corners and then turn around and head off to the next one. And we are noticing that when Stonefly gets in and out of the box, the pups are a lot quicker at finding those teats and latching on.
In the last couple of days there has also been a lot more sleeping in just ones and twos, as opposed to a heap of ten, a sign they are less reliant on the warmth from their siblings, as well as feeling more confident on their own.

There is still a huge amount of sleeping but my goodness, at times we feel we can see them grow as they snooze.

The third and fifth pictures show all the girls and then all the boys together. As you can see, there is so little difference. Only one of the girls has a white flash and it is so small, it is easily missed. Four of the five boys have them but three are similarly small. We are not sure at what stage we will be putting collars on them but they are going to become very necessary to tell them all apart that's for sure!!

We seem to be noticing changes in the pups each day and asking ourselves when on earth they happened. Take their whiskers, today they seem so long compared to yesterday. Leg muscles too seem to developing incredibly fast and more and more we are seeing pups raise themselves up on their legs and wobbling along. When we pick them up they seem a bit more interested in smelling us and exploring our laps and clothes, snuffling and squeaking.

The main default modes are however, still drinking and sleeping, along with frantic searching when they realise mum is back in the whelping box and the milk bar is on offer once again! Stonefly is spending more and more time away from the pups, now joining us on both daily walks and also spending time outside the stables listening to the chatter of the chickens.

We had another new owner visit today and so now collars are being fitted as pups get chosen (three to date now including our 'red' girl, yet to be named).. Today's lucky girl gets to go and live in Staffordshire with a family who lost their Irish Setter girl some years ago and are now more than ready for a new one.
It is going to be great fun to see which pups manage to keep their collars on and undamaged for the next six weeks. We do have a second pack of collars on standby!!

Today was also their 2-week weigh-in and once again, weight gains have been around one point five. All the pups are now well in excess of double their birth weights, some up to two and a half times! Stonefly continues to eat at least twice her usual rations and each day we have been increasing this a little as the pups take more and more milk.
So far, so good.....

It's all go here at the Relaxed Puppy Headquarters. Tonight we had our first 'bark' - which actually isn't a bark at all but rather a loud squeak come squeal come shout that had us both in stitches, and the puppy in question in scared confusion as it really wasn't quite sure where the noise came from! All the pups are getting noisier, partly because they are bigger and because there is more to say as they adjust to being able to see and to hear - (ears began to open yesterday).
We are also getting more waddly walking, heads being held up, massive bum fights to get to the best teats (see photos) and all round total cuteness overload.

Collar number four went on today - lilac for the newly named Elsa off to West Sussex when her time comes to enjoy fabulous walks on the Downs and beyond. Lucky pup.

And we have finally decided on a name for our girl, chosen a week or so ago from the five. She has the only flash of the girls and we expect will turn out to a bit of a diva (just like Sparrow before her..). The middle picture is red collar, now called Otter, following our long established, totally barmy tradition of calling all our dogs after other animals: Rabbit, Pheasant, Newtpole, Lobster, Yeti, Buzzard, Dragonfly, Firefly, Roxy (Fox), Stonefly and Sparrow.

A day of noise: another couple of hilarious squeaky barks, along with lots of slurping, they really are getting a lot noisier when they drink. We also get snuffles, grumbles and very sweet half-asleep squeaks.
It has also been a day of expressions from grumpy to mad, from wistful to sleepy!! Individual characters really are going to start to develop now.

The walking and sitting up are both remarkable - impossible to photograph but fabulous to see. And if we sit in the whelping box (which we do frequently), we are now starting to be climbed on and nothing is quite so cute as a 2-week old puppy climbing into your lap and then falling asleep!! All say 'ahhh'!!!

Puppy owner number five came down today from Bristol and so now we have a turquoise collar boy, yet to be named, and with an older setter brother very much looking forward to teaching him how to behave - or not!! LOL

It seems that every time we spend time with the pups, we see something new- it really is a question of 'blink and you miss it'. Today we have seen more and more 'sits' - mega sweet, often totally inelegant with spayed legs and quite lopsided, but sits nonetheless. It reminds us of our very first ever puppy training class when the fabulous trainer had some great one-liners, often in response to questions from us, the uneducated puppy owners. In answer to the question (not from us we hasten to add), how do you get a dog to sit, she pulled her best 'withering look' and said: 'You don't teach a dog to sit, a dog KNOWS how to sit, it can sit from when it is a mere few weeks old, what you are doing sir, is teaching the dog to sit when you want it to.' And that is the nub of puppy training classes, you don't go to get your dog trained, you go to become trained yourself!!

The noise repertoire grows, we had quite a fabulous high pitched scream today from one, along with a few more squeaky barks, some low grumbly growls and even what sounded like a 'woo woo'.

Stonefly is doing a lot of feeding and bellies have looked very rotund. We have a funny feeling that weight increase ratios might be larger this week.
We are also starting to get wees and the odd poo not being cleaned up by 'mum'. The pups don't now always need her to stimulate their movements and whilst when with them, Stonefly keeps them really clean, when she is away, the odd 'accident' happens. Very soon, it will be more than the odd one mind you and then Stonefly will be more than happy to totally hand over toilet duties to us!! Joy!!!

Puppy owners number six came to visit today from just outside Bristol and chose their boy. He is now named Henry and is set to be a much loved dog for these first time setter owners. Their house in the country was bought and has been adapted, totally in anticipation of them becoming dog owners. Just amazing!!

Suddenly the pups are starting to look like 'dogs' - albeit very small, wobbly ones!! That probably sounds daft but there have been times today when we catch a look or a position, and there is a little dog looking back at us. It's making us fall in love with them even more (which isn't really possible of course).

We are also starting to see the beginnings of interaction - they aren't playing but they are definitely beginning to mouth each other and climb over each other (and not just to get to the milk bar). They are also starting to mouth the bedding and our clothes and fingers when we handle them or sit with them. There aren't any teeth yet, so we are making the most of the feel of soft gums.

The walking gets ever stronger as does the falling over bless them, and they are also learning that they are not quite coordinated enough to scratch whilst standing up!!!

Oh my goodness we could stand and watch them for hours - oh wait... we probably do!!

Oh and we haven't mentioned worming - puppies need to be wormed at 2, 5 and 8 weeks - we use panacur, same as we used for mum. They don't like it one little bit; as much goes on legs, heads, bedding and us as goes in mouths - but we get there in the end. And of course, no teeth makes it a non-painful experience for the humans!!! At 5 weeks, they will definitley get their own back on us!!!

Today has been a day of NOT getting the camera to capture the right shots at the right time... at one point all ten pups were sitting up. Where was the camera? - in the other room. I also missed a hilarious bundle when the pups were about three deep and at least two on their backs. I did manage to get some funny faces mind you, made all the funnier by the fact they were covered in worming solution!!
And talking of worming, so much for the gentle teeth-free gums. Pink collar we discovered has her teeth coming through - and yes, they were quite sharp!!!

The interaction was more today, hence the mention of 'bundling' - there was some quite full on neck grabbing at one point - but rest assured, no puppies were harmed in the making of this story!!

We also had our sixth puppy owner visit and the wonderfully named Biscuit is now set to head west to Cornwall where he will spend his days on the beach and being loved by a wonderful extended family.

Stonefly continues to be a contender for mum of the year and we are really proud of our other dogs too - more and more we are finding we can leave the door to the whelping room open so everyone can go in and out as they want. Roxy and Sparrow continue to be fascinated and entranced by the puppies but they really do know their place. The fact the pups are smelling, seeing and hearing dogs other then their mum is great and, we feel, another important part of their socialisation.

Whilst drinking and sleeping continue to be the main pastimes for the pups, when they have been awake, we have had some serious walking around today. We brought some of them out of the whelping box to strut their stuff on the mats outside where they were only too keen to show us what they could do. There are times when their heads seem a bit too heavy for their bodies mind you and in most cases, the act of walking also seems to require the pulling of a 'very cross face'! One shouldn't laugh but....

It is interesting to note that whilst the pups are getting a lot of handling, any true 'interaction' with us, their humans, is just not there yet. We don't really feature as something they need or even want. Mum (Stonefly) is still the centre of the universe. They may snuggle into us when handled, simply because they are tired but the beginnings of that fabulous human/canine bond has not yet started. Having said that, we are entirely sure that all this early handling by both us and visitors, including their owners-to-be, is setting the scene for massively positive relationships later on - and of course from our point of view, cuddling 2/3 week old puppies is just ever so slightly gorgeous (we don't really have friends lining up to have their turn...)
It isn't really till 5/6 weeks that they will start to bond with us - at the moment they need to learn how to be a dog of course, which is why in the photos you can see them responding when Sparrow and Roxy come up to the bars. Very sweet!!
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Oh my goodness!!! Today was day one of solid feeding and in between the laughter (us, not them), we were pretty gobsmacked by how quickly they got the hang of what to do and by how much they ate. Henry (green collar) led the way, closely followed by pink collar, whilst black collar Kevin was a bit of a slow starter but then didn't seem to pause for breath. They licked and nibbled, they paddled and slipped, they got stuck in the bowls, they climbed all over each other, they wandered off, they came back. And then, when it was all over, all ten collapsed in a huge, bellied-filled heap just back inside their whelping box. Ten seconds later the snoring began!!!
Stonefly was allowed in after the pups had all had their fill and as Roxy before her, did the most incredible clean up job - all we had to do was wash the bowls and throw away the soggy paper.

Prior to feeding we had set up the indoor run as both somewhere to eat and of course somewhere, ultimately, to play - at the moment the pups seem so small in there and the space so vast - this will change - and change very quickly. Please also note the nice clean state of the run, aside that is from the muddy footprints, made about two and a half seconds after we finished laying down the sheets when Sparrow chose to walk straight across the middle. We weren't cross at all!!

Talking of their size, today was also the 3-week weight in , and although we thought the weight gains ratios might be larger, they were in fact slightly smaller (1.4 times as opposed to last week's 1.5) but once again, weight gain has been incredibly consistent across all ten and they really are all looking great.

Teeth are through on all of them now and they are responding so much more to sights and sounds. Today they had the pleasure of meeting some of our cats up close and personal as they (the cats) prowled the run perimeter. Stonefly was very clear though - you 'don't' come in.

Getting the pups on solids is a bit of a game changer now, no longer will they be in their whelping box 24/7 and we should start to see a bit of a decrease in demand for milk. Stonefly already is not offering it as much in the mornings.

And so we enter Week Four - it is scary how quickly the time is going - we are loving these pups so much and are so so proud of Stonefly and of all our dogs - it feels a very happy and calm household just now!!! (Hope I won't have to eat my words...)

Feeding the pups today has been more of a case of 'who gets there first?' - us or Stonefly - rather than any precise 'every four hours, on the hour' approach!!! And of course mum's milk is still the flavour of choice. Our timing was so off at one point we had to wake the pups up, only for them to simply come out to wee and poo and have a quick wander, before then discovering mum wasn't around and so going back to the whelping box for a kip. Hilarious!!!
The 'who gets there first? scenario can also be applied to 'toilet duty' and once again Stonefly is winning hands down. Unsurprisingly, we have ZERO problem with this!!!

The wandering around has been amazing - even compared to the start of the day, their walking and balance seemed to come on leaps and bounds by this evening. Some of them have been really strutting around and powering through with those back leg muscles - all in a delightfully wobbly, totally uncoordinated way of course. There has also been more interaction between them all: more mouthing of heads and ears and backs, more climbing over each other and sniffing the same places. Seeing them starting to discover each other like this is both fascinating and heart-warming in equal measures.

The other dogs have been around the pups more too as we have allowed them in the run when we are there. We are being totally led by Stonefly in this approach and are delighted with how accepting and laid back she is. The older dogs, as expected, are being so gentle. We are very excited about when the pups are older and able to play more as we think Sparrow in particular, will prove a fabulous older playmate. Fingers crossed for some warm, dry days in the garden!!

We got our feeding coordination more sorted today!! The pups had three really great solid feed sessions as well as their usual milk bar drinks. AND the mess was way less than yesterday with far less walking in the feed bowl (unless you are called Biscuit that is) and far less climbing over each other (unless you are called Henry)!!! And with open access to the whelping box, it was seriously sweet when having finished eating and after a little wander, all ten then headed back to collapse in a heap just inside the doorway!!!

Wees and poos are on the up!!! No surprises there BUT again, now they have access to the run, a lot of toileting seems to be taking place in the run and not where they sleep in the box!! Clever pups indeed. Stonefly is still cleaning up but as she spends less time with them, she isn't now always getting there first! Fair play - she has done a grand job so far and we knew our time would come!!!

We have also watched with interest how much better the pups stand when eating. Yesterday, we had a fair amount of splayed legs and bellies touching the ground. Today we have had some fabulous upright stands!!

Tomorrow we have decided we will start to put in some scrunched up paper for them to chew and bite - we noticed one or two today tugging at the blue paper we put down for them to eat on so think they may enjoy a few paper balls to play with instead.

Our time with them grows - it is very very hard to pull ourselves away at times!!

A day of increasing activity: loads more interaction between the pups, a LOT more weeing - and my goodness, in huge amounts - and some very, very sweet exploring of their run where a confident striding forth into the unknown, suddenly becomes a rapid backing up and falling over their own feet, as the corner they were marching towards reveals itself to be a very scary place! Muuuummmm!!!!!

And, something we noticed yesterday but has been happening a lot more today, are the waggy tails - oh my word, talk about cute and severn quarters!! How wonderful to be seeing such expressions of happiness in such young animals.

Stonefly is with the pups less now - she is still feeding them several times a day and she often pops in just to give them a quick check and clean, but otherwise she is with the other dogs or lying down at the other side of the room to the whelping box. We are not sure what she does at night, she is shut in the room with them but has the choice of two settees, three dogs beds and a lot of floor - we expect she doesn't sleep with the pups much at all now, although we have to say the whelping box and run are always very clean in the mornings!

Feeding continues to go well. We are still soaking their biscuits to get them nice and soft but for their evening meal today, we didn't mash them in the food processor so they were infact still whole: very soft but whole. As first it looked like the pups were just pushing them around the bowl or trying to lick them but then it seemed they suddenly realised they had to grab them with their teeth and chew a bit. After that, the bowls emptied very quickly and unlike yesterday, poor Stonefly then had very little 'clearing up' to do!!

Their 'play' sessions are very short and sweet - no more than 10-15 minutes and then weary bodies head back to the whelping box to collapse in a warm, sibling-filled heap. It's not a bad life being a pup!!!

Today, everything has been a case of 'more than yesterday..': more eating (we had totally clean bowls at lunchtime); more weeing and poo-ing - a lot more LOL - (though Stonefly bless her still beats us to it sometimes on the cleaning front); more playing; more snoring, grumbling and groaning when asleep; and definitley more exploring - including our trousers, shoes, scrunched up bits of paper, their bedding, the mesh panals, the towels in their run... these pups are, pure and simple, providing us with hours and hours of fun!!!

Today the pups have been really packing it away - any worries about them not wanting to eat their solid food cos they are too full of milk, were quickly quashed by totally clean bowls at both breakfast and lunch!! Bellies today have been fit to bursting it has to be said!!!
Stonefly is also starting to do a lot more standing-up feeds. There is a school of thought that it is more comfortable for the bitch this way - we cannot say it looks at all comfortable for either her or the pups. Another thought, and one we rather like, is that standing up provides more of a challenge for the pups, making them work a bit harder and this is what helps promote independence later on!! Of course, feeding standing up also means it is quicker for Stonefly to make a 'quick' getaway - an important factor when it comes to weaning!!

There is a whole range of information and advice, much of it conflicting, about when and how to wean! With Roxy, our Gordon Setter, we let her decide and she did a grand job. We were mindful of her weight and the state of her teats with those nails and teeth, but essentially as she fed less and less, we reduced her food and between the two of us, we got things right! Part of this as well was feeding the pups their maximum in solid feed so they didn't need or want as much milk, although we do reacall Sparrow, at 8 weeks, and when all her siblings had gone, still trying to grab the odd mouthful.

At the moment we are still at the stage where the pups are having as much milk as Stonefly is happy to give as well as 3-4 meals a day of soaked biscuits. It will be interesting to see what their weights have done this week.

Feeding time today has been a dream: four meals, with almost clean bowls at the end of them all. In one of the pictures, you will see Henry doing his level best to finish every last morsel, whilst the rest, defeated, are crashed out in the background!! Priceless.
It is amazing how we are already establishing routines. At meal times, paper gets rolled out in the run, we gently bang the bowls together to signal 'feed time' and with a rallying cry, all the pups spill out of the box and after a quick wee (on the paper), they start to eat. After the meal we get a few poos; several rounds of mouthing, biffing with paws and playing with the scrunched up paper; and then all ten head back to the box for a kip.

Stonefly hasn't fed the pups as much today and for the first time we have seen some of them sup at the water bowl. They are all looking very well fed we have to say - as the photo of the large bottoms shows!!!

And this time four weeks ago, little Jack had been born, and we were wondering when number two was going to make an appearance. They have come a long way since then.

Today we started adding tripe to the puppies' biscuits: safe to say, it went down a treat, the licking out of the bowls in fact went on a lot longer than usual and Stonefly was, once again, left disappointed!! Her 'clearing up ' duties are required less and less as the pups start clearing the bowls more and more.

We haven't seen her feeding them lying down at all today and as her 'standing up' feeds tend to be short and sweet, it is safe to assume the pups are getting less milk. Stonefly herself is looking a tad tired and this afternoon was treated to a gentle massage from David where he ironed out a few stiff muscles in her neck. We treat all our dogs to massages and gentle fascia manipulation as and when they need it. Just as with humans, both help to relieve stress and tension. For the dogs, it can also work wonders as a calming technique (not that we are thinking of Roxy at all...).

Play sessions get longer and longer with the pups and sleep times shorter, although sleep is still a huge part of their day, along with the accompanying sleepy grumbles and squeaks and moans. They are a noisy bunch when they sleep, but still rather quiet when they play - whether this will change remains to be seen.

Oh and weight increases this week have been a fabulous 1.7 times compared to last week: their combined birth weight was 4kg, all ten of them now weigh over 20kg. Little porkers.

We added hanging rope with cardboard tubing to the run today. It proved a hit with our Gordon litter two years ago and it looks as though the Irish pups will enjoy it just as much. It's great for chewing, biffing and climbing over and under. Hours of fun are promised, for them and us!!

Coordination and agility get ever better: we are getting a lot more straight-back sitting, non-wobbly walking and some very clever climbing up on laps. We are also definitely now entering the 'ankle stage' where every time anyone enters the run and the pups are awake, they flock round the ankles and nibble, paw, climb over, tickle... we'd like to think it is because they want picking up and giving cuddles, but in reality, they hope we have their feed bowls or, even better, that we are in fact mum with her milk bar!!!
It's still sweet that they do it though!!

Stonefly lay down with Jack in the whelping box today and let the puppies have a feed, it's the first non-standing feed we have seen her give for 48 hours. She is such a good mum. She seems to be getting each stage totally right. We gave her a bit more of a massage this afternoon which she really seems to appreciate.

Finally, Jack was a tad worried today that she had had a bit of senior moment. It's a long story. A while ago, one set of owners who have yet to visit and yet to choose their girl, texted to say that when they did choose, their girl was to be named Bonnie. A gorgeous name! Yesterday, in preparation for a zoom meeting with the owners of the final girl (who aren't visiting as they live way up north), Jack messaged to ask if 'they' had a name yet. 'Bonnie' came the reply!!!! There then followed a lot of head scratching, looking back through emails and texts and slight panic about the state of her brain, as the only conclusion to this set of events was that Jack had got the owners totally mixed up - the chances of two owners out of five choosing the same name were, after all, highly improbable!!! Ha!! Nope!! Jack's brain is in tact (well, in tact-ish) and yes, we do have two Bonnies in the litter. How extraordinary!! But what a gorgeous name.
And so, from the top (in other words, in no order at all), we have: Biscuit, Henry, Kevin, Charm and Jack; Bonnie, Bonnie, Otter, Elsa and Ruby!!! We call them all by their names all the time now, so with any luck when they leave us for their new homes, they will be totally clued in, have instant recall and sit beautifully to attention whenever they hear them. Ha!!!! Maybe!!!

Today's news alert is that it no longer takes just one piece of loo roll to pick up a puppy poo; now we need at least two, if not three, or in certain cases, an entire paper towel, 4 ply no less!! All of which is a good sign that they are packing it away and that digestive systems are in full working order. Thus is the glamour of raising a litter of puppies!
They are now eating far more solid food than drinking milk, Stonefly is definitely giving them less, this is all fine and we are now very aware that we need to carry on her good work and keep these pups healthy and growing.

What is seriously sweet is how the pups have now learnt that when we roll out the blue paper, that means the feed bowls are about to appear/What then follows is a hilarious race where we try to get the paper down and the bowls in place, before 40 sets of feet make it totally impossible. We usually have at least one pup that wants to do a wee right where you are about to lay the paper, another that rolls over on his/her back just where you want to place a bowl, and at least two that decide to have a bit of a bum fight to get to the best seat (wherever that is). The rest, naturally, are gathered round ankles making any kind of step or turn, hazardous at best and treacherous at worst. We are sure you get the picture!!!

We are slightly longing for good weather so we can perhaps do some of the feeds outside in their now 'almost complete' run. The photo shows the wooden frame in place: tomorrow we will lay down a huge waterproof sheet and then fill the whole run with straw. A second sheet will them be on hand to cover the whole thing each night and when it rains. The hope is they can have a few minutes play in here each day, giving them more space to explore and a chance to see/hear more outside sights and sounds. If they can have their breakfast feed in here, it will also make the inside morning cleaning out session easier too.

Being outside will also provide a few better photo opportunities as well we hope.

We did a bit of re-arranging in the run today. The area that we had set up as their play area has, over the last few days, become more and more a place the pups head to poo. Looking at it logically, it is the furthest part of the run from their whelping box, which is predominantly where they sleep, and as such, the pups are spot on with using it as a loo. This morning we moved the play area and put down loads of paper in the 'loo area' and, give or take the odd few, this is where a good 80% of the poos now take place. That's kind of remarkable isn't it? We all know that dogs don't like to soil the areas where they sleep and these young pups are already starting to sort this out! IF this was the summer, we would be encouraging them to go outside of course, hence having their run by the door and setting up the outside run - we may be able to make this work in their last couple of weeks or so when they are bigger and the temperature warmer, but we shall see if the weather gods are kind to us on that front.

In other news, we are seeing a lot more sleeping apart now, as opposed to the heaps. We still get the later but at times, all ten are spread out all over the run as they catch another forty winks. We also get the sleepy graons, and twitches, and little whimpers. So much happens when they sleep, so much growing, physically and mentally - they are developing at a quite extraordinary fast rate!

The pups thoroughly enjoy their loo rolls on rope. We do however pull them up out of reach every evening, just in case!! As they get more adventurous, we are ever mindful of the scrapes they can get in and so each night, the run is left as safe as possible!!! We will add more bits and pieces over the next few days for them to play with and chew. They really are exploring with their mouths more and more and already we are mindful about not allowing their to chew us too much. Old socks tied up in knots are great to put in their mouths instead of fingers and then later, they are great for playing tug-of-war with (the socks, not the fingers.

We'd like to say, they have been as good today as they were yesterday, about where they toilet - alas we cannot!! A bit too many poos NOT in their 'loo' area this afternoon - bless!! Stonefly amazingly is still clearing up after them although we try to beat her to it as much as possible for obvious reasons.

By now the pups eyesight is as good as an adult dog and today we have seen them looking up as the cats saunter past on the top of their run, and they also are far more aware of the other dogs too, looking out at them, or in Sparrow's case, looking at her as she wanders round their run seeing if there is a spare loo roll or two she can steal!!
By the end of the week, their hearing will be as good as the adult dogs too. They are very tuned in to the rattle of the feed bowls already. Funny that!!!

Playtimes today have been longer than usual and also noisier and more boisterous. We really are starting to see individual characters starting to come out now and it's utterly fascinating. We had an interesting chat today with a fellow dog keeper about dog characters and how much is down to the genetics of the parents as opposed to the way the pups are brought up. Our 'lay' point of view is that the way owners are with their dogs and how they train them has a huge influence on how that dog then behaves as s/he grows up. Genetics and breed obviously play their roles but at the end of the day, most pups are playful, sociable and enjoy the company of other dogs and people!! It is, we believe, up to us humans to make sure we capitalise on this as we raise them.
It is after all, why the 'Relaxed' dogs are very happy but 'not quite' perfectly behaved!! LOL!!!

Sparrow has been such a star with the pups today, she has been in the run possibly more than Stonefly and this afternoon we watched in delight as she and Elsa had a really gorgeous playtime together. Elsa was climbing on her back, tugging at her ears and Sparrow took it all in her stride. She slightly objected when Elsa started to root around her under-carriage mind you!! Sparrow is going to be a great role model for the litter and hopefully teach them a few boundaries as they get older - all good for those pups who are going to homes where there are already exisiting dogs!!

We are nearly at the end of week five - we are become horribley aware of just how much we are going to miss them all when they go....
Oh, and a PS - toileting has been much better today, lots more direct hits on the paper!! Well done pups!!!

We have been awarding prizes today: Biscuit wins the prize for the most times of losing his collar, namely THREE. Elsa is a close second on two! And Otter wins the prize for always been in the thick of all the rough and tumbles - preparing for life living with six older dogs no doubt!

Playtimes are getting noisier with some quite 'full on' growling at times - puppy growling that is, which usually makes us laugh out loud as the pup concerned tries to act all big and ferocious before rolling over on his/her back, waving their legs in the air, or becoming totally distracted by something else entirely and so simply wandering off, leaving their sparring partner dazed and bemused!!

We are also starting to get the puppy bounces- sometimes they bounce towards another pup, sometimes they bounce simply in their own space. And then there are the mini runs across the floor or the turning around in circles and the climbing over the cardboard boxes. They also love to crawl through all the scrunched up paper or biff the loo rolls on the ropes...
And then suddenly there is quiet, as one by one, they all start to collapse in their corners and heaps and fall fast asleep.
It's a hard life being a puppy.

Five weeks old: can you believe it? This afternoon we looked at the pups and thought just how grown up they now are. We see perfect stands and sits with straight backs and legs, muzzles are now getting more elongated and less 'squashed' and walking is coordinated and strong. We have even seen our personal favourite: the classic lying down with legs crossed: mega cute!!

We are also starting to see evidence of 'learnt' behaviour. When we lay out the blue paper, the pups have now learnt this means food is on the way and most now will leap up and excitedly rush over. Another brilliant example is how they have learnt to duck 'under' the rope to get to the other side, rather than get caught in it and repeatedly try to keep moving forward!

How extraordinary that a mere 35 days ago they were deaf, blind and only able to shuffle on their bellies..
And in today's prize giving, we are delighted to award Ruby with the top prize for the loudest scream when being wormed and Charm for the most revisits to the food bowl, just to have 'one' last mouthful of biscuits before deciding he had had his fill!!!


And in other news, the whelping box is now slowly being abandoned as a sleeping area in place of the space just by the gate to the run. Roxy's litter similarly abandoned their box. We wonder why? They can all fit in there still but maybe they get too warm? Or they just like to be more spread out perhaps. One or two can often be found by the doors to the outside!
As the photos below show however, if nine choose to avoid the box, it means one gets it all to himself - well done Kevin!!!

Play fighting is definitely getting dirtier - the pups have now progressed to the stage where a quick sneaky grab of the back leg when their partner isn't looking, is seen as 'fair play'!! LOL We also see bottom nipping and pinning to the ground when a pup is on its back. Oh and that puppy growl is soooo scary! NOT!!!
They are actually a lot quieter when they play than we remember the Gordon puppies at this stage!! It could of course be the lull before the storm!!!

We also realised today how their toilet habits worsen as the day progresses - up till tea time is, most wees and poos are on the paper - in the evenings though, suddenly all good habits are forgotten!! We even had a poo in the whelping box today!! Safe to say we had words!!

Oh and yesterday, we forgot another first: that of the Irish Setter 'sideways look' - those of you who have had the breed before will know the one: the slightly haughty, slightly withering sideways glance that puts you, the human, firmly in your place! Stonefly doesn't give them that often. Firefly, our eldest boy, he gives them a lot. Well, yesterday Jack had one from Otter - five weeks old and already telling me I was doing something wrong (in this case holding her up in the air (we were about to worm her) which she obviously didn't approve of....).
There's trouble ahead!!!

All of them, needless to say, are still scrumptious and we are getting our cuddles in when we can. Three weeks today and half of them will be in their new homes.

There are times when we catch a pup just sitting or standing and they look so perfect: perfect little dogs. Their faces are so full of expectation and curiosity - they have so much to learn and to enjoy. They are also scarily vulnerable and it feels a big responsibility to have brought them into the world. It is starting to feel very close to them leaving us for their new homes and the thought makes us both excited and sad!!! There really are with us for such a short time.

But back to today which has been full of a lot of noisy play (having said yesterday how quiet they are). We are intrigued to see how all the pups have times when they are in the 'thick of it' and then at other times, they are off on their own, finding amusement in a piece of scrunched up paper or a loo roll or the corner of the vet bed. Sometimes, their amusement comes simply by bouncing around and discovering they can leap and turn at the same time or leap forwards - or backwards. We laugh out loud when one picks up a piece of paper and proudly saunters off with it in their mouths - they look so proud!

Stonefly spends very little time with the pups now although she continues to check them frequently - this often takes the form of a head over the gate and some motherly licking. She still likes to clean up after them at times although we discourage this now where we can, mainly because when she does come in the run, there is such a frantic scrambling for her under-carriage and as she then wanders around with pups hanging and following, the run usually ends up totally trashed!! It also is perhaps not so great for her digestive system now,

Bonnie orange has joined the 'collar' club - she was found with her collar in her mouth this morning!!! She is now sporting a brand new shiny one which we hope she manages to keep for the next couple of weeks!! We are taking bets as to who will be next - Otter is top of the list!!

A day of manic play and then total silence.... they certainly know how to party hard these pups, before then crashing out to hopefully recover for the next rave. They are mouthing and chewing more and more - paper and cardboard are still the favourite items. We have a hard rubber ring hanging up but at the moment they are largely ignoring it. The best activity by far though is lying on their backs and whacking the loo rolls on the ropes with their legs, before leaping up to grab an edge of the roll and then sending the whole lot swinging back and forth and either knocking themselves over or, better still, one of their siblings!!! Seriously, who needs a telly?

Getting in and out of the run for us humans is now quite an art form: if the ankle grabbers don't get you, the back of the heel chewers will, and then there is the small matter of trying very hard not to step on any toes or, god forbid, the pile of poo you have just gone in to quickly wipe up before any of their size nines get their first!!!

As we type this, the noises from the run are hilarious. Henry astounded us with the volume of his snoring after supper today and now we are being regaled with 'very scary growls' from the two Bonnies, closely followed by the odd whimper as one of them bites a bit too hard.

Otter is still hanging on to her collar and Ruby wins today's prize for the fastest run across the entire length of the run!! Such a happy pup.

Never a dull moment!!

Oh, and the last photo: that ladies and gentlemen is 'Jack in a box'!!!

Oh my word: we have had such fun today as we finally got the pups in the run. We've been holding off as we have had a lot of wind and damp this last week but things are little quieter now and of course the pups are older and stronger too.
So, we opened up the door this morning, rattled their feed bowls and out they came. Bonnie Orange led the way and it took the rest all of two and a half seconds to follow. Breakfast was consumed in less than a minute, wees and poos followed and then the explorations began.
Straw has to be one of the best playthings there is: all our animals have loved it over the years, from the chickens to the cows and the pups are no exception. It's clean, safe and soft and so great for rolling in, chewing, running through, scrapping over, leaping into. Every single pup just had a ball, and needless to say, once back inside, they were all totally pooped!!

We repeated the experience for each mealtime today, including the last feed at 8.30pm where despite it being dark and colder, the pups were still happy to be out. We put on the outside light, wrapped up warm (us, not the pups) and out we all went.

All this outside time has not only tired them out, it has also helped to keep their inside run a whole lot cleaner as the majority of toileting has been on the straw. We gave masses of praise each time a pup wee-ed or poo-ed outside and we very much hope that this will hold them all in good stead when it comes to toilet training them in their new homes. We had this exact routine for our Gordon litter in 2020 and we can honestly say that Sparrow, the pup we kept from then, soiled in the house no more than half a dozen times before becoming totally house-trained!! (and all the accidents were our fault anyway as we mistimed her needs).

Being outside also meant the pups started to hear different sounds. We don't get a lot of traffic past our house aside from tractors so they get very used to those, Cars didn't seem to phase them at all. They did all jump when a motor cycle went by but hopefully next time they won't.

As we type this, we can see ten very, very tired pups in the inside run - we look forward to repeating it all tomorrow.

The weather today wasn't as kind as yesterday so the pups haven't, as the photos show, had as much time outside. We had the promise of a bit of sunshine this morning but it vanished as quickly as it came to be replaced by drizzle, and then a bit more drizzle, and then rain! To be fair, the pups quite enjoyed a romp in the slightly damp straw this afternoon, but when Bonnie Yellow started scrabbling at the door to go back in and making a slightly pathetic whining sound, it was a bit of a call to arms as they rest rushed over and decided to join in. We then had huge fun trying to get them to understand that in order to open the door they all had to move backwards and then walk round to the open doorway! Such fun!!

In between meals, the pups have slept a lot today, until this evening that is when they all decided to pretty much trash their 'up-till-now' clean and tidy pen. Trashing it took the form of moving much of the paper to the whelping box, dragging their cardboard boxes into the middle where there was a fresh wee and pulling up the towels that in the absence of using their whelping area, now serve as their beds. Oh how we stood back and laughed - 'it's your bed, now you can lie on it' we said, knowing full well that before 'we' head to bed, we would of course tidy it all up and make sure things as are tidy, neat and clean as possible!! Yes, they do have us wrapped around their little fingers (toes).

They are packing the food away at the moment - we feed them four times a day and they are romping through a good 2kg of food between them. Once again it will be fun to see their weight gain on Friday at their weekly check.
We are getting them more and more used to our voices and responding to what we say: they are already clued into the 'puppies come' which we use to get them in and out of their inside run. If we have the feed bowls in hand, it's a dead cert we get followed! Funny that one!!!
Last night we also began the 'last wee wees' call: the 10.30pm shout when we open the door and call them all outside for last wees (and poos) before then getting them back inside for bedtime. We'll try it again tonight (even though it is already now a quarter to eleven)!!

The weather today has meant all meals and all post-meal playtimes have been outside - it's been cold but with a fair amount of sun and in the puppy run, it's so lovely and sheltered. In addition, as the pups run around almost the entire time they are in there, being cold just isn't an option.
It is fair to say we are getting less done each day as the pups entertain us more and more - they are sleeping less, playing more and discovering so many different ways to bounce, leap, squeak, growl. They really are a constant source of utter, utter joy

Their responsiveness to us and our voices continues to get stronger and over the last few days many of them have really begun to engage eye contact with us. There is not a lot sweeter in life than having an almost 6-week old pup looking adoringly into your eyes!!

And an extra picture for you all tonight, as taken and requested by David - you will have to scroll own to see...

Time to talk about poo!! We may have mentioned it once or twice before as it is kind of part of the package when having puppies!!! We have good news though, in fact we two lots of good news. The first is that since we have been feeding the pups in the outside run, the wees and poos inside have, as we have already mentioned, considerably lessened and today we had a grand total of just ONE poo! Yep, ten pups, and just one inside poo. All the rest have been outside. We really have a great routine going now where first thing in the mornings, last thing at night and each time they wake up or it's time for a meal, out they all go. Poos at night are still frequent and many but we forgive them those. They are only 6 weeks old after all. Wees are a lot less too so our newspaper use has really plummeted. Clever, clever pups.

The other good news, and also poo-related is that as some of you who have visited in the last couple of weeks know, we saw a bit of a deterioration in poo round about the time the pups started on solid food. We weren't unduly worried at this stage as food change usually affects the bowels, especially in young pups. When it didn't show signs of getting better though wetook the pups in for a quick check and 'poo test'. Long story short: all were declared fit and healthy but the poo came back with a positive result for campylobacter: a bacteria that gets into the gut and which is very common and easy to pick up. Whereas once such an infection would have necessitated a course of antibiotics, nowadays veterinary advice is to allow it to run its course. This is mainly due to antibiotic resistance as well as also encouraging natural immunity. Obviously, if the dogs concerned are adversely affected, treatment may be required and in young puppies, adverse affects would be a cause of great concern. We trust our vets implicitly and so we were happy to monitor and observe and hopefully see the bacteria work its way through and out the other side.
The good news is that here we are, two weeks later, with poo all back to normal, weight gains on track and ten bouncing pups all in great shape. It's great on two counts: one in that we didn't have to treat and two in that the pups were obviously in good enough shape to fight it off. Good genes, good food, fresh air, a combination of all three? Whatever the reason, we are mega proud of them and mum for their resilience.

The usual array of cute, funny, heart warming photos follows!
And just two weeks to go!!

We keep giving the pups more things to play with - today we gave them a couple of plastic dog beds in the outside run, one upside down, and Otter won the prize for the first to climb on top. The way she kept trying was incredible to watch - talk about perseverance. Both beds proved a hit as another place to run around, crawl under - as well as in, and also to hide behind, and we had a few 'king of the castle' moments usurped by a pup crouching down out of site before leaping up to startle the one on top!!!
Inside we have given them a wooden frame and filled in with scrunched up paper - it's a bit like a ball park in a way, but a paper ball versions!! Charm thoroughly enjoyed ploughing through it first whilst Bonnie Orange rushed in, grabbed a 'ball' and then rushed off out again, proudly carrying said paper ball in her mouth all the way to the whelping box - or as it is now known, the 'wrestling box' as it seems now to be the place of choice for post-meal rough and tumbles that all the pups like to engage in.
The weather is turning, we managed to get all four feeds outside today as usual but fear we won't be as lucky tomorrow.

The pups have had two modes today: on and off, or to put it in puppy speak: manic, noisy and delighting in trashing their run; 'or' utterly and totally out for the count where not even mum sticking her head over the gate has roused them. It's also been a hideously wet day so even though the outside run was given a tarpaulin top, time outdoors was rather limited. Still, the pups are now very used to the sound of high winds, lashing rain and flapping plastic - all in a day's work!!!
The rain eased off this evening so they did all have a good romp in the now wet straw after supper. Not surprisingly though we have had a few more indoor poos today and a lot more wees, although a good 80% at least are on the paper, the area of which we have much reduced to encourage them NOT to soil where they play and sleep. This is working pretty well during the day - the nights are a different story.... we won't dwell...

Stonefly continues to give the odd feed, usually always one first thing when we let her in with them and often after her walks too when she comes in to check they are still there and okay. We do love here 'check-ins' - they all get a look and a lick and then she will lay down just outside the run and snooze - her work done and so able to comfortably chill!!!
Her desire to clean up after them is very much there still, but most of the time, thanksfully, we beat her to it.

Roxy, our Gordon girl who had her first litter 18 months ago, appears to be getting more and more anxious about the pups - the other day they were all in the outside run and she came into the front room, saw they weren't inside and starting to get quite agitated, staring and grumbling at the door through which she could see them racing around on the straw. When they came in she stuck her head over the gate and nuzzled and checked them all, again with a low grumbling sound, almost as though she was telling them off for staying out too late!! It's intriguing behaviour and does make us slightly wonder/ worry what she may be like when they all go.

Chewing gets more and more intense for the pups, everything is fair game, be it the back of ankles (short, loud shrieks usually out paid to those!!) or cardboard boxes. We found a couple of old kongs and a huge plastic knobbly ball today - those went down a treat!!

We are treasuring every day with them as our time with them gets shorter! We keep telling ourselves how wonderful it will be to reclaim all those hours each day but the reality is of course, we are going to miss them like crazy!!