1. The Doggy Dooley – The dilemma of dog poo.  No, I am not poo-fixated, though I do seem to blog a lot about it.  This is one of those products I wish I’d invented.  This product is buried in the ground and works like a mini-septic tank.  The manufacturer provides a 6-month supply of natural bacteria/enzymes to break down the waste.  I’ve also seen DIY plans online to build your own pet waste composter.  Check out the plans here:  http://www.cityfarmer.org/petwaste.html

2. Beneficial Nematodes – A natural, ecologically safe way to battle insects in your yard without insecticides or harm to your pet.  Nematodes are a natural predator to many pests, including fleas.

3. Cedar Oil Spray – The EPA has been investigating the safety of spot-on flea treatments like Advantage, Frontline, BioSpot and others since early 2009, and issued a new statement in January stating that the agency was intensifying its scrutiny of these products.  In our search for an alternative product we discovered cedar oil spray.  Cedar has been used as a natural insect repellent for many years.  Here’s a local product produced with Northwestern Red Cedar, using only fallen or damaged trees.

4. Diatomaceous Earth – We’ve been using Food Grade DE as a natural dewormer with much success.  This is fascinating stuff that can also be used in the landscape to eliminate ants, cutworms, and many other pests.  Because it is not absorbed into the bloodstream and works in a purely biomechanical manner, we feel it is much safer for pups than chemical dewormers.  We struck out trying to find it locally, but found the best price online at More than Alive.

5. Compostable/Biodegradable Pet Waste Bags - Poo will decompose quite rapidly on its own, but wrap it in plastic and throw it in a landfill, and it may still be around 100 years later.  These bags are made from corn and can be composted or disposed of with a clean conscience.  There are several products available, some just biodegradable, others compostable.  We found the lowest price on the compostable product called BioBag at www.OnyabagsUSA.com ($4 for 50 bags).

Over the past week or so, the personalities of the puppies have really started to emerge. I’ve listed some observations of the individual puppies, but things can also change drastically this week as they enter the pack leader competition that typically happens between 5-6 weeks. The more dominant pups will begin to systematically challenge each of the other pups until they’ve developed their own social system within the litter. So for now, here’s a bit about each of the pups:

Blue (boy): Likes to explore, very curious. Loves to climb all over us. First pup to really grasp the concept of the pee pad, and I haven’t witnessed him going anywhere else but! Will likely be around Milo’s size (20-21lb or so).

Dark Green (boy): Will likely resemble Milo, though smaller. He’s our smallest male. Laid back, relaxed with us, playful with his littermates. Likes to challenge Blue boy, and they may end up battling it out for Leader of the Litter. Seems to like squeezing himself into closed in spaces.

Pink (girl): Larger of the girls. Fascinated with Milo and tries to instigate play with him. Follows Milo around when we have them out playing. Very snuggly and relaxed. Frequently sleeps stretch out on her back like our Milo, and in random places like Purple.

Yellow (boy): Agile, loves to climb. First puppy to master the climb in and out of the baby pool. Active and playful. Always one of the first to run over to me. Also likes closed in spaces.

Purple (boy): Very relaxed and affectionate. Will also likely be around Milo’s size (20-21lb or so). Also likes to sleep stretched out on his back, and seems to like sleeping in random places. He’s a chin licker.

Light Green (boy): Very loving and relaxed. Likes to climb up and fall asleep in my lap. Stares into my eyes like he’s trying to figure me out. I get the feeling he’s taking it all in and thinking deep thoughts (like his mom).

White (girl): Active and playful, but will settle down and gets cozy with us. Also likes to climb all over me. Can definitely hold her own with the boys.

Red (boy): Also very agile like Yellow. Loves to climb and is very playful and active with his litter mates, but very relaxed with us. Also one of the first to greet me.

We mixed some Honest Kitchen Embark in with their formula last night before bed, and the puppies went nuts for it. Milo and Stella also created quite a scene, obviously wondering what that wonderful aroma was. The scent is something similar to homemade soup, and even appealing to humans. I found myself wondering what it tasted like, but even though it is made with 100% human grade ingredients, I will not be trying it.

Nail clipping, pad trimming, and photos are on the agenda today. Grooming is most easily accomplished while they’re sleeping, and thankfully, all the pups seem comfortable sleeping on their backs in my lap. Although their coats are still very short, I will also begin regular brushing with them. Early exposure to regular grooming makes things much easier as they get older. Our adults actually look forward to grooming, but that might be the freeze dried salmon treats they get when they’re done!

Stay tuned for updated photos later!

We started the weaning process a couple of nights ago by introducing the pups to homemade goat’s milk formula, and have been feeding this to them for one evening meal per day. The next step is to introduce a second formula meal and add a small amount of their dehydrated raw food (Honest Kitchen) to one of the meals, which may happen tonight before bed. Weaning them gradually is best. It is easier on the puppies and lessens the risk of the mom developing mastitis. It also allows time for her milk production to adjust to the new schedule. Of course, Stella’s attitude can change suddenly when they cut teeth, and we also need to be prepared for that. Because of the size of the pups, Stella has now taken to standing up to nurse them. The litter now weighs several pounds more than she does. I’m still in awe of her, since she’s basically caring for the equivalent of two Westie litters!

We set up the pen for them in a completely new way this time, and I think it is helping with potty training. The pups’ potty area is set up in a large wire crate (Great Dane sized) with the side door off for access. To this, we attached the exercise pen so they have a “room” of sorts to relieve themselves in. With the first litter, we had hooked two pens together and designated a corner for their potty, but the pups would end up rolling around on the pee pads and making a mess. This new system has kept the pen much cleaner, and I think is better at teaching them to go in one designated place. Yellow, Blue and Light Green boys already seem to have it down pat, and the others are definitely getting there.

The puppies are so adorable now, and have really started to develop their personalities. Most have had their first set of teeth start to cut through, and all are busy chewing on each other’s noses, tails, legs, and the occasional toy. Time stands still when you play with puppies. Before I know it, I have been sitting there for an hour and a half enjoying the puppy breath and letting them crawl all over me.

Tomorrow will be the 4-1/2 week photo shoot, and hopefully the pictures will turn out better this week! I’ll do my best to get them posted tomorrow instead of Sunday.

As suspected, I learned today that taking a group shot with 8 puppies is much more difficult than with 5. The two best from the 20+ photos taken have been posted. Individual shots were also a challenge, as some of them were quite squirmy! Taking them after they’d nursed resulted in some of them being just plain sleepy.

Although the pack leader competition won’t start for another week, I would wager a bet that Dark Green boy and White girl are contenders. They’re the two smallest pups, and have had to work hard to keep up with their larger siblings. Pink girl and Purple boy are very relaxed, and Yellow, Red, Light Green, and Blue boys seem somewhere in the middle. We’ll see. Everything can change next week.

I’m still in awe of Stella nursing 8 pups without a problem. She hasn’t even shown signs of wanting to wean them yet, which is a surprise considering that Blue boy is cutting his teeth, and the rest will soon follow. Stella is now feeding a litter that weighs a couple pounds more than she does when she’s not pregnant or nursing. Her raw food intake is probably between 1.5 and 2lbs per day, plus we’ve continued to offer her kibble while we’re asleep, so she polishes off a cup or so of that overnight. Just to put things into perspective, a 20lb dog (roughly Milo’s weight) will eat approximately 1/2 lb. of raw food per day.

When the pups start weaning we’ll introduce them to homemade goat’s milk formula, but there really aren’t any signs yet that it’s needed, so we will wait. Mom’s milk is always best and if there’s not an issue with puppy weight gain, Stella’s milk production, or her willingness to continue nursing, then there isn’t a need to introduce anything else yet. It will happen soon enough.

We spent several hours setting up their large pen in the finished basement today, as they were getting close to diving over the edge of the baby pool. They seemed a little nervous at first to have such a big space, but very shortly they’ll be utilizing every bit of it. We set up their potty area, and Blue boy was the first to initiate it, with several others following suit. The pheromone pads really make a difference at this age, and they all seem drawn to that area to do their business.

We’ll miss having the pups so close to us in the office, but it’s all part of growing up. It happens so fast!

When I noticed Milo and Stella’s beard staining fading after switching to raw, I was anxious to speed up the process, and found myself researching natural ways to help it along. After reading through many pages, posts, and articles on things like peroxide, hair dye, and Angels’ Eyes (contains Tylosin, which is not approved for use in dogs), and rejecting them all, I stumbled across some information on apple cider vinegar (ACV) and decided to give it a try.

Apparently, apple cider vinegar has been used to cure and prevent ailments throughout history. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, treated patients with vinegar, and its use can be traced to the ancient cultures of China and Greece. In humans, ACV is believed to aid digestion, strengthen the heart, aid in healing skin ailments, promote a healthy immune system, speed the metabolism, and aid constipation, among other things. Some of the studies are cited on Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong website. I have successfully used it in the past as a topical remedy for my periodic dermatitis outbreaks, and never gave a thought to other potential uses.

When I re-researched it with our four-legged friends in mind, I discovered a myriad of additional uses. ACV is used by many as a natural flea repellent, coat conditioner and whitener, and digestive aid. In addition, it can be used to treat ear infections, abrasions, and hotspots. Apple Cider Vinegar also has natural antibacterial and antifungal properties. With all of that in mind, I decided to give it a try by adding a teaspoon to Milo and Stella’s water, and have been pleased with the results in just a handful of days.

Here are a few interesting links with more information:

• Apple Cider Vinegar by Alicia McWatters, Ph.D., C.N.C.
• K911 article on ACV
• Whole Dog News article

The puppies are 18 days old today, and entering a new phase.  Their eyes are most of the way open, and they’re becoming steady on their feet.  Today, little Yellow guy saw me (or some blurry shadow that resembled me) sitting next to the box and walked right over to me on surprisingly stable legs.  I picked him up and he seemed to stare at me and study my face.  Their eyesight isn’t the best yet, but they seem to know me by smell.  They’ll recognize me by sight soon enough.  This next week will see huge changes.

Blue and Purple are the biggest pups (both boys) and weighed in at 31 and 29 ounces tonight.  Most of the pups are weighing in right around 25-27 ounces, except for the smallest girl “White”.  She seems to be on her own growth chart, but is gaining steadily and hit 22 ounces today.

We continue to monitor when Stella goes in to nurse and try to carefully place the bottom and top tiers of pups on her 8 nipples.  The puppies become frantic when they realize Stella is around, so I’m sometimes pulling pups off the top to fill the bottom nipples first, otherwise they’re buried and hard to find.  It can be a bit chaotic, but if one pup doesn’t get a shot at nursing, it can be a flat day with weight gain.  Stella and I can both relax when they’re all latched on.

We haven’t had to keep the baby gate on the office (aka Stella’s room) for the last several days.  Stella seems to trust Milo more and allows him to come in and check out the puppies.  It won’t be long before he’s playing with them.  We’ve made a point of spending extra special time with Milo, kind of like the older sibling when a new baby is brought home.  Like that older sibling, he can’t wait for them to grow so they can play together.

Raw feeding is going well.  They like the Darwin’s. I think I’ve been feeding Milo too much, though – he’s gotten a tad thicker in the last few weeks.  I’m feeding Stella so frequently, and feel guilty if I don’t give Milo something.  He gets smaller portions, but it is time to reel in my mommy instinct and just feed him what he needs, not what he wants.  A big clue was the other morning when I dished Milo and Stella up some raw food and Milo ignored it.  Some raw-fed dogs will fast themselves a day here and there.  I still fed him that night, but maybe twice a day is too much for him.  We’re still learning, and I imagine it will take a little time to get our routine down.

More on Darwin’s: I was thrilled when our introductory package arrived. Included with the food was a refrigerator storage container which perfectly fits the 2lb packages. If you ordered 1lb, I imagine you’d get a smaller refrigerator container. The dogs really like the food. We called them so we could substitute/customize our first order. We don’t feed beef (one of the biggest allergens in dogs), and the default introductory package had beef. We went with chicken and duck, since Milo isn’t crazy about Turkey. In the package they included a return address label so you can ship back the insulated packaging for free, which was very nice. I need to call them and ask if I can just leave it on the front porch on the day our next delivery is scheduled. We also received a follow-up call about a week later to see how our dogs were doing on the new food. So far I’m very happy with their product and customer service.

Stella has definitely kept the whelping box cleaner this litter, and I suspect it’s because we’re feeding her raw.  With her last litter she didn’t clean up very well, and we’d have puppies walking and rolling through orange sticky excrement.  Keeping the pups and the box clean was a huge chore.  This time it is MUCH easier, even with three more puppies.  Their poo is not gooey and apparently she doesn’t mind cleaning it up.  Not a mess to be found, and except for a little bit of milk-face, the puppies are staying nice and clean.

I took a few pictures today, will take more tomorrow, and will have them posted tomorrow.

As with Stella’s first litter, we’ve been eagerly awaiting the day when the pups open their eyes.  ‘They’ say 8-10 days is usual, but Milo and Stella’s pups seem to wait until 13-14 days.  I was hoping this time it would be earlier.  The signs are there that it will be soon.  The crease between the lids is thinning, and they’ve developed eyelashes.

Yesterday they were big enough for their miniature Velcro collars, and wearing them makes it much easier to identify them at a glance and in photos.  I’ll post some new pictures later this evening.  We also trimmed 160 little nails and will continue to trim them weekly.  They’re now weighing in between 15 and 22.5 ounces.  There always seems to be a chunky one in the litter, and “Blue” boy is ours, weighing 2.5 ounces more than his next closest sibling.  The average weight at last night’s weigh-in was 18.7 ounces.  Three had already tripled their birth weights last night, and I imagine a couple more will reach that tonight.

Stella is eating like a horse, and her food consumption will continue to increase while the pups are still nursing.  Eight puppies is a challenge, as there are only eight nipples to go around.  If I’m in the office when she goes to nurse, I’ll try to systematically put 4 on the lower tier, then 4 more on the top tier, otherwise, it becomes a feeding frenzy.  The large pups will crowd out the smaller pups and sometimes empty twice their share if I don’t intervene when I have the opportunity.  She’s producing more milk but at longer intervals now, so missing out means a long wait for a pup.

Although their ears aren’t open yet, I’m amazed at the big dog sounds they’re already starting to produce when they’re dreaming.  Not sure what they could be dreaming about yet, but their legs will move like they’re already dreaming of running.

I signed us up today for home delivery from Darwin’s Natural Pet, a local Seattle company that offers regular home delivery of frozen, prepared raw meals, much like Spud.com does for groceries.  If you’re outside of the greater Seattle or Portland metropolitan areas, they also ship their meals to the lower 48.  Their prices per pound are much lower than the other brands I’ve been trying, and I love the fact that they’re local.  Their introductory offer of 10lbs for $15 is an amazing deal, and because the delivery date for Tacoma is the 4^th Friday each month (folks closer to Seattle have more frequent delivery options), they shipped out our introductory offer via FedEx Home Delivery.   The shipping for this was also FREE!  It will likely arrive tomorrow, and I can’t wait for the dogs to try it.

It does cost more to feed frozen prepared than to feed 100% kibble or 100% fresh raw food, but we’re trying to strike a balance between doing what we feel is best for our dogs, and keeping a degree of convenience to our feeding routine.  The premium, grain-free kibble we were feeding was roughly $60/month for both dogs.  They calculated that feeding 50% frozen prepared raw food will cost us about $53 every 4 weeks, and I figure we’ll spend about $30/month in fresh raw food to supplement that.  The estimated $23 extra per month is well worth it, and really only the cost of 2 lunches out per month.

I’m impressed so far with the effects of raw food on Milo and Stella.  Their beard staining is fading, gas is greatly diminished (I haven’t smelled any in days), and their teeth are starting to look like we’ve had them professionally cleaned.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about what to feed the puppies this time when they wean.  I’m considering The Honest Kitchen (Embark, which is grain-free), as it offers both the benefit of raw and ease of feeding.  Puppies need to be fed 4 times a day or so at that stage, and freeze-dried raw seems very convenient, as well as one that will easily mix with homemade formula in the early stages of weaning.  In addition, it seems like a product that new parents could easily adjust to if they continue with raw, and one that won’t be a huge transition if the new families decide to feed primarily kibble.  It’s a compromise, but one that I think will meet everyone’s needs.

I can’t believe a week has come and gone already.  Every last puppy has doubled in weight.  They’re now weighing in between 11.7 and 17.7 ounces, and resemble the biggest sausages you’ve ever seen.  Their eyes appear to be getting ready to open, as the seal between the upper and lower lids is definitely thinning.  We’ve posted three new pictures here.

They all seem to be holding their own a little better against “Big Blue”, the largest pup who enjoys pushing his siblings off the nipple.  They’re all gaining nicely now with relatively little intervention, but if it looks like one or two of them had a slow day with weight gain, I’ll pull them out and let them go to town on mom without any competition.

Our office has become “Stella’s Room” and I think she rather enjoys it.  We seem to be living in there with her these days.  The baby gate we’ve had to leap over hundreds of times a day can now come down for short periods.  Milo has learned to stay away from the wrath of Stella, but will lay just feet from the door with an expression on his face that seems to say “Can I play with them yet?”  In time, Milo.

I’m amazed how quickly Stella has bounced back this time.  We can’t really feed “at will” with raw food, so she’s getting 3 good sized raw meals a day, and is offered kibble (Taste of the Wild) overnight.  It usually goes completely untouched.  At one week, her stomach is firm and in shape, and she has a little extra “insurance” on her rib cage, which is reassuring.  She’s also full of energy, which is a huge surprise at this stage.  The one drawback so far to feeding raw, is that the dogs learned the new routine within a day or so, and are stuck by the side of my leg if they think mealtime is near.  We keep their meal portions in baggies, and I found the dogs looking at me excitedly the other day when I pulled the box of baggies out to make my daughter’s lunch.  You can spell around Westies (and we have to quite a bit), but I’m not really sure what to do in this case.  If I use Tupperware, they’ll just start going nuts for the sound of plastic lids.  I’m just glad the pups ears haven’t opened yet.