Saturday morning and we ALL slept in.

The whelping box has washable liners that can be changed out as needed.  Finley, however, keeps the area pretty clean by doing the “pottying” for the puppies.  She licks their bottom areas vigorously and that stimulates elimination (that’s pooping and peeing in plain language).  This is a courtesy she’ll provide only until they start eating solid foods (around 3 weeks).  I did see one pup stand up to poop this morning, a first that I wasn’t able to catch with the camera.

Biff and I noticed last night that their coats have already begun to change.  The darker fur is becoming evident under the “puppy white” in many of them.

I was sitting near the whelping pen for about an hour when I got home this afternoon, noticing the patterns of feeding and sleeping for Finley and her pups.  At times, especially when Finley has gone outside, they all snooze and are very quiet, totally sacked out.  They clamor for Finley immediately when she returns and get pretty noisy (in a baby puppy sort of way) as they jostle each other for position.  Then the suckling begins and that’s got its own sound and there’s a lot of movement.  Nursing is a full body experience for the puppies AND for Finley.

Finley takes a break, a well-deserved break.

Here’s a photo from last night’s weighing.

Twelve puppies is a large litter and we’ve done a little supplemental feeding so far to support what Finley is able to do.  The puppies are getting mostly Finley’s milk, but we’ve begun some bottle feeding to make sure that these growing pups get all they need.

Either Biff or I have been sleeping alongside the whelping box through the night.  Beginning tonight we’re going to be “on call” but not right next to the box.  A baby monitor will alert us if they get noisy and need help.

They’re one week old as of this evening/tomorrow morning and the growth has been incredible.  We now have to use both hands to hold them.  Weights have doubled or nearly doubled in one week.

We want to say thank you to wonderful friends, Holly, Julie and Christy for the support they’ve provided.  We’ve so appreciated their presence and puppy care through this first sleep-deprived week.

Here’s a close-up of number “Five” a little girl that was snoozy when I was looking for a good one to photograph.  The puppies eyes will open at about two weeks.  They are incredibly sweet – sometimes ferociously nursing, sometimes sleeping piled on top of each other and they settle into a snuggle with us, too.

Here are a few photos taken this afternoon.  The puppies (which we’ve cleverly named One, Two, Three, Four, etc. through Twelve) are now about 5 days old, give or take a few hours, and their lives are all about eating and sleeping.

Chev has now met his offspring and seems only slightly interested in them.  He’s been very patient with the changes in the routines around here.  Biff and I are also settling into new routines with a dozen more little lives in the house.  It’s all good!

The puppies are noisily suckling as I type this.  I captured two shots this evening that I just had to post.

We’re weighing them twice daily and they are all growing steadily.  We use a kitchen scale (under the bowl in the photo) with a large glass bowl for holding the pup.  Biff taught me tonight that the puppies calm and hold still if the bowl is lined with a warm towel.  (It’s hard to get an accurate weight on them when they’re jiggling all over.)  Works like magic!

Life with 12 puppies is BUSY!  Here are a couple of shots from today.  We’ll make sure to post photos as often as we can, at least weekly.  Finley is a remarkable mom to her dozen babies!

To our surprise, Finley’s litter was ready before her due date.  12 wonderful, all healthy, Griff puppies whelped between 3:30 on Thursday afternoon and 4 AM (yes AM) on Friday.  What a marathon!

There are 4 girls and 8 boys and they’ve already grown since whelping. (We’re weighing them twice daily).  Finley’s motherhood instincts switched right on and she only leaves them briefly to due “her business” outside.

We’ve received a great number of applications for the puppies in this litter.  We’ll be contacting folks within the next week to talk about placement.   They’ll be ready for their new families the weekend of January 11th.

We’ll post photos as they grow.

We’re a week out from FInley’s whelping “due date” and just about everything is in place.  The whelping area is set up and supplies are ready.   The big question is still, “How many puppies are in there?”  We should get an estimate on Tuesday when Biff takes her in to the vet.  We’ll post that news when we get it.

Here’s Finley on Sunday, November 10th with her bulging belly.  She moves easily, has had plenty of exercise and doesn’t look as huge standing up as she does when she’s lying on her side.

Finley looks fit and agile moving outside but she also looks puppy-heavy when she’s relaxing inside.  How many puppies are growing in there?  We’re wondering, too, and plan to get an estimate in the next week.  We’ll post that info. when we get it.