First Meal for Our Icelandic Sheepdogs

The first meal for our Icelandic Sheepdogs was not a pretty sight but it was very interesting to watch. They ate ravenously and toothlessly. Ha! (Their baby teeth are just starting to erupt.)

Seriously, after a few aborted attempts, they all soon got the hang of this new eating solid food thing. They surprised me with their appetites.

I prepared a whole cup-full for them and put it in their "hubcap" dish. The high center of the hubcap is designed to keep the food and, therefore, the puppies, out near the rim. As you can see by the photos that didn't quite work this first time; they will eventually get the hang of eating their food while not in the dish at the same time.

They seemed to be watching one another and learning from the others "how" to do this new eating thing. Who says dog's don't learn by watching! Not me. I see this from the very earliest days after their eyes open.

I have started training them to come when called. These early days when their minds are growing rapidly and they are beginning to explore their new world are a great time to start their training. They love learning about all the things around them. I have been holding them each individually several times a day to get them used to it. The first few times, they are unsure of what is happening but now, of course, it's just kennel-dad again.

Soon I will have "strangers" over to get them used to other humans. It is EXTREMELY important that people wash their hands carefully and brush off their clothes before handling the puppies especially if they have contact with other dogs that may carry diseases that the puppies have no immunity to. I know breeders who have lost entire litters when visitors have brought in diseases like parvo which is deadly for un-vaccinated puppies. (The puppies will go in for their first puppy shots at the age of six weeks.)

As long as the puppies are nursing, some of Totty's antibodies to diseases will pass to them in her milk protecting the puppies until they can make their own antibodies.

Pila, Totty's litter-sister, nursed her puppies each time until the eighth week. Most of my mothers nurse until the sixth or seventh weeks gradually weaning the puppies on their own. I would not supersede the wisdom of mother nature with my own ignorance. She has been around a lot longer and knows best, in my opinion.

It's time to move them to the next size DuraWhelp puppy litter box. I highly recommend DuraWhelp. It's lightweight, made of corrugated plastic (corroplast) that resembles corrugated cardboard and is durable and easy to clean up. This particular pen has a white plastic rail on the inside to reduce the risk of mom accidentally trapping the puppies between her back and the walls of the box while she nurses.

If you scroll down and look at the photo of Totty nursing the pups (I know it's blurry) from April 13, you can see how the plastic bar works to keep the puppies safe.

After the pups are finished with the whelping pens, it's easy to clean and disinfect them and then fold them up and put them away until the next litter.

I bought my DuraWhelps from the manufacturer. You can also buy the corroplast at Home Depot, Lowes, etc. and make your own whelping boxes.

As always, clicking on the photos enlarges them. If you do enlarge them, you'll see evidence of their meal all over the floor. That will not happen when they are more experienced - just like human babies.