pUpdates

Week 1 pUpdate

Hello from Hickory Hollow Llewellins and Litter GG’s first week!  We want to begin by thanking Shelby for waiting until morning to begin having her pups.  The all-night tease of acting as though they would come at any moment kept Jen up all night. But waiting for the sun to rise – much respect, Shelby. 

Whelping was awesomely unexciting.  Jen was just there for moral support.  Shelby did surprise Jen with her delivery of George.  After she had Garth, Shelby let herself out to pee.  She came back in with George in her mouth.  Did not see that coming!  And Shelby is not shy about moving her pups around when she needs to.  That’s a gentle mouth – and a good mama.  You may have noticed the time between Grant and Goose was a little over two hours.  Shelby was tired, but we were pretty sure there was at least one more pup to come.  Jen was starting to get nervous so stood Shelby up to see if walking might coax the last one out.  Shelby no sooner stood, and Goose made his grand entrance.  Great news.  We weren’t looking forward to a possible trip to K-State.

The weather has been a bit chilly, so we have a couple heaters working around the clock in the puppy cottage to keep things above 70 degrees.  Conversely, things can get toasty in the middle of the day when the sun’s streaming through the window.  Once the temp crosses the 80 degree mark, we start adjusting thermostats.  The max, so far, has been 87.4.  Pretty darn warm, but cold puppies do not survive.  This week is going to be even colder, so we’ll be keeping a very close watch on things.  We have two Govee temperature sensors set up with alarms for when the temperature drops below 75 degrees to assist us in climate control.  Pretty handy!

If you’ve tuned in to the Puppy Cam, you may have noticed Shelby likes to move her blanket/mat out from under her.  We do get a little concerned she’ll cover up a pup so we straighten things back out as soon as we can.  The pups are strong, already, and can wiggle their way out in most cases.  They’re gaining weight fast and have doubled in size in this first week.  For not knowing much about their surroundings, they don’t seem to have a problem getting around.  Dr. Frese came by on Friday and we removed dewclaws on everyone.  No abnormalities to report.  They’re shaping up to be another great litter.  Kudos to Shelby and Scotch!