The first weeks
Puppies are born blind (with their eyes closed) and deaf (closed auditory canal). Disclosed they gradually: the eyes of the eighth day of birth, and the ear passages - the fifth. Fully disclosed the eye and ear passages to the 14-15-th day of the puppies life. However, in the first days after the disclosure of the puppies eyes are able to distinguish only bright moving objects and gradually become fully sighted. Puppies are born with very little ability for thermoregulation.

Thus, after the birth of puppies are helpless and their normal existence in the early period of life depends entirely on the mother. They can not independently be emptied from urine and feces, and do so only with the help of his mother, who licks and massages them, activating the corresponding reduction in muscle.

At the same time immediately after birth have an innate ability to determine the smell of her mother's place of residence, moving towards it, finding the nipple and sucking. It allows kids to meet two vital needs - for food and warmth. The main internal stimuli puppy is hungry and cold. In famine he crawls and finds the nipple to get enough milk, with the cold crawls to his mother or other puppies - heat sources. If he can not soon, he whines, and muzzle the mother pushes the puppy to her, as if he crawled away, she grabs him by the scruff of the mouth and brings into place.

Females usually have eight nipples, of which the most rear milk. Stronger puppies, especially in large litters and inadequate milking females actively oppose other puppies, remove them from the mother. Therefore, you must periodically underlay weaker and underdeveloped pups back to the nipples and make sure that all the puppies get enough milk. The greatest attention should be paid to this in the first two or three weeks of a puppy's life, when the lure of the puppies in most cases have not yet produced.


Creep newborn puppies initially only with the help of the front legs, which at this time they are more developed. Hind legs bend and drag, almost without participating in the movement. However, as a rule, it causes no alarm is present. Gradually, the hind legs will get stronger and will actively participate in the movement of the puppy. If this does not happen, then you need to seek help from your veterinarian.

From the first days of life puppies fed mother's sounds, where she is well versed on that appropriately responds.
Breeders must understand the sound signals from the puppies, and if the mother does not react to them, which is rare, then help them immediately. Most often, the need for such assistance arises in the presence of females, nurses with a high body weight (Moscow sentry, Caucasian Shepherd et al.), Which are often press down their puppies.

In the first two or three weeks of life puppies a major concern for them show their mother and obeying maternal instincts, she takes care diligently, faithfully and selflessly and skilfully. Whelp bitch constantly licks the puppies lick their urine, eat their feces, which is a natural and normal in this period. It is believed that the eating of feces stimulates milk production. When the puppy is transferred to feeding cow's milk, meat, etc., Bitch stop eating feces from puppies that helps reduce and then halt production of her milk.

Consequently, in the first two to three weeks after whelping owner basically should take care of the whelp bitch, its normal content, the timely and full feeding with the expectation not only to maintain its life and health of the puppies on the care, but also to produce milk for the puppies. Near constantly bitches should be drinking water, the animal should be cleaned regularly, to walk.

The growth and development of puppies in the suckling period depends on milking females and how it has developed and manifests the maternal instinct. Milking females and maternal instinct depend on hereditary, as well as the conditions and quality of feed. Feeding puppies, ensuring their growing bodies with all the necessary food components, including proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins, in the first two or three weeks of life are provided by the mother's milk is very rich in its composition.

Lure
If the bitch enough milk, most of the day sleeping puppies. Daily gain of pups body weight and calm behavior suggests that they have enough milk. If the puppies are restless (more than usual crawling, whining, pawing her nipples, often interrupted the act of sucking) and have slowed down the daily weight gain, so they do not have enough milk. It is important to establish in a timely manner when the puppies milk is not enough and they start solid foods. It should be borne in mind that, as a belated and early complementary feeding are equally unacceptable.

Belated lure the puppies would delay their growth, premature as would reduce the daily intake of puppies breast milk, and after that - to a decrease in production of milk. In their qualitative composition of any solid foods can not be compared with the milk branch, and so you need to maximize the feeding of puppies breast milk.

There bitches vysokomolochnye able to feed normally seven to eight or more pups, but it's still not the rule, as a rare exception. In addition, for such a large number of females feeding of puppies does not pass without leaving a trace. For large litters body lactating bitches forced to give milk production its internal reserves, which adversely affects its condition.


If puppies litters of six or seven goals to three weeks of age not nuzhdalis- in complementary feeding, which was confirmed by their calm behavior and daily gain weight, then it is a sure indicator of high milk of their mother. In such a bitch in the subsequent whelping can be left against the usual two or three puppies anymore. Yet even more than eight puppies should not be left in vysokomolochnyh bitches.

An objective indication of the need to begin weaning puppies are the results daily to determine their body mass and observing their behavior. The sharp decline for two or three days, the average daily weight gain and restlessness puppies (whine, many crawling and sorted the nipple) are a signal of the need for complementary foods.

Vysokomolochnye bitches able to feed the puppies and the older three weeks of age, but it is not recommended to postpone their lure. As is the custom service dog clubs and many departmental nurseries practice weaning pups from mothers in most cases is carried out when they reach 30-40 days of age, and by this time they should be weaned from mother's milk. In addition, long-term feeding of puppies one mother's milk can lead to a large nursing bitch emaciation and general debility.

Lure puppies produces heat (finger feels slightly warm) cow's milk with the addition of chicken eggs (in the first two days of feeding on one glass of milk a single egg in the future 300-400 g of milk one egg). The egg is added to enrich the milk proteins, minerals and other vital components of the feed. Feed your puppy out of the ordinary nipples placed over the bottle. When feeding food mixture for puppy created conditions close to the conditions of the mother's milk supply. To support this puppy hand under his chest so that he could sort out (knead) forelegs and hind legs on anything rely as sucking milk from the mother's nipple.

infant formula may also be used for feeding. But they are just like cow's milk, as compared to dogs contain less milk protein, fat and minerals.

Lure pups on the first day and twice gradually increased up to four times a day. Begin feeding cows' milk to chicken eggs with 100 g per day and month of age was adjusted to 400 g per day (including milk used for preparing dairy cereal).

Since the 23-day-old pups, while failure in the bitch's milk for two or three days before, start feeding dairy semi-liquid porridge of oatmeal, oatmeal, buckwheat, and in their absence from semolina. Cereals before cooking porridge passed through a meat grinder. Fed milk porridge, starting with two times a day, gradually passing to three, four - one-time feeding.

With three weeks of age puppies are fed from a small but deep enough and stable clay bowls, so that they can not overturn them and climb them paws. Each feeder is allocated to one or two pups. Puppies have quickly become accustomed feed from bowls. several times is enough to dip their snout in the milk and milk porridge.


Recommended develop puppies conditioned reflex to sound (clapping his hand on the floor near the feeders, a whistle, and others.) Before feeding. A few days after this signal puppies will resort to the feeder.

Two days after the start of breast feeding porridge beginning to puppies low-fat ground beef, and another two or three days - finely sliced ??fresh raw meat (beef, horse meat), starting with 35-40 grams per day, and months of age brought this portion to 100 g per day. Raw meat is fed once a day (all day norm). In some clubs, service dog recommended earlier, starting from two weeks of age, puppies feeding raw fresh lean meat, passed through a meat grinder or a small skoblyanki. Begin to make the meat puppies with his hands in the form of a pea 10-15 grams per day, and then in the form of a conventional dressing, bringing her to months of age up to 100 grams per day.

On the 25th day of life Puppies begin to feed twice a day with vegetable soup on a meat broth cooked oatmeal or crushed oatmeal or buckwheat with finely chopped meat guy. As the pups size pieces of cooked meat increases.

As a vitamin supplement with two or three weeks of age puppies are fed fish oil: 2-3 drops first and 15-20 drops a day to months of age. With months of age as a vitamin supplement in the soup put a pinch of finely chopped raw vegetables (carrots, lettuce, cabbage).

Since the 25-day-old pups mineral supplements are necessary for normal bone growth and prevention of rickets. For this purpose, calcium glycerophosphate, phosphorus-sour calcium, bone meal. Finely powdered mixture of them in equal proportions begin with the tip of a knife to add to the soup, gradually increasing the rate of additive. Grown puppies after weaning from mothers of calcium glycerophosphate and acidic calcium-phosphorus is usually fed pellets with it.

To lure the puppies need at regular intervals of three to four times a day, alternating types of food, such as: the first solid foods soup in meat broth of grains and vegetables, with the addition of chopped meat guy; second - dairy porridge; third - raw meat; fourth lure - milk. Often there are puppies, which in the early days are reluctant to eat raw meat. In this case, the raw meat in small portions (10-15 g or more) is given before each feeding other types of feed.

With three weeks of age puppies provide drinking water. She put in a glazed earthenware bowls three or four times a day. Common among amateur breeders belief that puppies water replaces milk, erroneous.

Artificial feeding of
If whelp bitches no milk, then you can try to put a puppy for feeding to the bitch-nurse. Before podkladyvaniem puppies nurse-bitch gone. Then repeatedly shift between puppies puppies bitch nurse to first acquired the smell of the second and the smell of the place of their maturation, lead-bitch nurse and quickly enclose all the puppies to the nipples. If the bitch is characterized malice, the first time in her padded puppies fed muzzled. After the puppies begin to suck her nipples and calm bitch, bitch with a muzzle-nurse removed and given an opportunity to lick her puppies. In the first minutes of the need to keep a bitch by the collar, and just making sure that she licks all the puppies, including padded, a collar and leash is removed.

At the first attempt to attack the bitch puppies planted immediately gone for 7-10 minutes, after which it is in the above manner is supplied to the puppies again. Increasing milk in her udder and encourage her maternal instinct in the second or third attempt to take on the feeding of puppies is enclosed, but it should be done with care as long as you do not make sure that she took them.

Artificial feeding of puppies is extremely difficult, time-consuming and does not always lead to the goal. This is due to the practical impossibility of preparing a complete feed mixture instead of dog milk. Besides that it is much greater than in cow contained protein, fat and minerals in canine milk, especially in the first days after oscheneniya contained vital immune substances capable to protect puppies from infectious diseases as long as they are the body does not acquire the ability to independently produce such substances.

If there are particularly valuable puppies without a mother's milk is no full guarantee of success, you can still try, being able to use for feeding a mixture of 800 g of cow's milk, 200 g of fresh cream, one chicken egg yolk and 2 drops of multivitamins (oily solution).

Puppies fed a food mixture is first out of the bottle by means of nipples, and with three weeks of age from glazed clay bowls.

Feed the puppies should be in the first five or six days every two hours during the day (including night). Then the number of feedings decreases gradually. To artificially fed puppies do not feel cold, use a heating pad. Regularly massage the abdomen several times, which contributes to the release of the puppies from the urine and feces. In order to prevent diseases pups occasionally produce gamma globulin injections.


Observations on the development of
It is important to have objective data on the growth of puppies in the suckling period. To do this on a daily basis Namin from the second or third day of life and until weaning from the mother to determine their body weight (weighed) and the data is logged. After weaning from their mother it is recommended to determine the body weight two or three times a month in the same time of the day. It will assess the dynamics of the daily growth rate (body weight) of each puppy and litter (all puppies) as a whole, identify puppies and litters with the best and worst growth.

The data obtained by comparing them with the existing tables on the age averages mass puppies of this breed body normally make it possible to determine whether the growth is normal and puppy litters, or it falls short. Combined with observations of the appearance and behavior of puppies, these data will show whether the puppies mother's milk enough when to start their lures, and in the future and whether missing puppies feeding.

Data on the average body weight of pups of all ages for a number of years, revealing the growth and litter development and individual puppies obtained from different females, identify this indicator best, average and worst bitches, including females vysokomolochnyh who can be left to feeding a greater number of pups.

Labeling puppies
In connection with the need to determine the mass of pups and monitor their growth and development raises the question of how to distinguish one from another puppy. This may be used sex, color, puppy markings (white and different color spots and stripes on the head, chest and other body parts). For example, male red color with a white spot on the chest, female red color with a stripe on the chest and others. If these distinctive signs is not sufficient that there is a large litters with the same coloration, then you can resort to tag puppies. The most simple, affordable and reliable enough labeling suckling puppies is to shorten their claws on the front paws with sharp scissors in the second or third day of birth.

Ha 14-15 minutes and 23-25-th birthday of puppies need to cut their sharp scissors on front paws tips of claws. By this time, they are very sharp and strong puppies scratching their nipples. Therefore, lactating females during breast concerned, can not normally give their milk, and sometimes from this shrinking and its development. Timely tips circumcision puppies claws promotes sufficiency feeding puppy milk.

Weaning puppies from mother
Weaning puppies from their mothers made no earlier than when they reach the age of one month. By this time they should be accustomed to feeding cow's milk, dairy porridge, vegetable soup with groats on a meat broth, cooked and raw meat, mineral and vitamin supplements.

Although the amount of milk in lactating bitches to 30-day-old pups is reduced, and further it is becoming less and bitch every day more reluctant allowed near the pups to the teats, should not rush to distribute the puppies up to 40-45 days of age. Raising puppies in a team under constant maternal care contributes to their good growth and development, development of their useful for later life, training and skills. In they are well developed and trained the daily long-puppies-to-peer games and role model mother. Method imitation actions of others, especially older and experienced relatives, plays a huge role in the life and development of animals, especially schooling, to which dogs belong.

Starting with three weeks of age, when puppies are well see and hear, they start to be removed periodically from the mother and each other and get acquainted with the plot of land and the nearest objects. If the puppies with a bitch before that time were held in a drawer-beds, it is now necessary to translate them on the floor, on a bed. In good weather should derive a bitch with puppies in the yard in a quiet place. As the puppies are collective walks with his mother under the supervision of the owner should gradually lengthen.

You can not take puppies from bitches at the same time or even for two or three days. It is necessary that the weaning period lasted at least seven or eight days and under the bitch was at least two to three puppies. This is especially important when weaning puppies is made month of age, when the milk is not yet lost. Otherwise the milk will accumulate in the udder and teats bursting, which is accompanied by painful sensations in females. In addition, even if a small local trauma can occur inflammation of the udder (mastitis), with all the ensuing unfavorable consequences.