| The I Litter Born August 22, 2010 Pups have all been placed. |
| Holly with Sunny, Kit & Oakie. Pups are 3 weeks old |
Holly surprised me by delivering about 3
days ahead of schedule. The first pup
arrived at 11:55 AM on Sunday morning.
The seventh pup arrived at 3:24 PM.
Needless to say, things went fairly quickly
once the pups started making their
appearance.
Out of the seven pups, there are 5 males
and 2 females. Three of the males are
clear sable and white. One is a tri-color
and one appears to be sable & white that
should be colored like Holly, when all is said
and done. There is one clear sable & white
female, with the last pup being a tri-color
girl.
I tried to keep with our theme of litter
names based on places in NC beginning with
the letter I, but was finding that hard to
do. I looked at options like using "I"
people names. Did you know there aren't
that many? I looked at using names of all
the places Holly & I traveled through to
get to IL and back. Still wasn't happy with
what I was coming up with in the way of
names. My daughter suggested that "I"
could stand for Islands. This works! So,
we are taking a trip to the Islands of NC
for our names this time around.
Week 1 - This first week has been fairly quiet,
but I expect that to change as the pups open
their eyes and start to get around next week.
Week 2 - What a difference just one or two
days makes in the litter. On day 12, most of the
pups eyes began to open. On day 14, we are still
waiting for 2 of the pups' eyes to finish opening
up, but I can see "slits" of color beginning to
show. All pups are getting around fairly quickly,
especially when Holly goes into the pen to feed.
They have started sitting, trying to walk, licking
the bars to the pen & even a little bit of playing
among themselves. All pups are being handled on
a daily basis which includes things like cutting
toenails (at least once a week), holding &
touching toes, reclining them on their backs in
my arms, touching all parts of their faces and
heads, etc. As they become more mobile this
coming week & steadier on their feet, their
world will expand as they learn how to escape
the puppy pen!
Week 3 - All the pups are growing bigger,
sometimes it seems as though they get larger
from one minute to the next! Indy is still
"smaller" than the rest of the crew, but is
growing appropriately for his size. I still think
that by the time they are 8 weeks old there will
be very little difference in all of their sizes.
All pups are walking well, playing with each
other, have been introduced to some toys, are
beginning to expand their world by being out of
the pen. Right now all enjoy climbing up and
over our legs & into our laps. The daily handling
is paying off as they are more confident about
being lifted high up off the floor as well as
being on their backs in my arms. Several of the
pups have almost scaled the low wall of the pen.
At 15 days old, I stood at one side of the pen,
and made a "kissing"/calling sound. All pups
listened & looked for the sound origin. I had
several who also associated my presence with
attention & immediately came across the pen to
me, all the while, looking up at me. Teeth have
come in. Now the fun begins. ;-)
Week 4 - (really 4 1/2 weeks) The pups
continue to explore, not only inside the house,
but outside this week. Holly is still their
mainstay for food, but they have begun eating
some "gruel" type of solid food this week. Teeth
are being used to explore everything, including
my fingers, shoes, clothing ... Most of the time a
well placed growl at the pups will make them
back off in that respect. Pups can scale the
small side of the sleeping pen, along with making
it up on the first step leading up to the porch.
Going out into the grass, into the flowers, on the
sidewalk did not seem to faze a one of them. It
has been hot here again this week, so our time
outside has been limited to early morning or late
afternoon/early evening.
Week 5 - The rain finally moved in after about
a month of no rain at all & some cooler
temperatures as well! Pictures were slow in
coming about since we had to work around the
rain on Sunday & Monday. The good thing where
the pups are concerned, is that they didn't mind
going out in the rain. Pups are eating "real"
kibble now, running wild and rampant, flying up
and down the front steps onto the porch and
starting to show more of their personalities as
the days go by. They are following me in and out
of the house through the front door without any
problems. The pups entertained 3 sets of
visitors over the past week & had a great time!
Weeks 6-8 - I got way behind in updating the
site, but was busy taking pictures and videos of
them. ;-) During week 6, we made two trips to
Claire Apple's place for some duck herding and
one trip to Autumn Winds Agility Center for
some exposure to new things there. All the pups
behaved pretty much like I expected them to.
Some showed herding instinct the first trip, but
not the second time. Some who didn't show
herding instinct the first time, did the second
trip out. It was bittersweet seeing the pups
leave over the course of the 8th week, but
knowing that they had good homes made it so
much easier. I cried some & so did Holly after
the last one left. Things are sort of back to
normal at our house here, at least for the time
being.
days ahead of schedule. The first pup
arrived at 11:55 AM on Sunday morning.
The seventh pup arrived at 3:24 PM.
Needless to say, things went fairly quickly
once the pups started making their
appearance.
Out of the seven pups, there are 5 males
and 2 females. Three of the males are
clear sable and white. One is a tri-color
and one appears to be sable & white that
should be colored like Holly, when all is said
and done. There is one clear sable & white
female, with the last pup being a tri-color
girl.
I tried to keep with our theme of litter
names based on places in NC beginning with
the letter I, but was finding that hard to
do. I looked at options like using "I"
people names. Did you know there aren't
that many? I looked at using names of all
the places Holly & I traveled through to
get to IL and back. Still wasn't happy with
what I was coming up with in the way of
names. My daughter suggested that "I"
could stand for Islands. This works! So,
we are taking a trip to the Islands of NC
for our names this time around.
Week 1 - This first week has been fairly quiet,
but I expect that to change as the pups open
their eyes and start to get around next week.
Week 2 - What a difference just one or two
days makes in the litter. On day 12, most of the
pups eyes began to open. On day 14, we are still
waiting for 2 of the pups' eyes to finish opening
up, but I can see "slits" of color beginning to
show. All pups are getting around fairly quickly,
especially when Holly goes into the pen to feed.
They have started sitting, trying to walk, licking
the bars to the pen & even a little bit of playing
among themselves. All pups are being handled on
a daily basis which includes things like cutting
toenails (at least once a week), holding &
touching toes, reclining them on their backs in
my arms, touching all parts of their faces and
heads, etc. As they become more mobile this
coming week & steadier on their feet, their
world will expand as they learn how to escape
the puppy pen!
Week 3 - All the pups are growing bigger,
sometimes it seems as though they get larger
from one minute to the next! Indy is still
"smaller" than the rest of the crew, but is
growing appropriately for his size. I still think
that by the time they are 8 weeks old there will
be very little difference in all of their sizes.
All pups are walking well, playing with each
other, have been introduced to some toys, are
beginning to expand their world by being out of
the pen. Right now all enjoy climbing up and
over our legs & into our laps. The daily handling
is paying off as they are more confident about
being lifted high up off the floor as well as
being on their backs in my arms. Several of the
pups have almost scaled the low wall of the pen.
At 15 days old, I stood at one side of the pen,
and made a "kissing"/calling sound. All pups
listened & looked for the sound origin. I had
several who also associated my presence with
attention & immediately came across the pen to
me, all the while, looking up at me. Teeth have
come in. Now the fun begins. ;-)
Week 4 - (really 4 1/2 weeks) The pups
continue to explore, not only inside the house,
but outside this week. Holly is still their
mainstay for food, but they have begun eating
some "gruel" type of solid food this week. Teeth
are being used to explore everything, including
my fingers, shoes, clothing ... Most of the time a
well placed growl at the pups will make them
back off in that respect. Pups can scale the
small side of the sleeping pen, along with making
it up on the first step leading up to the porch.
Going out into the grass, into the flowers, on the
sidewalk did not seem to faze a one of them. It
has been hot here again this week, so our time
outside has been limited to early morning or late
afternoon/early evening.
Week 5 - The rain finally moved in after about
a month of no rain at all & some cooler
temperatures as well! Pictures were slow in
coming about since we had to work around the
rain on Sunday & Monday. The good thing where
the pups are concerned, is that they didn't mind
going out in the rain. Pups are eating "real"
kibble now, running wild and rampant, flying up
and down the front steps onto the porch and
starting to show more of their personalities as
the days go by. They are following me in and out
of the house through the front door without any
problems. The pups entertained 3 sets of
visitors over the past week & had a great time!
Weeks 6-8 - I got way behind in updating the
site, but was busy taking pictures and videos of
them. ;-) During week 6, we made two trips to
Claire Apple's place for some duck herding and
one trip to Autumn Winds Agility Center for
some exposure to new things there. All the pups
behaved pretty much like I expected them to.
Some showed herding instinct the first trip, but
not the second time. Some who didn't show
herding instinct the first time, did the second
trip out. It was bittersweet seeing the pups
leave over the course of the 8th week, but
knowing that they had good homes made it so
much easier. I cried some & so did Holly after
the last one left. Things are sort of back to
normal at our house here, at least for the time
being.
| Click on the following links for pictures of the puppies as they grow! Oakie Mack Cedar Tuck Indy Sunny Kit The Parents |
| The litter at 2 weeks old. The puppies (L to R) Kit, Mack, Sunny, Indy, Oakie (below), Cedar (up top),Tuck. |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| All photos on this site: © 2010 White Oak English Shepherds |
| Feeding the whole litter at 3 weeks in age. There really are 7 pups in this picture. |
| Brian, Holly & most of the pups at 3 weeks old. |
| Four weeks old |
| Five weeks old |