11 days old

Feels like 11 weeks already !  Can't believe it's not even been 2 weeks yet.  The pups are all doing really well, and so is Jess - she is back to her diet in full swing - munched down a huge turkey wing for dinner :)

All the pups have now doubled their birth weight which is excellent progress. We've been weighing them daily up till now and making sure the lightest couple of pups get on the back teats first when Jess gets back in the box with them.  They're currently all sucking greedily away now as I type this up :)  When she first lies down in the box it's like a sea of wriggling fat worms !  They can obviously smell her and start to go mad trying to get on to a teat.  The pups on the top teats are often carried right off the floor and end up body surfing on the ones on the teats below.  It's amazing to watch the incredible tenacity they have to feed themselves. They will push and push like mad with their little back feet and if need be, not spare a thought for their sibling that they've just managed to push off !  This is where the heavier ones have an advantage :)

As of yesterday morning there were 3 pups tipping the scales at just over 1kg.  We're reducing the weighing frequency down to weekly now.  There is still a 200g variation between the heaviest boy and the lightest girl but that will be easier to level out once the pups are weaned.

We've got new collars for them - the nail polish needs to be re-applied every couple of days and is not that easy to spot.  We've gone with  these collars based on recommendations from other breeders that have used them on Labrador Forums and the testimonials on the website itself. The use of collars on pups is something else (like seemingly every little matter) is cause for great discussion amongst the breeding world.  Some say they use them all the time, others would sooner hand over their first born then put collars on their pups.  I can see valid arguments for both, but it certainly makes it far easier to identify them !  Obviously with growth so rapid I will need to check them once a day to make sure there is still plenty of slack.

Been nearly a week since pictures - I slowed down because as I looked back through the photos realised that I already had hundreds that looked mostly the same ! I'm sure people are keen to see their development though so I'll be taking a whole load more over the weekend and will post the link to the new sets - you'll be able to see their collars in all their glory :)  We have a friend who is an amazing photographer who is going to do some photos shoots at 3 weeks and again at 7 weeks - these (along with all of my photos) will be made available on a DVD for the new puppy owners !

It's been nice to be able to keep my head out of puppy books for a week or so now but I need to get back and read up some more on weaning - suggested diets, timings, procedures etc.....  This will certainly be a lot easier next time round :)