Yes, we have eyes! Everyone is now in various states of openness; when I took this picture Kipling had the other eye still shut, but in the hours since it has opened as well. He, Trudy, and Aggie are all two for two; the other blacks are just about there, with various states of one-and-a-half piratey eyes; and the merles are taking their sweet time with little cracks but no big openings. At least as far as I can tell, the blacks all have two dark eyes and the merles all look like they have some proportion of blue or maybe what will eventually be amber (what shows through the cracks is definitely not the black/brown of the dark puppies).

Mad scrambing! I tried to get a picture of what feeding time now looks like but blurriness is a fact of life now. They are all well up on their feet and climb up over me, over Clue, and under and over each other to get there first. 

Today was the first day I let Zuzu in the box to watch them eat (she's been allowed to watch from over the wall but not touch them); I sat beside her so she wouldn't try to stuff a puppy down her shirt and escape. She was absolutely enchanted and asked to hold each one in turn, stroking her fingers down their tails and touching their whiskers.

She held Clue's ears while Clue cleaned puppies, giggling at the mad dash for food. 

I know you're reading this on day 15 but the pictures really are from their two-week birthday, I promise.

Two weeks old = worming! They all got their appropriately dosed pyrantel today, which is what led to an epidemic of sticky faces, dirty paws, linty bellies, and assorted other uncleanliness. It also seemed to knock a couple of them for a loop (tummy ache?); nobody complained or cried but two refused to gain weight and several more had an attack of the dry heaves several hours after administration.

So it was a busy day for me, keeping track of the ones I was a little worried about, rubbing tummies, checking pee (straw color means well hydrated, even if the puppy isn't actively nursing, so you can breathe a little easier) and wishing two-week-old puppies could tolerate baths. 

Fortunately, by the late evening everybody seemed back to normal and the ones who had refused to eat well turned around and tanked up, one putting on .6 oz in a single feeding. I gave up one more night of sleep to watch them closely, but all seems well. 

The stickiest blaze up there belongs to Aggie, who is doing beautifully but is still visible from afar because, like a low-birthweight baby, despite her completely normal growth and weight gain she still has much less facial padding than the others. Her head looks small and narrow, in contrast to the others who are quickly maturing into the plush wedge of a Cardigan puppy. I'll be interested to see how long the difference persists, and if the adult heads have any variation. 

I have a private theory that the puppy that most often turns out to be the show pick is the biggest-birthweight bitch; I've seen this in my own litters and it seems to be predictable in others as well. I can understand why this happens – she's usually the one with the biggest bone, best muscle tone at 8 weeks, and she's been big enough to have tolerated the little ups and downs of calorie intake that can knock the smaller puppies right down the ladder. Big puppies are also easier to evaluate; Pat Hastings says that it's impossible to grade puppies who have not had a good start in life (were undernourished, premature, wormy, etc.) and I think that applies to a certain extent to any puppy who was appreciably littler. In this litter I will be watching to see whether the little ones follow that pattern and, if so, what faults correct as they grow and mature. After all, you can't tell who was a preemie in a line-up of twenty-year-olds. 

We were able to get the camera battery working again (rice bag, works miracles!) but the light was already failing so I just took a quick snap of the whole group. I love this picture because it shows how tiny Clue is compared to her ravenous and ever-growing brood.

Eyes are just beginning to slit open; you can barely see a glint behind the lids. Tomorrow or the next day should give us a whole crew of new peepers. They are all beginning to stagger around, and when Clue jumps in they attack her long before she can settle on her side. She is no longer curled around them all day; she snuggles beside the whelping box and keeps a close eye on them, but goes in only to feed them and clean them. They're solid, warm, and thriving, and I am thrilled with how she has done as a mother. 

Everyone is over 1.5 lb now, just where they should be, and a couple will be over 2 lb by the weekend. Tomorrow or Saturday we'll do their first worming, which (aside from whatever they've sucked off our fingers) will be their first experience with not-mom. I expect to start them on solids next week, and am watching Clue and their weight gain to see exactly when. Usually there's a day when the mom dog looks at you and says "NOOOOOO! Help me!" and that's when you start with one good meal a day to take some pressure off her. 

All in all, and keeping all fingers and toes crossed, this has been a wonderful litter. In another week when they can maintain their own body temperature I'll really breathe easier, but every day is a great day and I just love them to death.