Sleeping through the night

Thursday night was the first night since the puppies were born that I slept through the night. I don't know if Della tried to wake me but couldn't, or if she just didn't need to, but she let me sleep through the night until about 5:30 a.m.

We tried feeding the milk replacement formula to the pups. They weren't sure what to do with it. They got a taste of it, but I think they got more of it from licking it off each other than they did from actually drinking it. It's learned behavior, so I expect they will get better at it. They don't particularly need it right now, Della is doing well and managing to keep all 12 pretty well fed, but we thought it was time to start introducing it to supplement what they get from her and take some pressure off of her.

I spent a good part of the afternoon puttering around in the new shed. I've put a coat of waterproofing on the floor and trimmed up some of the birch trees that were hitting me in the face when I walked into the shed. I've got electricity to the shed in the form of a very long extension cord, but at least it provides a fan to move air and a way to keep my phone charged and music playing. I also put up some fencing along the bottom edge of the shed to prevent the puppies from getting under it. There's many more things to do, but I think it will be at least a couple weeks before they move in.

Max and Theo kept me company while I was working
in the new shed and puppy yard.

I think Della has some mastitis but her temperature is back to normal and she seems to be feeling fine and nursing without difficulty. Warm, wet compresses to the affected tissue seems to have helped, and Duvel worked and worked and finally got milk out of one swollen breast that the other pups were just avoiding in favor of those that had better flow. I've learned more about lactation than I ever expected, hoped, or wanted to know.