Autumn is upon us

The autumnal equinox happened on Wednesday. I'm not thrilled about the days getting shorter, but I am loving the return to tolerable temperatures. I switched from air conditioning to heating in the puppy shed in one day. Allison and her pups seemed fine, but I was cold one night so I went back to the house about 4:00 a.m. and brought out a heater. 

They are one week old today, and most of the puppies are doing very well. They have plump, full, bellies and are obviously growing. The smallest one, Sojourner, concerns me and I started bottle feeding her and helping her nurse. She doesn't seem to be able to latch on and get much milk. I think part of the problem may just be size. Allison's nipples are large whereas Sojourner's mouth is very small. I was having problems getting her to take a bottle too, again perhaps because of the size of nipple on the bottle. Last night I switched to using an oral syringe and had slightly better luck with that this morning. She weighs just half of the weight of the largest pups, so she's got some ground to make up. We will be hitting this hard today.

Meanwhile, inside, Della is pissed at me and is pulling tricks out of Maya's playbook. Yesterday she got into the kitchen trash, twice. Once when I was upstairs working, because I still have to do that, and once when I was outside with Allison and the pups. She's bored and she's jealous. I have gotten her and the rest of the G7 out to the pasture each day since the rain stopped, but clearly not enough. 

Rufus with Lexie and Hugo

Lexie and Hugo have been sharing the far side of Daneland during the day.

She runs him around and is trying to teach him to play something other than fetch.

Della in the pasture as the sun is setting.

Melly's diet is paying off and her weight loss is now visible.

She's running more now. Every pound lost will make her feel better.

Della has been displeased with me a lot lately.

Sojourner's failure to gain weight is not due to Allison's failure to produce milk.

She's got plenty for everyone. 

Allison has a kind eye.

If they aren't eating, they are sleeping. There's only two things on the puppy schedule.

We do have clear blue sky on occasion. Yesterday was that day.

Sojourner has a tough time nursing. She doesn't get a good grip, seems to have trouble

finding a nipple even with help, and she is easily dislodged by the bigger pups.

I hope my supplemental feeding will enable her to grow enough so she 

can nurse with the others. I hope I started doing it soon enough.