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by Elisabeth Beccaro
A WEEKLY DIARY WITH RIDGEBACK PUPPIES
H
aving puppies is wonderful but it is also hard work. While caring for and enjoying my recent litter I decided to make notes of the milestones and weekly development. The things that I do and my thoughts, to give the puppies the best possible start in life. I have often received very positive feedback from puppy buyers - how easy and confident their puppy is. How it is just fitting in, no fuss, no issues. It is obviously music to my ears, and it prompted me to do this selfreflection on how I raise my ridgeback puppies. It is by no means a complete guide but rather some personal views and thoughts, hopefully of inspiration to others.
WEEK 1
have body contact with each other and/or with their mom at all times. I find myself constantly checking the whelping box to make sure that no puppy has “gotten lost”, i.e. lying on its own. The other thing to check, to avoid an unpleasant feeding experience for the mother, is the puppies’ nails – they could be rather sharp and long from birth. I cut the puppies’ nails on a weekly basis.
WEEK 2 The first two weeks are a quiet time when the puppies only need their mother. I try to create a calm and quiet place for the mother and the puppies. The routine of eating, sleeping, and pooping should be nicely instilled by now. At the end of the second week, the puppies’ eyes will start to open and they will then be ready to face the world. Before the eyes and ears are open, I believe in leaving them in the capable care of their mother and I will handle them as little as possible.
In the first week after the big event of giving birth, the bitch is in general totally absorbed by caring for her puppies. She will spend all her time, cleaning and feeding them. It is not uncommon that you have to gently convince the new mom to go outside and do her own business, and to eat and drink, as it is not on top of her mind in the first couple of days after birth.
At the age of 2 weeks, I deworm all the puppies as well as the adult dogs in the household.
At this stage the mother of the puppies does all the work. Me as the owner, I just need to change the bedding, make sure everything is clean, and care for the mother. Sounds like a small task but it is very important. And on that note, to be able to have full control of the mother and the puppies from day 1, I sleep next to the whelping box and also set up my laptop/workstation in the puppy room so that I can be there all the time. This enables me to pick up quickly if there is a problem. Also, in the weeks to come, the puppies adjust their day and night routines around my routines (i.e. human routines), and they are therefore very much in tune with people by the time they are going to their new homes.
WEEK 3 In this week the activity level will increase slightly in the whelping box, but the most important change is that they will start teething. Once the teeth are showing it is time to introduce solid food.
The main focus now is to keep the This is exciting as it will start to take the feeding pressure off the puppies warm at all times. Look out mother. The first couple of times eating solid food is normally for and make sure that all the puppies quite messy, but they learn quickly.
RHODESIAN RIDGEBACK EU MAGAZINE
MILESTONES AND SOCIALISING
