Great British Icons week 6

The 4 puppies are such good fun and are really showing their personalities now. They’re all very different – Adele is into everything (mainly escaping), Tess is quiet and gentle but playful one on one, Judi wants to eat all the time and Elizabeth loves running around everywhere.

10 days in

Everyone is putting on weight and feeding well. Tallulah has a bed outside the pen and is constantly in and out checking on them (and sometimes sneaking off to her normal bed when she thinks no-one is looking).

There’s a big range in weight, from 350g up to 750g.

The Final Week

Milo – 2.3kg
Acer – 2.7kg
Hope – 2.3kg
Max – 2.4kg
Pip – 2.9kg
Santiago – 2.5kg

(weighing them is an impossible task because they won’t sit still so weights very very approx!)

Week 5 Weights

Escaping puppies

The puppies are firmly established on solids and like all good labradors, eating is a highlight of the day. They’re putting on weight well:

Max and Hope 1.5kg

Pip 1.9kg

Tommy (Santiago) 1.65kg

Ronnie 1.6kg

Curly (Reggie) 1.7kg

Billy (Milo) 1.65kg

Pip was the first to escape and, for the first time ever in any litter we’ve had, also climbs back in again. He seems very independent but also very cuddly and is very happy to climb out, run around and play, and then sleep on what is already his favourite corner of the rug.

Week 5 – feeding and escaping

The puppies are all on solids now. They started off having it mixed with milk but now they’re fully only puppy food and it’s the highlight of the day.

Pip recognises the sound of the bag being opened and has learned to climb up on another puppy’s back and climb out of the whelping box to help himself. We’ve had puppies do this before but never as young as Pip and it’s now usual to walk into the kitchen and find him fast asleep in the middle of the floor.

Having a litter during COVID

We’ve taken extra precautions during COVID, from a health and safety perspective but also in terms of security. We didn’t do regular online updates with our last litter as rumours of puppy theft were rife and although there were restrictions in place, we weren’t in full lockdown. We have increased our CCTV coverage around our property and someone is always home. Once the puppies have sold, we will take all the adverts down and this time we’ll password protect the site so only the new owners can access the updates.

Puppy pile, nearly 4 weeks old.