Dog question

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m working on a story in which one of the supporting characters briefly mentions her experiences with a newborn puppy of a very small breed, specifically a
schipperke. It’s not a major plot point, but I am extremely anal. Can anyone share with me any anecdotes about the raising of very young puppies? I’m specifically thinking about the physical state of a newborn puppy and the nurturing behavior of its mother. The more detail the better; though this request is just for a throwaway line, I may use the information later in this story or in another one.

Thanks,
Maxie son of Sammie son of Henry son of Cyrus

2

My puppy was only five weeks old when we got her. Her litter had been dumped at the pound right after birth, and was over-due to be put down.

She didn’t know how to eat or drink. I had to push water into her mouth with a needle-less syringe, and soften her food. I’d put it on my finger and let her lick it off because a bowl seemed to perplex her. She sucked on my earlobes, apparently thinking they were nipples.

I had to take her to day care so she could play with other dogs. Puppies need to learn manners just like any other baby. They need to learn how to communicate with other dogs.

3

Thanks much, Lissa. Two quick questions: Was the newborn puppy blind? And what breed is your puppy?

Of course I’m still eager for input from others, particularly with breed-specific information.

Thanks,
Maxie son of Sammie son of Henry son of Cyrus

4

Pretty much all breeds, to a point, are the same as puppies. That should help a little.

Here’s a list of basic developmental stages in puppies (when their eyes open, etc).

5

Gracie, FilmGeek. I’d still appreciate some anecdotes, thoughl

6

Is your fictional puppy still with its mother, or being bottle-raised? There’s a big difference in how a human interacts with them depending on those conditions.

I have Border Collies, not Schipperkes, but puppies are pretty much puppies. When they are first born, their eyes and ears are sealed tightly shut. They crawl around like little grubs, and basically just eat, sleep and poop. The mother takes care of the poop, so there’s surprisingly little mess. Oh, and they squeak.

Ears open before eyes - the books usually say ten days for eyes, but mine were always closer to two weeks, and there would be a day or two when some in the litter were open and some weren’t. By three weeks, they start to develop into little individuals with some sense of purpose. I start feeding mine small amounts of soft dog food thinned with water or milk at four or five weeks to give the mom a break and to start the weaning. They love this, but most of it ends up on the outside of the puppy for the first few days. Mom also takes care of this. By this time, they’re starting to explore their surroundings too, and really like to be set outside in a cage on the grass to check out the big world.

7

Jules, at this point in the story, the puppy is grown. The basic reason for the thread was that I wanted to be sure it made sense to refer to a crying child, clinging to an adult comforter, as seeming blind as a newborn puppy, and that it likewise made sense for the observer to note that the comforter was nuzzling the little boy like a mother dog would her puppies. (Which, I suppose, I should have just said.)

As for anecdotes, it occurred to me that I could use the puppy imagery in another story sometime, so I was merely looking for anecdotes to add to my collection of pointless-at-the-moment-but-useful-later-maybe information.

8

Let’s assume that the puppy in question was raised by its mother, at the time my character (Hannah) first saw her. How would you describe the interaction between mother and puppy? Please give examples.

Thanks,
Maxie son of Sammie son of Henry son of Cyrus

9

Well, yeah, puppies do cling to their mothers like that. They get more independent as time goes on, but when they’re out exploring the big world and stick their little noses into something that freaks them out, they go high-tailing it back to momma as fast as they can. They lose that after a certain age - well, related to the mother at least. They still often seem to see their humans in that role of protector and comforter for the rest of their lives.

And say a pup did get stung on the nose or something, and came back crying. The mother would be all over it with the licking and the washing, and that pup would be trying its damnedest to get as close to her as possible.

The mothers encourage independence as the pup grows, and will jump out of the enclosure to get some time to themselves, but if she hears a serious yipe, she’s right back in there. She doesn’t put up with it as much as the pup is older; I suspect humans put up with it much more than the mother dogs do, and that’s why dogs act so dependent around their people. Because they can! Stock dogs that are raised further from human contact don’t act in that juvenile manner so much.

10

No, she wasn’t blind. She reacted normally to stimuli, but walking around still seemed a bit difficult for her. She was very weak when we got her-- hadn’t been eating at the pound.

She was quite fearful, and didn’t want to be seperated from us for an instant. Hubby and I took turns sleeping on the couch beside her for about a week. She always wanted to snuggle into our necks, or even armpits-- anywhere that felt warm and hidden. (I used to tuck her inside my bathrobe while I was watching TV.) She probably had no memory of her mother, so I was the only warm, comforting being she had ever known.

If we walked away from her for a few minutes, you would soon start to hear mewling squeals, growing increasingly strident. It was astonishing that something that tiny could make such a loud noise.

She was completely helpless. I have little doubt that if she’d stayed in the pound, or ended up with a less attentive family, she would have died. Caring for her that first week was like caring for a newborn infant. She needed to go out every couple of hours, and was afraid to stir more than two feet from my side. She needed feedings almost as frequently-- poor thing was skin and bones under her fuzz.

As to what breed she is, even the vet can’t guess. She’s about 40 pounds now, with a slim build. She’s about knee high, and her snout has lengthened. Some have speculated there might be a Sheltie in her family tree.

She had pretty blue eyes which have now mellowed into a green-amber color-- almolst like a cat’s.These are some pictures we took of her the day we brought her home.

11

Puppies love to lick. They lick everything (one) We have some cute pics of Indy the wonder dog licking my face as I am down on my knees trying to finish the moulding around our new kitchen floor.
When pups get slightly older, they chew. (teething) Some breeds more than others, but they all chew.

12

Many thanks, Lissa. That’s precisely the sort of information I’m looking for.

Now if anyone has anecdotes about a mother dog and the way she acts around her little ones, I’ll be as happy as Hap Happerson, chief morale officer of Happyland.

Maxie son of Sammie son of Henry son of Cyrus.

13

Well, I suppose I can help there, too. I always had dogs when I was a kid, and one of the females, Shuffles, had pups one year.

Now, not all dogs are good mothers. Just like humans, some take excellent care of their puppies and are very protective, but some are rather indifferent. Shuffles was a good mother. I watched her with them for hours as a kid.

She would lay in the barn in a soft pile of straw, and watch carefully as her little ones scampered, wrestled, and tumbled. On occasion, one would stray too far, and start sending out Lost Puppy Distress Calls. She would heave herself to her feet, walk over to him, pick him up gently by the scruff, and bring him back over to the others. As a kid, I was horrified to see a tiny puppy neck and head dissapear into her large, toothy mouth, but she somehow knew how gentle she had to be.

During feeding time, the puppies would pile on to her, each bumping and rooting for a nipple. She would sometimes bump them into place with her nose, and would lick and sniff them while they were feeding-- much like a mother kissing her children and checking them for bruises or cuts. Since she had more puppies than nipples, she would wait until she felt the stronger ones had had enough, and then would bump them aside in favor of the runt. If the stronger puppies would try to push the runt aside, she would growl and snap at them. (Some dog moms will just watch as the stronger ones starve the runts.)

At night, they would all pile against her side to sleep. On occasion, the whole pile would shift, probably started by just one puppy who wanted to change position. All of them would then have to re-arrange themselves.

Shuffles was very protective of her puppies, but allowed me to play with them. I can still remember that she looked concerned whenever I would scoop up a little wiggling puppy and cart it off to dress in doll clothes. When I would return the pup, she would sniff it over carefully, and then give it a head-to-toe bath and offer it a nipple as if to strengthen it after its ordeal.

14

We called the mother of my dog “the teenaged mom.” She would eat the puppies’ kibbles, steal their toys, and get extremely jealous of all the attention they got. This was all after they had been weaned. the pups were about five or six weeks old.

15

I haven’t read this entire thread, so forgive me if this has been said. I used to have a Schipperke and he ALWAYS had the STUPIDEST smile on his face. It was adorbale. I’ve seen other Schipperkes and they all have the same, stupid smile. It’s adorable.

16

Dogs’ personalities vary as widely as people’s do. Just like humans, some nurture and cherish their babies while others resent their very existance. I’ve seen mother dogs who were downright abusive towards their puppies. One dog I knew would barely tolerate the puppies in her presence. She would nurse them, grudgingly, but would snap and growl whenever the puppies tried to climb on her, lick her face or chew her ears. I never saw her display one sign of affection towards them, nor did she even look for them when the puppies were taken for their new homes.

The greatest mother dog I ever saw was the mother of my nine-year-old Norweigian Elkhound mix. She was a pure-bred who fell in love with another pure-bred, which would have been great, but unfortunately, he was a Golden Retriever.

Thirteen puppies resulted. They were almost eleven weeks old when I went to get mine. The mother was skin and bones, and gave me a martyred look as her large offspring wrestled around and on top of her. The owner told me that she was harassed day and night by her brood, but he’d never seen her snap at them. Any puppy sniffing at her face was always kissed, even if he had woken her from a dead sleep, and she could often be found, napping and nuzzling with a few of them in the sun. They gobbled up all of her food before she even touched it, he said, but she would just stand there patiently until they’d had their fill.

I selected my puppy, scooped her up and headed for the car. The mother jumped to her feet, shaking off the pile of rough-housing puppies and ran toward me, barking. Her leash stopped her, and she jerked at it, barking anxiously as she watched me climb into the car with her baby. The puppy, of course, never looked back. She didn’t know she wouldn’t see her mama again, but the mother had seen puppies carried into cars, never to return.

I felt bad for her. She chased the car as far up the driveway as she could, and stood watching after us as we turned onto the road. The last sight of her I had was standing there, ears slicked back, hunched, watching until the car dissapeared.

You can always tell which dogs are happy: they’re the ones who look like idiots.