What Do Jockeys, Tractor Trailers, and Our Puppies Have in Common?

They all get weighed!  :)

It was Sunday a week ago that Jeff weighed all the puppies and I recorded that info here.  We were eager to weigh them again, just to make sure they are all growing.  Well, we could see that they're growing; they've changed a lot in a week!  But we felt like the scale would reassure us that none of them are being neglected in terms of milk intake.  After all, supplying milk for 10 puppies is asking a lot of Willow.  Even though she has 10 nipples, one of them looks a little deformed, and I don't think the puppies nurse from it, so there is always at least one puppy that is off the nipple, rooting around, trying to butt one of the other puppies out of the way.  It's quite a scramble when all of them try to nurse from her!

Our scale is not fancy, nor is it the most scientifically precise.  Adding to the lack of precision is the fact that the puppies wiggle around when they're on it, so we readily admit there is a margin of error when it comes to these weights!  But to the best of our ability, this is what the puppies weighed when they were three weeks and a day.
Princess - 3.0 or 3.1 pounds
Bolt - 4.35 pounds
Oliver - 3.5 pounds
Mystery - 3.6 pounds
Redemptress - 4.0 pounds
Koda - 4.15 pounds
Sheva - 3.5 pounds
Sofia - 3.5 pounds
Jubilee - 3.25 pounds
Judea - 3.5 pounds

All of them have gained, but there is a widening gap between the lightest and the heaviest ones.  That's not necessarily bad; no one ever said they all have to have equal weight.  And if you could see them, you would notice immediately that Bolt, for example, is a tank compared to delicate Princess!  But we wanted to make sure that the big ones weren't being bullies and keeping the little ones from getting adequate nutrition.

After Jeff weighed each one and David recorded the results on a piece of paper, Jeff checked the front toenails of the puppies to see if they needed trimming--the second time he's done this.  When they nurse, they use their front paws to scramble around and push against Willow; and with sharp little claws, they were actually scratching her some.  Jeff is protective of Willow and wanted to make sure she wasn't getting hurt, so he trimmed their nails.

And then he mixed up some puppy formula and started feeding the smallest dogs--beginning with Princess.

She drank a little from the bottle (as Willow watched)...

...but what worked even better was simply pouring it into a little bowl and letting her lap it up.

And so, on the evening of Valentine's Day, I watched my husband that I love so much show great care and kindness to these dear little puppies.  :)

Jeff watched the puppies, Willow watched him...

...and Benjamin generally surveyed the landscape of the living room.  :)

Today Jeff did an extremely rare thing: he stayed home from work because of snow!  Since he was here, he took responsibility for the puppies and again mixed up some formula for them, giving them some this morning and some this evening.  I imagine we'll continue doing that until the puppies get pretty good at eating food (even though the puppies still nurse some from Willow).

So far the puppies have all seemed happy and healthy, and they are certainly growing and developing, no doubt about it!  We want to do all that we can to make sure that continues.  :)