The puppies are almost six weeks old! They are all doing very well. They weight between 10-12 lbs. Here are some photos I took today. Some of the puppies were sleeping, so you won’t see pictures of all of them.

The puppies are now 5 1/2 weeks old.

My husband took these photos while I was still at work tonight.  They got some good outside time and ate dinner outside too.

They are hungry puppies and finished all the food in less than 5 minutes!

The puppies are 5 weeks old now. Here are some photos I took today. I did not have the rick rack collars on them today.

Got milk?

The puppies got microchipped today. They didn’t like it, but it is important to microchip in case they ever get lost. The good thing is that it only took a few seconds and it was over before they knew it. It was a very quick process.

Pink female puppy was our toughest puppy and she barely cried. Red female puppy was very dramatic and was still whimpering when it was all over.

Animal microchips are about the size of a grain of rice and are implanted just beneath the skin’s surface between the shoulder blades. The process is similar to receiving a vaccination shot through a needle. Once implanted, the microchip remains in place for the rest of the animal’s lifetime as a permanent form of identification.

We use 24PetWatch microchips. Click on the following link for more information: http://www.24petwatch.com/US/

We also dewormed the puppies again today. This is similar to the monthly heartworm prevention pill that you give older dogs on a monthly basis. At this age the dewormer is in liquid form and we squirt it into their mouths with a small syringe. They like the taste of it.

Thank you to Michelle Gross for taking these wonderful puppy photos!

Thank you to Michelle Gross for taking these wonderful puppy photos!

4 weeks old! They weigh between 5.75 lbs and 6.25 lbs.

 Messy puppies after eating the gruel

Gruel all over his face

Look at the upside down puppy!

Penny and her motherly instincts.  She was letting the puppies nurse on her – at one year old, she doesn’t have any milk!

Penny has been with us for a week now and is settling in quite nicely!  She is very affectionate and we can tell she is happy to be a part of our family.  Here are a few photos we took today.  She is only a year old, so she is still developing. Born: 12/21/2011.  She is an Axle and Aggie daughter.

 The girls sunbathing after breakfast this morning

Here is another video of the puppies feeding.  As you can tell, they are getting big!  They range from 4 – 5 lbs.  We started them on a gruel to supplement Aggie’s milk as they are draining her pretty quickly these days.  She is such a good mom.

Click on the link below and give it a minute or two to load.

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What a mess!

As you can see in the photo below, the puppies now have a 4 x 8 space and plenty of toys!

We are excited to be getting “pink female” back from our first Axle x Aggie litter. Her owners had some unfortunate circumstances and she has been at Chambray Acres for about 6 months. She will be coming to Tampa on January 12th and will be a permanent member of the TruPride Labrador family. Here are some photos of her at 6 months old in Miami. She is now 1 year old, so we will post more recent photos of her soon.

The puppies are on their feet and their eyes are open.  They still can’t see clearly and as you can tell from the video, they aren’t too responsive to noises yet.  They can hear me but they can’t quite figure out where my voice is coming from.  That will change in a couple of days!  They are starting to play with each other, so the videos will get more exciting as they get older.

Click on the link below to watch the video.  It may take a few minutes to load.  It is about 20 seconds long.

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Aggie walked in while I was recording and decided it was time for the puppies to eat…again.  All they do is eat!  This video is about 30 seconds long.

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Here is a video of the puppies feeding on 1-6-13.  They are two weeks old and very hungry!  Click on the link below the photo.  It may take a couple minutes to load.  It is about 30 seconds long.

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The puppies are two weeks old now.  They weigh about 4 lbs each now!  We are using nail polish painted onto their coat to identify them since they are growing out of their collars.  We’ll go back to collars in a couple more weeks.

One week old puppies take turns being held by us for longer periods of time to begin reinforcing that bond to humans. Because the puppies are still blind and deaf, their sense of smell is what they depend on for everything. Our holding/bonding time is done in another room of our home to introduce the new smells of a different environment.

Our good friend, Christie, socializing green puppy

My mother-in-law took this cute photo of Aggie and her puppy

Aggie had to go to the emergency vet due to a very high fever (106.6).  She had mastitis, an infection in one of her milk ducts. It is fairly common, but was very hard to detect as all her teats appeared normal.  We had to bottle feed the puppies every two hours until Aggie could get back to nursing.  Aggie is now on nursing-friendly antibiotics and puppies are doing well, but we are monitoring them closely to make sure that they continue to gain weight.

Mom and pups are doing well.

Aggie is such a good mom.  These puppies are growing so fast!

Merry Christmas from TruPride Labradors!