End of Week 1 photos -- and now they have puppy names to be called by. Some explanations may be required. The litter theme name -- such as it is -- is based on pirate lore.
Girls first: The black tri girl is called BonnyLass. Her registered name will be Blackrock She-Pirate. The blue girl is called Morning. Her registered name will be Blackrock Dawn Treader.
The boys are a bit harder to spot. The blue boy with the white over both shoulders is The Knight. His better marked blue brother is Pretty Boy (that really has to change!). The black tri with the very thin strip of white up his face is Mr. Perfect (again, that has to change!). The other black tri has a wide white collar that drapes over his shoulder on the right side -- the off-side in horse terms -- thus he is called Offsides.
Left: Pretty Boy and Morning stuggle up against each other. At one week of age the pups are just starting to regulate their own body temperatures. Prior to this time the puppy-pack is kept warm by their dam's body heat and artificial heat in their environment provided by heating pads, draping blankets over their whelping box, and shutting any cooling vents in the room.
Right: Offsides is at the top of this photo, Mr. Perfect is on the far right and BonnyLass is the upside down pup showing off her very bright copper trim. BonnyLass began "fading" at 2 days and received intensive care consisting of tube feeding every two hours, body temperature checks every 15 to 30 minutes, and physical stimulation to "wake up" her neurological systems around the clock. The payoff is obvious. Her weight at birth was 6 ounces, dropped to five, and is 13 ounces now.
