Milestones

Raising a litter of pups is a series of milestones...the selection of a mate, the ultrasound that tells us we have pups on the way, the whelping of the litter, the first crucial days, opening of eyes to mark the 2nd week, the introduction of food, so many important milestones that as breeders we wait and watch for, these things that tell us all is normal.
This litter has been a bit of a new adventure for me after more than 20 years of pups arriving here.  My first litter that I have ever raised without the benefit of the pups mother.  It has gone from devastating to stressful, tiring and finally optimistic.  We are now well into the 6th week and the pups are right on track, exactly where they should be,  hitting all our milestones.  They will be 7 weeks old at the end of this week and we will have our normal vet check up, puppy shots, I will introduce them to being groomed, all exciting and thankfully very normal milestones.
We are now headed to the final litter milestone and are less than two weeks away from them heading off to their new homes, this is one I was not sure we would get too 6.5 weeks ago