Little Piggies

Four of the babies are now over 1 pound in weight and all gained weight except for Mako (one of the biggest gainers the first two days), who stayed the same. We'll keep an eye on him today to make sure he elbows up to the milk bar for regular meals.

Reef, who was a bit of a slow starter, gained over 1-1/2 ounces yesterday. He's always been one of the heavier pups, but I think his longer time in the birth process had him a little tired for the first couple of days.

From now to day 16 we will be usinging some neurological stimulation techniques with the puppies, following the guidelines of the BioSensor program. The program involves handling of each pup once per day using the following exercises (each exercise lasts from 3-5 seconds):
1. Tactical stimulation (between toes) - tickle with Q-tip
2. Head held erect
3. Head pointed down
4. Supine position
5. Thermal stimulation. - place on cool damp towel

Five benefits have been observed in canines that were exposed to the Bio Sensor stimulation exercises. The benefits noted were:

1. Improved cardio vascular performance (heart rate)
2. Stronger heart beats
3. Stronger adrenal glands
4. More tolerance to stress and
5. Greater resistance to disease.

I used these techniques with Stoker and her littermates and feel like the pups that I have interacted with from this litter handle stress very well. Since Addisons disease (an inherited disease that causes the adrenal glands to deteriorate) is a concern in PWDs, it seems that strengthening adrenal glands by using these exercises with the pups might be of benefit.