Ginger's puppies

I went up to see Thelma and her husband today to bring some things and see the puppies (for anyone not familiar wth the story, we got two ex puppy farm breeding dogs into rescue a few weeks ago; Fred and Ginger, who were fostered to Thelma. Within a week or two we found Ginger was about to have puppies -- she was very thin when she came into rescue so this came as a BIG surprise. She was very kindly looked after by Thelly throught her whelping). They are such fat healthy babies and make all sort of funny sqeaking noises. Eyes are just beginning to open. Ginger is just HUGE with milk and is such a good kind mum, and she is watchful but happy to let people visit her pups. Other dogs, she barks at to let them know they are not welcome! :lol: The puppies are two weeks old and she is clearly getting ready to start weaning them before too long -- she lets them suckle just so long then needs her breaks. You get the sense she is ready for a holiday before too long and I wanted to let her know this is the last batch of kids she will need to rear.

Two are a very pale red and the third is gold; all have some white markings. These are BIG babies though and definitely not pure cavaliers, even to my untrained eye. Jaspar at 3.5 weeks was around the size of the smallest of these three at 2 weeks! I am guessing they are collie or lab crosses. I'd guess they will be smaller than a lab but larger than a typical cavalier when grown. That golden puppy makes me suspect they are likely to be lab/cavalier crosses. We'll get a better idea when they are a bit older as right now puppy faces look pretty similar! Their tiny ears and feet are so darn cute.

I took a lot of pics so am posting plenty for everyone to enjoy. I need to split them between a couple of posts.

Two individual babies:




Various puppy shots:

:lotsaluv: Soooo cute! Wow, they look well fed and healthy! :lotsaluv:

And now, some with mum:









You can see how pale one of them is in this pic:




And finally, mum and babies all lined up. They just all settled like this, I didn't place them this way! You can really see how big her babies are though. Remember these are just two weeks old!

They'll be as big as their mum, come the time to leave her. They look very like labradors to me and the colour ties in. Whereas yellow labs are quite pale, my son's girlfriend once had a 'red' one.

OMG they are huge! Almost as big as Mom right now. They are adorable. I would sure say lab from the look of those wide little heads and short ears.

So cute. Thanks for sharing the pics.

They are HUGE!! To give you some perspective they are about as big as my lot now and mine are 7 and a half weeks old!! :yikes: Looking at them I would say Lab X but not 100% on that even!

Ginger, you are a darling girl and doing a wonderful job with those babies!! :lotsaluv: Thelma and hubby you too are doing a wonderful job too, I always say look after the mum and she'll take care of the pups!!

Great pics Karlin, will be interesting to see them in another couple of weeks time!! :lotsaluv:

It's been said already but I have to add, they are HUGE!!! Your phone takes good clear pic Karlin, thanks for posting

they are just so adorable, think there is a bit of lab in them tho going by the size of them and the lighter coloured one!

Oh my, puppies are larger than their mama! Chubby little ones, so cute though.

The angles of the pics do make them look even larger than they actually are, as the phone camera really foreshortens distances and makes whatever is farthest off look a lot smaller than it actually is. Ginger is also pretty small -- not a big cavalier. I'd say she is about 16-17 lbs or so. The largest of the puppies is maybe 8-9 inches from nose to hindquarters.

I'd say they will be gorgeous puppies with that colouring and as they get a bit larger and fluffy! I have seen collie or lab cav x pups before -- one of our Irish board members fostered them -- and they were darling.

what beatiful puppys
Aileen

They are big, but I have to tell you if I was elible and lived in the UK I'd apply to adopt them! They are so cute and they appear so healthy. I'm sure they'll be great dogs as adults.

You do have to remember that huge is relative here too! :lol: I mean they are tiny puppies, they are just big for cavalier puppies at that age. You can see how small they are in comparison to Thelly's hands holding them -- wee little things with tiny little legs , heads and ears. :lotsaluv:

This is how tiny Ginger is, in comparison to Fred. She is NOT a big mum:

Here's a pic of the puppies when they were born. So they somewhat more than doubled in size since then, which is about what they should have done (according to Bruce previously, they should double in size by 7-10 days after birth).



Now:

What beautiful babies especially the golden one. Well done Ginger ur doing a great job(with a little help from Thelly):flwr:

How cute! They do look big!

Aren't they just the sweetest??!! Ginger is such a good little mommy, but so glad this will be a last litter for her. Thelly.....excellent job!! You have really gone above and beyond the call of duty...hats off to you!! Those puppies are just precious. It'll be really fun to see how they develop.

Thanks for posting the picture of Ginger with Fred. She looks like a small cavalier next to him.

I hope her puppies don't outgrow her! They look so lovely and healthy - what a good mom she is. :luv:

Wow.... big boofheads!! hahahahhaha how cute thought, its going to be very interesting to see how they turn out!! As for mum Ginger what a champion good work sweety, your a good mummy!

I'd say Ginger will be happy to get them off the milk bar asap. :lol: Their growth will not be as fast any longer now that they have done that initial weight gain spurt. It will be interesting to see if the little weeny boy (the pale one) catches up to his very big sister. She is a fatty! I bet they will be really adorable fluffballs in a few more weeks. I wonder if their coats will be long or short? They can hardly drg themselves around right now but they should be wobbling on their little legs in another week or two -- then the fun is really going to begin for Thelly. :lol: I left her a puppy playpen and large metal crate to manage the hijinks that are soon to start.