Chris Blom's Puppy Page

Here's Windy and the kids at 3 and a half weeks old.

Following is a pic at 4 full weeks old. Look at the growth!

There have been an incredible number of changes this week.

Mr Blue, peering over the edge of the puppy box. Life in a box is no longer sufficient.
Dinnertime is no longer a bottle. They now eat from bowls, a "puppy slop" similar in consistency to oatmeal. It consists of strained baby meat, ground soaked kibble, goat milk, and Gerbers baby cereal as a binding agent. They love it, and their dinnertimes have become so much less time consuming for me!

Mr Blue is particularly fond of climbing on top of the food dishes and putting his feet in the slop. I think he is trying to guard the dishes from his sisters, because he will stretch out to his full length on top of all 3 bowls to go to sleep.

Yes, that was 3 bowls, not 4.

Alas, the cute little Green guy died on July 8. I took him to the area Vet Specialist clinic after he went into respiratory distress. Diagnosis was that he had a PDA -- a condition where an artery that bypasses the lungs, needed when the fetus is in utero, fails to close off at birth. The presence of the extra artery puts great strain on the heart. Green's heart was already greatly enlarged and on the 8th he went into congestive heart failure. The prognosis was extremely poor, so we put him out of his misery and struggle.
This is the last pic I have of Greenie, taken the day before he died. Notice how much smaller he is than the other puppies. In retrospect, I understand why he never ate as much as the others -- with his huge heart, he did not have enough room to expand his stomach as much as the others. My poor little Green guy, he was so cute.

I had to do some calling around and arranging, because I had both males promised yet only one of the girls promised. The people who had reserved the pick male had been a little ambivalent about whether they wanted a male or a female, so I contacted them hoping they would change to a female. Fortunately they were happy to do so, leaving Mr Blue to go to Cathy Smith. I guess Mr Blue is now Vanderblom Aramis unless Cathy wants a different men's cologne name for him. The name Shalimar goes away again, in favor of White Diamonds which is the new owners' choice.

The puppies are very much aware of the world beyond the box now, and they want out there! Here's Blanca, trying to scale the side of the box.
I took the door panel out so the puppies could explore. Blanca found it was still not so easy to get out of the box. With her fat little belly hung on on the sill, her legs are not long enough to quite reach the ground!

This picture of Pinkie comes from right after her 3-week birthday, but I had to include it in this web page because it is such a crackup. You see, Pinkie always liked to roll in under the "pig rail" to sleep. Here she can still squeeze her head in under the rail -- but no way is the bulbous rest of her going to fit! She was crying and fussing about it. So frustrating for her! Nowadays not even her head fits in under the rail, so she has had to abandon that habit entirely.
The pups are playing with each other now -- romping and bouncing and yanking on each others' body parts. That's Pinkie on the left front, playing with Blueboy.

Windy and Blanca, enjoying a mother/daughter moment.
They also use toys now. Pinkie is a regular little rat-killer -- she loves to grab a toy and shake it to death. Blanca prefers to drag her toys around the box.

Notice the tails are curling up!

Puppies' registered names will be:
Vanderblom Confetti's Arpege (pick female)
Vanderblom Aramis (male)
Vanderblom White Diamonds (female) Here are links back to the previous pages.

Puppies at 1 Week
Puppies at 2 Weeks
Puppies at 3 Weeks

and forward to the 5-week-old page.
Puppies at 5 Weeks Email me

Mr Blue, peering over the edge of the puppy box. Life in a box is no longer sufficient.	Dinnertime is no longer a bottle. They now eat from bowls, a "puppy slop" similar in consistency to oatmeal. It consists of strained baby meat, ground soaked kibble, goat milk, and Gerbers baby cereal as a binding agent. They love it, and their dinnertimes have become so much less time consuming for me! Mr Blue is particularly fond of climbing on top of the food dishes and putting his feet in the slop. I think he is trying to guard the dishes from his sisters, because he will stretch out to his full length on top of all 3 bowls to go to sleep.
Yes, that was 3 bowls, not 4. Alas, the cute little Green guy died on July 8. I took him to the area Vet Specialist clinic after he went into respiratory distress. Diagnosis was that he had a PDA -- a condition where an artery that bypasses the lungs, needed when the fetus is in utero, fails to close off at birth. The presence of the extra artery puts great strain on the heart. Green's heart was already greatly enlarged and on the 8th he went into congestive heart failure. The prognosis was extremely poor, so we put him out of his misery and struggle.	This is the last pic I have of Greenie, taken the day before he died. Notice how much smaller he is than the other puppies. In retrospect, I understand why he never ate as much as the others -- with his huge heart, he did not have enough room to expand his stomach as much as the others. My poor little Green guy, he was so cute. I had to do some calling around and arranging, because I had both males promised yet only one of the girls promised. The people who had reserved the pick male had been a little ambivalent about whether they wanted a male or a female, so I contacted them hoping they would change to a female. Fortunately they were happy to do so, leaving Mr Blue to go to Cathy Smith. I guess Mr Blue is now Vanderblom Aramis unless Cathy wants a different men's cologne name for him. The name Shalimar goes away again, in favor of White Diamonds which is the new owners' choice.
The puppies are very much aware of the world beyond the box now, and they want out there! Here's Blanca, trying to scale the side of the box.	I took the door panel out so the puppies could explore. Blanca found it was still not so easy to get out of the box. With her fat little belly hung on on the sill, her legs are not long enough to quite reach the ground!
This picture of Pinkie comes from right after her 3-week birthday, but I had to include it in this web page because it is such a crackup. You see, Pinkie always liked to roll in under the "pig rail" to sleep. Here she can still squeeze her head in under the rail -- but no way is the bulbous rest of her going to fit! She was crying and fussing about it. So frustrating for her! Nowadays not even her head fits in under the rail, so she has had to abandon that habit entirely.	The pups are playing with each other now -- romping and bouncing and yanking on each others' body parts. That's Pinkie on the left front, playing with Blueboy.
Windy and Blanca, enjoying a mother/daughter moment.	They also use toys now. Pinkie is a regular little rat-killer -- she loves to grab a toy and shake it to death. Blanca prefers to drag her toys around the box. Notice the tails are curling up!