Sand Hill Shepherds & Setters

Puppies are 4 weeks old and wow do they grow and develop sooo much in one week! Now that they’re getting around and much more in control of their movements they love to get out and explore. The yard seems like a wide open frontier now that they’re exploring outside the whelping box.

The puppies are almost 4 weeks old!! We are starting to introduce new objects into their whelping box each day. These items are usually stable so they don’t have much movement to cause too much stress to the pups. They love to explore the new textures and smells.

The puppies are all growing and doing so well! They’re now double their birth weight and are close to 3lbs. The pups do a lot of sleeping but the nice part is there is no need to tip toe and keep things quiet withthese babies since their ears and eyes are still not open. They don’t notice when wecome and go but they sure notice the smell of Momma when she’s close by! In a few days we may start to see some eyes start peeking open. Valkyrie has been a great mom keeping them fed and cleaned. She has started to spend more time away from the whelping box (15-30 minutes) starting this week and loves the chance to play with her toys and be with the family. As soon as she comes back to her babies she’s super attentive and jumps right in with all her mom duties. We let the puppies spend as much time with just mom during these first two weeks…which drives my children crazy! We only handle the puppies once a day when we weigh them and preform the ENS and ESI, the kids would love to hold the puppies but its important to keep things quiet and easy going till their over 2 weeks old.

I would like to officially introduce you to our 2025 litter. Valkyries puppies were born on September 1st, and are now 2 days old. We had 8 puppies total with 2 girls and 6 boys! We are raising these pups on our advanced puppy curriculum and they will start our Early Neurological Stimulation and Early Scent Introduction tomorrow.

Valkyrie’s doing soo good and getting so big! Valkyrie’s been able to each much better with this pregnancy and she’s looking so good and healthy. We can feel her puppies wiggling around pretty regularly and it’s so special to sit with her as she naps. We have now prepped the whelping room with her box, blankets, and have the whelping cart ready to go. We’re monitoring her temperature each day now and starting on Sunday we’ll start every 4 hours checking on her. Valkyrie is still pretty playful and loves playing hide and seek for her toys; it’s a little slower paced of a game then fetch or tug of war. We’re hitting the home stretch!

Valkyrie had an ultrasound today and she’s confirmed pregnant! Expecting 7-8 puppies due September 2nd!