From a Puppy to a Real Jack Russell Terrier

The Weaning

It was not easy taking care of 6 puppies and 2 dogs at home but witnessing the puppies growing up process was definitely a very good experience for me. I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world.

Three weeks after the puppies were born, i bought milk powder and let the dogs tried the milk formula than the mother's milk.

On the fourth week, i started the weaning process by adding pounded puppy dry food into the milk formula , my trusted brand would be Solid Gold

What is Weaning ?

Weaning is the process whereby puppies beginning to eat other food other than the mother's milk or milk formula

Feeding the Puppies

The first 3 weeks was very tiring for Sporty, having to feed the 6 pups all at one time and it seems that they are forever hungry. Poor Mummy became so skinny.

The Birth Process

The 6 little rascals arrived on 23 October 2006 in the evening, some of the symptoms Sporty had that day were that she was

- Appeitte was not good that day

- Shivering (temperature dropped)

- relieveing herself constantly



The first pup came out about 2215hrs and the whole process of delivering 6 pups took about 2hrs. The last pup came out about 0030hrs.



Each pup was encased in membrane, Sporty with her maternal instinct knew what to do, she was cleaning off the membrane, licking the pups and clearing off the umbilical cord. There was little that we need to do. Infact it was much more cleaner than i thought, there was only a little blood stain.

During the Gestation period

A dog's gestation period last normally around 60 -65 days. The signs for sporty was more obvious only in the 6th week (36 days). Some signs that she showed during her gestation period were:

a) She wanted more attention thus snuzzling more often than ever

b) Her appeite became huge

c) Her stomach also grew in size

d) She will also start hiding her food and toy, seems that accumulating for the future pups

Will post another on her puppy birth process.

Photos of the little Rascals

In the Beginning.

I have 3 JRT at home, namely Summer, Sporty and Jam. Jam is the offspring of Summer and Sporty. How it started...

5 years back, my brother received a Jack Russell, Summer for his birthday. Both my brother and my sister are dog lovers, I am probably the only one in the family whom is skeptical about a dog and is scared of them due to a bad childhood experience. When I was about 6years old, i witness my grandmother being bitten by a dog and that not only leaves a scar on her physically and on me (psychlogically)

We found Sporty 3 years ago in August roaming around the street with an injured leg. Being dog lover of course we brought her home and nurse her. I believed she was abused by the previous owner as she was very fierce when we initally brought her home. We tried to put up posters around the area we found her, posted on the JRT forum but nobody comes to claim her. We gave up after 2 weeks of search and by then, both dogs had became friends.

The nightmare came in mid September when we realised Sporty was becoming fatter and the stomach was getting bigger as the day passes by and that her appetite was horrendously huge. We brought her to the vet and that confirmed our fear, she is PREGNANT.

On October 23 2006, Sporty gave birth to 6 little Rascals (4 male and 2 female). We named them Jabber, Junior, Jam, Juro, Jace and Joy.

I will share again on a later post on taking care of the little rascals in the inital weeks.