They are four weeks old today! I can’t believe it’s a month already! They have moved again, into the big pen in the room between the kitchen and family room, right in the middle of everything. We have house guests coming to stay for a few days (my cousin and his wife and my aunt from England, and my mum), so loads of visitors! They can see me getting their meals ready now, they already know that the blender means grub is coming, and they line up along the wall closest to the kitchen to watch!
They celebrated by being dewormed, and by having individual pictures taken (chicken baby food was the bribe of the day, but they were still very wiggly!):
Five good puppies had their nails Dremeled, and were paid in BABY FOOD for their trouble! They were all very good.
They have started the inevitable but distressing habit of nursing on each other. I tried to explain to them that this is not THAT kind of webcam, but they won’t listen.
I am leaving the baby gate open when I am in the room some of the time, and Rakki and Tish come in and poke their heads over the box wall to say hi now and then. I think Tish would like to jump in with them but she is being very respectful.
They all have teeth. BITEY teeth. They are fast approaching the point where stepping into the puppy pen is like stepping into a shark tank, and you worry you will grow shorter and shorter as they eat you from the feet up… They also have that charming habit of grabbing your toenails with their teeth and trying to lever them off…torture by puppy!
Weights today:
Aniston (yellow): 1660 grams or 3.66 pounds
Beals (gray): 1289 grams or 2.84 pounds
Connelly (blue): 1349 grams or 2.97 pounds
Donnelly (orange): 1490 grams or 3.28 pounds
Esposito (brown): 1522 grams or 3.36 pounds (she gained a LOT since at this point she is the most serious eater, the others will catch up!)
Dose of cute for the day (notice his little Sigmund Freud beard, very common!):
The puppies have moved! Thanks to their newly-discovered ability to escape, we have moved the weaning box in in place of the whelping box. Eventually the two connect together to make the Big House. It’s a bit of a kludge, but hopefully the higher sides and overhang will prevent a Great Escape! There’s enough room for a bed and I’ll put a small crate in soon too.
The turf will go in as soon as it arrives (I have decided to try a turf trainer for housetraining this time instead of litter).
They have also been Outside again yesterday and today! And had a visitor on Wednesday, with more to come this weekend.
The puppies are zooming along as they grow! Yesterday Austin‘s mom Lisa came to visit, they were very happy to meet her and chewed on her toes and fingers and ears and anything else they could reach (their teeth are almost all the way in now, including their FANGS). Nina was very relaxed about it, although Tish and Rakki cried pitifully that they weren’t allowed in to visit with her (even though she’d spent quite a while visiting with them earlier).
Weigh-ins (it is getting harder to weigh them accurately since they are SO active, so these are ballparks):
Austin (yellow): 1485 grams or 3.27 pounds
Beals (gray): 1165 grams or 2.57 pounds
Connelly (blue): 1209 grams or 2.67 pounds
Donnelly (orange): 1310 grams or 2.89 pounds
Esposito (dark brown): 1315 grams or 2.9 pounds
And this morning Connelly (blue collar) escaped out of the puppy ROOM! I’d let them out of the pen to play while I cleaned the box, and I heard Rakki and Tish barking, I turned around and little blue collar boy had squished himself through the baby gate and was happily toddling off into the wild blue yonder living room! Tish was ecstatically play bowing at him and trying to get him to zoom with her, Rakki was tattling on him. STINKER! They are getting close to climbing out of the box even with the big wall up, so I think the next step is going to be moving the big pen in here, it has higher walls and also a lip at the top to help prevent escapes. I feel like a prison warden here!
I fed them a breakfast (gotta eat a breakfast Margie!) today, and they will get a dinner too.
Yesterday my dear friend and breed mentor Ulla Gamberg had to say goodbye to one of her best friends. Nina and Rakki‘s father, BISS Ch. Vastgota Birk, passed away yesterday at the grand age of 16 years and 4 months. Less than two weeks ago he relived his show dog glory days at the Swedish Vallhund Club of Canada’s National Specialty – Ulla says he went into the ring for Veteran Sweeps and got his happy face on and gaited around the ring like he owned it, like he always used to. He was so happy, people cheered, the judge cried. Goodbye Birk, you special, wonderful, kind dog. Once in a while a dog comes along who has that special, indefinable quality – Birk had that, and passed it along to some of his puppies. My beloved Nina, his daughter, has it and I am blessed to have her, Birk’s legacy will live on.
On to fun puppy happenings:
So the puppies have been getting free “bomble time” (as we call it) in the puppy room (outside the pen) for the last day. They LOVE it, all kinds of new surfaces to walk on (tile in the bathroom, carpet in the bedroom, marble between the two), they can go under the bed (I’m looking at you, Esposito…), they can check out Nina’s food and water bowls (both girls are very interested in this), they can play with their toys, then can really stretch their (tiny little) legs, they can interact with Tish and Rakki through the baby gate, and try to go THROUGH the baby gate (I’m looking at you, Donnelly), they can try to wrestle the shower curtain down (also Donnelly). They can climb on laps (Connelly is already a lap dog), they can chew on ankles (Aniston, the biggest of all, is concerned he may starve at any moment) – they have TEETH now…poor Nina! They are WIPED out after a good session of marching around exploring, which is why the puppycam is probably a bit boring sometimes just now!
And Nina is happy that she can PLAY with them now that they are little dogs instead of just puppies:
It always happens…this time we noticed Tish was staring into the puppy room instead of going outside (and Tish LOVES outside, she would almost be an outside dog if I let her). Sure enough, Beals had organized an escape! Jim devised a clever method of raising the lower wall in the pen (so Nina can get in and out, but the puppies stay in) – we’ve been adding doweling underneath the rounded-off wall to raise it by small increments. We added another one this morning!
We knew they were getting close, since all of them have been able to pull themselves partway over, but little Beals made it all the way out and was exploring the room. It will be time for the big pen very soon now.
I am now putting them in the bathroom when I change them, since the warming box is no match for their mighty escape abilities! The bathroom is interesting, different surfaces to walk on!
