Oh Yeah, You Blend

The puppies had two sets of visitors today!

Stephanie came first, the last time she saw them they were wet and giving Nina a hard time about being born. They were still pretty zonked from their outside time so they were pretty boring (other than Beals, the Energizer Bunny).

Then Dr. Stein, Mrs. Stein and their daughter plus granddaughter came. The puppies were much more active then, and got lots of cuddles and pats.

They have a tunnel in with them off and on now – I don’t want to leave it in all the time since it takes up a lot of room, but they have fun playing with it when it’s in there!

Soon a crate will go in as well.

The puppies have new digs again!

They finished their lunch al fresco in the back yard while I got their new deluxe accommodations set up:

Nina and the puppies outside

Lunch al fresco!

Expanded puppy digs with ensuite bathroom!

Renee, and her children Jacob and Alecia came to visit the puppies today. Tish and Nina were extremely happy about this (Rakki was happy, but then barky), as were the puppies. Wagging tails and licky/bitey, and they got to eat Jacob’s ears and pull on Alecia’s pigtails!

They were all very friendly and outgoing. And they are now completely flaked out.

The puppies have been doing a stellar job of using the turf, as it turns out, since I just cleaned it!

They also had a bit of whelping box aroma about them (which is a nice way of saying that they smelled like pee), so I decided to give them their first bath! Warm water and a blow dryer on low heat and low setting. My friend Diane who breeds Rottweilers says that she can learn a lot about temperament by the way a puppy handles a bath. I thought they all did very well, but here are the specifics:

• Aniston – crouched in the sink but wasn’t shaking, eventually stood up, happy to eat lots of baby food while being blow-dried
• Beals – wandered around in the sink, not concerned about the blow dryer and ate lots of baby food
• Connelly – crouched in the sink but wasn’t shaking, ate lots of baby food while being blow-dried, sniffed at the dryer
• Donnelly – stood in the sink, ate lots of baby food while being blow-dried, sniffed at dryer
• Esposito – wandered around in the sink, sniffed at sponge on edge of sink, looked at dryer, ate lots of baby food

Nobody was too worried to eat, everyone ate quite happily. They got the sillies after they were done like most dogs do! They smell MUCH better now.

Oh, and you may notice a measuring cup and wooden spoon in the box. The puppies have not taken up cooking, that is so that they have different materials to explore, and those are what I had handy (thanks for the suggestion, Jan!).

The puppies have had an AWESOME last few days. My wonderful cousin Stephen, his lovely wife Gina and my dear Auntie Sheila, all from England, are visiting the folks in Canada, and they came here on Sunday and stayed until today, along with my mum and my sister Jennifer and her two enormous Irish Setters.

So the puppies not only got a TON of handling and socialization and listened to new voices and smelled new smells, they also got to meet two big friendly dogs. I was VERY impressed with how level-headed and confident the puppies were. Sullivan the setter poked his head right into the box and the puppies all approached him eagerly with happy wagging tails. They are getting very confident about their abilities when it comes to moving around too, they are running and bounding and play bowing at each other, they are playing with toys and even starting to learn to tug a little bit with people. They are also barking and howling and making happy panting dog laughter. They are real little dogs now.

They are eating three meals a day, and eating well!

They now have a patch of fake grass in with them to help them with housetraining, most are already using it for urinating, and many are using it for poop. They’ve only had it for 24 hours, and some are napping on it too…oh well! This is an experiment instead of litter, the litterbox worked okay, but some never got the hang of it and it was a bear to keep clean.

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!):

Aniston

Beals

Beals Front

Connelly

Connelly Front

Donnelly

Donnelly Front

Esposito

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!):

Aniston

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.